Who is American? A comprehensive analysis of the American = White/Foreign = Asian stereotype (2007-2023).

Against the backdrop of increasing ethnic diversity in the U.S., we replicate, extend, and challenge previous examinations of the American = White/Foreign = Asian stereotype in the largest sample to date (N = 666,623 respondents) over 17 years (2007-2023).

Strengthening biopolymer adhesives through ureolysis-induced calcium carbonate precipitation.

Common adhesives for nonstructural applications are manufactured using petrochemicals and synthetic solvents. These adhesives are associated with environmental and health concerns because of their release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Biopolymer adhesives are an attractive alternative because of lower VOC emissions, but their strength is often insufficient.

Short-term evolutionary implications of an introgressed size-determining supergene in a vulnerable population.

The Thorny Skate (Amblyraja radiata) is a vulnerable species displaying a discrete size-polymorphism in the northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA). We conducted whole genome sequencing of samples collected across its range. Genetic diversity was similar at all sampled sites, but we discovered a ~ 31 megabase bi-allelic supergene associated with the size polymorphism, with the larger size allele having introgressed in the last ~160,000 years B.

Finding gaps in the national electric vehicle charging station coverage of the United States.

The United States federal government has invested $7.5 billion into charging infrastructure, including the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, to build fast charging stations along designated highways for long-distance car travel. We develop a consecutive coverage metric to compute the percent of United States roads (traffic-weighted) that are consecutively accessible within 500 miles of each county.

Integrating representation learning, permutation, and optimization to detect lineage-related gene expression patterns.

Recent barcoding technologies allow reconstructing lineage trees while capturing paired single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. Such datasets provide opportunities to compare gene expression memory maintenance through lineage branching and pinpoint critical genes in these processes. Here we develop Permutation, Optimization, and Representation learning based single Cell gene Expression and Lineage ANalysis (PORCELAN) to identify lineage-informative genes or subtrees where lineage and expression are tightly coupled.

Propidium Monoazide is Unreliable for Quantitative Live-Dead Molecular Assays.

Propidium monoazide (PMA) is a dye that distinguishes between live and dead cells in molecular assays like the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). It works by cross-linking to the DNA of cells that have compromised membranes or extracellular DNA upon photoactivation, making the DNA inaccessible for amplification. Currently, PMA is used to detect viable pathogens and alleviate systemic bias in the microbiome analysis of samples using 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

New insights into the goals of transgender male versus non-binary individuals considering metoidioplasty and phalloplasty gender-affirming surgery.

Background: Understanding patient goals for metoidioplasty and phalloplasty gender-affirming surgery (MaPGAS) is paramount to achieving satisfactory, preference-sensitive outcomes, yet there is a lack of understanding of MaPGAS priorities and how these may vary between transgender men and non-binary individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB).

Aim: To understand the surgical goals of transgender men and non-binary individuals AFAB considering MaPGAS.

Methods: An online survey was created following literature review and qualitative interviews and distributed via social media and a community health center to participants AFAB aged ≥18 years who had considered but not yet undergone MaPGAS.

Interplay between Two Structure Types in the Incommensurately Modulated ATaSe Compounds (A = Rb, Cs).

Incommensurately modulated crystals are a rare class of materials that are notoriously difficult to characterize properly. We have synthesized two new incommensurately modulated compounds, RbTaSe and CsTaSe, based on the MQ (M = Nb, Ta; Q = S, Se) unit using high-temperature solid-state synthesis. Using superspace crystallography in combination with second harmonic generation measurements, we confirmed both materials to be noncentrosymmetric, falling into the superspace group 1(αβγ)0, while the basic cell suggests 2/.

A Qualitative Study of Primary Care Physicians' Approaches to Caring for Adult Adopted Patients.

Purpose: Adoption has lifelong health implications for 7.8 million adopted people and their families in the United States. The majority of adoptees have limited family medical history (LFMH).

Intervention Stage Completion and Behavioral Health Outcomes: An Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care Randomized Pragmatic Trial.

Purpose: We performed a pragmatic, cluster randomized controlled trial of a comprehensive practice-level, multistage practice transformation intervention aiming to increase behavioral health integration in primary care practices and improve patient outcomes. We examined associations between completion of intervention stages and patient outcomes across a heterogeneous national sample of primary care practices.

Methods: Forty-two primary care practices across the United States with colocated behavioral health and 2,945 patients with multiple chronic medical and behavioral health conditions completed surveys at baseline, midpoint, and 2-year follow-up.

Impact of Financial Incentives and Department Size on Scholarly Activity Output.

Purpose: Family medicine research is essential to improving population health. It has the unique ability to answer questions about health care outcomes and use those insights to impact communities. Increasing research capacity continues to be a challenge; however, recent literature has touted the success of incentivization in several academic medicine specialties.

Affirmative Action-A Crack in the Door to Higher Education.

The impact of the Supreme Court of the United States ruling against race-conscious admissions extends beyond college admissions to professional schools. Based partially on the idea that enough time had elapsed for achievement of the stated goals of affirmative action, the court ruled race-conscious admissions are unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The ruling left a crack in the door to higher education, however, allowing students to write an essay showing how race or ethnicity affected their lives.

EndoVIA for quantifying A-to-I editing and mapping the subcellular localization of edited transcripts.

Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) editing, catalyzed by adenosine deaminases acting on RNA (ADARs), is a prevalent post-transcriptional modification that is vital for numerous biological functions. Given that this modification impacts global gene expression, RNA localization, and innate cellular immunity, dysregulation of A-to-I editing has unsurprisingly been linked to a variety of cancers and other diseases. However, our current understanding of the underpinning mechanisms that connect dysregulated A-to-I editing and disease processes remains limited.

