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The article presents a study on the fluctuations in the abundance of water birds during different seasons in order to plan conservation strategy at Navkhala Pond near Nagbhid in Maharashtra, India. Topics discussed include data on the mean abundance of water birds, observations on the conservation status of water birds, and gradients in abundance of water bird community.

In the Middle Ages and early modern period, masons inscribed symbols on dressed stonework and ashlars to identify the work of the individual or team that quarried or dressed the stone or of the workshop of origin. Other marks on stonework can provide instructions, such as the way to place the ashlar. Many of these marks still survive on the fabric of cathedrals, churches, palaces, important houses, castles, and other structures throughout Europe and beyond. This tradition journeyed from Europe to the New World with the stonemasons, although in the Americas very few have been reported. One of the buildings with masons' marks is the Cathedral of Santo Domingo (1521–1541) in the Dominican Republic on Hispaniola Island. In this study, 28 masons' marks were identified in 18 places inside and outside the cathedral: these included crosses, letters, geometric forms, and other symmetrical figures. All the marks are in discrete places, and most of them are difficult to find. So far, no scholars have reported stonemasons' marks on any building in the Caribbean. In the 16th century, the knowledge of construction techniques was a secret and transmitted from builder to builder through the guild or workshop. Therefore, these patterns serve as a tool to identify builders, their place of origin, construction methods, construction phases, and construction dates, among other things. For this reason, the aim of this research is to draw attention to masons' marks in the New World context as an aid to architectural history and archaeology, creating a database that will help to identify the masons who worked in the Americas in the 16th century, the dates of the construction phases, and the construction techniques they used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Current microbiome signatures for chronic diseases such as diabetic kidney disease (DKD) are mainly based on low-resolution taxa such as genus or phyla and are often inconsistent among studies. In microbial ecosystems, bacterial functions are strain specific, and taxonomically different bacteria tend to form co-abundance functional groups called guilds. Here, we identified guild-level signatures for DKD by performing in-depth metagenomic sequencing and conducting genome-centric and guild-based analysis on fecal samples from 116 DKD patients and 91 healthy subjects. Redundancy analysis on 1,543 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (HQMAGs) identified 54 HQMAGs that were differentially distributed among the young healthy control group, elderly healthy control group, early-stage DKD patients (EDG), and late-stage DKD patients (LDG). Co-abundance network analysis classified the 54 HQMAGs into two guilds. Compared to guild 2, guild 1 contained more short-chain fatty acid biosynthesis genes and fewer genes encoding uremic toxin indole biosynthesis, antibiotic resistance, and virulence factors. Guild indices, derived from the total abundance of guild members and their diversity, delineated DKD patients from healthy subjects and between different severities of DKD. Age-adjusted partial Spearman correlation analysis showed that the guild indices were correlated with DKD disease progression and with risk indicators of poor prognosis. We further validated that the random forest classification model established with the 54 HQMAGs was also applicable for classifying patients with end-stage renal disease and healthy subjects in an independent data set. Therefore, this genome-level, guild-based microbial analysis strategy may identify DKD patients with different severity at an earlier stage to guide clinical interventions.IMPORTANCETraditionally, microbiome research has been constrained by the reliance on taxonomic classifications that may not reflect the functional dynamics or the ecological interactions within microbial communities. By transcending these limitations with a genome-centric and guild-based analysis, our study sheds light on the intricate and specific interactions between microbial strains and diabetic kidney disease (DKD). We have unveiled two distinct microbial guilds with opposite influences on host health, which may redefine our understanding of microbial contributions to disease progression. The implications of our findings extend beyond mere association, providing potential pathways for intervention and opening new avenues for patient stratification in clinical settings. This work paves the way for a paradigm shift in microbiome research in DKD and potentially other chronic kidney diseases, from a focus on taxonomy to a more nuanced view of microbial ecology and function that is more closely aligned with clinical outcomes.

