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As societies urbanize, their populations have become increasingly dependent on the private sector for essential services. The way the private sector responds to health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic can determine the health and economic wellbeing of urban populations, an effect amplified for poorer communities. Here we present a qualitative document analysis of media reports and policy documents in four low resource settings-Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Nigeria-between January and September 2020. The review focuses on two questions: (i) Who are the private sector actors who have engaged in the COVID-19 first wave response and what was their role?; and (ii) How have national and sub-national governments engaged in, and with, the private sector response and what have been the effects of these engagements? Three main roles of the private sector were identified in the review. (1) Providing resources to support the public health response. (2) Mitigating the financial impact of the pandemic on individuals and businesses. (3) Adjustment of services delivered by the private sector, within and beyond the health sector, to respond to pandemic-related business challenges and opportunities. The findings suggest that a combination of public-private partnerships, contracting, and regulation have been used by governments to influence private sector involvement. Government strategies to engage the private sector developed quickly, reflecting the importance of private services to populations. However, implementation of regulatory responses, especially in the health sector, has often been weak reflecting the difficulty governments have in ensuring affordable, quality private services. Lessons for future pandemics and other health emergencies include the need to ensure that essential non-pandemic health services in the government and non-government sector can continue despite elevated risks, surge capacity to minimize shortages of vital public health supplies is available, and plans are in place to ensure private workplaces remain safe and livelihoods protected.

During Xenopus gastrulation, leading edge mesendoderm (LEM) advances animally as a wedge-shaped cell mass over the vegetally moving blastocoel roof (BCR). We show that close contact across the BCR-LEM interface correlates with attenuated net advance of the LEM, which is pulled forward by tip cells while the remaining LEM frequently separates from the BCR. Nevertheless, lamellipodia persist on the detached LEM surface. They attach to adjacent LEM cells and depend on PDGF-A, cell-surface fibronectin and cadherin. We argue that active cell motility on the LEM surface prevents adverse capillary effects in the liquid LEM tissue as it moves by being pulled. It counters tissue surface-tension effects with oriented cell movement and bulges the LEM surface out to keep it close to the curved BCR without attaching to it. Proximity to the BCR is necessary, in turn, for the maintenance and orientation of lamellipodia that permit mass cell movement with minimal substratum contact. Together with a similar process in epithelial invagination, vertical telescoping, the cell movement at the LEM surface defines a novel type of cell rearrangement: vertical shearing.

Introduction People with severe mental illness (SMI) die on average 10–20 years earlier than the general population. Most of these deaths are due to physical health conditions. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to determine the prevalence of physical health conditions and their associations with health-risk behaviours, health-related quality of life and various demographic, behavioural, cognitive, psychological and social variables in people with SMI attending specialist mental health facilities in South Asia. Methods and analysis We will conduct a survey of patients with SMI attending specialist mental health facilities in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan (n=4500). Diagnosis of SMI will be confirmed using the Mini-international neuropsychiatric interview V.6.0. We will collect information about physical health and related health-risk behaviours (WHO STEPwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS)); severity of common mental disorders (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7)) and health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L). We will measure blood pressure, height, weight and waist circumference according to WHO guidelines. We will also measure glycated haemoglobin, lipid profile, thyroid function, liver function, creatinine and haemoglobin. Prevalence rates of physical health conditions and health-risk behaviours will be presented and compared with the WHO STEPS survey findings in the general population. Regression analyses will explore the association between health-risk behaviours, mental and physical health conditions. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the ethics committees of the Department of Health Sciences University of York (UK), Centre for Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation (Bangladesh), Health Ministry Screening Committee and Indian Council of Medical Research (India) and National Bioethics Committee (Pakistan). Findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed articles, in local and international conferences and as reports for policymakers and stakeholders in the countries involved.