A probe-based capture enrichment method for detection of A-to-I editing in low abundance transcripts.

Exactly two decades ago, the ability to use high-throughput RNA sequencing technology to identify sites of editing by ADARs was employed for the first time. Since that time, RNA sequencing has become a standard tool for researchers studying RNA biology and led to the discovery of RNA editing sites present in a multitude of organisms, across tissue types, and in disease. However, transcriptome-wide sequencing is not without limitations.

CellREADR: An ADAR-based RNA sensor-actuator device.

RNAs are central mediators of genetic information flow and gene regulation that underlie diverse cell types and cell states across species. Thus, methods that can sense and respond to RNA profiles in living cells will have broad applications in biology and medicine. CellREADR - Cell access through RNA sensing by Endogenous ADAR (adenosine deaminase acting on RNA), is a programmable RNA sensor-actuator technology that couples the detection of a cell-defining RNA to the translation of an effector protein to monitor and manipulate the cell.

Structural analysis of human ADAR2-RNA complexes by X-ray crystallography.

Adenosine deaminases acting on RNAs (ADARs) are a class of RNA editing enzymes found in metazoa that catalyze the hydrolytic deamination of adenosine to inosine in duplexed RNA. Inosine is a nucleotide that can base pair with cytidine, therefore, inosine is interpreted by cellular processes as guanosine. ADARs are functionally important in RNA recoding events, RNA structure modulation, innate immunity, and can be harnessed for therapeutically-driven base editing to treat genetic disorders.

En masse evaluation of RNA guides (EMERGe) for ADARs.

Adenosine Deaminases Acting on RNA (ADARs) convert adenosine to inosine in duplex RNA, and through the delivery of guide RNAs, can be directed to edit specific adenosine sites. As ADARs are endogenously expressed in humans, their editing capacities hold therapeutic potential and allow us to target disease-relevant sequences in RNA through the rationale design of guide RNAs. However, current design principles are not suitable for difficult-to-edit target sites, posing challenges to unlocking the full therapeutic potential of this approach.

Retinoids and retinoid-binding proteins: Unexpected roles in metabolic disease.

Alterations in tissue expression levels of both retinol-binding protein 2 (RBP2) and retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) have been associated with metabolic disease, specifically with obesity, glucose intolerance and hepatic steatosis. Our laboratories have shown that this involves novel pathways not previously considered as possible linkages between impaired retinoid metabolism and metabolic disease development. We have established both biochemically and structurally that RBP2 binds with very high affinity to very long-chain unsaturated 2-monoacylglycerols like the canonical endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) and other endocannabinoid-like substances.

Multiple roles for retinoid signaling in craniofacial development.

Retinoic acid (RA) signaling plays multiple essential roles in development of the head and face. Animal models with mutations in genes involved in RA signaling have enabled understanding of craniofacial morphogenic processes that are regulated by the retinoid pathway. During craniofacial morphogenesis RA signaling is active in spatially restricted domains defined by the expression of genes involved in RA production and RA breakdown.

Vitamin A supply in the eye and establishment of the visual cycle.

Animals perceiving light through visual pigments have evolved pathways for absorbing, transporting, and metabolizing the precursors essential for synthesis of their retinylidene chromophores. Over the past decades, our understanding of this metabolism has grown significantly. Through genetic manipulation, researchers gained insights into the metabolic complexity of the pathways mediating the flow of chromophore precursors throughout the body, and their enrichment within the eyes.

Retinoid signaling in pancreas development, islet function, and disease.

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) signaling is essential in numerous different biological contexts. This review highlights the diverse roles of ATRA during development, function, and diseases of the pancreas. ATRA is essential to specify pancreatic progenitors from gut tube endoderm, endocrine and exocrine differentiation, and adult islet function.

The multifaceted roles of retinoids in eye development, vision, and retinal degenerative diseases.

Vitamin A (all-trans-retinol; at-Rol) and its derivatives, known as retinoids, have been adopted by vertebrates to serve as visual chromophores and signaling molecules, particularly in the eye/retina. Few tissues rely on retinoids as heavily as the retina, and the study of genetically modified mouse models with deficiencies in specific retinoid-metabolizing proteins has allowed us to gain insight into the unique or redundant roles of these proteins in at-Rol uptake and storage, or their downstream roles in retinal development and function. These processes occur during embryogenesis and continue throughout life.

Retinoic acid homeostasis and disease.

Retinoids, particularly all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), play crucial roles in various physiological processes, including development, immune response, and reproduction, by regulating gene transcription through nuclear receptors. This review explores the biosynthetic pathways, homeostatic mechanisms, and the significance of retinoid-binding proteins in maintaining ATRA levels. It highlights the intricate balance required for ATRA homeostasis, emphasizing that both excess and deficiency can lead to severe developmental and health consequences.

The action of retinoic acid on spermatogonia in the testis.

For mammalian spermatogenesis to proceed normally, it is essential that the population of testicular progenitor cells, A undifferentiated spermatogonia (A), undergoes differentiation during the A to A1 transition that occurs at the onset of spermatogenesis. The commitment of the A population to differentiation and leaving a quiescent, stem-like state gives rise to all the spermatozoa produced across the lifespan of an individual, and ultimately determines male fertility. The action of all-trans retinoic acid (atRA) on the A population is the determining factor that induces this change.