bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessment of insecticide risk quantification methods: Introducing the Pesticide Risk Tool and its improvements over the Environmental Impact Quotient
Authors: Meys Eleanor L , Mineau Pierre , Werts Peter , Nelson Sally G A , Larson Ariel , Hutchison William D 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Tools for quantifying nontarget pesticide risks have long been used for documenting the benefits of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs. One resource receiving little attention is the Pesticide Risk Tool (PRT), developed by the IPM Institute in Madison, WI. The PRT includes 15 indices and uses a probabilistic approach to assess the risk for the environmental and human health effects of insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides. In this article, we compare the PRT to the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) to highlight the PRT’s approach to characterizing risk and several improvements over the EIQ. Comparing the calculated risk scores between the EIQ and PRT shows a similar trend with organophosphate insecticides, usually reflecting the highest toxicity risks, with more pronounced differences for pyrethroids and neonicotinoids, but exact toxicity rankings differ. Advantages of the PRT over the EIQ include the probabilistic approach to quantify risk and reliance on field impact data where available, the use of raw data for inputs versus a scoring system, correction of known issues with the EIQ, and its greater diversity of risk indices. Some disadvantages of the PRT include its lack of data on discontinued products, the absence of a total risk score, use of different scoring scales between indices, and its cost. However, given the pros and cons of each method, we believe the PRT to be a useful tool for researchers, extension professionals, and growers who wish to account for environmental and human health risks when building IPM programs.
Causal inference over stochastic networks
Authors: Clark Duncan A , Handcock Mark S 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Claiming causal inferences in network settings necessitates careful consideration of the often complex dependency between outcomes for actors. Of particular importance are treatment spillover or outcome interference effects. We consider causal inference when the actors are connected via an underlying network structure. Our key contribution is a model for causality when the underlying network is endogenous; where the ties between actors and the actor covariates are statistically dependent. We develop a joint model for the relational and covariate generating process that avoids restrictive separability and fixed network assumptions, as these rarely hold in realistic social settings. While our framework can be used with general models, we develop the highly expressive class of Exponential-family Random Network models (ERNM) of which Markov random fields and Exponential-family Random Graph models are special cases. We present potential outcome-based inference within a Bayesian framework and propose a modification to the exchange algorithm to allow for sampling from ERNM posteriors. We present results of a simulation study demonstrating the validity of the approach. Finally, we demonstrate the value of the framework in a case study of smoking in the context of adolescent friendship networks.
The genomic basis of nitrogen utilization efficiency and trait plasticity to improve nutrient stress tolerance in cultivated sunflower
Authors: Temme Andries A , Kerr Kelly L , Nolting Kristen M , Dittmar Emily L , Masalia Rishi R , Bucksch Alexander K , Burke John M , Donovan Lisa A 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Maintaining crop productivity is challenging as population growth, climate change, and increasing fertilizer costs necessitate expanding crop production to poorer lands whilst reducing inputs. Enhancing crops’ nutrient use efficiency is thus an important goal, but requires a better understanding of related traits and their genetic basis. We investigated variation in low nutrient stress tolerance in a diverse panel of cultivated sunflower genotypes grown under high and low nutrient conditions, assessing relative growth rate (RGR) as performance. We assessed variation in traits related to nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE), mass allocation, and leaf elemental content. Across genotypes, nutrient limitation generally reduced RGR. Moreover, there was a negative correlation between vigor (RGR in control) and decline in RGR in response to stress. Given this trade-off, we focused on nutrient stress tolerance independent of vigor. This tolerance metric correlated with the change in NUtE, plasticity for a suite of morphological traits, and leaf element content. Genome-wide associations revealed regions associated with variation and plasticity in multiple traits, including two regions with seemingly additive effects on NUtE change. Our results demonstrate potential avenues for improving sunflower nutrient stress tolerance independent of vigor, and highlight specific traits and genomic regions that could play a role in enhancing tolerance.
Gauging the roles of parliamentary staff
Authors: Brandsma Gijs Jan , Otjes Simon 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
There is a small but growing literature on the staffs working in national parliaments. These are mostly single-country studies studying one role that staff can play or one principal that they serve. Our contribution provides a comprehensive measurement instrument of the role of parliamentary staff, which takes into account organisational diversity within and between parliaments. We recognise four types of staff that may be present to a greater or lesser extent in different parliaments, which have different principals (PPG staff, personal staff, plenary or committee staff). These different staffs can play different roles (information broker, advisor, ghostwriter, compromise facilitator and marketeer). We apply this typology to the Dutch lower house and find out how different types of staff combine multiple roles in practice.
Transcription factor CaHDZ15 promotes pepper basal thermotolerance by activating HEAT SHOCK FACTORA6a
Authors: Mou Shaoliang , He Weihong , Jiang Haitao , Meng Qianqian , Zhang Tingting , Liu Zhiqin , Qiu Ailian , He Shuilin 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
High temperature stress (HTS) is a serious threat to plant growth and development and to crop production in the context of global warming, and plant response to HTS is largely regulated at the transcriptional level by the actions of various transcription factors (TFs). However, whether and how homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-Zip) TFs are involved in thermotolerance are unclear. Herein, we functionally characterized a pepper (Capsicum annuum) HD-Zip I TF CaHDZ15. CaHDZ15 expression was upregulated by HTS and abscisic acid in basal thermotolerance via loss- and gain-of-function assays by virus-induced gene silencing in pepper and overexpression in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. CaHDZ15 acted positively in pepper basal thermotolerance by directly targeting and activating HEAT SHOCK FACTORA6a (HSFA6a), which further activated CaHSFA2. In addition, CaHDZ15 interacted with HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN 70-2 (CaHsp70-2) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase1 (CaGAPC1), both of which positively affected pepper thermotolerance. CaHsp70-2 and CaGAPC1 promoted CaHDZ15 binding to the promoter of CaHSFA6a, thus enhancing its transcription. Furthermore, CaHDZ15 and CaGAPC1 were protected from 26S proteasome-mediated degradation by CaHsp70-2 via physical interaction. These results collectively indicate that CaHDZ15, modulated by the interacting partners CaGAPC1 and CaHsp70-2, promotes basal thermotolerance by directly activating the transcript of CaHSFA6a. Thus, a molecular linkage is established among CaHsp70-2, CaGAPC1, and CaHDZ15 to transcriptionally modulate CaHSFA6a in pepper thermotolerance.
Racial/ethnic disparities in the trajectories of insomnia symptoms from childhood to young adulthood
Authors: Singh Rupsha , Atha Raegan , Lenker Kristina P , Calhoun Susan L , Liao Jiangang , He Fan , Vgontzas Alexandros N , Liao Duanping , Bixler Edward O , Jackson Chandra L , Fernandez-Mendoza Julio 
Published: January 2024

