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We report the first record of the grand leaf-nosed bat, Hipposideros grandis, from a cave in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. We confirmed its identity using morphometric and molecular analyses. This study enhances the number of national bat fauna and underscores the importance of comprehensive bat surveys in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 Revised (SATAQ-4R) has been widely used in Western countries to link body appearance that is related to eating disorders and body dissatisfaction being commonly reported by adolescents. However, a comprehensive psychometric validation of the SATAQ-4R in Chinese adolescent samples is still lacking. To this end, the aim of the current study was to validate the gender-appropriate SATAQ-4R in a sample of Chinese adolescents, following by an investigation of its associations with body-related outcomes and eating disorder symptoms. Methods: Two gender-specific studies were conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the SATAQ-4R-Female and SATAQ-4R-Male respectively among adolescent girls (Study1, N=344, with 73 participants at retest) and boys (Study2, N=335, with 64 participants at retest). Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to examine the factor structure and their test-retest reliability, the internal consistency and convergent validity were subsequently examined. Results: For the SATAQ-4R-Females, the seven-factor model has a reasonable fit, with Chi-square =1112.769 (p < 0.001), CFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.071, SRMR = 0.067. For the SATAR-4R-Males, an acceptable seven-factor model with Chi-square = 982.92 (p<0.001), CFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.08, SRMR= 0.06 was observed. With respect to test-retest reliability, the internal consistency for 7 subscales was rated as good (Cronbach's alpha =0.74 to 0.95) among female adolescents, likewise the internal consistency of the seven subscales was also rated as good (Cronbach's alpha =0.70 to 0.96) among male participants. Good convergent validity was observed, reflected by associations of the subscales of the gender-specific SATAQ-4R with muscularity-related attitude, body imageacceptance, body appearance, perceived stress level, symptoms of eating disorder and self-esteem. Discussion: For women and men, the original 7-factor structure was validated among Chinese adolescents, internal reliability coefficients for the seven subscale scores were good and test-retest reliability was acceptable. Our results also confirmed the convergent validity of the two different gender-appropriate scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Hyperpolarized (HP) 129Xe‐MRI provides non‐invasive methods to quantify lung function and structure, with the 129Xe apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) being a well validated measure of alveolar airspace size. However, the experimental factors that impact the precision and accuracy of HP 129Xe ADC measurements have not been rigorously investigated. Here, we introduce an analytical model to predict the experimental uncertainty of 129Xe ADC estimates. Additionally, we report ADC dependence on age in healthy pediatric volunteers. Methods: An analytical expression for ADC uncertainty was derived from the Stejskal‐Tanner equation and simplified Bloch equations appropriate for HP media. Parameters in the model were maximum b‐value (bmax), number of b‐values (Nb), number of phase encoding lines (Nph), flip angle and the ADC itself. This model was validated by simulations and phantom experiments, and five fitting methods for calculating ADC were investigated. To examine the lower range for 129Xe ADC, 32 healthy subjects (age 6‐40 years) underwent diffusion‐weighted 129Xe MRI. Results: The analytical model provides a lower bound on ADC uncertainty and predicts that decreased signal‐to‐noise ratio yields increases in relative uncertainty (ϵADC). As such, experimental parameters that impact non‐equilibrium 129Xe magnetization necessarily impact the resulting ϵADC. The values of diffusion encoding parameters (Nb and bmax) that minimize ϵADC strongly depend on the underlying ADC value, resulting in a global minimum for ϵADC. Bayesian fitting outperformed other methods (error < 5%) for estimating ADC. The whole‐lung mean 129Xe ADC of healthy subjects increased with age at a rate of 1.75 × 10−4 cm2/s/yr (p = 0.001). Conclusions: HP 129Xe diffusion MRI can be improved by minimizing the uncertainty of ADC measurements via uncertainty propagation. Doing so will improve experimental accuracy when measuring lung microstructure in vivo and should allow improved monitoring of regional disease progression and assessment of therapy response in a range of lung diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on small firm growth in many countries focused on some specific factors, and no comprehensive research on this issue is available to draw the conclusion. Based on the concept of the theory of Resource Based View (RBV), a research framework is formulated in order to examine how resources like finance and financial literacy of the owner-manager affect financial and non-financial growth of small firms operating in Bangladesh. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaires from 407 owner-managers of small firms operating in three divisions of Bangladesh where most of the small businesses are concentrated. Using partial least squares analysis, the paper found that both finance and financial literacy have positive and statistically significant relation with small firm financial and non-financial growth. The paper also showed that private organizations support moderates the relationships between finance, financial literacy and small firm financial and non-financial growth. From the findings, it is evident that if small firms have better access to financial resources and can earn required financial literacy and at the same time get proper and adequate support from private organizations, they will contribute more to the economy by achieving their financial and non-financial growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]