Medieval labor guilds encompassed various forms of mutual aid in their coverage, including health, accident, widowhood, orphanage, old age, and poverty insurance. They also addressed situations typical of commercial insurance, such as bankruptcy, theft, assault, and captivity. These provisions included private and family actions (like organizing burials and funerals) and maintained a pious character through charitable and benevolent activities. Not all guilds offered the same level of protection; thus, this paper will examine exceptional cases where labor formations guaranteed their members a high degree of mutualistic commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bats exhibit a variety of life‐history traits that can serve as valuable surrogate metrics of terrestrial ecosystem health. Here, we investigate how sonotype activity of hipposiderid bats covaries with habitat structure at finer spatial scales. We recorded passive echolocation calls and measured key habitat attributes in six rainforests in the Lomami and Yangambi landscapes, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Using bat passes as a measure of sonotype activity, we clustered echolocation calls based on call structure similarity to control for within‐sonotype variation in activity. Over 432 h of recording, we detected 370 passes matching a hipposiderid sonotype in three subgroups, recovering eight potential species. Open habitats negatively affected sonotype activity in the Hipposideros subgroup, which was associated with higher echolocation frequencies. Indeed, activity peaked in the early evening when mean post‐sunset temperature was above the nocturnal average and declined until early morning when mean temperatures dropped below the nightly average. All habitat variables were marginally correlated with the activity of the Doryrhina subgroup, whereas Macronycteris was more active in open habitats. Our findings indicate a probable flexibility of habitat use in lower echolocating bats and point to three possible foraging guilds that modulate hipposiderid bat responses to habitat structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In riverine ecosystems, human‐induced stressors related to flow regulation and bank stabilisation have accumulated over time. The restoration of these highly anthropised ecosystems has become a major issue over the last few decades, with ambitious stated objectives. However, while the individual impact of flow regulation and channelisation on river functioning has been extensively studied, the response of ecological communities to multiple co‐occurring human‐induced stressors remains largely unexplored.Using a sampling design based on five river reaches in the Rhône catchment, ranging from unregulated in flow and bedload transport to intensively regulated reaches, we sought to understand how the accumulation of anthropogenic stressors influenced the functional response of riparian plants communities on gravel bars. By using 12 ecological and morphological traits, we performed a classification analysis to construct six riparian guilds and investigated whether their representativeness, as well as the mean value of individual traits, varied with increasing levels of anthropogenic stressors.Species cover and redundancy in several guilds increased or decreased significantly with increasing pressures. Thus, the guild of small taproot herbs with low nutrient and soil moisture requirements (xero‐oligotro‐taproot species guild) and the guild of taproot herbs adapted to very bright and dry conditions (mesoxero‐mesotro‐taproot species guild) dominated the unregulated reaches with active bedload transport. Conversely, regulated reaches with stabilised baseflow and inactive transport were dominated by the guild of flood‐tolerant trees (hygro‐perennial tall species guild) and the guild of vegetatively reproducing and flood‐tolerant perennial herbs (hygro‐perennial clonal species guild).Analysis of individual traits revealed a shift in environmental conditions, from full light to shade tolerance and from dry to humid, with increasing anthropogenic stressors. In response to this decrease in drought levels, plants traits shifted from annual to perennial species, from sexual to vegetative strategies and from taproots to a fibrous root system.Our results highlight the accumulated effects that anthropogenic stressors can have on riparian communities, inducing a progressive shift in certain traits related to life history, reproductive strategies, and drought adaptations. This effect on a set of shared traits reveals the strong influence that human infrastructures can have on the ecological niche of species and the morphological adaptations of riparian vegetation.From an applied point of view, and for highly anthropised rivers, our results suggest that restoration actions targeting a single stressor will not be sufficient to reorient riparian plant communities towards an ecological state closer to reference systems. Since human‐induced stressors have often deeply altered the flow and sediment regimes of rivers, a more integrated approach based on the restoration of erosion and flooding processes is essential to allow the expression of a wider diversity of riparian plant communities and habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The habitat amount hypothesis (HAH) stresses the importance of total patch amount over the size of individual patches in determining species richness within a local landscape. However, the absence of some species from patches too small to contain a territory would be inconsistent with the HAH. Using the association of territory size with body size and the circle as optimal territory shape, we tested several HAH predictions of threshold patch occupancy and richness of 19 guilds of primarily insectivorous breeding birds. We characterized 16 guild-associated patch types at high spatial resolution and assigned one type to each guild. We measured functional patch size as the largest circle that fit within each patch type occurring in a local landscape. Functional patch size was the sole or primary predictor in regression models of species richness for 15 of the 19 guilds. Total patch amount was the sole or primary variable in only 2 models. Quantifying patch size at high resolution also demonstrated that breeding birds should be absent from patches that are too small to contain a territory and larger species should occur only in larger patches. Functional patch size is a readily interpretable metric that helps explain the habitat basis for differences in species composition and richness between areas. It provides a tool to assess the combined effects of patch size, shape and perforation on threshold habitat availability, and with total patch amount can inform design and/or evaluation of conservation, restoration or enhancement options for focal taxa or biodiversity in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ankara Barosu Dergileri is the property of Ankara Bar Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Economics & Political Sciences Academic Researches / Uluslararası Ekonomi ve Siyaset Bilimleri Akademik Araştırmalar Dergisi is the property of Journal of Economics & Political Sciences Academic Researches and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Biotropica is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This case study is based on an analysis of the copies of guild articles in the cartulary of the bishops of Olomouc—Jan Dubravius and Mark Khuen—which provide an insight into the content of guild articles in subject towns located on the estates of the Olomouc bishopric. Rather than analysing all the cop- ies of articles preserved in the cartulary of the two aforementioned bishops, the study aims to outline the functioning of selected guilds by analysing four ordinances. Each analysis of the articles is preceded by a brief outline of the economic development of the town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Community Connections: Studies on Education, Culture / Közösségi Kapcsolódások: Tanulmányok Kultúráról és Oktatásról is the property of Szeged University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Machroha forest is a large hot spot of biodiversity of northeastern region of Algeria. It is dominated by several species of oak tree that can contribute to the conservation of many animals such as birds. Our study was carried out from February 2019 to July 2021, in order to diagnosis the ecological status of forest birds and their dynamics. Our results reported that this forest was including 19.21% of the Algerian avifauna diversity. We recorded 78 species of birds classified in 32 families. The main species were sedentary with an insectivorous trophic categories and terrestrial guild. Three species observed in this forest were threatened, the Dartford warbler, the European turtle dove and the Egyptian vulture. We reported many factors that affected bird’s population dynamics “such as population isolation and habitat structure”. So, in the future the monitoring of the bird’s population must follow a management plan and proposing a new national classification status “wildlife refuge”.