Abstract

Study Objectives
To examine differences in the longitudinal prevalence of childhood insomnia symptoms across black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and non-Hispanic white groups.

Methods
Participants were 519 children from the Penn State Child Cohort (baseline [V1] from 2000–2005) who were followed up 8 years later as adolescents (V2) and 15 years later as young adults (S3). Mean age at S3 was 24.1 ± 2.7 years. Approximately, 76.5% identified as non-Hispanic white, 12.9% as black/African American, 7.1% as Hispanic/Latinx, and 3.5% as “other” race/ethnicity. Insomnia symptoms were defined as parent-reported (childhood) or self-reported (adolescence and young adulthood) moderate-to-severe difficulties initiating/maintaining sleep. Longitudinal trajectories of insomnia symptoms were identified across three-time points and the odds of each trajectory were compared between racial/ethnic groups, adjusting for sex, age, overweight, sleep apnea, periodic limb movements, psychiatric/behavioral disorders, and psychotropic medication use.

Results
Black/African Americans compared to non-Hispanic whites were at significantly higher odds of having a childhood-onset persistent trajectory through young adulthood (OR = 2.58, 95% CI [1.29, 5.14]), while Hispanics/Latinx were at nonsignificantly higher odds to have the same trajectory (OR = 1.81, 95% CI [0.77, 4.25]). No significant racial/ethnic differences were observed for remitted and waxing-and-waning trajectories since childhood or incident/new-onset trajectories in young adulthood.

Conclusions
The results indicate that disparities in insomnia symptoms among black/African American and, to a lesser extent, Hispanic/Latinx groups start early in childhood and persist into young adulthood. Identifying and intervening upon upstream determinants of racial/ethnic insomnia disparities are warranted to directly address these disparities and to prevent their adverse health sequelae.

