Stipa plants. In this study, Stipa breviflora in a group of desert steppes in the Mongolian Plateau was selected to study the potential mechanism underlying the maintenance of dominant populations under the continuous interference of heavy grazing from the new perspective of seed germination rate. Laboratory experimental results showed that the values of the phenotypic traits of S. breviflora seeds were lower under a heavy grazing treatment than under a non-grazing treatment, but the seed germination rate did not decrease. The awns of non-grazed seeds significantly affected the seed germination rate, while those of heavily grazed seeds did not. Field observations showed that grazing does not significantly affect the population density of S. breviflora at different growth stages except in extremely wet and dry years. Our study suggests that under heavy grazing, S. breviflora uses an “opportunistic” ecological strategy to ensure population maintenance by increasing the seed germination rate and reducing dispersal via changes in associated seed phenotypic traits.An understanding of population adaptation and maintenance mechanisms under interference from large herbivores is lacking and is a major focus of ecological research. In the Eurasian steppe, which has been subjected to continuous interference from domesticated ungulates throughout history and shows increased grazing, it is particularly urgent to analyze the ecological adaptation strategies of widely distributed  Stipa plants  the effect of grazing on the morphological characteristics of seeds; (2) the effect of awns on seed germination under grazing and non-grazing conditions; and (3) the interannual variability in plant population density in grazing and non-grazing treatments.Desert grassland, accounting for 39% of the total grassland area in northern China, is the most arid grassland ecosystem on the Eurasian steppe . This grS. breviflora positioning station of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Zhurihe Town , Xilin ; Cleistogenes songorica and Allium polyrhizum are the dominant plants.The experimental area is located in the Inner Mongolia Plateau ), Xilin , with an−1·a−1, and the non-grazing treatment excluded interference from humans, livestock, and large wild animals , whose awns, seeds, and seeds + awns were separately added to the culture medium for the germination test of heavily grazed seeds. Specifically, 50 heavily grazed S. breviflora seeds (HGSs) were selected and pulverized with a ball mill, and the powder was then placed in culture medium and covered with damp blotting paper. The production of heavily grazed awn (HGA), heavily grazed seed + awn (HGT), NGS, non-grazed awn (NGA), and non-grazed seed + awn (NGT) additives was completed as described above. The seed germination test without additives was set as a control treatment (CK), and each treatment was repeated five times. A total of 50 heavily grazed seeds were placed in the medium where NGS additives had been added, and 50 NGSs were added to the medium where heavily grazed seed additives had been added; an appropriate amount of distilled water was then supplied. Step 1 was repeated for the germination test  of ion test .S. breviflora seeds, this study selected cabbage seeds as the test object and used the six types of additives described above to perform germination tests  of S. breviflora and a previous study (S. breviflora was divided into five stages based on age: seedling stage (Bd ≤ 4 mm), juvenile stage (4 mm < Bd ≤ 20 mm), adult stage (20 mm < Bd ≤ 40 mm), pre-ageing stage (40 mm < Bd ≤ 70 mm), and ageing stage (Bd > 70 mm). From 2015 to the first 10-day period of August 2017, five sample plots, each with an area of 1 × 1 m2, were randomly selected in each test plot to investigate the number of S. breviflora individuals at each growth stage.During the period of peak plant growth from 2010 to August 2017, five sample plots, each with an area of 1 × 1 mus study , S. brevMeteorological data were obtained from a micro weather station  located at the experimental site .t-test was conducted to study the seed width, length and weight; awn weight; germination rate of seeds with awns and those without awns as well as the germination rate of seeds with awns and those without awns after the non-grazing treatment under the heavy grazing and non-grazing treatments. One-way analysis of variance was performed to compare the NGSs, NGAs, NGTs and germination rates of heavily grazed S. breviflora seeds with the CK, and Duncan’s test was used for multiple comparisons. Furthermore, one-way analysis of variance was performed to compare the HGSs, HGAs, HGTs and germination rates of non-grazed S. breviflora seeds with the CK, and Duncan’s test was used for multiple comparisons. Additionally, the NGSs, NGAs, NGTs, HGSs, HGAs, HGTs and seed germination rates of Chinese cabbage (CK) were analyzed, and Duncan’s test was used for multiple comparisons. An independent t-test was adopted to compare the density ratio of S. breviflora and the density of S. breviflora between the heavy grazing treatment and non-grazing treatment in the same year. The statistical analyses described above were completed in SAS 9.0 .An independent t-test (S. breviflora seeds were significantly higher than those of heavily grazed S. breviflora seeds (P < 0.001); specifically, the seed length, width, and weight and awn weight were 10.47%, 13.60%, 36.02%, and 41.85% higher, respectively. The germination rate of non-grazed S. breviflora seeds with no awns was 386.96% higher than that of such seeds with awns (P < 0.001), while there was no significant difference in the germination rate between the two types of seeds under the heavy grazing treatment (P > 0.05) (The results of the independent t-test  showed t > 0.05) . The gerS. breviflora seeds is affected by seed dormancy, this study found that the germination rate was the same before and after dormancy release by physically breaking dormancy. Specifically, under the non-grazing treatment, seeds with awns had a significantly lower germination rate than those without awns, and the germination rate of seeds without awns was not obviously different between the heavy grazing treatment and the non-grazing treatment (Regarding whether the germination rate of reatment .S. breviflora seeds under the heavy grazing treatment in the culture medium with the NGA and NGT additives had a significantly lower germination rate than seeds with no additive (CK) (P < 0.05), while the germination rate of those with NGS additives did not significantly differ from that of seeds with no additive (CK) (P < 0.05)  than that with the NGA additive under heavy grazing, but there was no significant difference in the germination rate between those with the NGT additive and those without any additive (The results of the tests with additives showed  that S.  < 0.05) . In the additive .S. breviflora seed germination by their own substances and further verify that awns affect the germination of S. breviflora seeds, this study used cabbage seeds as a test object. The germination rate of Chinese cabbage seeds with the awn additive was significantly lower than that of the CK, and that of cabbage seeds with the NGA additive was 49.10% lower than that under the heavy grazing treatment (P < 0.05) (To avoid the regulation of  < 0.05) .S. breviflora plants to the number of plants in the community and that of non-grazed S. breviflora plants to the number of plants in the community (P > 0.05). Further analysis revealed that there was also no significant difference in the density and density ratios of S. breviflora at different growth stages between the heavy grazing and non-grazing treatments in 2015 and 2017, and in 2016, the S. breviflora seedlings and juveniles in the non-grazing treatment showed a significantly higher density than those in the heavy grazing treatment, with no difference displayed at any of the other growth stages  generally exhibit the same germination rate as NGSs (without an awn); that is, the germination rate of large seeds does not differ from that of small seeds, which is contrary to the results of S. breviflora has formed its own unique survival strategy over its long-term interaction with livestock: S. breviflora can carry out both sexual reproduction and asexual reproduction. However, it is obviously not favorable to increase the number of asexually reproducing individuals under severe interference from livestock because individuals who vegetatively propagate seedlings usually form small-scale aggregations with the mother plant, which will undoubtedly reduce the feeding cost of livestock and is not conducive to the survival of the population. Compared to large seeds (no grazing), at the same wind speed, awns can help smaller seeds (heavy grazing) disperse farther  was significantly higher than that of NGSs (with awns), and the germination rate of awn-free seeds was significantly higher than that of seeds with awns. This result indicates that awns can dramatically affect the germination rate of S. breviflora seeds. Numerous studies have suggested that rapid seed germination is a common survival mechanism for plants in arid regions . S. breviflora population under the non-grazing treatment, the heavy grazing treatment adopts a mechanism of accelerating the population renewal rate to maintain the relative stability of the population size. Further analysis found that in 2015 and 2017, there was no significant difference in the number and proportion of S. breviflora individuals between the heavily grazed and non-grazed treatments. In arid and rainless desert steppes, extreme precipitation events during the growing season may be triggers that impact the number of dominant populations. Consistent with this pattern, in 2014 (precipitation in May–July = 51.7 mm) and 2016 (precipitation in May–July = 122 mm), the population of heavily grazed S. breviflora represented a smaller proportion of the plant community than that of non-grazed S. breviflora, and in 2016, the density of non-grazed S. breviflora seedlings and juveniles was significantly higher than that of heavily grazed S. breviflora seedlings and juveniles.Based on the population density of S. breviflora individuals at different growth stages was not investigated from the beginning of this study, but from 2015; thus, the typical drought year of 2014 was missed.This study explored the potential maintenance mechanism of dominant populations from a new perspective of seed germination rate. However, unfortunately, the chemical composition changes of awns under different treatments were not analyzed, which means that the biochemical perspective was not included. Additionally, the density of S. breviflora seeds but did not significantly reduce the seed germination rate, and the awns did not inhibit seed germination. Compared with the no grazing and heavy grazing treatments, S. breviflora seeds made full use of the spreading functions of awns and adopted the ecological strategies of maintaining the seed germination percentage and “opportunism” to ensure population maintenance.The results suggested that heavy grazing reduced the phenotypic characteristics of 10.7717/peerj.6654/supp-1Supplemental Information 1Click here for additional data file.


