De novo transcriptome assembly and discovery of drought-responsive genes in white spruce (Picea glauca).

Forests face an escalating threat from the increasing frequency of extreme drought events driven by climate change. To address this challenge, it is crucial to understand how widely distributed species of economic or ecological importance may respond to drought stress. In this study, we examined the transcriptome of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) to identify key genes and metabolic pathways involved in the species' response to water stress.

Patterns of cortical thickness in MCI patients with and without semantic impairment.

Background: About half of MCI patients experience semantic deficits, which may predict progression to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The neural basis of these deficits in MCI is not well understood. This study aimed to examine the relationship between semantic memory performance and cortical thickness in MCI patients.

Sickness behaviour and the effect of sex, age, and immune status on individual behavioural variation in Tenebrio molitor.

Sick animals generally behave differently than healthy individuals by, for example, being less active and exploratory. How an individual responds to illness is also likely to be mediated by the individual's age because age will dictate the individual's ability to fight a challenge. To date, empirical research on sickness behaviour has focused on the population-level average effect of ill health on behaviour.

Longitudinal network changes and phenoconversion risk in isolated REM sleep behavior disorder.

Isolated rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder is a prodrome of α-synucleinopathies. Using positron emission tomography, we assessed changes in Parkinson's disease-related motor and cognitive metabolic networks and caudate/putamen dopaminergic input in a 4-year longitudinal imaging study of 13 male subjects with this disorder. We also correlated times to phenoconversion with baseline network expression in an independent validation sample.

Analysis of the International Index of Erectile Function: psychometric evidence and measurement invariance across relationship status and age generations in a Chilean sample.

Background: The International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) stands out for its utility and widespread use to measure sexual function in men. However, it lacks consistency in its internal latent structure across studies, has not been evaluated for measurement invariance, and has not undergone psychometric validation for its 15-item form in Spanish among South American countries.

Aim: To examine the IIEF's psychometric evidence (ie, structural/criterion validity and reliability) in a sample of adult men and determine its measurement invariance across relationship status (single vs in a relationship) and age generations (generations Z, Y/millennials, and X).

Relationship with Adults in Organized Sports and Non-Sports Activities and Links with Psychological Adjustment in Adolescence: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study.

Relationships with adults in organized activities play a crucial role in the positive outcomes associated with these experiences, yet little is known about how these relationships evolve throughout adolescence or how they are differentially associated with mental health. Important distinctions could also be made regarding activity types. The sample consisted of 292 participants (58% female; M age = 12.

A Role for the Hippo/YAP1 Pathway in the Regulation of In Vitro Vasculogenic Mimicry in Glioblastoma Cells.

The Hippo pathway plays a tumorigenic role in highly angiogenic glioblastoma (GBM), whereas little is known about clinically relevant Hippo pathway inhibitors' ability to target adaptive mechanisms involved in GBM chemoresistance. Their molecular impact was investigated here in vitro against an alternative process to tumour angiogenesis termed vasculogenic mimicry (VM) in GBM-derived cell models. In silico analysis of the downstream Hippo signalling members YAP1, TAZ and TEAD1 transcript levels in low-grade glioblastoma (LGG) and GBM tumour tissues was performed using GEPIA.

Evaluating carbon removal: Integrating technical potential with environmental, social, governance criteria, and sequestration permanence.

Climate modeling suggests that achieving international climate goals requires a reduction in current CO emissions by over 90%, with any remaining emissions to be addressed through carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions. Sixteen CDR strategies are evaluated by integrating technical potential, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, along with sequestration permanence. This evaluation, conducted by ENGIE's scientific council using an interdisciplinary Delphi panel methodology, proposes a "quality" measure for each technology.

Insights from multiple stable isotopes (C, N, Cl) into the photodegradation of herbicides atrazine and metolachlor.

Many processes can contribute to the attenuation of the frequently detected and toxic herbicides atrazine and metolachlor in surface water, including photodegradation. Multi-element compound-specific isotope analysis has the potential to decipher between these different degradation pathways as Cl is a promising tool for both pathway identification and a sensitive indicator of degradation for both atrazine and metolachlor. In this study, photodegradation experiments of atrazine and metolachlor were conducted under simulated sunlight in buffered solutions (direct photodegradation) and with nitrate (indirect photodegradation by OH radicals) to determine kinetics, transformation products and isotope fractionation for C, N and for the first time Cl.

Atypical implicit and explicit sense of agency in autism: A complete characterization using the cue integration approach.

There exist indications that sense of agency (SoA), the experience of being the cause of one's own actions and actions' outcomes, is altered in autism. However, no studies in autism have simultaneously investigated the integration mechanisms underpinning both implicit and explicit SoA, the two levels of agency proposed by the innovative cue integration approach. Our study establishes a first complete characterization of SoA functioning in autism, by comparing age- and IQ-matched samples of autistic versus neurotypical adults.

