Metapopulation dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a small-scale Amazonian society.

The severity of infectious disease outbreaks is governed by patterns of human contact, which vary by geography, social organization, mobility, access to technology and healthcare, economic development, and culture. Whereas globalized societies and urban centers exhibit characteristics that can heighten vulnerability to pandemics, small-scale subsistence societies occupying remote, rural areas may be buffered. Accordingly, voluntary collective isolation has been proposed as one strategy to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 and other pandemics on small-scale Indigenous populations with minimal access to healthcare infrastructure. To assess the vulnerability of such populations and the viability of interventions such as voluntary collective isolation, we simulate and analyze the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection among Amazonian forager-horticulturalists in Bolivia using a stochastic network metapopulation model parameterized with high-resolution empirical data on population structure, mobility, and contact networks. Our model suggests that relative isolation offers little protection at the population level (expected approximately 80% cumulative incidence), and more remote communities are not conferred protection via greater distance from outside sources of infection, due to common features of small-scale societies that promote rapid disease transmission such as high rates of travel and dense social networks. Neighborhood density, central household location in villages, and household size greatly increase the individual risk of infection. Simulated interventions further demonstrate that without implausibly high levels of centralized control, collective isolation is unlikely to be effective, especially if it is difficult to restrict visitation between communities as well as travel to outside areas. Finally, comparison of model results to empirical COVID-19 outcomes measured via seroassay suggest that our theoretical model is successful at predicting outbreak severity at both the population and community levels. Taken together, these findings suggest that the social organization and relative isolation from urban centers of many rural Indigenous communities offer little protection from pandemics and that standard control measures, including vaccination, are required to counteract effects of tight-knit social structures characteristic of small-scale populations.

Sex difference in travel is concentrated in adolescence and tracks reproductive interests.

Sexual selection theory suggests that the sex with a higher potential reproductive rate will compete more strongly for access to mates. Stronger intra-sexual competition for mates may explain why males travel more extensively than females in many terrestrial vertebrates. A male-bias in lifetime distance travelled is a purported human universal, although this claim is based primarily on anecdotes. Following sexual maturity, motivation to travel outside the natal territory may vary over the life course for both sexes. Here, we test whether travel behaviour among Tsimane forager-horticulturalists is associated with shifting reproductive priorities across the lifespan. Using structured interviews, we find that sex differences in travel peak during adolescence when men and women are most intensively searching for mates. Among married adults, we find that greater offspring dependency load is associated with reduced travel among women, but not men. Married men are more likely to travel alone than women, but only to the nearest market town and not to other Tsimane villages. We conclude that men's and women's travel behaviour reflects differential gains from mate search and parenting across the life course.

Corrigendum to "Do children with disabilities have the same opportunities to play as children without disabilities? Evidence from the multiple indicator cluster surveys in 38 low and middle-income countries" [ECLINM 67 (2023) 102361].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102361.].

Do children with disabilities have the same opportunities to play as children without disabilities? Evidence from the multiple indicator cluster surveys in 38 low and middle-income countries.

Background: Play is essential for the cognitive, social, and emotional development of all children. Disparities potentially exist in access to play for children with disabilities, and the extent of this inequity is unknown. Methods: Data from 212,194 children aged 2-4 years in 38 Low and Middle-Income Countries were collected in the UNICEF supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2017-2020). Disability was assessed by the Washington Group-Child Functioning Module. Logistic regression models were applied to investigate the relationship between disability and play opportunities, controlling for age, sex, and wealth status. Meta-analysis was used to pool the estimates (overall, and disaggregated by sex), with heterogeneity assessed by Cochran's Q test. Findings: Children with disabilities have approximately 9% fewer play opportunities than those without disabilities (adjusted RR [aRR] = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.82-0.93), and this varied across countries. Mongolia and Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe had the lowest likelihood of play opportunities for children with disabilities ((aRR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.09-0.75; aRR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.23-0.93, respectively). Moreover, children with disabilities are 17% less likely to be provided with opportunities to play with their mothers (aRR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.73-0.93), which is further reduced for girls with disabilities (aRR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.60-0.90) compared to their peers without disabilities. The associations varied by impairment type, and children with communication and learning impairments are less likely to have opportunities for play with aRR of 0.69 (95% CI: 0.60-0.79) and 0.78 (95% CI: 0.71-0.86), compared to those without disabilities, respectively. Interpretation: Children with disabilities are being left behind in their access to play and this is likely to have negative impacts on their overall development and well-being. Funding: HK and TS are funded by HK's NIHR Global Research Professorship (NIHR301621). SR is funded by a Rhodes Scholarship. This study was funded by the Programme for Evidence to Inform Disability Action (PENDA) grant from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Individual differences in women's rape avoidance behaviors.

Rape can exact severe psychological, physical, and reproductive costs on women, and likely was a recurrent adaptive problem over human evolutionary history. Therefore, women may have evolved psychological mechanisms that motivate rape avoidance behaviors. Guided heuristically by an evolutionary perspective, we tested the hypothesis that women's rape avoidance behaviors would vary with several individual difference variables. Specifically, we predicted that rape avoidance behaviors would covary positively with (1) women's attractiveness, (2) women's involvement in a committed romantic relationship, and (3) the number of family members living nearby. We also predicted that women's rape avoidance behaviors would covary negatively with age. We administered the Rape Avoidance Inventory (McKibbin et al., Pers Indiv Differ 39:336-340, 2009) and a demographic survey to a sample of women (n = 144). The results of correlational and regression analyses were consistent with the predictions, with the exception that women's rape avoidance behaviors did not covary with women's age. Discussion highlighted limitations of the current research and directions for future research on women's rape avoidance psychology and behaviors.

