Carbon stock quantification and climate mitigation potential of a tropical moist forest in Ethiopia.

The significance of forests in absorbing and storing carbon plays a crucial role in international greenhouse gas policies outlined by the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCC). This study was conducted in a typical tropical moist forest of Ethiopia to assess its carbon stock, a critical issue in climate policy. The study domain was divided into six strata using elevation criteria.

Trump tariffs and the U.S. defense industry.

In March 2018, U.S. President Trump announced that the U.

Level of tuberculosis-related stigma and associated factors in Ugandan communities.

Tuberculosis (TB) stigma remains a significant barrier to TB control efforts globally, especially in countries with a high TB burden. Studies about TB stigma done in Uganda so far have been limited in scope and focused on data collected health facilities. In this study we report TB related stigma at community level for the period 2021/2022.

Weight trajectories in aging humanized APOE mice with translational validity to human Alzheimer's risk population: A retrospective analysis.

Translational validity of mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is variable. Because change in weight is a well-documented precursor of AD, we investigated whether diversity of human AD risk weight phenotypes was evident in a longitudinally characterized cohort of 1,196 female and male humanized APOE (hAPOE) mice, monitored up to 28 months of age which is equivalent to 81 human years. Autoregressive Hidden Markov Model (AHMM) incorporating age, sex, and APOE genotype was employed to identify emergent weight trajectories and phenotypes.

Notch dimerization provides robustness against environmental insults and is required for vascular integrity.

The Notch intracellular domain (NICD) regulates gene expression during development and homeostasis in a transcription factor complex that binds DNA either as monomer, or cooperatively as dimers. Mice expressing Notch dimerization-deficient (NDD) alleles of Notch1 and Notch2 have defects in multiple tissues that are sensitized to environmental insults. Here, we report that cardiac phenotypes and DSS (Dextran Sodium Sulfate) sensitivity in NDD mice can be ameliorated by housing mice under hypo-allergenic conditions (food/bedding).

The impact of a commercial lower extremity exoskeleton on metabolic load, perceived exertion, and physiological response to a challenging military relevant task: A randomized cross-over design pilot study.

Purpose: To assess physiological metrics during the use of a commercially available bilateral active ankle exoskeleton during a challenging military-relevant task and if use of the exoskeleton during this task influences: metabolic load, physiological measures or rate of perceived exertion.

Methods: Nine healthy volunteers (5M, 4F) completed this randomized cross-over design trial, with a baseline visit and two randomized test sessions (with/without the exoskeleton). Variables included impact on time to exhaustion during walking on a treadmill at varying speeds and gradients (0-15%) at 26.

Expanded non-invasive prenatal testing offers better detection of fetal copy number variations but not chromosomal aneuploidies.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical performance of expanded non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT-plus) and compare its effectiveness in screening for chromosomal aneuploidies with that of NIPT.

Methods: Screening results, confirmatory invasive testing results, and follow-up data from pregnant women who underwent either NIPT (6792 cases) or NIPT-Plus (5237 cases) testing at Luohe Central Hospital, China, from January 2019 to June 2023 were collected. The positive predictive value (PPV), sensitivity, specificity, and other indicators for different types of chromosomal abnormalities in NIPT/NIPT-plus screening were calculated.

Respiratory extracellular vesicle isolation optimization through proteomic profiling of equine samples and identification of candidates for cell-of-origin studies.

Growing evidence supports the importance of extracellular vesicle (EV) as mediators of communication in pathological processes, including those underlying respiratory disease. However, establishing methods for isolating and characterizing EVs remains challenging, particularly for respiratory samples. This study set out to address this challenge by comparing different EV isolation methods and evaluating their impacts on EV yield, markers of purity, and proteomic signatures, utilizing equine/horse bronchoalveolar lavage samples.

A spatial interpolation method based on 3D-CNN for soil petroleum hydrocarbon pollution.

Petroleum hydrocarbon pollution causes significant damage to soil, so accurate prediction and early intervention are crucial for sustainable soil management. However, traditional soil analysis methods often rely on statistical methods, which means they always rely on specific assumptions and are sensitive to outliers. Existing machine learning based methods convert features containing spatial information into one-dimensional vectors, resulting in the loss of some spatial features of the data.

The extent of western lowland gorilla social relationships within and between groups.

The nature of western lowland gorilla social relationships within and between groups is largely understudied, partly due to the challenges of monitoring associations between individuals who live in neighboring groups. In this study, we examined the social relationships of four western lowland gorilla groups in the Ndoki landscape of northern Republic of Congo. To do so, we compiled all-occurrence social interaction and silverback nearest neighbor social networks from data collected during daily group follows conducted over several years.

Inequality in measuring scholarly success: Variation in the h-index within and between disciplines.

Scholars and university administrators have a vested interest in building equitable valuation systems of academic work for both practical (e.g., resource distribution) and more lofty purposes (e.

Real sounds influence postural stability in people with vestibular loss but not in healthy controls.

Objective: What we hear may influence postural control, particularly in people with vestibular hypofunction. Would hearing a moving subway destabilize people similarly to seeing the train move? We investigated how people with unilateral vestibular hypofunction and healthy controls incorporated broadband and real-recorded sounds with visual load for balance in an immersive contextual scene.