Optimal vaccination policy to prevent endemicity: a stochastic model.

We examine here the effects of recurrent vaccination and waning immunity on the establishment of an endemic equilibrium in a population. An individual-based model that incorporates memory effects for transmission rate during infection and subsequent immunity is introduced, considering stochasticity at the individual level. By letting the population size going to infinity, we derive a set of equations describing the large scale behavior of the epidemic.

Passive plasticity and a sex difference in the predictability of mobility.

Behavioural predictability describes the behavioural variability of an individual. Unpredictability can arise from many sources including non-adaptive passive plasticity in which an environmental factor acts directly on the individual to create non-adaptive phenotypic variation. In this study, I use radiotelemetry to field test the hypothesis that Cook Strait giant weta (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae) exhibit a sex difference in the predictability of their nightly travel distance due to passive behavioural plasticity.

Longitudinal determination of seroprevalence and immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in a population of food and retail workers through decentralized testing and transformation of ELISA datasets.

Background: Since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, numerous studies have been conducted worldwide to understand our immune response to the virus and to vaccination. This study investigates the humoral response elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and by vaccination in the poorly studied population of food and retail workers. These occupations were classified as essential by the Public Health Agency of Canada, potentially placing this population at greater risk of infection.

Understanding the Needs and Experiences With Health Services of Gay and Bisexual Men (GBM) Who Engaged in Chemsex During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Quebec, Canada.

Gay and bisexual men (GBM) engaging in chemsex can face various health and well-being-related challenges, the extent of which remains unknown given the limited research in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines the pandemic impacts on the health needs of GBM who engaged in chemsex and their experiences with related services. We applied interpretive description to produce knowledge with direct implications for improving practices and policies.

Does metacognitive training for psychosis (MCT) improve neurocognitive performance? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Metacognitive training for psychosis (MCT) offers benefits for addressing hallmark deficits/symptoms in schizophrenia spectrum disorders including reductions in cognitive biases and positive/negative symptoms as well as improvements in social cognition and functioning. However, differing results exist regarding the relationship between MCT and neurocognition. A comprehensive understanding of the nature of this relationship would significantly contribute to the existing literature and our understanding of the potential added value of MCT as a cognitive intervention for psychosis.

[Kieron O'Connor's scientific contribution to the characterization and treatment of Tourette's syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorders].

Background Researcher and psychologist Kieron Philip O'Connor (1950-2019) pioneered the cognitive and behavioural approach at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (IUSMM). It was there that he began a career as a clinical researcher studying Tourette's syndrome (TS) and obsessive-compulsive and related disorder (OCD). At the time, apart from some behavioural approaches, little cognitive intervention was available to treat chronic tics and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Obstacles, Self-Efficacy, and Strategies for Returning to Work after Experiencing Burnout: Paving the Path to Sustainable Reintegration.

Purpose: The objective of this study is twofold: (1) to better understand the Return-to-Work (RTW) process of employees on sick leave due to burnout by evaluating RTW obstacles and self-efficacy to overcome them, and (2) to investigate strategies implemented for maintaining employment following burnout.

Method: Fifty-one participants completed the online questionnaire titled "Return-to-Work Obstacles and Self-Efficacy Scale (ROSES)", and two focus groups were conducted with employees returning to work after experiencing burnout.

Results: All the ROSES dimensions emerged as potential obstacles to returning to work after burnout.

The Incremental Growth of Data Infrastructure in Ecology (1980-2020).

After decades of growth, a research community's network information system and data repository were transformed to become a national data management office and a major element of data infrastructure for ecology and the environmental sciences. Developing functional data infrastructures is key to the support of ongoing Open Science and Open Data efforts. This example of data infrastructure growth contrasts with the top-down development typical of many digital initiatives.

Hierarchical selection of genetic and gene by environment interaction effects in high-dimensional mixed models.

Interactions between genes and environmental factors may play a key role in the etiology of many common disorders. Several regularized generalized linear models have been proposed for hierarchical selection of gene by environment interaction effects, where a gene-environment interaction effect is selected only if the corresponding genetic main effect is also selected in the model. However, none of these methods allow to include random effects to account for population structure, subject relatedness and shared environmental exposure.

A new model for the diagnostic assessment services trajectory for neurodevelopmental conditions.

Purpose: The Canadian province of Québec faces several issues regarding the accessibility and quality of diagnostic assessment and the efficiency and continuity of evaluation, support, and intervention services for children with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs). To address these issues, the Ministry of Health and Social Services mandated a research team to initiate the development of a reference trajectory, i.e.