Mate attraction, retention and expulsion.

Sexual selection theory and parental investment theory have guided much of the evolutionary psychological research on human mating. Based on these theories, researchers have predicted and found sex differences in mating preferences and behaviors. Men generally prefer that their long-term partners are youthful and physically attractive. Women generally prefer that their long-term partners have existing resources or clear potential for securing resources and display a willingness to invest those resources in children the relationship might produce. Both men and women, however, desire long-term partners who are kind and intelligent. Once a partner is obtained, men and women act in sex-specific ways to ensure the continuation and exclusivity of the relationship. Men, in particular, engage in behaviors designed to prevent, correct, and anticipate their partner's sexual infidelity. Relationships dissolve for evolutionarily-relevant reasons: infidelity, childlessness, and infertility. The discussion addresses directions for future research.

Adolescent Burmese Refugees Perspectives on Determinants of Health.

Over 70,000 Burmese refugees have resettled in the United States in the past decade. While Burmese adolescents quickly acculturate into American society, their perspectives on health are not well-known. The purpose of this study was to identify adolescent Burmese refugee perspectives on determinants of health and health-related experiences after resettlement. In this qualitative study, Burmese adolescents took photographs depicting health-related experiences that were used as elicitation tools during focus groups. These discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for themes. Participants described positive determinants of health, including family and church. Rampant tobacco use was identified by the participants as a determinant of poor health within the Burmese community. Notably, the participants were proud to serve as liaisons within their community, despite the stressful nature of this role. Our results highlight the need to screen this population for anxiety, secondary to serving as a liaison for their community, as well as tobacco use.

Husband's esteem predicts his mate retention tactics.

Men sometimes enact mate retention tactics to thwart a partner's infidelity or prevent their defection from the relationship. These tactics include low-risk acts that render the current relationship more attractive by bestowing benefits on the woman, as well as cost-inflicting acts that render defection from the relationship risky or dangerous for her. Previous research has linked men's mate retention behavior with men's mate value (value as a current or potential partner) using women's reports. The current research addresses limitations of that research using self-reports and cross-spousal reports from 107 married couples concerning their self-esteem and their esteem for their partner. The results indicate that the level of esteem that wives have for their husbands is positively associated with their perception of their husband's use of positive inducements and negatively associated with their husband's self-reported use of cost-inflicting mate retention behaviors (i.e., Direct Guarding, Intersexual Negative Inducements, and Intrasexual Negative Inducements). The level of self-esteem reported by men was negatively associated with their self-reported direct guarding behavior. Discussion explores the possibility that esteem-both self-esteem and esteem from one's partner-functions as an internal gauge of relative mate value.

Risk of death or life-threatening injury for women with children not sired by the abuser.

Women who are abused by their male intimate partners incur many costs, ranging in severity from fleeting physical pain to death. Previous research has linked the presence of children sired by a woman's previous partner to increased risk of woman abuse and to increased risk of femicide. The current research extends this work by securing data from samples of 111 unabused women, 111 less severely abused women, 128 more severely abused women, and 26 victims of intimate partner femicide from the Chicago Women's Health Risk Study to document an ordinal trend in the risk of experiencing more severe forms of violence for women who have children in the household sired by a previous partner. The discussion addresses two potential explanations for this trend and highlights directions for future research.

Requirements for catalysis in mammalian glycogenin.

Glycogenin is a glycosyltransferase that functions as the autocatalytic initiator for the synthesis of glycogen in eukaryotic organisms. Prior structural work identified the determinants responsible for the recognition and binding of UDP-glucose and the catalytic manganese ion and implicated two aspartic acid residues in the reaction mechanism for self-glucosylation. We examined the effects of substituting asparagine and serine for the aspartic acid residues at positions 159 and 162. We also examined whether the truncation of the protein at residue 270 (delta270) was compatible with its structural integrity and its functional role as the initiator for glycogen synthesis. The truncated form of the enzyme was indistinguishable from the wild-type enzyme by all measures of activity and could support glycogen accumulation in a glycogenin-deficient yeast strain. Substitution of aspartate 159 by either serine or asparagine eliminated self-glucosylation and reduced trans-glucosylation activity by at least 260-fold but only reduced UDP-glucose hydrolytic activity by 4-14-fold. Substitution of aspartate 162 by either serine or asparagine eliminated self-glucosylation activity and reduced UDP-glucose hydrolytic activity by at least 190-fold. The trans-glucosylation of maltose was reduced to undetectable levels in the asparagine 162 mutant, whereas the serine 162 enzyme showed only an 18-30-fold reduction in its ability to trans-glucosylate maltose. These data support a role for aspartate 162 in the chemical step for the glucosyltransferase reaction and a role for aspartate 159 in binding and activating the acceptor molecule.