No relationship was found between alcohol consumption and triglyceride concentration. It is difficult to formulate unequivocal recommendations regarding alcohol intake in MetS prophylaxis due to its different association with particular MetS components. In order to explain the causal relationship between alcohol consumption and MetS and its components, prospective studies are necessary.The relationship between alcohol consumption and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome is not consistent and may vary between populations, depending on age, sex, ethnicity, cultural traditions and lifestyle. We have hypothesized that moderate alcohol consumption will be associated with the lowest risk of the syndrome. The aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between the current consumption of alcohol and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components. The research material includes data obtained from 12,285 men and women, in the age range of 37–66 years. Multiple logistic regression was used in the statistical analysis. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) was defined according to the International Diabetes Federation. In men, a current consumption of >30 g of alcohol/day was significantly associated with a higher risk of metabolic syndrome , high blood pressure , elevated glucose concentration , and abdominal obesity . In women, the consumption from 10.1 to 15.0 g of alcohol was associated only with a higher risk of abnormal glucose concentration  In both sexes, current alcohol consumption was associated with higher high-density lipoproteins (HDL)-cholesterol concentration ( Alcohol intake is one of the seven main risk factors in the world for both deaths and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) . Its conThe association between drinking alcohol and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components is not consistent. One prospective study found a linear increase in metabolic syndrome risk with an increase in alcohol consumption . Park shPatterns of alcohol consumption and their relationships with health may vary in different populations, depending on age, sex, ethnicity, cultural traditions, socioeconomic status and lifestyle ,15,16. TThe research material that was analyzed was the data of 13,172 participants of the PONS project (Polish-Norwegian Study), which was carried out in the years 2010 to 2012 in the Świętokrzyskie region in Poland. Men and women aged 37–66 participated in this cross-sectional study regarding health. We have described in detail the recruitment process as well as the research method and techniques used in previous papers . The proThe Ethics Committee from the Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology in Warsaw approved the study (No. 69/2009/1/2011). Permission to analyze the above data was issued in 2016 by the Committee on Bioethics at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Jan Kochanowski University, Kielce, Poland, (No. 45/2016). 2O2 (with peroxidase). The concentration of HDL-cholesterol was obtained using the colorimetric non-precipitation method with polyethylene glycol modified enzymes . The laboratory tests were performed with the Integra 800 instrument . The coefficient of variation (CV) for the parameters determined in the internal quality control were 1.7% for glucose, 2.7% for HDL-cholesterol, and 1.5% for TG. The variation coefficient of the CV (V2) corrected set in the external quality control for the methods used in the study was as follows: For glucose, 2.5%, for HDL-cholesterol, 4.6% and for TG, 2.5%. The internal quality control of the tested parameters was based on the following control materials: PreciControl ClinChem Multi 1, reference number: 05947626190; PreciControl ClinChem Multi 2, reference number: 05947774190. A blood pressure (BP) measurement on the right upper limb artery in a sitting position was performed twice. Here, anthropometric measurements included body height measurements, using a stadiometer . To measure body weight, a body composition analyzer  was used, and waist circumference was understood as half the distance between the lower edge of the rib and the upper iliac crest, which was measured with a non-elastic metric tape measure. The assumed measuring accuracy was 0.1 cm and 0.1 kg. Body height and weight measurements were used to calculate the body mass index .All laboratory analyses of fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides (TGs) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol) concentrations were performed in one hospital laboratory that meets the standards of the National Reference Laboratory. The glucose concentration in the blood serum was measured using the enzyme method with hexokinase. The concentration of TGs was assessed using the enzymatic method, with phosphoglycerol oxidase and determination of HMetS was defined according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Task Force for Epidemiology and Prevention guidelines. MetS classification, according to IDF, unlike other classifications, takes into account ethnic differences of waist circumferences. Due to the lower cut-off points defining abdominal obesity, this classification allows earlier diagnosis of MetS, i.e., with less excess weight. It also identifies individuals with MetS who have the correct BMI more accurately. MetS was diagnosed for subjects with at least three of five of the following components: Abdominal obesity (waist circumference ≥94 cm in men and ≥80 cm in women), elevated BP , elevated fasting glucose (≥100 mg/dL or drug treatment of elevated glucose or previously diagnosed type 2 diabetes), hypertriglyceridemia (≥150 mg/dL or drug treatment for elevated TG or previously diagnosed dyslipidemia), and reduced HDL-cholesterol  . The folAlcohol intake was obtained using a standardized questionnaire that included questions on the participants usual consumption of vodka, beer, and wine during the previous year. For every participant, a daily intake of pure ethanol was calculated. The calculation took into account the average content of ethanol in each type of drink consumed and the frequency of its consumption. Since there are significant differences in the amount of alcohol consumed by men and women, different categories of consumption in both sexes were used in the analysis. All individuals were divided into five groups: Nondrinkers  and drinkers, in bands of 0.1–10.0, 10.1–20.0, 20.1–30.0, and >30.0 g of ethanol/day in men, and 0.1–5.0, 5.1–10.0, 10.1–15.0, and >15 g of ethanol/day in women. −1) [The sociodemographic variables included sex, age (years), education , and marital status . Subjects were classified as current, former, and non-smokers. Current smokers were respondents who smoked cigarettes every day during the study, former smokers were those who had not smoked for longer than six months. The rest of the participants comprised the group of non-smokers. As one serving of coffee, one standard 250 mL mug was adopted. Physical activity (PA) was evaluated with the use of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Here, the IPAQ was used to collect information on the frequency and duration of all physical activities  done by respondents during the last week, connected with their professional work, housework, active movement, recreation, and sports. Total PA was presented in metabolic equivalents (MET/min/week−1) .n, %). Differences in baseline characteristics between individuals with diagnosed MetS and the control group were evaluated through the Mann–Whitney U test or the chi-square test, depending on the distribution of each feature. The analyses were performed separately for both sexes. The multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the prevalence of MetS. Non-drinkers were adopted as the reference group. Analyses were repeated with each MetS component in the binary form, based on standardized cutoff values . Three models were adopted in the logistic regression analysis: Model I—unadjusted; model II—adjusted for age, education, physical activity, coffee consumption (continuous variables) and marital status , smoking ; and Model III—additionally adjusted for BMI. A p value <0.05 was assumed statistically significant for all calculations. All data were analyzed using the Statistical Package Statistica software .All continuous variables were expressed as means and standard deviations (X ± SD). The categorical variables were reported as frequencies and percentages  the risk of MetS was significantly higher compared to non-drinkers in all three models . In womeThe highest alcohol consumption in men (>30 g/day) was associated with a greater risk of abdominal obesity, but only in model II, which adjusted for age, marital status, education, smoking, drinking coffee and physical activity . The addConsumption of more than 30 g of alcohol per day increased the risk of high blood pressure in men in all three models . In womeThe highest alcohol consumption significantly increased the risk of elevated glucose concentration in all three models in men . In womeIn men who drink >10 g alcohol/day, the risk of reduced HDL-cholesterol concentration decreased significantly with the increase in intake in both the unadjusted model and the two adjusted models . In womeThere were no significant relationships between alcohol consumption and triglyceride concentration in men . In womeThe study shows the existence of links between the current alcohol consumption and MetS risk, but the strength and direction of these relationships may differ in both sexes and may be different for individual MetS components. In the analysis, we adopted a half-dose of alcohol for women compared to men due to differences in body composition and alcohol metabolism between men and women. Nevertheless, we did not find in women, similar to men, an increased risk of MetS and its components (except glucose) in the highest categories of alcohol consumption. This may be due to the fact that women drinking more than 10 g of ethanol/day were more than three times less prevalent than men drinking more than 20 g of ethanol/day respectively. The increased risk of MetS in the highest category of alcohol consumption in men, and the lack of such association in women, may also be the result of other behaviors in the women surveyed which are more favorable to health, e.g., a lower percentage of current and former smokers, as well as a healthier diet. The results of other authors are also quite diverse. In the Korean population, consumption of 0.1 to 5.0 g of alcohol/day was associated with a significantly lower prevalence of MetS . HoweverThe results of the research on the relationship between alcohol consumption and individual MetS components are also ambiguous. Freiberg et al. showed a lower risk of abdominal obesity in both drinkers of ≥1 and ≥20 alcoholic drinks per month, compared to drinkers of <1 alcoholic drink/month . In turnYoon et al. observed that the daily intake of ≥30 g of alcohol increased blood pressure in men , which iStoutenberg et al. observed links between moderate and heavy alcohol consumption and a high concentration of fasting glucose in men , while iCurrent research suggests that the relationship between alcohol consumption and triglyceridemia is J-shaped, and triglyceridemia is lowest in people who drink 10–20 g/alcohol per day . In the In a long-term 6-year study, a non-linear, umbrella-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption and HDL-cholesterol concentration was reported . HDL-choThe limitation of this study is, above all, the cross-sectional design of the study. There is also the risk of imprecisely determining the amount and frequency of alcoholic beverages drunk by the study participants. In addition, among non-drinkers, we were unable to separate recent abstainers from lifetime abstainers. Interpreting the results regarding the relationship between alcohol consumption and MetS risk may also be hindered by the multidirectional effects of alcohol on individual components whose MetS is a compilation. Sun et al. even suggest that it is more appropriate to estimate the impact of alcohol consumption on individual components than on MetS as a whole . In addiIn men, a current consumption >30 g of alcohol per day was significantly associated with a higher risk of MetS, high blood pressure, increased glucose concentration, and abdominal obesity. In women, alcohol consumption from 10.1 to 15.0 g was only associated with a greater risk of abnormal glucose concentration. In both sexes, current alcohol consumption was associated with a higher concentration of HDL-cholesterol, while no significant associations between alcohol intake and triglyceride concentration were found.It is difficult to formulate unequivocal recommendations regarding alcohol consumption in MetS prophylaxis due to its different impact on particular MetS components. In order to explain the causal relationship between alcohol consumption and the metabolic syndrome and its components, prospective studies are necessary.