George Bariţiu (May 24, 1812 - May 2, 1893) was a Romanian politician, journalist and historian who had significant contributions in the field of economic thinking. As a promoter of the idea to assert the Romanian identity, and an activist for the Romanians to enter economic life, Bariţiu advanced a series of economic claims and aspirations. At the core of his analytical pursuit there were fundamental economic issues: competition, ownership, the peasants’ problem, the development of industry and of trade.

The presence of a bird community can be used as a bioindicator of environmental quality in suburban areas. Bird identification from sound recording has developed in the last decade. This research aims to identify the bird species from sound recording as a potential tool to analyze the quality of green open space in the suburban area of Sleman Regency. Data collection was carried out from November 2020 to March 2021 on river borders and city parks. Bird sound data was carried out using a mobile phone, facilitated by the Arbimon Touch application, in the morning, afternoon, and evening for three hours each at intervals of five minutes on and ten minutes off for five days. Abiotic data were also measured in the morning, afternoon, and evening for five days. The sound recordings and spectrograms were identified and validated through the database on the xeno-canto website. The identified birds are then used to calculate the Bird Community Index (BCI). The analysis of sound recordings found 29 bird species from 18 families in the sampling location. In addition, four birds were recorded as vulnerable or protected. The Progo River Border is the green open space with the highest species number of birds, but, based on BCI, the 2Kayen River border and the Taman Keanekaragaman Hayati dan Arboretum Bambu have the best environmental quality to the presence of the higher specialist bird. Based on the bird community index, the environmental quality of the Green Open Space in the suburban area of Sleman Regency has a moderate to very low level of environmental quality due to the low presence of specialist birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed investigation of the spider diversity in Salem district, Tamil Nadu was carried out across different habitats for a period of five years. A total of 184 spider species belonging to 97 genera in 29 families were recorded, which represented nearly 10% of Indian and 65% of Tamil Nadu spider diversity. Among them 25 spider species are endemic to India. From the 29 families, the 3 most abundant families based on number of specimens sampled were Lycosidae (21%), Araneidae (18%), and Eresidae (17%), constituting 56% of the spider species. Simpson diversity indices ranged between 0.88 to 0.30 for all the studied habitats. The species richness was highest in bamboo fields (2.78), and the lowest was observed in grasslands (0.76). The highest abundance of spider species was observed in the sugarcane fields (0.83), followed by the grasslands (0.57) and paddy fields (0.53). Further, these spiders were categorized into nine types based on their foraging guilds. Among them, the highest species richness was observed in foliage runners. A maximum of nine spider guilds were observed in the shrub ecosystem. Natural ecosystems such as shrublands, treescapes, and grasslands had higher spider diversity than altered agricultural and domestic ecosystems. This is the first report on spider diversity in Salem District, Tamil Nadu revealing the varying spider diversity along with their guild types across different habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The spatial distribution of ectotherms is strongly dependent on the temperature of their environments. In temperate lakes, fishes with different thermal optima can become spatially segregated during summer stratification. This habitat partitioning, or niche complementarity, may play a role in the coexistence of trophically similar species; however, the extent of partitioning is dependent on the resources available within each habitat. Although habitat partitioning of fish thermal guilds has been studied in individual lakes, broad‐scale patterns of spatial overlap and segregation are not yet understood. In this study, we explore the patterns and drivers of spatial overlap among thermal guilds (cold‐, cool‐, and warm‐water) at a broad scale. Location: Ontario, Canada. Methods: We built a multivariate regression tree to explore patterns and environmental drivers of spatial overlap in freshwater fishes across three thermal guilds from 438 lakes. Results: We identified five clusters of lakes exhibiting different patterns of spatial overlap among the three thermal guilds. Temperature (growing degree days) and maximum lake depth were strong drivers of the spatial overlap patterns. Main Conclusions: These findings provide a better understanding of broad‐scale patterns of spatial overlap and allow us to predict how spatial overlap, and ultimately species interactions and competition, may change under a warming climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harrison's rule, a pattern predicting that the body size of parasites correlates positively with the size of their hosts, is well-supported. However, its interaction with highly distinct "guilds" of closely related parasites warrants further exploration. The increasing variance hypothesis predicts that the variance in parasite size should also increase with the size of their hosts. Though untested, in parasite taxa with differential sex-dependent pressures on body size, this relationship should also be divergent across sexes due to differential size–fecundity relationships. We compiled global data on sequentially hermaphroditic isopods (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) parasitic on fish from published literature. With a data set comprising of 204 marine cymothoid species and their