Soil mycobiomes in native European aspen forests and hybrid aspen plantations have a similar fungal richness but different compositions, mainly driven by edaphic and floristic factors.

Background: The cultivation of short-rotation tree species on non-forest land is increasing due to the growing demand for woody biomass for the future bioeconomy and to mitigate climate change impacts. However, forest plantations are often seen as a trade-off between climate benefits and low biodiversity. The diversity and composition of soil fungal biota in plantations of hybrid aspen, one of the most planted tree species for short-rotation forestry in Northern Europe, are poorly studied.

Geographic-Scale Coffee Cherry Counting with Smartphones and Deep Learning.

Deep learning and computer vision, using remote sensing and drones, are 2 promising nondestructive methods for plant monitoring and phenotyping. However, their applications are infeasible for many crop systems under tree canopies, such as coffee crops, making it challenging to perform plant monitoring and phenotyping at a large spatial scale at a low cost. This study aims to develop a geographic-scale monitoring method for coffee cherry counting, supported by an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered citizen science approach.

Global patterns in endemicity and vulnerability of soil fungi.

Fungi are highly diverse organisms, which provide multiple ecosystem services. However, compared with charismatic animals and plants, the distribution patterns and conservation needs of fungi have been little explored. Here, we examined endemicity patterns, global change vulnerability and conservation priority areas for functional groups of soil fungi based on six global surveys using a high-resolution, long-read metabarcoding approach.

Assessment of pesticide safety knowledge and practices in Vietnam: A cross-sectional study of smallholder farmers in the Mekong Delta.

Over the past three decades, the Vietnamese Mekong Delta has experienced a significant increase in agricultural productivity, partly achieved through increased agrochemical use. To abate negative effects on human and environmental health, several national programs were launched to enhance safer pesticide use. This study aimed to assess the patterns and relationships of official sustainable agriculture educational programs, pesticide safety knowledge, and practices of smallholder farmers in the Mekong Delta.

Education and Training of Non-Genetics Providers on the Return of Genome Sequencing Results in a NICU Setting.

To meet current and expected future demand for genome sequencing in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), adjustments to traditional service delivery models are necessary. Effective programs for the training of non-genetics providers (NGPs) may address the known barriers to providing genetic services including limited genetics knowledge and lack of confidence. The SouthSeq project aims to use genome sequencing to make genomic diagnoses in the neonatal period and evaluate a scalable approach to delivering genome sequencing results to populations with limited access to genetics professionals.

Variation in serum urate levels in the absence of gout and urate lowering therapy.

Background: Previous studies have noted significant variation in serum urate (sUA) levels, and it is unknown how this influences the accuracy of hyperuricemia classification based on single data points. Despite this known variability, hyperuricemic patients are often used as a control group in gout studies. Our objective was to determine the accuracy of hyperuricemia classifications based on single data points versus multiple data points given the degree of variability observed with serial measurements of sUA.

Transformation of coffee-growing landscapes across Latin America. A review.

Unlabelled: In Latin America, the cultivation of Arabica coffee () plays a critical role in rural livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development. Over the last 20 years, coffee farms and landscapes across the region have undergone rapid and profound biophysical changes in response to low coffee prices, changing climatic conditions, severe plant pathogen outbreaks, and other drivers. Although these biophysical transformations are pervasive and affect millions of rural livelihoods, there is limited information on the types, location, and extent of landscape changes and their socioeconomic and ecological consequences.

Exploring Changes in Home Visitors' Perspectives in the Context of a Professional Development Activity.

Unlabelled: Research-based professional development opportunities for early childhood home visitors are valuable to the Early Head Start-Home-Based Option (EHS-HBO) and to the home visiting field broadly to strengthen effective practice. We explored EHS-HBO home visitors' ( = 5) perspectives on effective practice through a professional development activity that included viewing videos of their own practice, analyzing the video and assessment data of their practice and parent-child interactions, and reflection. A convergent mixed methods multiple-case study was used.

Development of a multi-component intervention to promote participation of Black and Latinx individuals in biomedical research.

Introduction: Barriers to research participation by racial and ethnic minority group members are multi-factorial, stem from historical social injustices and occur at participant, research team, and research process levels. The informed consent procedure is a key component of the research process and represents an opportunity to address these barriers. This manuscript describes the development of the Strengthening Translational Research in Diverse Enrollment (STRIDE) intervention, which aims to improve research participation by individuals from underrepresented groups.

Lessons learned about harmonizing survey measures for the CSER consortium.

Introduction: Implementation of genome-scale sequencing in clinical care has significant challenges: the technology is highly dimensional with many kinds of potential results, results interpretation and delivery require expertise and coordination across multiple medical specialties, clinical utility may be uncertain, and there may be broader familial or societal implications beyond the individual participant. Transdisciplinary consortia and collaborative team science are well poised to address these challenges. However, understanding the complex web of organizational, institutional, physical, environmental, technologic, and other political and societal factors that influence the effectiveness of consortia is understudied.

Effect of Serum Urate Lowering With Allopurinol on Blood Pressure in Young Adults: A Randomized, Controlled, Crossover Trial.

Objective: To determine whether serum urate reduction with allopurinol lowers blood pressure (BP) in young adults and the mechanisms mediating this hypothesized effect.

Methods: We conducted a single-center, randomized, double-blind, crossover clinical trial. Adults ages 18-40 years with baseline systolic BP ≥120 and <160 mm Hg or diastolic BP ≥80 and <100 mm Hg, and serum urate ≥5.

A REDCap-based model for electronic consent (eConsent): Moving toward a more personalized consent.

Introduction: The updated common rule, for human subjects research, requires that consents "begin with a 'concise and focused' presentation of the key information that will most likely help someone make a decision about whether to participate in a study" (Menikoff, Kaneshiro, Pritchard. . 2017; (7): 613-615.