Background: The aim was to examine the mediating role of basic psychological needs and job satisfaction in the relationship between the gender effect on health problems and psychological well-being for health professionals in Europe in 2015. Methods: Two multiple partial mediation analyses were conducted in order to test the partial mediation of both basic needs and job satisfaction, with gender as the independent variable and health problems or well-being, respectively, as the dependent variables, with a sample of health professionals. Results: Women reported lower psychological well-being and more health problems than men. The total effect of gender on both well-being and health problems was found to be significant. Regarding multiple mediation analyses: (a) the effect of gender on well-being was fully mediated by global basic need satisfaction and job satisfaction, such that gender did not present a significant direct effect and (b) the effect of gender on health problems was partially mediated by global basic need satisfaction and job satisfaction, such that the direct effect remained significant. Conclusions: The fulfillment of basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as postulated within self-determination theory, was hypothesized to play a mediating role in the relationship between gender and well-being. Since significant gender differences in basic need satisfaction were observed, such a mediator should be controlled in order to achieve a significant relationship between gender and well-being when basic needs comes into play. The current study adds to the research emphasizing the need for satisfaction as a promising mechanism underlying for female health professionals’ well-being. Research on physical and mental health has consistently concluded that health professionals are an occupational group that is at risk because of the effects of psychosocial hazards or psychological difficulties, such as stress, fatigue, or burnout . It is dThe basic reason could be that health professionals traditionally face high workload, time pressure, shift work, emotionally demanding tasks, or stressful environments in direct contact with patients, sometimes witnessing acute traumas and very painful situations .Furthermore, previous empirical studies evidence the job dissatisfaction among professionals in health-care occupations ,8,9. HowNumerous studies conclude that human resource (HR) management is critical in providing and ensuring high quality in the health care system . Along tTherefore, the difficult work environments of health professionals should be addressed through HR practices that focus on finding and retaining efficient and effective professionals to empowering health professionals , and on To our knowledge we are not aware of any study guided by SDT theory that has analysed the mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction and job satisfaction with work conditions in the relationship between gender and health and well-being in the health professional context from different European countries. Therefore, further research is necessary to uncover whether this association function in the same way between the two sexes in a predominantly female sector. In this sense, Javadi et al.  concludet-test in order to determine whether they are significant in different European countries. Second, two multiple partial mediation analyses were conducted to test the partial mediation of both basic needs’ satisfaction and satisfaction with job conditions, with gender as the independent variable and health problems or psychological well-being, respectively, as the dependent variables. Based on the conceptualization above, the current study hypothesized that women migh thave lower levels of all three forms of need satisfaction and job satisfaction, which would in turn predict lower psychological well-being and more health problems. This study proposes drawing on SDT in satisfying the basic psychological needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy strongly contributes to predicting health professionals’ job satisfaction, physical health, and well-being. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the mediating role of basic psychological needs and satisfaction with work conditions in the relation between the gender effect on health problems and psychological well-being for health professionals in European countries in 2015. For this purpose, first, gender differences in psychological distress and health problems in health professionals were analysed by Data for the present research were collected from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) administered in 2015 by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The survey provides insight into the working environment and employment situation throughout 35 countries. The target population was all residents of the countries that are mentioned above aged 15 or older  and was employed at the time of the survey. In light of the objective of this investigation, we obtained a subsample of 1774 health professionals . All of these groups are included in the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (commonly referred to as NACE), NACE Code 85: Health and social work. Data are available through Eurofound website .The subsample consists of 1466 women and 307 men , who are, on average, 43.71 years of age. With regard to their educational level, 473 individuals had accomplished at least secondary education level (26.7%), 157 had reached post-secondary non-tertiary education (8.9%), and 1143 respondents had completed tertiary education (64.4%). The employees’ current job tenure was approximately 13.6 years, 58.5% of jobs were in the public sector, and the largest percentage of employees was concentrated in large organizations with more than 250 employees (45.6%).t-tests) and job satisfaction (χ2 test). These analyses were conducted with SPSS version 21.0 . To determine the geographical distribution of gender differences for these two variables and their significance levels throughout Europe, the results were depicted in two grayscale choropleth maps by using a Geographic Information System (GIS).Descriptive statistics and internal consistency reliability in the study variables. A maximum likelihood imputation procedure that was based on the expectation-maximization algorithm was conducted to address missing values. Correlational analyses were performed to examine associations between variables in the full sample. Pearson correlations were calculated with the scores for the scales, while the associations with the categorical measure of job satisfaction were calculated using Kendall’s tau correlations. Concerning the first aim of the study, gender differences in health problems and psychological well-being were examined by performing Student’s T-tests with the overall sample and by country. Mean differences are reported (m.d.). Gender differences were also analyzed for psychological basic needs (Student’s 1), and satisfaction with work conditions (b2), on Y  were analysed. Furthermore, the total effect of gender on Y was calculated (c), as well as gender effects on basic psychological need satisfaction (a1) and on satisfaction with work conditions (a2). The effect of basic psychological needs’ satisfaction on satisfaction with work conditions was also examined (d21). These regression analyses were carried out with the full sample of European health professionals and by country, with F statistics and R2 values reported and statistical significance at p < 0.05. Moreover, countries were grouped according to welfare state regimes, following previous studies [Concerning the second aim of the study, two multiple partial mediation analyses were conducted in order to test the partial mediation of both basic needs satisfaction and satisfaction with job conditions in the gender effect on health problems and psychological well-being, respectively. In these analyses, the average overall score for basic psychological needswas introduced to simplify the analyses. A regression-based macro called Process v3.0, as developed by Hayes , was use studies ,37. The t(535) = 3.00, p = 0.003, md = 0.30. More health problems were reported by women in conservative regimes, t(535) = −3.79, p < 0.001, md = −0.90, and in post-communist regimes, t(499) = −3.57, p < 0.001, md = −0.93.The means and standard deviations of the study variables and the sample composition by country and by welfare state regime are described in p values are indicated). First, the total effect of gender (represented between parentheses) on psychological well-being  was found to be significant, F = 13.40, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.01. Second, the relationships between gender and psychological well-being were found to be fully mediated  by the direct and positive effects of need satisfaction  and the satisfaction with work conditions , F = 137.60, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.22. Furthermore, there were significant effects of gender on need satisfaction , F = 25.67, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.01, and by need satisfaction on satisfaction with work conditions , F = 205.88, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.21. Thus, lower scores for need satisfaction were observed in women  than in men , t(1441) = 3.37, p = 0.001, m.d. = 0.13, and need satisfaction had a positive impact on the satisfaction with work conditions. No significant gender differences in satisfaction with work conditions were observed . p values indicated. First, the total effect of gender on health problems (between parentheses) was significant , F  = 31.31, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.02. Second, the three direct effects on health problems were also significant, F = 71.71, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.11. Thus, the gender effect remained significant , when the mediation of basic needs  and satisfaction with work conditions  were included in the model. The negative effects of both mediators were found to partially mediate the gender differences in health problems in the full sample. Thus, lower need satisfaction and lower satisfaction with work conditions explained more health problems. The effects on the mediators are similar to those that are described in the previous section. The direct effect models and the total effect models to explain health problems by country and by welfare state regime are shown in This study seeks to contribute to the literature by exploring the mediating role of basic psychological needs and job satisfaction in the relation between the gender effect on health problems and psychological well-being in the health professional work context in Europe. In the present study, the levels of psychological well-being, health problems, and basic psychological need satisfactions employees in the European health sector differed between genders, whereas the levels of job satisfaction did not. The significant findings are that basic psychological needs satisfaction partially mediated the relationships between the gender effect and health problems and fully mediated the relationships between gender and psychological well-being. This result suggests that basic need satisfaction might play a more central role in exclusively mediating the link between gender and psychological well-being. As shown in On the other hand, this finding is consistent with previous studies that provide scientific evidence that health professionals are an occupational group at risk for psychological impairments and job dissatisfaction because of their high work . Indeed,Future studies should continue searching for other potential mediators that may contribute to the relationship between gender and psychological well-being and health problems in the organizational and workplace contexts. From a practical perspective, our research based on SDT  focused Female health professionals in Europe reported lower psychological well-being, lower levels of basic psychological need satisfaction, and more health problems.Basic psychological need satisfaction is an underlying mechanism for explaining gender differences in psychological well-being.Basic psychological need satisfaction partly explains gender differences in health problems.These results support the application of Self Determination Theory (SDT) in the workplace health context and confirm its value in contributing strongly to predict health professionals; job satisfaction, physical health, and well-being.