hosts, we used Bayesian hierarchical models to primarily test (1) Harrison's rule and its scaling across three functionally distinct guilds (mouth, gill, external); (2) the increasing variance hypothesis and sex-specific patterns. Our results revealed a strong positive association between parasite and host body sizes, but with uniform scaling across guilds. Host size exerted divergent, sex-specific effects on the relative intraspecific variation in parasite size, where this association was positive in males and absent in females. Here, we show that Harrison's rule is independent of guild, suggesting body size evolution across all cymothoids is equally underpinned by the size of their hosts. The sex-specificity of the increasing variance hypothesis can be explained by female fecundity being tightly bound to body size, whereas the dependency of reproductive success on size is inherently more relaxed in males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil fungi play a critical role in the carbon and nutrient cycling of forest ecosystems. Identifying the composition of soil fungi in response to the broadleaf restoration of Pinus massoniana plantation is essential for exploring the mechanistic linkages between tree species and ecological processes, but remains unexplored. We compared the shifts in soil fungal diversity and guilds by high–throughput sequencing between two P. massoniana plantations at different stand ages, two modes of restoration with broadleaf trees, and a secondary forest in subtropical China. We found that soil fungal taxonomic and functional compositions significantly differed among forests. The highest Chao 1, Shannon, and phylogenetic diversity indices were consistently observed in the two P. massoniana monocultures, followed by the two modes of broadleaf mixing, and the secondary forests. Fungal communities transitioned from Ascomycota-dominated at P. massoniana plantations to Basidiomycota-dominated at other forests in the topsoil. Furthermore, saprotrophs and symbiotrophs were favoured in plantations and secondary forests, respectively. Soil pH exerted the most significant effect on the relative abundance of Ascomycota and Rozellomycota, as well as the saprotrophs. Moreover, the dominant phyla of Ascomycota, Mucoromycota, and Rozellomycota were negatively related to soil microbial biomass nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, and total nitrogen contents; however, Mortierellomycota benefited from the elevated soil ammonium nitrogen content. On the other hand, soil nitrate nitrogen and available phosphorus contents strongly and negatively influenced the ectomycorrhizal fungi, while the other fungal guilds were mainly affected by soil pH. Our findings guide an evaluation of the consequences of forest restoration and contribute to an improved understanding of the mechanisms behind soil biogeochemical cycling in subtropical forest ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity has been associated with alterations of the gut microbiota. However, the relationship between gut microbiome alterations and COVID-19 prognosis remains elusive. Here, we performed a genome-resolved metagenomic analysis on fecal samples from 300 in-hospital COVID-19 patients, collected at the time of admission. Among the 2,568 high quality metagenome-assembled genomes (HQMAGs), redundancy analysis identified 33 HQMAGs which showed differential distribution among mild, moderate, and severe/critical severity groups. Co-abundance network analysis determined that the 33 HQMAGs were organized as two competing guilds. Guild 1 harbored more genes for short-chain fatty acid biosynthesis, and fewer genes for virulence and antibiotic resistance, compared with Guild 2. Based on average abundance difference between the two guilds, the guild-level microbiome index (GMI) classified patients from different severity groups (average AUROC [area under the receiver operating curve] = 0.83). Moreover, age-adjusted partial Spearman’s correlation showed that GMIs at admission were correlated with 8 clinical parameters, which are predictors for COVID-19 prognosis, on day 7 in hospital. In addition, GMI at admission was associated with death/discharge outcome of the critical patients. We further validated that GMI was able to consistently classify patients with different COVID-19 symptom severities in different countries and differentiated COVID-19 patients from healthy subjects and pneumonia controls in four independent data sets. Thus, this genome-based guild-level signature may facilitate early identification of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with high risk of more severe outcomes at time of admission. IMPORTANCE Previous reports on the associations between COVID-19 and gut microbiome have been constrained by taxonomic-level analysis and overlook the interaction between microbes. By applying a genome-resolved, reference-free, guild-based metagenomic analysis, we demonstrated that the relationship between gut microbiota and COVID-19 is genome-specific instead of taxon-specific or even species-specific. Moreover, the COVID-19-associated genomes were not independent but formed two competing guilds, with Guild 1 potentially beneficial and Guild 2 potentially more detrimental to the host based on comparative genomic analysis. The dominance of Guild 2 over Guild 1 at time of admission was associated with hospitalized COVID-19 patients at high risk for more severe outcomes. Moreover, the guild-level microbiome signature is not only correlated with the symptom severity of COVID-19 patients, but also differentiates COVID-19 patients from pneumonia controls and healthy subjects across different studies. Here, we showed the possibility of using genome-resolved and guild-level microbiome signatures to identify hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a high risk of more severe outcomes at the time of admission.

