Measurement Properties of the Dysphagiameter for the Assessment of Dysphagia in Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy.

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is a rare late-onset muscle disease with progressive dysphagia as a major symptom. The Dysphagiameter is a newly developed patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) to assess the severity of dysphagia and its impact in patients with OPMD. This article reports on item reduction and a first assessment of the Dysphagiameter's psychometrics properties, in a French and English-speaking population of individuals with OPMD.

Enhancing daily oral PrEP adherence with digital communications: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) stands as an effective tool in preventing HIV transmission among individuals at risk of HIV infection. However, the effectiveness of daily oral PrEP is contingent on the adherence of its users, which can pose a challenge for many individuals. Various studies have explored different interventions aimed at bolstering PrEP adherence.

Motivations for enrollment in a COVID-19 ring-based post-exposure prophylaxis trial: qualitative examination of participant experiences.

Background: Ring-based studies are a novel research design commonly used for research involving infectious diseases: contacts of newly infected individuals form a ring that is targeted for interventions (e.g., vaccine, post-exposure prophylaxis).

Experiences of discrimination and snacking behavior in Black and Latinx children.

Little is known about how discrimination contributes to health behaviors in childhood. We examined the association between children's exposure to discrimination and their snacking behavior in a sample of youth of color (N = 164, M = 11.5 years, 49% female, 60% Black, 40% Hispanic/Latinx).

Menstrual health under the scientific microscope: Text mining analysis.

Menstrual health represents an interdisciplinary concern that necessitates a broad, integrated understanding beyond its biological foundations, encompassing social, psychological, and cultural dimensions. This study examines whether the corpus of scientific literature from 1970 to 2023 aligns with this holistic perspective by exploring the evolving paradigms within menstrual health. Grounded in Kuhn's theoretical framework, the research delves into thematic shifts, author collaborations, and international partnerships that have emerged over the decades.

Trismus in cold-stunned Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtles.

Objective: To describe the presentation, clinical findings, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of cases of trismus (lockjaw) in cold-stunned sea turtles.

Animals: 4 Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) and 1 loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtle.

Methods: Cold-stunned sea turtles that presented with difficulty or inability to open their jaw between 2009 and 2023 were included.

Internet-Based Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services Among Colombian Youth: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a sensitive subject, and young people may be unfamiliar with how to access SRH services. In this cross-sectional study, we examined young people's internet use to understand how they accessed SRH clinics in Colombia. This study also explored Colombian youth's interest in online material teaching how to access SRH services.

Problems with Paralogs: The Promise and Challenges of Gene Duplicates in Evo-Devo Research.

Gene duplicates, or paralogs, serve as a major source of new genetic material and comprise seeds for evolutionary innovation. While originally thought to be quickly lost or nonfunctionalized following duplication, now a vast number of paralogs are known to be retained in a functional state. Daughter paralogs can provide robustness through redundancy, specialize via sub-functionalization, or neo-functionalize to play new roles.

A Mixed-Methods Study Exploring Colombian Adolescents' Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: The Need for a Relational Autonomy Approach.

This study's objective was to understand Colombian adolescents' experiences and preferences regarding access to sexual and reproductive health services (SRHS), either alone or accompanied. A mixed-method approach was used, involving a survey of 812 participants aged eleven to twenty-four years old and forty-five semi-structured interviews with participants aged fourteen to twenty-three. Previous research shows that adolescents prefer privacy when accessing SRHS and often do not want their parents involved.

Evolution and molecular mechanisms of wing plasticity in aphids.

Aphids present a fascinating example of phenotypic plasticity, in which a single genotype can produce dramatically different winged and wingless phenotypes that are specialized for dispersal versus reproduction, respectively. Recent work has examined many aspects of this plasticity, including its evolution, molecular control mechanisms, and genetic variation underlying the trait. In particular, exciting discoveries have been made about the signaling pathways that are responsible for controlling the production of winged versus wingless morphs, including ecdysone, dopamine, and insulin signaling, and about how specific genes such as REPTOR2 and vestigial are regulated to control winglessness.

The pupil collaboration: A multi-lab, multi-method analysis of goal attribution in infants.

The rise of pupillometry in infant research over the last decade is associated with a variety of methods for data preprocessing and analysis. Although pupil diameter is increasingly recognized as an alternative measure of the popular cumulative looking time approach used in many studies (Jackson & Sirois, 2022), an open question is whether the many approaches used to analyse this variable converge. To this end, we proposed a crowdsourced approach to pupillometry analysis.

Introducing the Dysphagiameter: a novel patient-reported outcome measure for evaluating dysphagia in oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy - from conceptual framework to initial development.

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is a rare late-onset muscle disease associated with progressive dysphagia. As there was no patient-reported outcome measure specific for the assessment of dysphagia in OPMD, the Dysphagiameter was developed. The Food and Drug Administration guidance was followed.

Thermal properties of treatment wetlands operated under freezing conditions.

The use of treatment wetlands (TWs) presents particular challenges in regions with sub-zero winter temperatures, due to reduced biological activity and risk of pipe breakage or clogging due to freezing. We studied the vertical temperature distribution in four pilot-scale TWs exposed to winter temperatures in order to determine the impact of operational system parameters and the role of insulation on heat conservation inside the filtering bed. The overall temperature pattern was similar in all wetlands, with a trend of increasing temperature from the surface toward the bottom during the cold season.

The benefits of nurturant-involved parenting for children's internalizing symptoms and cardiometabolic health in high-risk contexts.

Despite evidence that nurturant-involved parenting is linked with children's social, psychological, and physiological development, less is known about the specific contexts in which nurturant-involved parenting is most beneficial for children's mental and physical health. The present study examined how associations between nurturant-involved parenting and children's internalizing symptoms and cardiometabolic risk varied as a function of children's stress and discrimination. Participants included 165 Black and Latinx children ( = 11.

Grip selection without tool knowledge: end-state comfort effect in familiar and novel tool use.

A well-known phenomenon for the study of movement planning is the end-state comfort (ESC) effect: When they reach and grasp tools, individuals tend to adopt uncomfortable initial hand postures if that allows a subsequent comfortable final posture. In the context of tool use, this effect is modulated by tool orientation, task goal, and cooperation. However, the cognitive bases of the ESC effect remain unclear.

Socioeconomic disadvantage and high-effort coping in childhood: evidence of skin-deep resilience.

Background: Low socioeconomic status (SES) is a risk factor for poor outcomes across development. Recent evidence suggests that, although psychosocial resilience among youth living in low-SES households is common, such expressions of resilience may not extend to physical health. Questions remain about when these diverging mental and physical health trajectories emerge.

Dopamine mediates the pea aphid wing plasticity.

Many organisms exhibit phenotypic plasticity, in which developmental processes result in different phenotypes depending on their environmental context. Here we focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying that environmental response. Pea aphids () exhibit a wing dimorphism, in which pea aphid mothers produce winged or wingless daughters when exposed to a crowded or low-density environment, respectively.

Outcomes of surgical treatment with patterns of bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing in cases of cervical abscessation in dogs: 82 cases (2018-2021).

Objective: The objective of this study was to summarize the presentation, diagnosis, and outcome for dogs surgically treated for chronic cervical abscessation following suspected or reported cervical or oropharyngeal trauma, as well as to report on culture results and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns.

Results: Eighty-two dogs were identified by retrospective review. Successful surgical outcome was achieved in 92.