This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of keratinase (KE) on the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA) in rice bran, cottonseed meal (CSM), rapeseed meal (RSM), corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), and peanut meal (PNM).Twelve crossbred barrows  fitted with T-cannulas at the terminal ileum were allotted to a 12×6 Youden Square design with 12 diets and 6 periods. The treatment diets included rice bran, CSM, RSM, corn DDGS, PNM, or corn-soybean meal (cSBM) supplemented with 0.05% KE or not. Diets were given to pigs at a level of 3% BW in two equal meals. The endogenous AA losses were the mean results of three previously experiments determined by a same nitrogen-free diet fed to pigs. Pigs had free access to water during the experiment.The KE supplementation improved (p<0.05) the AID and SID of Met, Thr, Val, Asp, Cys, and Tyr in rice bran. Inclusion of KE increased (p<0.05) the AID and SID of Met and Val in CSM. The KE supplementation decreased (p<0.05) the AID and SID of His in RSM and all measured AA except for Arg, Met, Trp, Val, Gly, and Pro in corn DDGS. There was an increase (p<0.05) in AID and SID of Leu, Ile, Met, Ala, Cys, Ser, and Tyr in PNM supplemented with KE compared with that without KE. Inclusion of KE increased (p<0.05) the AID and SID of crude protein, Leu, Ile, Phe, Thr, Asp, and Ser in cSBM.This study indicated that KE had different effects on ileal AA digestibility of feedstuffs for growing pigs, which can give some usage directions of KE in swine feed containing those detected feedstuffs. Bacillus licheniformis PWD-1 [Keratinase (KE), one of the proteases, was first isolated from the culture medium of is PWD-1 . Compareis PWD-1  and can is PWD-1 –6. Previis PWD-1 . It was is PWD-1 –10.Soybean meal is the primary protein source of swine feed in many countries. Some soybean proteins, such as glycinin, β-conglycinin, trypsin inhibitors, lectins and other minor proteins, can negatively impact on intestinal morphology of pigs –13. CottThe trial protocol including animal care and use was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of China Agricultural University .Bacillus licheniformis PWD-1, after 48 h fermentation at 50°C, followed by concentrating and spray-drying [The KE was provided in the premix Cibenza DP100  and which was produced by y-drying . The KE This study was conducted to evaluate the AID and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of CP and AA in five feed feedstuffs of rice bran, CSM, RSM, corn DDGS, and PNM in the Metabolism Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre . A cSBM diet that is commonly used in pig feed was also evaluated in the experiment. Twelve crossbred barrows  fitted with T-cannula at the terminal ileum, using a method adapted from Stein et al , were alEach experimental period lasted for 7 d where the first 5 d were considered the adaptation period followed by 2 d of digesta collection. Digesta was collected continuously from 08:00 to 17:00 using procedures described by Stein et al . DigestaAt the end of the experiment, ileal digesta was thawed and mixed within animal and diet, and a sub-sample of 500 mL was taken. Digesta samples were lyophilized in a vacuum-freeze dryer  and ground through a 1-mm screen for further chemical analysis.The DM, CP, and AA were analyzed in the feedstuffs, diets, and digesta. Feedstuffs were also analyzed for ether extract (EE), crude fiber (CF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and ash. All experimental diets and digesta were analyzed for Cr to calculate the concentration of indigestible index chromic oxide. The DM, CP, and ash in samples were analyzed according to AOAC procedures   and EE wN HCl at 110°C for 24 h and then analyzed using an Amino Acid Analyzer . Sulfur-AA (Met and Cys) content of digesta, diets, and feedstuffs was determined using cold performic acid oxidation overnight and hydrolyzed with 7.5 N HCl at 110°C for 24 h before measurement using an Amino Acid Analyzer . Estimates of Trp were made by hydrolyzing samples with LiOH for 22 h at a constant temperature of 110°C and then analyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography . Analysis of the Cr concentration in all diets and digesta was conducted using a polarized Zeeman Atomic Absorption Spectrometer  after nitric acid-perchloric acid wet ash sample preparation. All chemical analyses were conducted in two duplicates. The analyzed composition of feedstuffs is presented in Determination of AA was conducted according to Li et al  where saThe AID of AA was calculated using the following method described by Stein et al :d and Crd were the concentrations of AA and Cr in the ileal digesta (g/kg of DM) and AAf and Crf were the concentrations of AA and Cr in the test diets (g/kg of DM). The SID of AA was calculated using the following equation:Where, AAend is the basal endogenous loss of an AA (g/kg of DM intake). The AID and SID of CP were determined using the same two aforementioned equations.In which IAAData were checked for normality, and outliers were detected and then removed using the UNIVARIATE procedure of SAS . Outliers were defined as those beyond the range of mean±3 times standard deviation. Data were then analyzed using MIXED procedure of SAS, and the statistical model included the fixed effects of feedstuff and KE supplementation, and their interaction effect, and the random effects of animal and period. Pig was treated as the experimental unit. Means were calculated using the LSMEANS statement, and multiple comparison were adjusted using Tukey’s test. Because the interaction effects between feedstuff and KE were significant for almost all the parameters we tested (AID and SID of AA), data were then analyzed within each feedstuff by one-way analysis of variance using the general linear model procedure of SAS to test the effects of KE within each ingredient. An α value of 0.05 was used to assess statistical significances among treatment means.The results of AID and SID of CP and AA are shown in Effects of KE on the AID of AA in feedstuffs analyzed within each diet in our study are shown in Effects of KE on the SID of AA in feedstuffs analyzed within each diet in our study are shown in In our study, the chemical composition of the rice bran was within the ranges reported by Shi et al . The cheBacillus licheniformis PWD-1 was about 7.5 [The KEs are mainly serine and metalloproteases, which could hydrolyze protein without being denatured or broken down by the gastrointestinal tract in broiler chickens . It may bout 7.5 , which ibout 7.5 . TherefoThe significant interaction effect between feedstuff and KE supplementation indicated that the effect of KE on AA digestibility can be influenced by treatment diets. Considering the more abundant AA contents in cSBM diet and PM diet, and the relative poor AA contents in rice bran diet and corn DDGS diet, it is reasonable to observe the greatest AID and SID of almost all the AAs in cSBM and PM diets, while the lowest AID and SID of almost all the AAs in rice bran and corn DDGS diets. The improved AID of CP and AA in the KE supplemented cSBM diet agreed with Wang et al  where thThe KE significantly improved the AID and SID of Met in rice bran, CSM, and PNM but not in RSM and cSBM. We supposed that this is related to the relative lower concentration of Met in the former three feedstuffs, considering relative less disulfide bonds that KE may need to break down. In rice bran, both the AID and SID of Met and Cys improved more than 20%, which can also primarily attribute to break down effect of KE on disulfide bonds of Met and Cys. In CSM, KE only affected the AID and SID of Met and Val, but not the dispensable AA. In RSM, KE supplementation only improved the AID and SID of His. In addition to Met, KE also improved the AID and SID of branched AA of Leu and Ile and some dispensable AA in PNM.Although KE supplementation significantly improved the AID and SID of some AA in the five detected feedstuffs, it only significantly increased the CP digestibility in cSBM. In the current study, the CP levels in the detected diets except for rice bran diet were similar to those reported by Wang et al , who alsThis study indicated that KE had different effects on the ileal AA digestibility of feedstuffs for growing pigs. In corn DDGS, KE reduced the ileal digestibility for almost all the AAs. These findings could give some directions for KE utilization in swine feed containing cSBM, corn DDGS, CSM, RSM, PNM, and rice bran.