Copyright of Acta Musei Brukenthal is the property of Brukenthal National Museum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Fungi have unique ecosystem functions, such as organic matter decomposition, parasitism, and symbiosis with other organisms in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Their taxonomic and functional diversities are essential factors for predicting ecosystem functions and their responses to environmental changes. With the widespread use of high‐throughput sequencing (HTS) in recent years, the detection of fungal DNA sequences in various regions and on different environmental substrates has advanced. HTS‐obtained DNA sequences can be compared with those in databases to identify the taxa of organisms from which they are derived. Therefore, a global DNA database containing taxonomic information has been developed. However, functional data on the distribution and function of individual taxa remain scarce. In this study, the ecological information of each fungal family was compiled from review papers and published books. Specifically, the following information was collected: reported distribution (11 categories including information on the presence of fungi in Japan) and function (38 categories related to ecological functional data, such as guilds and habitats) of 553 families included in the literature. These data will provide information on the ecology of specific fungi detected in the field and help estimate the functional group composition and diversity of fungi from their DNA assemblage data. The detailed Metadata for this abstract published in the Data Article section of the journal is available in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2022-02.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to analyze the diversity of spiders across various parts of the Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, Kerala, a tropical, semi evergreen, low-land forest located between the tributaries of the Periyar river. Survey of the spider fauna was carried out for a period of twelve months. In total, 3286 individuals were collected from the sanctuary, which consist of 89 species of spiders under 59 genera and 18 families. Araneidae was the most abundant family. The most abundant species was Hippasa agelenoides of Lycosidae family. Spiders belonging to six feeding guilds, i.e., orb - web weavers, stalkers, ground runners, scattered line weaver foliage runners and ambushers were identified. Relative abundances of spider community strongly differed with the pre-monsoon, monsoon and post monsoon seasons. Diversity indices - Margalef richness index, Pielou's evenness index, Shannon-Wiener and Simpson index were calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ornithological studies confirmed that 83 species belonging to 16 orders were present in and around the wheat fields from preparatory tillage to ripening stage at village Ruldu Singh Wala, Katar Singh Wala and Bir Talab. The diversity analyses revealed a richness index of 77, 58 and 55, respectively. Rose-ringed parakeet was the most abundant at all the locations (10.53, 25.51 and 21.30%, respectively) followed by blue rock pigeon (7.57, 14.19 and 10.80). Passeriformes (46.99%) was the most dominant order followed by Cicioniiformes (12.05%) and Charadriiformes (8.43%). Insectivorous guild (39 species, 46.99%) was the dominating guild followed by omnivorous (19 species, 22.89%) and carnivorous guild (12 species, 14.46%). Species number increased from early (preparatory tillage and sowing) to late (seedling and ripening) stages. Thus, it is observed that wheat crop acts a major habitat for birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Painters and related Craftsmen listed in the Prague New Town Census of 1770/1771. By a patent of 10 March 1770, Empress Maria Teresa ordered a register and census to be carried out in Bohemia, Lower Austria and the Habsburg Erblande of all persons, draft animals and houses with the aim of reorganizing military sectors and determining the defensive capability of the population. Conscription was carried out door-to-door by senior army officers in conjunction with regional commissars, or in the case of Prague with councillors from the various unicipalities. In Prague New Town, the recruitment commission began work on 1 October 1770 and finished on 19 February 1771. This study is devoted to members of the painting profession – painters and their assistants (varnishers and gilders) – whose names are to be found in these records. Painters were to some extent a special case since, unlike most other artisans, they were legally permitted to carry out their trade in various different ways. The study thus looks not only at the circumstances, origin and age of individual artists, but also aims to describe the different ways in which they could conduct their profession. Examining the conscription records, it also becomes clear what a rich source they represent, providing invaluable insights into the population of Prague in the latter half of the 18th century.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the current state of research on the history of the Russian merchants of the late XVIII - early XX centuries. The dissertations on the history of the merchants of different Russian regions are considered. It is concluded that the question of the social nature of the Russian merchants continues to be debatable. Some scholars characterize the merchants as an estate, others as part of the (highest stratum) of the estate, still others refuse it the right to be called such, considering merchants to be an artificially isolated state as a privileged part of the bourgeoisie. In historiography, there is still no definite answer to this question, and among historians there is no unity in assessing the social nature of the Russian merchants. For example, for B. N. Mironov merchants is the highest stratum of a single urban estate, representing a new hypostasis of the posad community. Historians working in this direction make urban estates an object of study as a single social community. As an example, we point to theses of V. P. Klyueva and K. A. Ankusheva. Their authors agree with B. N. Mironov that the result of the transformation of the posad community was the creation on its basis future urban estates. However, a significant part of historians, unlike B. N. Mironov, considers the merchants not an estate stratum, but an independent estate. Thus, the question of the social nature of the Russian merchants continues to be debatable. The purpose of this article is to identify the current problems of Russian historiography on the genesis of Russian merchants. An approach to its solution allows the introduction into the scientific circulation of new mass sources in dissertations and monographs on the merchants of individual Russian regions.