Peoples’ adherence to the guidelines and measures suggested in fighting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is partly determined by the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of the population. In this cross-sectional study, we primarily addressed two key issues. First, we tried to determine whether there is a significant difference in the estimated COVID-19 knowledge level from the online and phone survey methods. Second, we tried to quantify the knowledge and attitude of COVID-19 in Bangladeshi adult population. Data were collected through phone calls (April 14-23, 2020) and online survey (April 18-19, 2020) in Bangladesh. The questionnaire had 20 knowledge questions with each correct response getting one point and incorrect/don’t know response getting no point (maximum total knowledge score 20). Participants scoring >17 were categorized as having good knowledge. The percentages of good knowledge holders were 57.6%, 75.1%, and 95.8% in the phone (n=1426), online non-medical (n=1097), and online medical participants (n=382), respectively. Comparison between phone and online survey showed that, overall, online survey might overestimate knowledge level than that of phone survey, although there was no difference for elderly, poor, and rural people. Male gender, higher education, living in town/urban areas, good financial condition, and use of internet were positively associated with good knowledge. However, higher knowledge was associated with having less confidence in the final control of COVID-19. Our adult population-level estimates showed that only 32.6% (95% CI 30.1-35.2%) had good knowledge. This study provides crucial information that could be useful for the researchers and policymakers to develop effective strategies.

Plant communities are structured by both competition and facilitation. The interplay between the two interactions can vary depending on environmental factors, nature of stress, and plant traits. But, whether positive or negative interactions dominate in regions of high biotic and abiotic stress remains unclear.We studied herbaceous plant communities associated with a dwarf shrub Caragana versicolor in semi-arid, high altitude Trans Himalayan rangelands of Spiti, India. We surveyed 120 pairs of plots (within and outside shrub canopies) across four watersheds differing in altitude, aspect and dominant herbivores. Herbaceous communities within shrub canopies had 25% higher species richness, but similar abundance when compared to communities outside the canopy, with the shrub edge having higher diversity than the center of the canopy. Grasses and erect forbs showed positive associations with the shrub, while prostrate plants occurred at much lower abundance within the canopy. Rare species showed stronger positive associations with Caragana than abundant species. Experimental removal of herbaceous vegetation from within shrub canopies led to 42% increase in flowering in Caragana, indicating a cost to the host shrubs. Our study indicates a robust pattern of a dwarf shrub facilitating local community diversity across this alpine landscape, increasing diversity at the plot level, facilitating rare species, and yet incurring a cost to hosts from the presence of herbaceous plants. Given these large influences of this shrub on vegetation of these high altitude rangelands, we suggest that the shrub microhabitat be explicitly considered in any analyses of ecosystem health in such rangelands.

Seasonal germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana strongly influences overall life history expression and is the target of intense natural selection. This seasonal germination timing depends strongly on the interaction between genetics and seasonal environments both before and after seed dispersal. DELAY OF GERMINATION 1 (DOG1) is the first gene that has been identified to be associated with natural variation in primary dormancy in A. thaliana. Here, we report interaccession variation in DOG1 expression and document that DOG1 expression is associated with seed-maturation temperature effects on germination; DOG1 expression increased when seeds were matured at low temperature, and this increased expression was associated with increased dormancy of those seeds. Variation in DOG1 expression suggests a geographical structure such that southern accessions, which are more dormant, tend to initiate DOG1 expression earlier during seed maturation and achieved higher expression levels at the end of silique development than did northern accessions. Although elimination of the synthesis of phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) results in the elimination of maternal temperature effects on dormancy, DOG1 expression predicted dormancy better than expression of genes involved in ABA metabolism

L'objectif du programme "analyse du rôle des acteurs régionaux dans la mise en oeuvre des politiques communautaires agricoles et rurales" impliquait trois phases : l'élaboration de méthodes communes d'analyse des dix régions retenues, la collecte d'observations et leur analyse. Ce rapport se présente sous la forme de trois volumes. Le premier rassemble les réflexions méthodologiques et les hypothèses qui sous-tendent chacun des thèmes. Le second volume rassemble plusieurs textes rédigés pour le programme, concernant les systèmes nationaux de décentralisation, ainsi que la question du rôle spécifique des politiques de développement rural. Le dernier rassemble des textes écrits, à propos de chacune des régions étudiées, par les chercheurs impliqués dans les enquêtes régionales.