Physical activity (PA) patterns track from childhood through to adulthood. The study aimed to determine the levels and correlates of sedentary time (ST), total PA (TPA), and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) in preschool-aged children. We conducted cross-sectional analyses of 1052 children aged three-to-four-years-old from six studies included in the International Children’s Accelerometry Database. Multilevel linear regression models adjusting for age, gender, season, minutes of wear time, and study clustering effects were used to estimate associations between age, gender, country, season, ethnicity, parental education, day of the week, time of sunrise, time of sunset, and hours of daylight and the daily minutes spent in ST, TPA, and MVPA. Across the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, and the USA, children in our analysis sample spent 490 min in ST per day and 30.0% and 21.2% of children did not engage in recommended daily TPA (≥180 min) and MVPA (≥60 min) guidelines. There was evidence for an association between all 10 potential correlates analyzed and at least one of the outcome variables; average daily minutes spent in ST, TPA and/or MVPA. These correlates can inform the design of public health interventions internationally to decrease ST and increase PA in preschoolers. Physical activity (PA) patterns track from childhood through to adulthood , making A key stage in the development of behavior change interventions is identifying variables which could either be potential targets to change behavior (mediators) or variables that could affect the outcome of the behavior change program (moderators). Therefore, identifying the key correlates of preschoolers’ sedentary time (ST) and PA is important for designing effective behavior change programs . NarratiCross-sectional analyses were carried out on data obtained from the International Children’s Accelerometry Database (ICAD), which has been described in detail elsewhere . In brien = 17). Participants aged two-years-old (n = 17) and participants from Australia (n = 7) were excluded due to the very small sample sizes for these groups. Data for the analysis sample were extracted from six studies: Ballabeina Study [For this paper, the analytical sample consists of children aged three-to-four-years-old who had at least three days (week and/or weekend days) of valid accelerometry data . To mainna Study —Switzerlna Study ,30,31—Bena Study ,33—UK; Cna Study —USA.; Iona Study ,36—USA.;na Study —UK.Physical activity was measured using waist-worn, uniaxial Actigraph accelerometers . Raw data files were processed using KineSoft version 3.3.20 . Non-wear time was defined as periods of 60 min of consecutive zeros allowing for two minutes of non-zero interruptions . A day wwww.timeanddate.com. The countries in our sample were all in the Northern Hemisphere and therefore, had the same seasons . The time of sunrise variable, time of sunset, and hours of daylight variables were categorized into before and after 07:00; before and after 19:00; and less than or more than 12 h, respectively.The following 10 potential correlates were examined: age, gender, country, season, ethnicity, parental education, day of the week (weekday vs weekend), time of sunrise, time of sunset, and hours of daylight. These variables were explored based on a combination of what was available and what had been identified as potential correlates by previous studies ,16,17. E2), as proposed by Snijders and Bosker [Participant characteristics were summarized using frequencies and percentages for categorical data. The percentage of children meeting the recommended daily guidelines of ≥180 min of TPA ,4,5,6 and Bosker , were cad Bosker ,44 sugged Bosker ,41. SensThe 1052 participants in the analysis sample  contribuX2 = 18.40, p < 0.001). When the hours of daylight were more than 12 h, a greater percentage of children met TPA  and MVPA  guidelines compared to when days were less than 12 h long. A greater percentage of children met TPA and MVPA guidelines when the time of sunrise was before 07:00 and the time of sunset was after 19:00 compared to being after 07:00 and before 19:00. No differences were observed for parental education.Participants spent an average of 490.18 min per day in ST see . Table 2This study aimed to determine the levels and correlates of objectively measured ST, TPA, and MVPA in preschool-aged children using pooled data from the ICAD, which has been processed and analyzed using standardized methods. Across four high-income countries, three-to-four-year-olds were sedentary for an average of over 8 h per day. Thirty percent of the preschool-aged children were not engaging in the recommended ≥180 min of TPA, and 21.2% were not getting ≥60 min of MVPA per day. Data by each hour suggest that the minutes spent in ST decreased throughout the day, and the dips in TPA and MVPA levels generally observed between 11:00 and 15:00 were more prominent on weekdays compared to weekends, and in the USA compared to the other three countries. There was evidence for an association between all 10 potential correlates analyzed and at least one of the outcome variables; average daily minutes spent in ST, TPA, and/or MVPA.Overall, 70.0% of our sample achieved ≥180 min of TPA, which differs to findings from the UK , AustralVisual inspection of the plots of ST by hour suggested that children spent fewer minutes in ST as the day progressed after an initial increase in ST levels until 09:00. In general, the figures showed that TPA and MVPA levels peaked either side of 11:00 and 15:00, with the peak observed after 15:00 being the highest level of PA reached in the day. Our findings are comparable to results from an Australian-based study  which fon = 419) and parental education (n = 386) data. We found that children were more sedentary on weekdays compared to weekends, which is consistent with a previous study which found that hour-by-hour ST levels tended to be lower on weekends compared to weekdays [Our findings from the regression analyses replicate those from other studies which found no association between age and ST ,52,53,54weekdays .It is well established that older preschoolers are more active than younger preschoolers ,22,25,54The strength of this study is that it adds to the limited literature on levels and correlates of objectively measured ST and PA in preschool-aged children. There have been a particularly limited number of studies which have previously examined ST and PA by ethnicity and parental education variables. Estimates for the ethnicity and parental education variables had large amounts of missingness. Therefore, we have assumed that these estimates would apply if the data were not missing. To our knowledge, there have been no previous literatures looking at differences in objectively measured ST/PA by country, time of sunrise, time of sunset, and hours of daylight in this age group. Consequently, there were no previous references to base our daylight variable categorizations on which may be a limitation in the analyses. As the data from the different studies within the ICAD have been processed in the same way, the results we present are a ‘fair’ comparison of levels of ST/PA across different countries which have not previously been possible. It is important to acknowledge that there are a relatively small number of children in each of the countries that were included in the sample. Therefore, our findings are not representative of each country’s population. The studies included in the analysis sample are all based in high-income countries; therefore, our results may not be generalizable to low-to-middle-income countries. Data used in this study were collected between 1998 and 2009. Therefore, the results may not be generalizable to the current cohorts of preschool-aged children, especially given childrens’ changing access to screens . We wereUsing data from four high-income countries, we found that children spent over eight hours per day in ST and 30.0% and 21.2% of children were not engaging in recommended daily amount of TPA (≥180 min) and MVPA (≥60 min), respectively. The minutes spent in ST decreased throughout the day and the dips in TPA and MVPA levels observed between 11:00 and 15:00 were greater in the USA compared to Switzerland, Belgium, and the UK and on weekdays compared to weekends. Age, gender, country, season, ethnicity, parental education, day of the week, time of sunrise, time of sunset, and hours of daylight were all identified as potential correlates of minutes spent in ST and/or TPA and/or MVPA. The associations between ethnicity and parental education with ST and PA were derived from smaller sample sizes and should be investigated further in a larger population. Internationally, there is a need for public health interventions, to decrease ST and increase PA levels in three-to-four-year-olds. The potential correlates identified in this study can be considered in designing these public health interventions. However, further research is needed to determine modifiable factors associated with ST and PA in preschool-aged children to inform effective behavior change programs.


Purpose: The objective of this study was to develop and validate a nomogram for predicting the cancer-specific survival (CSS) in patients with Wilms' tumor (WT).Methods: Patients with WT diagnosed between 2002 and 2015 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were divided randomly into training and validation cohorts in this study. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to screen variables. A Cox proportional-hazards regression model and a nomogram were constructed based on variables that significantly affected the CSS in the training cohort. The nomogram for distinguishing and predicting the CSS was evaluated using the concordance index (C-index), the area under the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and calibration plots.Results: In total, 1631 patients from the SEER database were enrolled, with 1141 categorized into the training cohort and 490 into the validation cohort. All significant variables associated with CSS—age, the number of examined lymph nodes, SEER stage, and tumor size—were included in the nomogram. The C-index values of the nomogram in the training and validation cohorts were 0.746 and 0.703, respectively. The 3-, 5-, and 10-year AUCs were 0.755, 0.749, and 0.724, respectively, in the training cohort, and 0.718, 0.707, and 0.718 in the validation cohort. The calibration plots indicated the nomogram could accurately predict the 3-, 5-, and 10-year CSS.Conclusions: We have developed and validated the first nomogram for predicting the survival of WT patients. The nomogram is a reliable tool for distinguishing and predicting the CSS in patients with WT. Information provided by the nomogram may help to improve the clinical practices related to WT. Wilms' tumor (WT) is the most-common type of pediatric renal tumor, constituting about 95% of all pediatric renal cancers A nomogram is a predictive tool that appears as a simple graph based on a statistical predictive model This study aimed to incorporate some important factors obtained from analyzing data from the SEER database in the development and validation of a nomogram for predicting the cancer-specific survival (CSS) of patients with WT.Patients with WT from the SEER database were analyzed from 1973 to 2015 using the SEER*Stat software (version 8.3.5) The included patients were randomized into a training cohort and a validation cohort at a ratio of 7:3. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed to identify variables that significantly affect CSS. The model for the nomogram was constructed using the significant variables.The nomogram was validated by measuring discrimination and calibration in both the training and validation cohorts. Discrimination was evaluated using the concordance index (C-index) http://www.r-project.org/). A P value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS  and R software , white (76.8%), and had a tumor that was localized (44.8%), unilateral (93.5%), and without metastasis (79.2%). Almost half (45.9%) of the patients received radiation, and while 91.4% received chemotherapy. The characteristics in the training and validation cohorts were similar to those in the total cohort  was reported on in 2001 We chose the following 8 factors to construct the nomogram: age, sex, race, the number of examined LNs, SEER stage, tumor laterality, metastasis, radiation, chemotherapy, and tumor size. A good nomogram should include the minimum number of factors required to ensure good discrimination and calibration, and so this study applied multivariate Cox regression analysis to choose the most-important factors impacting the CSS of patients with WT. The final factors incorporated in the nomogram were age, the number of examined LNs, SEER stage, and tumor size; these four factors are easy to measure during diagnosis and treatment. The constructed nomogram was validated and evaluated based on discrimination (C-index and AUC) and calibration. It is widely known that a model has a relative good discrimination if its C-index and AUC exceed 0.7 It should be noted that there were several limitations in this study. First, some potentially important fact ors such as LOH at chromosomes 1p and 16q, the response to chemotherapy, and histology findings were not analyzed when constructing the nomogram because these factors are not available in the SEER database. Incorporating such important factors might further improve the discrimination and calibration of the model. Second, only “yes” or “no/unknown” information about radiotherapy and chemotherapy information can be obtained, rather than more-specific information such as the dose, type, and course of treatment. Third, only an internal validation of the nomogram was performed, and so the nomogram still needs to be externally validated using other populations with WT.In summary, we have developed and validated a nomogram for predicting the CSS in patients with WT. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first nomogram for predicting the survival of WT patients. We have demonstrated that it shows good discrimination and calibration. This nomogram may be instructive to establish a better prediction model by considering some potentially important factors we cannot obtain in the SEER database and external validation.