Interest in functional diversity has grown in recent years, indicating that knowledge on ecosystem functions gain importance. However, the incongruent use of terms may lead to misunderstandings and incomparable results. We aimed to review terms used in functional diversity among the Brazilian scientific community to identify if there is a lack of consensus in the terminology used. We applied online surveys to assess how these terms have been used by the Brazilian academics and searched for their definitions in the scientific literature. The definition of "ecological function" by Brazilian academics is like that of the niche, but we only found two articles defining such a term in the literature. Thus, it seems that "ecosystem function" is a more commonly used term outside of Brazil. The definition of "guilds" coincided with that used in the literature, although we still observed a lack of consensus in the latter. For "traits," "functional group," and "functional diversity" concepts, we found some discrepancy between the literature and questionnaires. These inconsistencies can be related to the use of different organizational levels for the definition of traits and to the practice of replacing species with functional groups in standard taxonomic diversity metrics, considering them as measurements of functional diversity. The adoption of cohesive terminology is crucial to ensure the comparability of scientific results in the scientific literature. However, finding a consensus in ecology represents a hard task; therefore, we encourage that, at least, researchers make clear which key concepts they adopted in their research to avoid misunderstandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

George Bariţiu (May 24, 1812 - May 2, 1893) was a Romanian politician, journalist and historian who had significant contributions in the field of economic thinking. As a promoter of the idea to assert the Romanian identity, and an activist for the Romanians to enter economic life, Bariţiu advanced a series of economic claims and aspirations. At the core of his analytical pursuit there were fundamental economic issues: competition, ownership, the peasants' problem, the development of industry and of trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Abant Social Sciences / Abant Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi is the property of Journal of Abant Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The 700th commemorative year of Dante's death began on 25 March 2021, the day of the Annunciation of the Lord, of the creation of the world, the New Year's Day in old Florence according to ab Incarnatione. On 25 March 2021, Holy Father Francis published the apostolic letter Candor Lucis Aeternae solemnly uniting the voice of the catholic church with the chorus of all the ones honoring the memory of the illustrious poet Dante Alighieri. In professional fraternity the voices of the guild colleagues join in, physicians and pharmacists, descendants of those in Arte dei Medici e degli Speziali, which proudly included among their members Dante Alighieri, at the crossing between the 13th and 14th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understand how environmental factors correlate with the trophic structure of fish communities is a fundamental step to allow designing models for the functioning of stream ecosystems and planning conservation actions. Thus, this study aims to characterize the trophic structure of fish communities of streams of the Contas River basin and evaluate the relationships between local environmental factors (stream structure and limnological variables) and trophic structure. We sample nine streams of the Upper Contas sub-basin and nine of the Gongogi sub-basin using electric fishing. We analyzed the diet of 24 species, arranged in six trophic guilds, according to stomach contents: detritivores, omnivores, insectivores, invertivores, piscivores, and algivores. The results show high proportions of detritivores (46.62%), omnivores (28.55%), and insectivores (11.8%). Invertivores were correlated to colder streams, and with little proportion of sand in the substrate. Algivores were positively related to temperature and proportion of sand in the substrate. The relationship between other guilds and the environmental factors was not significant, probably due to limitations in the number of streams in the analysis. The sub-basins did not differ regarding the trophic structure, corroborating the perception that the trophic structure is more influenced by local factors than by broader scale factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract To demonstrate the causative role of gut microbiome in human health and diseases, we first need to identify, via next-generation sequencing, potentially important functional members associated with specific health outcomes and disease phenotypes. However, due to the strain-level genetic complexity of the gut microbiota, microbiome datasets are highly dimensional and highly sparse in nature, making it challenging to identify putative causative agents of a particular disease phenotype. Members of an ecosystem seldomly live independently from each other. Instead, they develop local interactions and form inter-member organizations to influence the ecosystem’s higher-level patterns and functions. In the ecological study of macro-organisms, members are defined as belonging to the same “guild” if they exploit the same class of resources in a similar way or work together as a coherent functional group. Translating the concept of “guild” to the study of gut microbiota, we redefine guild as a group of bacteria that show consistent co-abundant behavior and likely to work together to contribute to the same ecological function. In this opinion article, we discuss how to use guilds as the aggregation unit to reduce dimensionality and sparsity in microbiome-wide association studies for identifying candidate gut bacteria that may causatively contribute to human health and diseases.

