Publications by authors named "Wheat C"

Background: Vaccine hesitancy, especially related to COVID-19 vaccinations among Veterans, may limit uptake. Behaviorally informed text-based messages have the potential to improve uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of two different behaviorally informed text message nudges on COVID-19 vaccine scheduling and completion, compared to standard control message.

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Evolutionary changes in geographic distribution and larval host plants may promote the rapid diversification of montane insects, but this scenario has been rarely investigated. We studied rapid radiation of the butterfly genus Colias, which has diversified in mountain ecosystems in Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas. Based on a dataset of 150 nuclear protein-coding genetic loci and mitochondrial genomes, we constructed a time-calibrated phylogenetic tree of Colias species with broad taxon sampling.

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The upper mantle is critical for our understanding of terrestrial magmatism, crust formation, and element cycling between Earth's solid interior, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Mantle composition and evolution have been primarily inferred by surface sampling and indirect methods. We recovered a long (1268-meter) section of serpentinized abyssal mantle peridotite interleaved with thin gabbroic intrusions.

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Objective: To evaluate whether the Preventive Health Inventory (PHI)-a virtual care management intervention addressing hypertension and diabetes management implemented nationally in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA)-was delivered equitably among racial/ethnic groups and if existing inequities in hypertension and diabetes outcomes changed following PHI receipt.

Data Sources And Study Setting: We used data from the VHA Corporate Data Warehouse among Veterans enrolled in primary care nationally from February 28, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

Study Design: We used logistic regression to evaluate PHI receipt and hypertension and diabetes outcomes after PHI implementation among Veterans with hypertension and/or diabetes.

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Generalist plant-feeding insects are characterised by a broad host repertoire that can comprise several families or even different orders of plants. The genetic and physiological mechanisms underlying the use of such a wide host range are still not fully understood. Earlier studies indicate that the consumption of different host plants is associated with host-specific gene expression profiles.

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Comparative analyses of gene birth-death dynamics have the potential to reveal gene families that played an important role in the evolution of morphological, behavioral, or physiological variation. Here, we used whole genomes of 30 species of butterflies and moths to identify gene birth-death dynamics among the Lepidoptera that are associated with specialist or generalist feeding strategies. Our work advances this field using a uniform set of annotated proteins for all genomes, investigating associations while correcting for phylogeny, and assessing all gene families rather than a priori subsets.

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The genetic components of the circadian clock have been implicated as involved in photoperiodic regulation of winter diapause across various insect groups, thereby contributing to adaptation to adverse seasonal conditions. So far, the effects of within-population variation in these genes have not been well explored. Here, we present an experimental test of the effects of within-population variation at two circadian genes, and , on photoperiodic responses in the butterfly .

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Organisms inhabiting highly seasonal environments must cope with a wide range of environmentally induced challenges. Many seasonal challenges require extensive physiological modification to survive. In winter, to survive extreme cold and limited resources, insects commonly enter diapause, which is an endogenously derived dormant state associated with minimized cellular processes and low energetic expenditure.

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Beginning in 2019, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) prioritized improving access to care nationally to deliver virtual care and implemented 18 regionally based Clinical Resource Hubs (CRHs) to meet this priority. This observational study describes the quantity and types of care delivered by CRH Mental Health teams, and the professions of those hired to deliver it. A retrospective cohort study, based on national VA CRH mental health care utilization data and CRH staffing data for CRH's first 3 years, was conducted.

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Importance: The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant declines in the quality of preventive and chronic disease care. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) used the Preventive Health Inventory (PHI), a multicomponent care management intervention, to catch up on care disrupted by the pandemic.

Objective: To identify key factors associated with PHI use.

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Phenotypic plasticity is produced and maintained by processes regulating the transcriptome. While differential gene expression is among the most important of these processes, relatively little is known about other sources of transcriptional variation. Previous work suggests that alternative splicing plays an extensive and functionally unique role in transcriptional plasticity, though plastically spliced genes may be more constrained than the remainder of expressed genes.

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The discharge of hydrothermal vents on the seafloor provides energy sources for dynamic and productive ecosystems, which are supported by chemosynthetic microbial populations. These populations use the energy gained by oxidizing the reduced chemicals contained within the vent fluids to fix carbon and support multiple trophic levels. Hydrothermal discharge is ephemeral and chemical composition of such fluids varies over space and time, which can result in geographically distinct microbial communities.

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The neritid snail Theodoxus fluviatilis is found across habitats differing in salinity, from shallow waters along the coast of the Baltic Sea to lakes throughout Europe. Living close to the water surface makes this species vulnerable to changes in salinity in their natural habitat, and the lack of a free-swimming larval stage limits this species' dispersal. Together, these factors have resulted in a patchy distribution of quite isolated populations differing in their salinity tolerances.