This study aims to assess the possible association of the most frequent BAs with EMSs in a large group of late adolescents and young adults and to evaluate their self-perceived quality of life (QoL).Behavioral addiction (BA) is a recent concept in psychiatry. Few studies have investigated the relationship between BA and early maladaptive schemas (EMSs). EMS is the core of Schema Therapy (ST). According to the ST model, psychiatric disorders result from the development of EMSs in response to unmet emotional needs in childhood. N = 637; 59.3% women). A forward-stepwise logistic regression model was run to identify which variables were associated with BAs.A battery of psychological tests assessing food addiction (FA), gambling disorder (GD), internet addiction (IA), and QoL was administered to 1,075 late adolescents and young adults  and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores. Finally, specific EMS domains and demographic variables were associated with each BA.Food addiction was more frequent among women and GD among men, while IA was equally distributed. Regarding the EMSs, participants with FA or IA showed significantly higher scores on all four-schema domains, whereas those with GD exhibited higher scores on disconnection and rejection schema domain, IA with all the schema domains (except for impaired autonomy and performance), and GD with impaired autonomy and performance schema domain. In conclusion, our findings suggest that EMS should be systematically assessed during psychotherapy of patients with BAs.Late adolescents and young adults with FA or IA have a lower perception of their mental and physical health. The most striking result is that FA appears to be associated with the  The construct of behavioral addictions (BAs) is a recent concept in psychiatry. In fact, it was first included in 2013 in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as an official psychiatric diagnosis. So, in clinical practice, it is necessary to distinguish between substance and BAs. In fact, even if BAs do not appear in the DSM-5, except for gambling disorder (GD) and Internet gaming disorder , they share the following characteristics with substances addiction: the age of onset in adolescence and early adulthood, the specific features , and the clinical course .Other problematic behaviors, such as food addiction (FA) and Internet addiction (IA), have aroused interest in recent years . AlthougAll of these addictions, however, are associated with a pattern of emotional dysregulation and cognitive distortions, which are typical of behaviors that people use to seek immediate gratification. It has been hypothesized that dysfunctional behavior could be a maladaptive strategy for dealing with negative emotions and feelings, such as frustration, inadequacy, and isolation . FurtherPerhaps the most relevant point to highlight is that research has mainly focused on the presence/absence of symptoms of BAs, whereas the etiological processes and peculiar characteristics of BAs have rarely been investigated. Moreover, some of these symptoms, such as withdrawal and tolerance, are difficult to apply and measure in relation to behaviors .disconnection and rejection: All the schemas of this domain are associated with a lack of security, safety, and stability in interpersonal relationships; (2) impaired autonomy and performance: People with schemas of this domain perceive themselves as insecure and suffer from a lack of autonomy, i.e., they are afraid that autonomous decisions may damage important relationships, or they expect to fail in situations where they must provide a performance; (3) excessive responsibility and standards: People with patterns in this domain typically put the needs, desires and wishes of others before their own, and, as a result, many of their efforts are directed toward satisfying the wishes of others; and (4) impaired limits: A lack of internal limits, an inability to form long-term goals, and a lack of responsibility to others.According to the theoretical model of Schema Therapy (ST), psychiatric disorders might result from the formation of early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) in response to unmet needs in childhood. EMSs are defined as “extremely stable and enduring themes, comprised of memories, emotions, cognitions, and bodily sensations regarding oneself and one’s relationship with others, that develop during childhood and are elaborated on throughout the individual’s lifetime, and that are dysfunctional to a significant degree” . The newimpaired autonomy and performance disconnection and rejection schema domain; IA associated with all the schema domains; and, GD associated with impaired autonomy and performance schema domain. Regarding the possible role of gender in the development of BAs, we suppose to find the male gender associated with GD, the female gender with FA, and no gender difference on IA.To assess the possible association of specific BAs  with EMSs and gender in a large group of late adolescents and young adults. More in detail, according to the previous research, we expect to find: FA associated with the (2)To evaluate their self-perceived QoL; in particular, we expect to find a worse QoL among participants with any BAs.First- and third-year university students and senior high school students from the same catchment area in southern Italy participated in the research.Through an anonymous online survey, the participants completed an informed consent form and the questionnaires, and they also provided their heights and weights. Answers of participants who did not complete all items were dropped from the electronic database automatically. Anonymity was guaranteed through the use of nicknames . No grant or economic compensation was offered to participants.N = 637; 59.3% women) with a mean age of 19.69 ± 1.7 (17–24) years old; 810 (80.5%) participants had middle school diplomas while 210 (19.5%) had high school diplomas. All participants were Caucasian. The present study was carried out in accordance with the latest version of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the local Ethical Committee. All participants provided informed consent before participating and parental consent was sought for those younger than 18 years of age.The final sample consisted of 1,075 participants (The Young Schema Questionnaire Short Form-3 (YSQ-S3) is a self-report instrument that consists of 90 items rated on a six-point scale (from “completely untrue of me” to “describes me perfectly”) that accounts for 18 EMSs . Differedisconnection and rejection, excessive responsibility and standards, impaired autonomy and performance, and impaired limits  is a self-report test that assesses problematic Internet use and consists of 20 items on 5-point Likert-type . The totSouth Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) is the most widely known and used questionnaire for the screening of GDs and is composed of 16 questions, including 37 items, which ask the subjects about their gambling activity and associated behaviors throughout their lifetime. There are 20 scoring items, all equally weighed, requiring a “yes” or “no” answer, so scores range from 0 to 20 . Scores The Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (YFAS 2.0) evaluates addiction-like eating behavior over the preceding 12 months . It cons1 Two types of scoring are possible: (1) a final symptom-count score can be calculated by adding up all of the endorsed symptoms; (2) the severity level is described according to the diagnostic thresholds for SRAD in DSM-5: mild FA (2–3 symptoms), moderate FA (4–5 symptoms), and severe FA (≥6 symptoms). Finally, every FA “diagnosis” requires the presence of the distress or impairment criteria. In this study, we used the cut-off≥6 symptoms (severe FA) to diagnose FA. Kuder–Richardson’s alpha for dichotomous variables was run and in this study was 0.880.Each of the 11 diagnostic criteria was considered present if one or more of the relevant questions for each criterion reached the threshold. For the specific threshold of each item, it is possible recover them in the validation of the scaleThe Short Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12) is a widely used instrument for assessing QoL and consists of 12 items derived from the SF-36 . These it-tests or ANOVA for continuous data, as appropriate. Additionally, Cohen’s d or η2 were, respectively, calculated for significant results in t-tests or ANOVA as measures of effect size (ES). Values of 0.2, 0.6, 1.2, and >1.2 can be, respectively, categorized into slight, small, moderate, and large ES for Cohen’s d  version 21.0 . Descriptive statistics included frequencies and percentages, and means and standard deviations, as appropriate. Differences between groups were assessed with chi-squared for categorical variables and ohen’s d . In the large ES . A forwaimpaired autonomy and performance and impaired limits schema domains. As displayed on the last row of the table, average scores of all domains increased with the association of two or more comorbid BAs.disconnection and rejection schema domain scores were associated with YFAS 2.0 positivity. Younger age and higher scores in the disconnection and rejection, excessive responsibility and standards, and impaired limits schema domains were associated with IAT positivity. Finally, male gender and impaired autonomy and performance were associated with being positive to the SOGS.The results of the logistic regression models are shown in n = 1075) according to the new four schema domains model proposed by The study aimed to assess the possible association of some BAs  with EMS and at evaluating their self-perceived QoL. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study regarding the investigation of EMSs on BA in a very large sample of young people (Thirty-two percent of participants had positive results to at least one BA. IA was the most frequent (17.1%), followed by FA (8.1%), and then GD (6.8%).Regarding gender distribution, in our study we found a different distribution between participants who scored positively to BAs. GD was more likely to occur among males, as previous reports have indicated . The preImpaired autonomy and performance and impaired limits were the schemas that had significantly higher scores among adolescents and young adults with gambling addictions.Participants who were screened positive to BAs expressed significantly higher values in their schema-domain scores. All four schema-domains results were more expressed in participants who were positive to FA and IA. Instead, a more specific pattern in maladaptive schemas emerged in people who were affected by GD. impaired limits domain were higher in the group of participants who were positive to all three of the investigated BAs. This is consistent with According to previous studies that have investigated the association between EMSs and eating psychopathology , our finRegarding QoL, we found that participants with IAs and FAs had low scores in physical and mental health, which was unlike those with high GD scores.Our data corroborate the results of previous research about impaired QoL among IA subjects . IA impaLiterature on QoL reports poorer values in all dimensions both among normal-weight and obese adolescents with FA . There iQuality of life was not found to be impaired among pathological gamblers. On the contrary, other studies found a stronger association with poorer mental health among gamblers than among non-gamblers . Our expInterestingly, QoL resulted is affected by the comorbidity between two or more BAs, especially the mental component. In other words, there is a summative effect of behavioral additions on the mental and physical health of young people.Logistic regression was performed to ascertain if demographic variables or schema domains were candidates for predicting the occurrence of BAs.impaired autonomy and performance). Many studies have demonstrated its increasingly young age of onset , and in the experience of pleasure , repeatedly reported in the literature among patients with BAs , 2018, mAlthough this study has many strengths , and GD with impaired autonomy and performance schema domain. For this reason, EMSs should be systematically assessed within psychotherapy of patients with BAs.Our findings partially confirmed our hypotheses. In fact, mental and physical health perceptions were impaired in IAs and FAs, but not in GDs. Nevertheless, the most striking result is that FA appears to be associated with the A priori, in line with the concept of personalized and precision medicine, ST could provide a real tailor-made therapy addressing the EMSs that seem to underpin the addictive behavior.The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee of Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Mater Domini. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.CS-G and PD contributed to the conception and design of the study. MA, MR, and RS organized the database. MA and CS-G performed the statistical analysis. MA wrote the first draft of the manuscript. MR and VV wrote sections of the manuscript. CS-G, PD, SJ-M, and FF-A critically revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, and read and approved the submitted version.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.