Design: Participants stood on foam placed on a force-platform, wore the HTC Vive headset, and observed an immersive subway environment.

Dual RNA-seq reveals transcriptome changes during Fusarium virguliforme-Trichoderma afroharzianum interactions.

Trichoderma spp. are among the most studied biocontrol agents. While extensive work has been done to understand Trichoderma antagonistic mechanisms, additional research is needed to fully understand how Trichoderma spp.

Targeting TUT1 Depletes Tri-snRNP Pools to Suppress Splicing and Inhibit Pancreatic Cancer Cell Survival.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is highly aggressive and lacks effective therapeutic options. Cancer cells frequently become more dependent on splicing factors than normal cells due to increased rates of transcription. Terminal uridylyltransferase 1 (TUT1) is a specific terminal uridylyltransferase for U6 small nuclear RNA (snRNA), which plays a catalytic role in the spliceosome.

Female genital mutilation among children in Ethiopia: A time-to-event analysis of age at circumcision.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has become a global health concern. It is a deeply entrenched harmful practice involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. To inform effective policymaking and raise awareness about FGM's health risks, understanding socioeconomic and demographic factors influencing the timing of girls' circumcision is crucial.

A pangenome analysis reveals the center of origin and evolutionary history of Phytophthora infestans and 1c clade species.

We examined the evolutionary history of Phytophthora infestans and its close relatives in the 1c clade. We used whole genome sequence data from 69 isolates of Phytophthora species in the 1c clade and conducted a range of genomic analyses including nucleotide diversity evaluation, maximum likelihood trees, network assessment, time to most recent common ancestor and migration analysis. We consistently identified distinct and later divergence of the two Mexican Phytophthora species, P.

Usual prevention in unusual settings: A scoping review of place-based health interventions in public-facing businesses.

Place-based health interventions may help reach underserved populations. This scoping review summarizes the peer-reviewed literature on the type and effects of place-based health interventions in unconventional public-facing business settings (e.g.

Changes in urinary concentrations of contemporary and emerging chemicals in commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program.

Previous research indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed alterations in behaviors that may impact exposures to environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals. This includes changes in the use of chemicals found in consumer products, food packaging, and exposure to air pollutants. Within the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, a national consortium initiated to understand the effects of environmental exposures on child health and development, our objective was to assess whether urinary concentrations of a wide range of potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals varied before and during the pandemic.

The measurement reliability and equivalence of print versus online versions of the Youth Activity Profile.

Purpose: The Youth Activity Profile (YAP) is a 7-day self-report designed to quantify physical activity and sedentary behaviors among youth. This study evaluated the reliability of the online version of the YAP and equivalence with the paper-based version.

Method: A total of 2,490 participants from 17 schools in Iowa and Texas completed the YAP.

Unveiling diabetes onset: Optimized XGBoost with Bayesian optimization for enhanced prediction.

Diabetes, a chronic condition affecting millions worldwide, necessitates early intervention to prevent severe complications. While accurately predicting diabetes onset or progression remains challenging due to complex and imbalanced datasets, recent advancements in machine learning offer potential solutions. Traditional prediction models, often limited by default parameters, have been superseded by more sophisticated approaches.

Tumor localization strategies of multi-cancer early detection tests: a quantitative assessment.

Background: Multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests may expand cancer screening. Characterizing diagnostic resolution approaches following positive MCED tests is critical. Two trials employed distinct resolution approaches: a molecular signal to predict tissue of origin (TOO) and an imaging-based diagnostic strategy.

Functional profiling of the sequence stockpile: a protein pair-based assessment of in silico prediction tools.

Motivation: In silico functional annotation of proteins is crucial to narrowing the sequencing-accelerated gap in our understanding of protein activities. Numerous function annotation methods exist, and their ranks have been growing, particularly so with the recent deep learning-based developments. However, it is unclear if these tools are truly predictive.

Anesthesia Trauma Guidelines: A Systematic Review of Global Accessibility and Quality.

This systematic review describes the available clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for the anesthetic management of trauma and appraises the accessibility and quality of these resources. This review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A search was conducted across 8 databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CABI Digital Library, Global Index Medicus, SciELO, Google Scholar, and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) for guidelines from 2010 to 2023.

Semi-Synthesis of Dimeric Cannabidiol Derivatives and Evaluation of their Affinity at Neurological Targets.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a natural product associated with a wide range of biological and therapeutic activities. Despite the widespread cultural acceptance of CBD as a medicinal agent, much remains to be determined regarding its precise mechanism(s) of action in treating multiple conditions. CBD has been shown to promiscuously interact with several neurological targets with varying affinities.

Energy Resolved Mass Spectrometry Data from Surfaced Induced Dissociation Improves Prediction of Protein Complex Structure.

Native Mass Spectrometry (nMS) is a versatile technique for elucidating protein structure. Surface-Induced Dissociation (SID) is an activation method in tandem MS predominantly employed for determining protein complex stoichiometry alongside information about interface strengths. SID-nMS data can be collected over a range of acceleration energies, yielding Energy Resolved Mass Spectrometry (ERMS) data.