Background: In skilled speech production, the motor system coordinates the movements of distinct sets of articulators to form precise and consistent constrictions in the vocal tract at distinct locations, across contextual variations in movement rate and amplitude. Research efforts have sought to uncover the critical control parameters governing interarticulator coordination during constriction formation, with a focus on two parameters: (a) latency of movement onset of one articulator relative to another (temporal parameters) and (b) phase angle of movement onset for one articulator relative to another (spatiotemporal parameters). Consistent interarticulator timing between jaw and tongue tip movements, during the formation of constrictions at the alveolar ridge, was previously found to scale more reliably than phase angles across variation in production rate and syllable stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPetunia hybrida is an annual herb flower that is prevalently cultivated both in public landscaping and home gardening. Anthers are vital reproductive organs for plants, but the molecular mechanism controlling petunia anther development remains elusive. In this work, we combined DNA methylation, microRNAome, degradome, and transcriptome data to generate a comprehensive resource focused on exploring the complex molecular mechanism of petunia anther development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGraft compatibility is the capacity of two plants to form cohesive vascular connections. Tomato and pepper are incompatible graft partners; however, the underlying cause of graft rejection between these two species remains unknown. We diagnosed graft incompatibility between tomato and diverse pepper varieties based on weakened biophysical stability, decreased growth, and persistent cell death using viability stains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Healthy skin is important for maintaining overall physical and cultural health and wellbeing. However, remote-living Australian Aboriginal children contend with disproportionally high rates of (Strep A) infected impetigo. The SToP Trial was a large stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial of See, Treat, and Prevent (SToP) skin health activities implemented between 2019 and 2022 in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, during which a decrease in impetigo was observed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Online child sexual victimization is increasingly facilitated by technology, but evidence of its prevalence and characteristics remains scarce. Reliable population-based data is critical to understand the magnitude and nature of the problem, and inform evidence-based prevention.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of nonconsensual sharing of sexual images of the child by any perpetrator, and of online sexual solicitation by any adult perpetrator; and to determine the characteristics of these experiences.
Background: Little population-based evidence exists about prevalence of lifetime disclosure and non-disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA). Evidence is lacking about disclosure by girls and women compared with boys and men, and gender diverse individuals. It is unclear if disclosure is more common in contemporary society, and if disclosure is influenced by abuse severity and perpetrator type.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResearch suggests that the dimensions of childhood maltreatment (type, age of onset, duration, frequency and perpetrator) play an important role in determining health and wellbeing outcomes, though little information is available on these dimensions for any care experienced cohorts. This study aimed to determine if any variation in maltreatment dimensions were experienced between two subsets of the nationally representative Australian Child Maltreatment Study, both of which reported childhood maltreatment histories: care-experienced ( = 358) and non-care-experienced ( = 4922). Using a series of independent t-tests and chi-square tests, we compared the two groups on seven dimensions (number of maltreatment types, range of maltreatment items, age of onset, duration, frequency, perpetrator number, and perpetrator type) for the five child maltreatment types (physical, emotional, sexual abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic violence).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to investigate how demographic factors such as race, age, sex and ethnicity can impact hip circumference (HC) and waist circumference (WC) in patients with chronic pain. We queried the NIH-sponsored All of Us database for patients with documented HC, WC and waist/hip ratio (WHR) data. This cross-sectional study categorized participants into four groups: total cohort, no chronic pain, mild/moderate chronic pain (numeric rating scale < 7) and severe chronic pain (numeric rating scale > 7).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Neurol Neurosurg
November 2024
Objective: The prevalence of chronic pain in Parkinson's disease (PD) in neurology practices ranges from 24 % to 83 %. To determine whether this prevalence is accurate across patients with PD, we leveraged data from electronic medical records in 80 inpatient and outpatient general practice settings.
Methods: We explored the prevalence of chronic pain in patients with PD relative to age and sex-matched controls in a large international database with electronic medical records from over 250 million patients (TriNetX Cambridge, MA, USA).
Objective: The effect of continuous topical oxygen therapy (cTOT) on biofilm gene transcription profiles following inoculation onto porcine skin, using a customised molecular assay was determined.
Method: Sterilised porcine skin explants were inoculated with in triplicate: 0 hours as negative control; 24 hours cTOT device on; 24 hours cTOT device off. The oxygen delivery system of the cTOT device was applied to the inoculated tissue and covered with a semi-occlusive dressing.
CD8+ T cells destroy insulin-producing pancreatic β cells in type 1 diabetes through HLA class I-restricted presentation of self-antigens. Combinatorial peptide library screening was used to produce a preferred peptide recognition landscape for a patient-derived T cell receptor (TCR) that recognized the preproinsulin-derived (PPI-derived) peptide sequence LWMRLLPLL in the context of disease risk allele HLA A*24:02. Data were used to generate a strong superagonist peptide, enabling production of an autoimmune HLA A*24:02-peptide-TCR structure by crystal seeding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany nations are struggling to reduce deforestation, despite having extensive environmental protection laws in place and commitments to international agreements that address the biodiversity and climate crises. We developed a novel framework to quantify the extent to which contemporary deforestation is being captured under national and subnational laws. We then applied this framework to northern Australia as a case study, a development and deforestation hotspot with ecosystems of global significance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Numerous national public inquiries have highlighted the problem of child sexual abuse in religious organizations. Despite this, evidence of population-wide prevalence is scarce.
Objective: To provide the first nationally representative prevalence estimates of child sexual abuse perpetrated by adults in religious organizations in Australia.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
August 2024
Objectives: Depression and anxiety often emerge in adolescence and persist into early adulthood. Developing a greater understanding of the factors that influence their persistence may inform psychological interventions. Their association with an insecure attachment style is well established although the mediating role of attachment anxiety in the persistence of depression and anxiety over time has not been examined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Racial Ethn Health Disparities
July 2024
Background/objectives: This study is to (1) assess implicit racial bias among pediatric providers and (2) use virtual patient (VP) vignettes to determine the impact of implicit racial bias on clinical decision-making in pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD) pain care.
Design/methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a mid-sized, freestanding children's hospital in the northeast. Participants (N = 52) were pediatric SCD providers (87% cisgender female, 90% White, M age = 38.
PP2A B55α, encoded by PPP2R2A, acts as a regulatory subunit of the serine/threonine phosphatase PP2A. Despite a frequent loss of heterozygosity of PPP2R2A in cases of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), research on PP2A B55α's functions remains limited and controversial. To investigate the biological roles of PP2A B55α, we conducted bulk RNA-sequencing to assess the impact of PPP2R2A knockdown using two shRNAs in a NSCLC cell line.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Traumatic injury is responsible for eight million childhood deaths annually. In Uganda, there is a paucity of comprehensive data describing the burden of pediatric trauma, which is essential for resource allocation and surgical workforce planning. This study aimed to ascertain the burden of non-adolescent pediatric trauma across four Ugandan hospitals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Gastrointest Cancer
September 2024
Objective(s): The treatment response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation (nCRT) differs largely in individuals treated for rectal cancer. In this study, we investigated the role of radiomics to predict the pathological response in locally advanced rectal cancers at different treatment time points: (1) before the start of any treatment using baseline T2-weighted MRI (T2W-MR) and (2) at the start of radiation treatment using planning CT.
Methods: Patients on nCRT followed by surgery between June 2017 to December 2019 were included in the study.