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Sex-limited morphs can provide profound insights into the evolution and genomic architecture of complex phenotypes. Inter-sexual mimicry is one particular type of sex-limited polymorphism in which a novel morph resembles the opposite sex. While inter-sexual mimics are known in both sexes and a diverse range of animals, their evolutionary origin is poorly understood.

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Background: The Veterans Affairs (VHA) is working to establish a population-based colorectal cancer screening program for average-risk patients using mailed fecal immunochemical testing (FIT). However, low response rates to mailed FIT may hinder success. Key features of mailed FIT programs, including the use of reminders, differ among various national programs, with limited evidence among veterans.

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Importance: Optimal strategies for population-based outreach for breast cancer screening remain unknown.

Objective: To evaluate the effect on breast cancer screening of an opt-out automatic mammography referral strategy compared with an opt-in automated telephone message strategy.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This pragmatic randomized clinical trial was conducted from April 2022 to January 2023 at a single Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center.

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Does warmth from hydrothermal springs play a vital role in the biology and ecology of abyssal animals? Deep off central California, thousands of octopus () migrate through cold dark waters to hydrothermal springs near an extinct volcano to mate, nest, and die, forming the largest known aggregation of octopus on Earth. Warmth from the springs plays a key role by raising metabolic rates, speeding embryonic development, and presumably increasing reproductive success; we show that brood times for females are ~1.8 years, far faster than expected for abyssal octopods.

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Background: The Veterans Affairs (VA) Clinical Resource Hub (CRH) program aims to improve patient access to care by implementing time-limited, regionally based primary or mental health staffing support to cover local staffing vacancies. VA's Office of Primary Care (OPC) designed CRH to support more than 1000 geographically disparate VA outpatient sites, many of which are in rural areas, by providing virtual contingency clinical staffing for sites experiencing primary care and mental health staffing deficits. The subsequently funded CRH evaluation, carried out by the VA Primary Care Analytics Team (PCAT), partnered with CRH program leaders and evaluation stakeholders to develop a protocol for a six-year CRH evaluation.

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Background: Mailed fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) programs are increasingly utilized for population-based colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Advanced notifications (primers) are one behavioral designed feature of many mailed FIT programs, but few have tested this feature among Veterans.

Objective: To determine if an advanced notification, a primer postcard, increases completion of FIT among Veterans.

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Health care systems face challenges providing accessible health care across geographically disparate sites. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) developed regional telemedicine service focusing initially on primary care and mental health services. The objective of this study is to describe the program and progress during the early implementation.

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Importance: The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions in primary care delivery. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) launched the Preventive Health Inventory (PHI) program-a multicomponent care management intervention, including a clinical dashboard and templated electronic health record note-to support primary care in delivering chronic disease care and preventive care that had been delayed by the pandemic.

Objectives: To describe patient, clinician, and clinic correlates of PHI use in primary care clinics and to examine associations between PHI adoption and clinical quality measures.

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Spots in pierid butterflies and eyespots in nymphalid butterflies are likely non-homologous wing colour pattern elements, yet they share a few features in common. Both develop black scales that depend on the function of the gene spalt, and both might have central signalling cells. This suggests that both pattern elements may be sharing common genetic circuitry.

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Understanding the evolutionary origins and factors maintaining alternative life history strategies (ALHS) within species is a major goal of evolutionary research. While alternative alleles causing discrete ALHS are expected to purge or fix over time, one-third of the ~90 species of butterflies are polymorphic for a female-limited ALHS called Alba. Whether Alba arose once, evolved in parallel, or has been exchanged among taxa is currently unknown.

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In this study, we investigated whether patterns of gene expression in larvae feeding on different plants can explain important aspects of the evolution of insect-plant associations, such as phylogenetic conservatism of host use and re-colonization of ancestral hosts that have been lost from the host repertoire. To this end, we performed a phylogenetically informed study comparing the transcriptomes of 4 nymphalid butterfly species in Polygonia and the closely related genus Nymphalis. Larvae were reared on Urtica dioica, Salix spp.

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The ithomiine butterflies (Nymphalidae: Danainae) represent the largest known radiation of Müllerian mimetic butterflies. They dominate by number the mimetic butterfly communities, which include species such as the iconic neotropical Heliconius genus. Recent studies on the ecology and genetics of speciation in Ithomiini have suggested that sexual pheromones, colour pattern and perhaps hostplant could drive reproductive isolation.

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