Depressive Symptoms and the Effectiveness of a Urate-Lowering Therapy in a Clinical Trial.

Objective: This ancillary study examined the impact of depressive symptoms on the effectiveness of a urate-lowering therapy in the context of a clinical trial.

Methods: Participants included 67 adults (ages 18-40) with elevated blood pressure who were enrolled in a double-blind, randomized, crossover clinical trial evaluating the effectiveness of allopurinol (300 mg/d) versus placebo to decrease blood pressure. Depressive symptoms were measured at the beginning of each 4-week phase with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CESD-10).

Regional-Scale In-Depth Analysis of Soil Fungal Diversity Reveals Strong pH and Plant Species Effects in Northern Europe.

Soil microbiome has a pivotal role in ecosystem functioning, yet little is known about its build-up from local to regional scales. In a multi-year regional-scale survey involving 1251 plots and long-read third-generation sequencing, we found that soil pH has the strongest effect on the diversity of fungi and its multiple taxonomic and functional groups. The pH effects were typically unimodal, usually both direct and indirect through tree species, soil nutrients or mold abundance.

Use of path modeling to inform a clinical decision support application to encourage osteoporosis medication use.

Background: Osteoporosis medication use is suboptimal. Simple interventions personalized to a patients' stage of readiness are needed to encourage osteoporosis medication use.

Objectives: To estimate interrelationships of sociodemographic factors, perceived fracture risk, health literacy, receipt of medication information, medication trust and readiness to use osteoporosis medication; and apply observed relationships to inform design specifications for a clinical decision support application that can be used for personalized patient counseling.

Which factors predict discordance between a patient and physician on a gout flare?

Objective: To investigate the factors associated with discordance between patient and physician on the presence of a gout flare.

Methods: Patients' self-reports of current gout flares were assessed with the question, 'Are you having a gout flare today?' which was then compared with a concurrent, blinded, physician's assessment. Based on agreement or disagreement with physicians on the presence of a gout flare, flares were divided into concordant and discordant groups, respectively.

Cardiovascular safety risks associated with gout treatments.

Introduction: Uric acid is the final byproduct of purine metabolism. The loss of the enzyme that hydrolyzes uric acid to allantoin was lost, leading to a decrease in uric acid excretion and its further accumulation. The buildup of uric acid leads to damage in different organ systems, including the cardiovascular system.

Flare Rate Thresholds for Patient Assessment of Disease Activity States in Gout.

Objective: To determine the relationship between gout flare rate and self-categorization into remission, low disease activity (LDA), and patient acceptable symptom state (PASS).

Methods: Patients with gout self-categorized as remission, LDA, and PASS, and reported number of flares over the preceding 6 and 12 months. Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the association between being in each disease state (LDA and PASS were combined) and flare count, and self-reported current flare.

Factors associated with the contemplative stage of readiness to initiate osteoporosis treatment.

Unlabelled: We investigated the factors associated with readiness for initiating osteoporosis treatment in women at high risk of fracture. We found that women in the contemplative stage were more likely to report previously being told having osteoporosis or osteopenia, acknowledge concern about osteoporosis, and disclose prior osteoporosis treatment.

Introduction: Understanding factors associated with reaching the contemplative stage of readiness to initiate osteoporosis treatment may inform the design of behavioral interventions to improve osteoporosis treatment uptake in women at high risk for fracture.

Simulation-based power and sample size calculation for designing interrupted time series analyses of count outcomes in evaluation of health policy interventions.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to present the design, model, and data analysis of an interrupted time series (ITS) model applied to evaluate the impact of health policy, systems, or environmental interventions using count outcomes. Simulation methods were used to conduct power and sample size calculations for these studies.

Methods: We proposed the models and analyses of ITS designs for count outcomes using the Strengthening Translational Research in Diverse Enrollment (STRIDE) study as an example.

Severity of Hypertension Mediates the Association of Hyperuricemia With Stroke in the REGARDS Case Cohort Study.

Previous studies do not widely support hyperuricemia as a risk factor for stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. We assessed the relationship between hyperuricemia and ischemic stroke (≈900 cases) using a large data set from the REGARDS study (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke). We employed a case-cohort design (incident stroke cases and randomly selected cohort participants) and weighted Cox-proportional hazard models to estimate the association of serum urate level ≥6.

Glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis: from clinical trials to clinical practice.

Glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP) is the most common form of secondary osteoporosis. To date, six large randomized controlled clinical trials on the efficacy of pharmaceutical treatment in GIOP have been conducted. All of these studies have focused predominately on bone mineral density outcomes, and none of them have been statistically powered to address fracture endpoints.

Design, analysis, power, and sample size calculation for three-phase interrupted time series analysis in evaluation of health policy interventions.

Objective: To discuss the study design and data analysis for three-phase interrupted time series (ITS) studies to evaluate the impact of health policy, systems, or environmental interventions. Simulation methods are used to conduct power and sample size calculation for these studies.

Methods: We consider the design and analysis of three-phase ITS studies using a study funded by National Institutes of Health as an exemplar.

Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Can Enter Dynamin 1 and 2 Double-Knockout Fibroblasts.

Dynamin GTPases, best known for their role in membrane fission of endocytic vesicles, provide a target for viruses to be exploited during endocytic uptake. Recently, we found that entry of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) into skin cells depends on dynamin, although our results supported that viral internalization occurs via both direct fusion with the plasma membrane and via endocytic pathways. To further explore the role of dynamin for efficient HSV-1 entry, we utilized conditional dynamin 1 and dynamin 2 double-knockout (DKO) fibroblasts as an experimental tool.