Sex Allocation in a Monogamous Bird: Advantaged Matrilines and Sons with Silver Spoons.

AbstractThe ability to secure food for offspring and withstand the cost of reproduction favors high-quality mothers that overproduce the larger sex, typically sons, only if they will receive adequate food, as this should enhance these sons' fitness returns. However, high-quality daughters ensure that grandoffspring receive quality parental care and may possess greater reproductive value than their brothers, favoring daughters also from high-quality mothers. Using a mixed cross-fostering approach, we investigated effects of early rearing conditions, covariance between breeders and their genetic parents in parental quality, and primary offspring sex ratios in Carolina wrens.

On-farm evaluation of aflatoxin binder inclusion in dairy feed as a strategy to reduce milk aflatoxin M1 contamination in the Rwandan context.

Aflatoxins (AF), fungal metabolites, can contaminate feed in favorable environments, posing health risks to humans and animals. Dairy cows exposed to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) excrete its metabolite, aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), in milk, compromising its safety. The current study examined the use of an AF binder in dairy feed concentrates on farms in Rwanda to mitigate AFM1 in milk.

Supplementing Silicoglycidol for the reduction of aflatoxin M in milk and biomarkers of liver dysfunction in dairy cows.

Aflatoxin M (AFM) is a pathogenic metabolite transferred from feed into milk from aflatoxin (AF) B, B, G, and G; thus, it poses a human health risk. Therefore, effective mitigation strategies are needed to reduce animal and human exposure to AF. Study objectives were to evaluate a dietary adsorbent (Silicoglycidol, ATX) as a sequestering agent in AF-contaminated feed and to broadly examine how AF affects liver function and the immune system.

Acceptance and commitment therapy versus progressive relaxation training for misophonia: Randomized controlled trial protocol, interventions, and audiological assessments.

Background: Misophonia is a disorder characterized by an intense emotional reaction to specific sounds, often leading to significant distress and impairment in daily functioning. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a promising psychotherapy for treating misophonia, but has only been previously tested in case studies. This paper presents a protocol for the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) assessing the efficacy and feasibility of ACT supplemented by audiological interventions for misophonia versus progressive relaxation training (PRT).

Risk assessment of aflatoxin in Iowa corn post-harvest using an event tree analysis: A case study.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi found in corn and are anticipated to increase globally due to enhanced weather extremes and climate change. Aflatoxin (AFL) is of concern due to its harmful effects on human and animal health. AFL can move through complex grain supply chains in the United States, including multiple stakeholders from farms, grain elevators, grain and ethanol processors, and feed mills, before reaching end users, putting numerous entities at risk.

Perspective taking as a transdiagnostic risk factor for interpersonal dysfunction.

Objective: Numerous psychiatric populations have demonstrated reduced tendency to adopt others' perspectives relative to those without psychiatric illness; yet, the clinical implications of these deficits remain unclear. We examined whether impairments in perspective-taking are prospectively associated with symptom severity and functional outcomes in an acute psychiatric sample. We hypothesized that poorer perspective-taking would prospectively predict more severe depressive symptoms, functional impairment, and relationship problems.

Individual Optimization of Reproductive Investment and the Cost of Incubation in a Wild Songbird.

AbstractDespite avid interest in life history trade-offs and the costs of reproduction, evidence that increased parental allocation reduces subsequent breeding productivity is mixed. This uncertainty may be attributable to environmental heterogeneity in space and time, necessitating experiments across a range of ecological contexts. Over three breeding seasons, we cross-fostered clutches between nests to manipulate incubation duration in a wild population of Carolina wrens, a species in which only females incubate, to test for a cost of incubation on current and future reproduction.

Long Interspersed Nuclear Element-1 Analytes in Extracellular Vesicles as Tools for Molecular Diagnostics of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Aberrant expression of the oncogenic retrotransposon LINE-1 is a hallmark of various cancer types, including non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). Here, we present proof-of-principle evidence that LINE-1 analytes in extracellular vesicles (EVs) serve as tools for molecular diagnostics of NSCLC, with LINE-1 status in tumor cells and tissues mirroring the LINE-1 mRNA and ORF1p cargos of EVs from lung cancer cell culture conditioned media or human plasma. The levels of LINE-1 analytes in plasma EVs from ostensibly healthy individuals were higher in females than males.

The Influence of Maternal High Fat Diet During Lactation on Offspring Hematopoietic Priming.

Obesity and metabolic diseases are rising among women of reproductive age, increasing offspring metabolic risk. Maternal nutritional interventions during lactation present an opportunity to modify offspring outcomes. We previously demonstrated in mice that adult male offspring have metabolic impairments and increased adipose tissue macrophages (ATM) when dams are fed high fat diet (HFD) during the postnatal lactation window (HFD PN).

Prevalence and Risk Assessment of Aflatoxin in Iowa Corn during a Drought Year.

