We examined the mediation effects of psychosocial adjustment on the impact of playmate positive support throughout childhood and early adolescence (from age 54 months to 11 years) on later body mass index (BMI) and overweight risk in middle adolescence (age 15 years). This was a prospective cohort study. Among 844 children and their families, positive support between child-playmate dyads was repeatedly assessed from child's age 54 months to Grade 5. Long-term positive support between child-playmate dyads throughout childhood and early adolescence was prospectively linked to child's BMI and overweight/obesity status at age 15 years. The average scores of repeated assessments of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems from Grades 3 to 6 were used as mediators. Significant mediations of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were observed on pathways from positive support between child-playmate dyads to later BMI and overweight/obesity status at age 15 years. The observed mediations were mainly sustained with pronounced magnitudes in girls, but not in boys. Our findings demonstrated a significant mediating role of psychosocial adjustment. Future research efforts are highly encouraged to replicate our findings and further explore this underlying mediation mechanism.Our findings demonstrated a significant mediating role of psychosocial adjustment. Future research efforts are highly encouraged to replicate our findings and further explore this underlying mediation mechanism.Canine mastitis and metritis can cause severe illness but the incidence and risk factors have not been well-studied. Goals in the present study were 1) report the incidence of mastitis and metritis in a large population, and 2) identify potential risk factors that predispose females to those diseases. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from two guide dog colonies that was collected for 17 and 10 years, respectively, for the two colonies. A total of 3076 whelpings occurred during the respective study periods and data were analyzed. Clinical mastitis was diagnosed in 13.2 % of whelpings (408 cases) with the average day of diagnosis being 16.7 postpartum. Risk factors for mastitis identified were colony, litter size where bitches that had large litter size of ≥9 pups (16.2 %) were 60 % more likely to develop mastitis compared with bitches that had litters of less then 9 pups (11.3 %). Bitches with congestion of the mammary gland were 4.8 times more likely to develop mastitis compared with bitches without mammary congestion. Case incidence of metritis was small (0.7 % of whelpings) and occurred on average at day-5 postpartum (range 1-16). There were no significant risk factors identified, and this may be due to the small number of metritis cases (22 cases) in the present study. Interpretations regarding metritis, therefore, should be made with caution. The results from this study provide parameters for breeders and veterinarians to identify bitches that may require close monitoring for mastitis and metritis.Microplastic pollution is a prevalent and serious problem in marine environments. These particles have a detrimental impact on marine ecosystems. selleck chemical They are harmful to marine organisms and are known to be a habitat for toxic microorganisms. Marine microplastics have been identified in beach sand, the seafloor and also in marine biota. Although research investigating the presence of microplastics in various marine environments have increased across the years, studies in Southeast Asia are still relatively limited. In this paper, 36 studies on marine microplastic pollution in Southeast Asia were reviewed and discussed, focusing on microplastics in beach and benthic sediments, seawater and marine organisms. These studies have shown that the presence of fishing harbours, aquaculture farms, and tourism result in an increased abundance of microplastics. The illegal and improper disposal of waste from village settlements and factories also contribute to the high abundance of microplastics observed. Hence, it is crucial to identify the hotspots of microplastic pollution, for assessment and mitigation purposes. Future studies should aim to standardize protocols and quantification, to allow for better quantification and assessment of the levels of microplastic contamination for monitoring purposes.Eutrophication is one of the most widespread causes of biotic homogenization in freshwater ecosystems. Biotic homogenization can be characterized as reductions in local diversity (alpha) and occupation of available niches by more generalist species. Beta diversity is expected to decrease in more homogeneous communities, however, there is no consensus on how it responds to eutrophication. We used a space-for-time approach to analyze the process of biotic homogenization on diatom assemblages in response to eutrophication in tropical reservoirs ranging from oligotrophic to hypereutrophic conditions. Diatom assemblages were analyzed in phytoplankton and surface sediment from 12 reservoirs with different trophic levels. We calculated total beta diversity and turnover and nestedness components and used regressions to analyze their relationships with productivity differences (without distance effects). Total beta diversity had a positive influence of the trophic gradient, whereas turnover was not related to eutrophication. However, we found that eutrophication and lower species richness (alpha diversity) led to increasing rates of the nestedness component. We also observed that the homogenization process was not characterized by invasion of new species, but, on the contrary, by filtering nutrient-rich tolerant species also present in oligo-mesotrophic reservoirs and able to occupy available niches in the eutrophic reservoirs. These findings (increase in nestedness, decrease in alpha diversity, and development of tolerant species) suggest that biotic homogenization is leading to a simplification of diatom assemblages in tropical reservoirs, making assemblages from eutrophic and hypereutrophic reservoirs a subset of assemblages from oligotrophic and mesotrophic ones.