This investigation was initiated by the astonishment (surprise) at the apparent incongruity of a large copper tableware estate preserved by an Algerian institution in charge of managing unclaimed property (the Bayt al-mâl). Its results shed light on the ways in which the pots - and more broadly the utensils - used for communal meals were mobilised to form a society. We have highlighted the fact that, in addition to being able to form estates dedicated to a pious institution, the pots themselves could be these pious institutions (to which goods devoted to their cause could be devolved). Furthermore, the pious and charitable use that was made of them had in itself the force of law, it founded their legal status, as well as that of the social bodies that formed around these pious institutions. This enabled us to restore the civic dimension of the rights attached to these pots, whose collective use participated in the production of active social bodies. Indeed, these practices were the place and object of rallies, submissions and reciprocal obligations; they organised powers, affiliations, hierarchies and thresholds of insertion within these social bodies. In short, they were active modes of constructing the rights of belonging to political communities.

Background: In Colombia, the liberal practice of dentistry began a process of transformation with the creation of the General System of Social Security in Health in 1993. This caused a reduction in the areas of professional action as a private practice, which could be seen as the most affected with the issuance of Resolution 2292 of 2021 of the Ministry of Health, which includes new oral health procedures in the Health Benefits Plan (PBS) to be funded by the State. Purpose: To analyze how the inclusion of new oral health procedures in the PBS affects the practice of dentistry. Methods: A qualitative research through an intrinsic documentary and analytical case study was conducted, based on the context and legal regulations that govern the practice of dentistry in Colombia. Findings: The clinical practice of dentistry will be carried out mainly as an institutionalized model. This should lead to changes in the guild culture towards professional and clinical association in order to face the challenges brought by the insertion of almost all areas of the profession within the PBS. Conclusion: The liberal exercise of dentistry will be more limited given the progress of guaranteeing the fundamental right to health. For this reason, associative management is imperative as a basis to guarantee health care in an ethical manner and at costs that make the existence of clinics and offices that contract with Health Promotion Entities viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Histórica: Historia Moderna is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Musei Brukenthal is the property of Brukenthal National Museum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the heritage and the essential significance of worship of the twin Christian saints -St. Cosmas and St. Damian- in the history of medicine. These saints are well known in Western culture as one of the leading Christian saints to heal diseases, whose cults have spread to Europe through Byzantium, which have continued to spread widely to the present, starting from areas where Christianity had been proselytized. Although it is true that their life journeys have undergone many processes of embellishment and beautification over the course of time, the attributes that distinctively characterize the two saints exist apart from such mythical fabrications. This paper categorizes the characteristics of the two saints as being those of “professional doctors,” “ideal doctors,” and “holders of healing powers” as intermediaries of God, examining how these characteristics came to affect various medical organizations during the era when Medieval medicine was gradually transitioning toward a rational approach based on reason. In addition, it discusses how some of the practices of ancient temple medicine were transplanted into the Christian culture, the process by which it finally arrived at human doctors through the two saints, and how it affected the establishment of professional work ethics -albeit in nascent form- as their medical ethics came to be accepted and practiced by the Medieval guild of surgeons. Furthermore, the paper considers how the existence of the two saints has acquired symbolism in modern medicine, which has made remarkable progress in organ transplantation, and in particular, how it constitutes a significant part of the history of organ transplantation. It is not easy to objectify and attach meaning to an era that was substantially influenced by myths, legends, or religious events. This is because it is easy to fall into the trap of simplifying and passing judgment on the past based on the realities of the present day, without making efforts to understand the unique circumstances and contexts of the past. This is especially the case when the distinction between “religious events” and “medical events” is ambiguous, or when dealing with a social culture where religious influence was paramount. From a broader perspective, the study of St. Cosmas and St. Damian is not concerned with the rights or wrongs of religious myths amid the advancement of medicine and its adherence to science and reason, but with the attempt at a deep and broad understanding of human diseases and human conditions of being prone to such diseases throughout life.