With the rise of the aging population, it is particularly important for health services to be used fairly and reasonably in the elderly. This study aimed to assess the present inequality and horizontal inequity for health service use among the elderly in China and to identify the main determinants associated with the disparity.This cross-sectional study was based on the sample of the survey of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) for 2015. The elderly was defined as individuals aged 60 and above, with a total of 7836 participants. We used the concentration index (CI) and the horizontal inequity (HI) to measure the inequity of the utilization of health services. The method of concentration index decomposition was utilized to measure the contribution of various influential factors to the overall unfairness.The CI for the probability and the frequency of outpatient use were 0.1102 and 0.1015, respectively, and the corresponding values of inpatient use were 0.2777 and 0.2980, respectively. The household consumption expenditure disparity was the greatest inequality factor favoring the better-off. The Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance made a pro-wealth contribution to inequality in frequency of health services utilization (17.58% for outpatient and 13.40% for inpatient). The contributions of New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme on reducing unfairness in inpatient use were limited (− 2.23% for probability of inpatient use and − 5.89% for frequency of inpatient use).There was a strong pro-rich inequality in both the probability and the frequency of use for health services among the elderly in China. The medical insurance was not enough to address this inequity, and different medical insurance schemes had different effects on the unfairness of health service utilization.The online version of this article (10.1186/s12939-018-0861-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. The population aging is an inevitable trend in the population age structure at a certain stage of social and economic development and has now become one of the common concerns of all countries. The United Nations defines a country or region where the aging population accounts for more than 7% of the total population as an aging society . While iEquitable access to and utilization of health services is a core objective for health care systems . For allIn view of this, the Chinese government has implemented many targeted policies to address the issue of inequity in the utilization of health services. The establishment of the Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI), New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS) and Urban Residents Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) is aimed at solving the problem of “expensive medical cost and difficult medical services” in China. With the implementation of these three kinds of health insurance schemes, the vast majority of the elderly in China were covered by medical insurance in 2011 . NonetheSeveral studies have investigated the influencing factors of inequity in the utilization of health services in the elderly. Cebada (2012) found that the ill-health indicators, such as comorbidities and chronic diseases, contributed greatly to pro-poor inequality in the utilization of health services . TerraneThis study, conducted from both the probability and frequency of health services utilization for the elderly in China, further determined whether the observed pattern of the inequality and horizontal inequity were patient-initiated or doctor-driven , 11 and The data utilized in this study was from the survey of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), which was conducted by the China Centre for Economic Research of Peking University, from July to August 2015. The survey used a questionnaire to collect data in relation to demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, health-related behaviors and lifestyles of those surveyed. Using multistage probability-proportional-to-size (PPS) sampling technique , a totalFour variables of health service utilization were employed. Participants were asked: (1) Have you visited a doctor for outpatient care in the last month? (2) How many times did you visit a doctor for outpatient care in the past month? (3) Have you visited a doctor for inpatient care in the previous year? (4) How many times did you visit a doctor for inpatient care in the past 12 months? The answers to questions (1) and (3) were “yes” or “no”, and the answers to questions (2) and (4) were “0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.”Andersen health service utilization model or behavioral model, developed in 1968, is applied internationally to research the influencing factors of health service utilization . In accoThe predisposing variables used as a proxy in our study were the following:gender, age, education level, marital status, and employment status.Age was categorized into three groups: 60–69, 70–79, and 80+ years. The other predisposing variables included education level , marital status , employment status .The enabling variables were represented by health insurance plan, pension, geographic location, and residency location. Annual per capita household consumption expenditure was also defined as a proxy of enabling variables, as household consumption expenditure is closely linked with well-being .Six major types of health insurance schemes were divided into: no health insurance, UEBMI, URBMI, NRCMS, other health insurance, and two kinds of health insurance. Pensions were classified as no pension, PPGI or BPIM (Pension Program of the Government and Institutions or Basic Pension Insurance of the Firms), NRPS , old age pension allowance, other pension, and two kinds of pension. The other enabling variables included geographic location , residency location . Per capita household consumption expenditure was divided into five groups by the quintile method.Additionally, need variables were represented by self-assessed health status, chronic disease, disability, disability in physical activity of daily living (PADL) and disability in instrumental activity of daily living (IADL).Self-assessed health status was divided into very good, good, fair, poor, or very poor. A total of 14 chronic diseases  were included in the study. Interviewees with physical disabilities, brain damage or mental retardation, vision problem, hearing problem or speech impediment were defined as disabilities. The activity of daily living (ADL) was derived from the Activity of Daily Living Scale developed by Lawton and Brody in 1969 . It is dIn this paper, the decision-making process of health service utilization can be divided into two phases. To some extent, the decision to see a doctor for the first time is influenced more by the patient, while the decision to repeat visits and referrals is more likely to be driven by the doctor . TherefoThe paper employed a concentration index (CI) developed by Wagstaff et al. to measure socioeconomic-related inequality in health care utilization. The CI is sensitive to the distribution of population in socioeconomic groups and ensures that the socioeconomic dimension of inequality of health services utilization is taken into account . Followii is the measure of health services utilization, μ is its mean, and ri is the relative fractional rank of an individual i in the distribution of per capita household consumption expenditure (i = 1 for the poorest and i = N for the richest).Concentration index (CI) can be written as:The concentration index (CI) decomposing method proposed by Wagstaff reveals socioeconomic-related inequality in the health care utilization. It decomposes the CI of health service utilization into the contribution of various influencing factors to overall unfairness and provides references for the relevant suggestions of this study. Taking health services utilization as the dependent variable, it is defined in the following linear model:v) including gender, age, education, marital status, employment status, enabling variables (yj) including health insurance schemes, pension, geographic location, residency location, household consumption expenditure, and need variables (zk), such as self-assessed health status, chronic disease, disability, PADL and IADL. δ, γ and ε denote a constant, coefficient and error term respectively.Where three types of explanatory variables are identified: predisposing variables (xConcentration index (CI) for health service utilization can be decomposed as follow:y, γj and γk are the marginal effects of predisposing, enabling and need variables, y, Cj and Ck represent the CI of predisposing, enabling and need variables, and GC is the error term.Where γHorizontal inequity (HI) is the concentration index (CI) that is need-standardized health service utilization . It reflSimilar to CI, HI ranges between [− 1,0), which indicates that the disproportionate distribution of health services utilization is more concentrated among the individuals with lower per capita household consumption expenditure and vice versa.We explored the relevant influencing factors of health service utilization from the probability and frequency and decomposed the concentration index (CI) for the probability of health service utilization by the probit model and the frequency of health service utilization by the general negative binomial model.All analyses were performed with the STATA 14.0 statistical software.The social demographic characteristics of the participants are presented in Table Table The CI for the probability CI = 0.1102) and the frequency (CI = 0.1015) of outpatient utilization were both positive, indicating that the better-off expenditure group had more advantages than the worse-off expenditure group in the probability and frequency of outpatient utilization  was much lower relatively to that for the frequency of outpatient use (6.33%). Urban residency contributed to reducing pro-rich inequality in outpatient service use.Among need variables, self-assessed health status of “health poor” and “health very poor” displayed a contribution in favor of the affluent, while “health good” and “health fair” were the opposite. The chronic diseases had a positive contribution to inequality for probability and frequency of outpatient use, and as high as 8.32% and 36.45%, respectively. The other variables provided relatively minor contribution to inequity. Other detailed data on the decomposition of inequality in outpatient use were shown in Additional file Table The per capital household consumption contributed as high as 104.25% and 332.68% to the inequity in probability and frequency of inpatient use. The contribution of health insurance varied according to the type of insurance schemes. The UEBMI had a positive contribution to the pro-rich inequity for probability (3.37%) and frequency (13.4%) of inpatient use. However, the corresponding contribution of NRCMS were − 2.23% and − 5.89%, which had a pro-poor impact on inpatient use. There were also great differences among a variety of pension schemes. The PPGI and BPIM contributed to increasing pro-rich inequality in inpatient use, while NRPS had the opposite effect. Urban residency, in the terms of probability and frequency of inpatient services use, alleviated the inequity. The employment status of being working, in the terms of probability and frequency of inpatient services use, exacerbated the inequity.With respect to need variables, “health poor” and “health very poor” made a pro-rich contribution, while “health good” and “health fair” reduced the pro-rich inequality. In addition, the presence of chronic diseases made a great contribution to the increase of pro-rich inequality and other variables made little contribution to the change of inequality. Other detailed data on the decomposition of inequality in inpatient use were shown in Additional file This article analyzed the unfairness of the utilization of health services for the elderly using data from CHARLS. We identified that there was a pro-wealth inequality and horizontal inequity in the utilization of health services among elderly in China. It was consistent with the conclusions of the previous relevant scholars’ research , 20, 21.More importantly, the paper revealed the contribution of various influencing factors to the inequity of health service use among the elderly in China. As Xie and Gong found, the greatest share of CI, deriving