Warm temperatures and drought conditions in the United States (US) Corn Belt in 2012 raised concern for widespread aflatoxin (AFL) contamination in Iowa corn. To identify the prevalence of AFL in the 2012 corn crop, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) conducted a sample of Iowa corn to assess the incidence and severity of AFL contamination. Samples were obtained from grain elevators in all of Iowa's 99 counties, representing nine crop reporting districts (CRD), and 396 samples were analyzed by IDALS using rapid test methods.

Gradient boosting machine learning model to predict aflatoxins in Iowa corn.

Introduction: Aflatoxin (AFL), a secondary metabolite produced from filamentous fungi, contaminates corn, posing significant health and safety hazards for humans and livestock through toxigenic and carcinogenic effects. Corn is widely used as an essential commodity for food, feed, fuel, and export markets; therefore, AFL mitigation is necessary to ensure food and feed safety within the United States (US) and elsewhere in the world. In this case study, an Iowa-centric model was developed to predict AFL contamination using historical corn contamination, meteorological, satellite, and soil property data in the largest corn-producing state in the US.

Oral Mycosis Fungoides: Report of 2 Cases and Review of the Literature.

Oral and laryngeal cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is rare and usually associated with poor prognosis. Here, we discuss 2 cases of oral CTCL that developed in heavily pretreated patients and provide a review of the literature. The first case is of a 46-year-old African American male with rapidly progressive disease, presenting with a lesion on his hard palate 6 months after being diagnosed with a CD4+CD8+ CTCL.

Scope and financial impact of unpublished data and unused samples among U.S. academic and government researchers.

Unpublished data and unused samples are common byproducts of research activity, but little is known about the scope and economic impact of their disuse. To fill this knowledge gap, we collected self-reported anonymous survey responses from 301 academic and government scientists from randomly selected institutions. Respondents estimated that they published ∼60% of their data and 95% had unpublished data.

Accuracy Assessment of Outpatient Telemedicine Encounters at an Academic Ophthalmology Department.

 We assess the clinical accuracy of direct-to-patient real-time outpatient video visit encounters at our eye center.  This was a retrospective longitudinal study.  Patients who completed a video visit over a 3-week period between March and April 2020 were included.

Coming of age in your local mating market: Just a numbers game?

Research Highlight: Woodman, J. P., Cole, E.

The effect of climate change on avian offspring production: A global meta-analysis.

Climate change affects timing of reproduction in many bird species, but few studies have investigated its influence on annual reproductive output. Here, we assess changes in the annual production of young by female breeders in 201 populations of 104 bird species (N = 745,962 clutches) covering all continents between 1970 and 2019. Overall, average offspring production has declined in recent decades, but considerable differences were found among species and populations.

Age and Sex as Determinants of Acute Domoic Acid Toxicity in a Mouse Model.

The excitatory neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) consistently contaminates food webs in coastal regions around the world. Acute exposure to the toxin causes Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, a potentially lethal syndrome of gastrointestinal- and seizure-related outcomes. Both advanced age and male sex have been suggested to contribute to interindividual DA susceptibility.

A Literature Review on the Role of Hope in Promoting Positive Youth Development across Non-WEIRD Contexts.

Theoretical and empirical evidence has identified hope as a key adolescent strength that is linked to positive youth developmental outcomes. Although hope must be understood from a cultural lens, most of the evidence regarding adolescent hope is derived from samples of white youth from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) nations. Therefore, in order to have a more comprehensive and global understanding of the antecedents, outcomes, and processes of hope, we apply a positive youth development perspective in order to review the literature (N = 52 studies) on hope from diverse cultural and international contexts.

Medical physics practice guideline 4.b: Development, implementation, use and maintenance of safety checklists.

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) is a nonprofit professional society whose primary purposes are to advance the science, education, and professional practice of medical physics. The AAPM has more than 8000 members and is the principal organization of medical physicists in the US. The AAPM will periodically define new practice guidelines for medical physics practice to help advance the science of medical physics and to improve the quality of service to patients throughout the US.

Clinical learning during the pandemic: Experiences of LPN-BN undergraduate nursing students.

Background: When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, nursing programs made rapid decisions regarding clinical placement experiences for students. In many nursing programs, this meant ending clinical placements early, delaying clinical courses, and moving clinical courses to simulation.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore LPN-BN students' experiences in clinical courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stability of Saxitoxin in 50% Methanol Fecal Extracts and Raw Feces from Bowhead Whales ().

In recent decades, harmful algal blooms (HABs) producing paralytic shellfish toxins (including saxitoxin, STX) have become increasingly frequent in the marine waters of Alaska, USA, subjecting Pacific Arctic and subarctic communities and wildlife to increased toxin exposure risks. Research on the risks of HAB toxin exposures to marine mammal health commonly relies on the sampling of marine mammal gastrointestinal (GI) contents to quantify HAB toxins, yet no studies have been published testing the stability of STX in marine mammal GI matrices. An understanding of STX stability in test matrices under storage and handling conditions is imperative to the integrity of toxin quantifications and conclusions drawn thereby.