A Continuum From Positive to Negative Interactions Drives Plant Species' Performance in a Diverse Community.

With many species interacting in nature, determining which interactions describe community dynamics is nontrivial. By applying a computational modeling approach to an extensive field survey, we assessed the importance of interactions from plants (both inter- and intra-specific), pollinators and insect herbivores on plant performance (i.e.

Food availability has direct and delayed effects on structural growth and body reserves in garter snakes.

Phenotypic plasticity in body growth enables organisms to cope with unpredictable paucities in resource availability. Growth traits influence survival and reproductive success, and thereby, population persistence, and early-life resource availability may govern lifetime patterns in growth, reproductive success, and survival. The influence of early-life environment is decidedly consequential for indeterminately growing ectotherms, which rely on available resources and ambient temperatures to maximize fitness throughout life.

Generation of chimeric forms of rhesus macaque rhadinovirus expressing KSHV envelope glycoproteins gH and gL for utilization in an NHP model of infection.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a human gammaherpesvirus associated with Kaposi's sarcoma and B cell malignancies. Like all herpesviruses, KSHV contains conserved envelope glycoproteins (gps) involved in virus binding, entry, assembly, and release from infected cells, which are also targets of the immune response. Due to the lack of a reproducible animal model of KSHV infection, the precise functions of the KSHV gps during infection are not completely known.

Variation in faecal testosterone levels in male gray whales on a foraging ground relative to maturity and timing.

Understanding wildlife reproductive seasonality is crucial for effective management and long-term monitoring of species. This study investigates the seasonal variability of testosterone in male Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG) gray whales, using an eight-year dataset (2016-2023) of individual sightings, drone-based photogrammetry and endocrine analysis of faecal samples. We analyzed the relationship between faecal testosterone levels and total body length (TL), body condition (body area index, BAI), sexual maturity and day of the year using generalized additive mixed models.

Lasater clinical judgment rubric in nursing education: a Turkish validity and reliability study.

Introduction: Gaining clinical judgment competence among student nurses is a significant outcome of nursing education. In this education process, an assessment tool based on observable behaviors is needed for evaluating students' clinical judgment skills.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric, which assesses student nurses' stages of clinical judgment competency in simulation-based education.

Improving Completion Rates of Transcranial Doppler Ultrasounds in Children With Sickle Cell Disease Using Quality Improvement Efforts: In-Clinic versus Population-Based Assessments.

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) screening is essential for stroke prevention in children with sickle cell disease (SCD), but screening rates are low nationally. We use Medicaid administrative claims to assess TCD completion rates before and after a 12-month QI initiative to improve rates in the Pacific Sickle Cell Regional Collaborative (PSCRC). We found an increase in TCD screening rates for QI participant sites (52.

Promotion of healthy aging through the nexus of gut microbiota and dietary phytochemicals.

Aging is associated with the decline of tissue and cellular functions, which can promote the development of age-related diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and disorders of the musculoskeletal and immune systems. Healthspan is the length of time an individual is in good health and free from chronic diseases and disabilities associated with aging. Two modifiable factors that can influence healthspan, promote healthy aging, and prevent the development of age-related diseases, are the diet and microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract (gut microbiota).

Substance Use is Associated With College Students' Acute Parasympathetic Nervous System Responses to Challenge.

College students use substances for varied reasons, including to cope with stress. The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) regulates bodily functions to promote energy conservation (the 'rest and digest' response), and individuals differ in their physiological sensitivity to challenge. It remains unclear whether greater PNS responses (i.

Sympathetic nerve signaling rewires the tumor microenvironment: a shift in "microenvironmental-ity".

Nerve signaling within the tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a critical role in the initiation, progression, and metastasis of solid tumors. Due to their highly responsive behavior and activation upon injury and cancer onset, this review specifically focuses on how sympathetic nerves rewire the TME. Within tumors, sympathetic nerves closely interact with various TME components, and their combined signaling often shifts tumor-intrinsic physiology toward tumor-supportive phenotypes.

Resource Segmentation: A New Dimension of the Segmentation Hypothesis in Drought Adaptive Strategies and Its Links to Tree Growth Performance.

The segmentation hypothesis, a framework for understanding plant drought adaptive strategy, has long been based on hydraulic resistance and vulnerability. Storage of water and carbohydrate resources is another critical function and shapes plant drought adaption and fitness together with hydraulic efficiency and vulnerability. However, patterns and implications of the interdependency of stored water and carbohydrate resources in the context of the segmentation hypothesis are poorly understood.

Genetic Correlations Among Dental, Mandibular, and Postcranial Dimensions in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta).

Objectives: Tooth dimensions typically scale with mandibular and postcranial size in primates, although the exact pattern of scaling varies. This study assesses whether correlations by tissue type, anatomical region, or function (mastication or intrasexual competition) are present and could therefore act as evolutionary constraints on tooth-jaw-body size relationships by estimating genetic and phenotypic correlations between dental, mandibular, and postcranial dimensions in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).