Current microbiome signatures for chronic diseases such as diabetic kidney disease (DKD) are mainly based on low-resolution taxa such as genus or phyla and are often inconsistent among studies. In microbial ecosystems, bacterial functions are strain specific, and taxonomically different bacteria tend to form co-abundance functional groups called guilds. Here, we identified guild-level signatures for DKD by performing in-depth metagenomic sequencing and conducting genome-centric and guild-based analysis on fecal samples from 116 DKD patients and 91 healthy subjects. Redundancy analysis on 1,543 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (HQMAGs) identified 54 HQMAGs that were differentially distributed among the young healthy control group, elderly healthy control group, early-stage DKD patients (EDG), and late-stage DKD patients (LDG). Co-abundance network analysis classified the 54 HQMAGs into two guilds. Compared to guild 2, guild 1 contained more short-chain fatty acid biosynthesis genes and fewer genes encoding uremic toxin indole biosynthesis, antibiotic resistance, and virulence factors. Guild indices, derived from the total abundance of guild members and their diversity, delineated DKD patients from healthy subjects and between different severities of DKD. Age-adjusted partial Spearman correlation analysis showed that the guild indices were correlated with DKD disease progression and with risk indicators of poor prognosis. We further validated that the random forest classification model established with the 54 HQMAGs was also applicable for classifying patients with end-stage renal disease and healthy subjects in an independent data set. Therefore, this genome-level, guild-based microbial analysis strategy may identify DKD patients with different severity at an earlier stage to guide clinical interventions., Importance: Traditionally, microbiome research has been constrained by the reliance on taxonomic classifications that may not reflect the functional dynamics or the ecological interactions within microbial communities. By transcending these limitations with a genome-centric and guild-based analysis, our study sheds light on the intricate and specific interactions between microbial strains and diabetic kidney disease (DKD). We have unveiled two distinct microbial guilds with opposite influences on host health, which may redefine our understanding of microbial contributions to disease progression. The implications of our findings extend beyond mere association, providing potential pathways for intervention and opening new avenues for patient stratification in clinical settings. This work paves the way for a paradigm shift in microbiome research in DKD and potentially other chronic kidney diseases, from a focus on taxonomy to a more nuanced view of microbial ecology and function that is more closely aligned with clinical outcomes., Competing Interests: L.Z. is a co-founder of Notitia Biotechnologies Company.

Soil fungi play a critical role in the carbon and nutrient cycling of forest ecosystems. Identifying the composition of soil fungi in response to the broadleaf restoration of Pinus massoniana plantation is essential for exploring the mechanistic linkages between tree species and ecological processes, but remains unexplored. We compared the shifts in soil fungal diversity and guilds by high–throughput sequencing between two P. massoniana plantations at different stand ages, two modes of restoration with broadleaf trees, and a secondary forest in subtropical China. We found that soil fungal taxonomic and functional compositions significantly differed among forests. The highest Chao 1, Shannon, and phylogenetic diversity indices were consistently observed in the two P. massoniana monocultures, followed by the two modes of broadleaf mixing, and the secondary forests. Fungal communities transitioned from Ascomycota-dominated at P. massoniana plantations to Basidiomycota-dominated at other forests in the topsoil. Furthermore, saprotrophs and symbiotrophs were favoured in plantations and secondary forests, respectively. Soil pH exerted the most significant effect on the relative abundance of Ascomycota and Rozellomycota, as well as the saprotrophs. Moreover, the dominant phyla of Ascomycota, Mucoromycota, and Rozellomycota were negatively related to soil microbial biomass nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, and total nitrogen contents; however, Mortierellomycota benefited from the elevated soil ammonium nitrogen content. On the other hand, soil nitrate nitrogen and available phosphorus contents strongly and negatively influenced the ectomycorrhizal fungi, while the other fungal guilds were mainly affected by soil pH. Our findings guide an evaluation of the consequences of forest restoration and contribute to an improved understanding of the mechanisms behind soil biogeochemical cycling in subtropical forest ecosystems.