from contribution of per capita household expenditure to pro-rich inequality in both outpatient and inpatient use, demonstrated that the socioeconomic status was the most important factor influencing the utilization of health services , 23. ButIt was well-known that health insurance schemes can help to decrease inequality in the utilization of health services , 25, 26.In contrast, the result showed that NRCMS decreased the inequality for utilization of inpatient and outpatient. This was consistent with the results of previous studies , 23, 28.The presence of chronic diseases made a pro-rich contribution to inequality for outpatient use, which was significantly greater than its contribution in favor of rich to inequality for inpatient use. In China, four times health service surveys, conducted in 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013, showed that the prevalence of chronic diseases in high-income groups was higher than in low-income groups –33. TherThe employment status of being working increased the pro-rich contribution to the doctor-driven inequality for frequency of health services use (6.33% for outpatient and 16.05% for inpatient). Although no specific occupation type was involved in this study, this result corresponded to the findings of the UEBMI. This showed that the doctor-driven “SID” occurs mostly in working elderly. It could be explained that these people, having steady sources of income, brought more income to the doctors than unemployed individuals.There are several limitations to this study. Firstly, the present study uses a cross-sectional data for analysis, which prevents us from discussing its findings based on causal relationships. Secondly, it has to be noted that some of the factors affecting the demand for health services were excluded from the regression model. For example, distance to the nearest health facilities is likely to affect the fairness of universal access to health services. However, the supply variables from the CHARLS cannot completely replace the factor, which makes it possible to ignore the key influencing factors in the discussion.In conclusion, there was a strong pro-rich inequality in both the probability and the frequency of use for health services among the elderly in China. The medical insurance schemes was not enough to solve these unfair problems, and different medical insurance schemes had different effects on the unfairness of health service utilization.Additional file 1:Table S1. The comparison of demographic characteristics between the elderly using outpatient services and those not using outpatient services, China, 2015. Table S2. The comparison of demographic characteristics between the elderly using inpatient services and those not using inpatient services, China, 2015. Table S3. Contribution to inequalities in the probability of outpatient service utilization, China, 2015. Table S4. Contribution to inequalities in the frequency of outpatient service utilization, China, 2015. Table S5. Contribution to inequalities in the probability of inpatient service utilization, China, 2015. Table S6. Contribution to inequalities in the frequency of inpatient service utilization, China, 2015. (DOCX 54 kb)


Apteronotus leptorhynchus) housed in a large 2 m3 indoor tank based on their electric organ discharges (EOD). The tank contained four different natural-like microhabitats . In particular during the day individual fish showed preferences for specific habitats which provided appropriate shelter. Male fish with higher EOD frequencies spent more time in their preferred habitat during the day, moved more often between habitats during the night, and less often during the day in comparison to low-frequency males. Our data thus revealed a link between dominance indicated by higher EOD frequency, territoriality, and a more explorative personality in male A. leptorhynchus. In females, movement activity during both day and night correlated positively with EOD frequency. In the night, fish of either sex moved to another habitat after about 6 s on average. During the day, the average transition time was also very short at about 20 s. However, these activity phases were interrupted by phases of inactivity that lasted on average about 20 min during the day, but only 3 min in the night. The individual preference for daytime retreat sites did not reflect the frequent explorative movements at night.Electrocommunication and -localization behaviors of weakly electric fish have been studied extensively in the lab, mostly by means of short-term observations on constrained fish. Far less is known about their behaviors in more natural-like settings, where fish are less constrained in space and time. We tracked individual fish in a population of fourteen brown ghost knifefish ( Gymnotus, Westby, Eigenmannia, Hopkins, Brachyhypopomus, Hagedorn, Gymnorhamphichthys, Lissmann and Schwassmann, Weakly electric fish are nocturnally active. In the night, many pulse-type fish increase the rate of their electric organ discharges (EOD) , isolated stones, and aquatic plants  . Approval by an ethics committee was not required because our study was purely observational.Six male and eight female a spec.) . Fish we16, overlap = 90%) and tracked using a custom tracking algorithm comparing fundamental EOD frequency and the corresponding power pattern in the spectrograms of the different electrodes , fish were assigned to habitats by means of the electrode with the largest power at the fish's EOD frequency. Based on this spatial information we analyzed how the fish occupied the habitats. For each day and night, we computed the fraction of fish in each habitat by dividing the detections within one habitat by the total number of detections on that day or night . LikewisThe preferred habitat of a fish was defined as the habitat where the fish spent most of the time, i.e., had the most detections, for each day and night. Relative time spent in the preferred habitat was computed as the ratio between detections in the preferred habitat and the number of detections per day or night  for every day and night . The stat, i.e., the time spans a fish spent in one habitat between two habitat changes, were exponentially distributed  were close to typical Q10 values reported for these fish in the literature , whereas the occupation of the aquatic plants and the open water slightly decreased within the 10 days . The occupation of the stacked stones habitat was unaffected by the increasing fish count and did not change over the days of the experiment . Consequently, the increasing total fish count lead to an almost uniform increase in the number of fish occupying each habitat. None of the habitats was claimed exclusively by a dominant fish as a retreat site during the days.During the days, the addition of fish did not influence the distribution of fish in the habitats by a lot , top. Thr = 0.84, p < 0.01 and r = 0.79, p < 0.01, respectively), whereas the fraction of fish in the open water clearly decreased  and the occupation of the gravel habitat increased . The latter could be attributed to the experimental design. Food was supplied daily at the gravel habitat and gymnotiform fish have been shown to learn the location of food  (p > 0.2).The fish sometimes changed their preferred habitat from one day to another . Preferr= 0.005) . The pror = 0.49, p < 0.001). For males at night and females no such correlation was significant (Spearman's rank correlation: p > 0.1).In particular males stayed significantly longer in their preferred daytime habitat than in their preferred nighttime habitat . FurtherTo summarize, with the exception of male no. 2, the notion of a “preferred habitat” turns out to be misleading. Of course there is always a habitat where a fish spends most time during a day or night simply by definition. However, other habitats are visited as well  and evenp < 0.001, Cohen's d = 1.20), and stacked stones . Group sizes in the gravel (5.21 ± 2.61) and plant habitat were significantly larger than in both stone habitats and the open water .Many fish had similar habitat preferences. This should be reflected in the number of fish found in each habitat. For quantifying group sizes and compositions in the different habitats we analyzed the final 78 h where all fourteen fish were present in the tank. The mean group size differed between the habitats . Signifid < 0.24). There was no difference in habitat preferences between the sexes. Only in the open water at night the male ratio was considerably lower than expected (Cohen's d = 0.77).Interestingly, male ratios in all habitats were close to the expected 0.43 given by the overall number of six males and eight females . That is, high-frequency males were more territorial during the day and more explorative at night than low-frequency males. In females, transition counts correlated positively with EOD frequency during both day and night . Therefore, females with higher EOD frequency were more active.Fish frequently moved between habitats . The EODr = −0.49, p < 0.001). On the other hand, female transition counts during day and night were positively correlated . No such correlations existed for individual fish.Both males and females switched habitats significantly more often during the night than during the day . The morU = 0, p < 0.01, d = 4.05) and females , and were independent of sex .Averaged weighted transition times, Equation (2), better capture differences on long time scales, reflecting non-moving fish. On average weighted transition times were 20 min during the day and 3 min at night (p < 0.001) but small differences to a distribution generated for times of a fish entering a randomly chosen habitat drawn from a uniform distribution (Cohen's d: 0.02 < d < 0.08).Transitions of individual fish were independent from other fish entering the habitat (not shown). The distribution of times between a fish entering a habitat and another fish leaving the same habitat showed statistically significant (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Since we based the sex of the fish on EOD frequency only, we repeated all analysis for different EOD frequency thresholds separating males from females. For up to two males reassigned to females and vice versa the sex dependent results in the contexts of A. leptorhynchus, in a large indoor tank over 10 days. During the day, these nocturnal fish distributed themselves quite uniformly in habitats providing appropriate retreat sites between stones or plants. Activity at night was characterized by strong explorative movements where fish frequently changed between habitats and the open water. In male fish, high EOD frequency correlated with more territorial behavior during days and a more explorative personality at night, whereas in female fish EOD frequency was positively correlated with movement activity during both day and night.We observed movement patterns and habitat preferences in a population of fourteen brown ghost knifefish, Gymnotus (Jun et al., Despite the well supported common notion of weakly electric fish being nocturnally active (Lissmann and Schwassmann, Selection of an appropriate retreat site has profound effects on the animal's physiological condition and fitness (Rosenzweig, A. leptorhynchus preferred to occupy tubes alone, but females were sometimes found together in single tubes (Dunlap and Oliveri, In small tanks in the laboratory males often compete over tubes provided for refuge Hopkins, . In the In our study fish showed individual preferences for different habitats . The graA. leptorhynchus EOD frequency correlates with body size (Dunlap, The EOD and its modulations convey information about species, sex, status and intent of individuals (e.g., Hagedorn and Heiligenberg,  Dunlap, . Further Dunlap,  as well  Dunlap, , and in  Dunlap,  had high Dunlap, , as the  Dunlap, . Contrar Dunlap,  could he Dunlap, . In fema Dunlap, . However Dunlap, .Many laboratory studies on the behavior of weakly electric fish focused on specific questions that were tested in temporally and spatially limited experimental settings Hopkins, . Recent The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.Pure observational study on weakly electric fish.TR: designed the experiment, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript. LL and AW: measured and analyzed the data. JB: discussed the experiment and advised data analysis and wrote the manuscript.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.