Materials And Methods: The teeth, mandibles, and postcrania of 362 adults from the Cayo Santiago skeletal collection were measured.

Addressing cardiovascular health risk factors in American Indian/Alaska Native Children: A narrative review.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is common in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults and represents the leading cause of mortality. Risk factors for CVD in AI/AN adults are well-described, and a growing body of evidence reports the inequitable prevalence of factors associated with the development of CVD in AI/AN children, including obesity, physical inactivity, and diabetes mellitus (DM).

Objective: This article organizes and summarizes the evidence describing CVD risk factors in AI/AN children, discusses the social drivers of health impacting these risks, and highlights several programs that have demonstrated effectiveness in improving AI/AN child health.

Environmental contributions to cognitive development: The role of cognitive stimulation.

Early environmental experiences influence children's cognitive and neural development. In particular, cognitive stimulation, defined as environmental inputs that engage the senses and provide learning opportunities for children, fosters acquisition of knowledge across various cognitive domains. Low levels of cognitive stimulation in early life may restrict learning opportunities, contributing to lasting consequences for neural development and later academic and occupational achievement.

Medial and lateral vestibulospinal projections to the cervical spinal cord of the squirrel monkey.

Introduction: The brainstem vestibular nuclei neurons receive synaptic inputs from inner ear acceleration-sensing hair cells, cerebellar output neurons, and ascending signals from spinal proprioceptive-related neurons. The lateral (LVST) and medial (MVST) vestibulospinal (VS) tracts convey their coded signals to the spinal circuits to rapidly counter externally imposed perturbations to facilitate stability and provide a framework for self-generated head movements.

Methods: The present study describes the morphological characteristics of intraaxonally recorded and labeled VS neurons monosynaptically connected to the 8th nerve.

Case report: FGF4L1 retrogene insertion is lacking in the tall dachshund phenotype.

Two retrogene insertions, FGF4L1 (formerly 18-FGF4, colloquially CDPA) and FGF4L2 (formerly 12-FGF4, colloquially CDDY), have recently been discovered as determinants of short leg phenotype in dogs. This case study is comprised of a family of standard wirehaired dachshunds in which the dogs lacking the FGF4L1 gene exhibit a tall phenotype. The tall phenotype in the dachshunds of this report precludes the dog's working function of den work.

Reference genome of Calochortus tolmiei Hook. & Arn. (Liliaceae), a cat's ear mariposa lily.

Calochortus tolmiei Hook. & Arn., a bulbous monocot with cat's ear flowers in the angiosperm family Liliaceae, is a perennial herb native to northern California, Oregon, and Washington.

Attendance of Underserved Populations at Field-Based Health Services Events: Application of Quasi-Experimental Methods that Accommodate the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the ability to receive health care services. Field-based health services became a logistically feasible alternative to medical center-based care. We compared two different field-based approaches to the delivery of SARS-CoV-2 testing and health education services for Latine communities using a quasi-experimental design that included propensity score matching to accommodate the challenges posed to research by the pandemic.

Leveraging the predictive power of a 3D in vitro vascularization screening assay for hydrogel-based tissue-engineered periosteum allograft healing.

A common strategy for promoting bone allograft healing is the design of tissue-engineered periosteum (TEP) to orchestrate host-tissue infiltration. However, evaluating requires costly and time-consuming in vivo studies. Therefore, in vitro assays are necessary to expedite TEP designs.

Outpatient surgical institutions in the rural United States: Trends from 2010 to 2020.

Background: The volume and proportion of surgeries occurring in outpatient settings has increased. However, the growth and distribution of outpatient surgical institutions, namely ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and hospital-based outpatient surgical departments (HOPDs), remains understudied in rural areas.

Methods: We used descriptive statistics and a multivariate logistic regression to assess the growth and distribution of ASCs and HOPDs in rural areas from 2010 to 2020, leveraging the Area Health Resources Files and American Community Survey.

Comparison of Postoperative Antibiotic Protocols for Pediatric Complicated Appendicitis: A Western Pediatric Surgery Research Consortium Study.

Background: There is no consensus on the appropriate duration of postoperative antibiotics for complicated appendicitis in children. Commonly used antibiotic endpoints include normalization of white blood cell count (WBC) or completion of a minimum number of prespecified treatment days. We compared clinical outcomes resulting from varying postoperative antibiotic protocols for complicated appendicitis in children.

The Quality of Veterans Healthcare Administration Cardiovascular Care.

A total of 9 million veterans receive care in a unique healthcare system, the Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA), with nearly 50% reporting at least one cardiovascular disease. Despite evidence for high quality of health care in the VHA, more veteran care is being moved to the non-VHA community. An assumption of this shift in care is that the quality of non-VHA care is at least comparable to VHA care.