Clinical Trial Information
N/A; Not a clinical trial.
Examining Racial and Gender Diversity in the Plastic Surgery Pipeline: Where is the Leak?
Authors: Persad-Paisley Elijah M. , Uriarte Sarah A. , Kuruvilla Annet S. , Menville Jesse E. , Baranwal Navya , Francalancia Stephanie C. , Lou Mary Y. , Zeyl Victoria G. , Rivera Perla Krissia M. , Rao Vinay , Kalliainen Loree K. 
Published: January 2024

Background:
There is limited information about minority representation throughout the plastic and reconstructive surgery (PRS) pipeline. The aim of this study was to examine trends in representation among minorities at different stages of the PRS training pathway, starting with potential candidates in high school through practicing physicians.

Methods:
The PRS pipeline was defined as high school; college; medical school applicants, matriculants, and graduates; PRS residency applicants, matriculants, and active residents; and PRS practicing physicians. Racial data for each stage were obtained from the US Census and Association of American Medical Colleges. The proportion of races at each stage were divided by their US population counterpart proportions to produce representation quotients (RQs). Medians and interquartile ranges (IQRs) are reported. Mann–Whitney U tests compared RQ values within identities between successive stages.

Results:
Black students had high representation in high school (RQ = 1.26 [IQR: 1.21–1.29]) but had significant, stepwise decreases in representation in subsequent stages. A similar trend was observed for Hispanic individuals, who had their highest representation in high school (1.43 [1.37–1.50]), followed by significant decreases in RQ at nearly every subsequent stage up to and including practicing physicians (0.30 [0.28–0.31). Asian individuals were overrepresented at every stage (high school RQ: 1.01 [1.00–1.03]; practicing physician RQ: 2.30 [2.27–2.32]). White individuals were underrepresented before residency but had an RQ that approximated 1 in subsequent stages.

Conclusions:
Racial minorities experienced decreases in representation at each successive stage in the PRS pipeline following high school. Ongoing diversity efforts should focus on premedical recruitment and professional support for minority students.
Magnitude, associated factors of difficult airway, and predictive value of airway examinations among maxillofacial surgery patients at public hospitals in Southern Ethiopia: a multicentre cross-sectional study
Authors: Ali Abas , Kassahun Bilen , Habtu Elias , Debalkie Ashebir , Seid Kerima , Awol Redi , Suleman Mohammed , Girma Bizuwork , Eanga Shamill , Oumer Abdi , Mosa Hassen , Tafesse Dawit , Bati Temesgen , Dendir Getahun 
Published: January 2024

Background:
“Difficult airway” is the clinical situation in which a conventionally trained anesthesiologist experiences difficulty with mask ventilation, laryngoscopy, and difficulty with tracheal intubation, or both. Associated factors and predictive value difficult airways, maxillofacial surgery study setup is under studied.

Objective:
To determine the magnitude and associated factors of difficult airways and predictive value of airway examinations among adult patients who underwent maxillofacial surgery at public hospitals in Southern Ethiopia 2022.

Methods and materials:
An institutional-based multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted among 250 maxillofacial patients from March to 30 June 2022 at selected hospitals. The data were entered into Epi_Data software version 4.3 and analyzed by STATA software version 14. All variables that were statistically significant in bivariate analysis, at the P less than 0.25, were included in the multivariate logistic regression analysis. The predictive value or the effectiveness of airway examinations in predicting difficult airways was analyzed by receiver operating curve.

Results:
In the current study, the magnitude of difficult airways was 21.2% (95% CI = 16.3–26.1%) and the magnitude of difficult intubation, difficult laryngoscopy, and difficult mask ventilation was 6.4% (95% CI 3.3–9.4%), 9.6% (95% CI 6.1–13%), and 13.6% (95% CI (9.1–16.8%), respectively. History of head and neck surgery adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=6.3, 95% CI (2.85–14.34), cervical collar AOR=4.9, 95% CI (1.96–12.49), and cervical spine injury AOR=2.4, 95% CI (1.07–5.38) were independently and significantly associated with difficulty of airway. Modified Mallampati class and sternomental distance were identified as good preoperative tests to predict difficult laryngoscopy, intubation, and mask ventilation.

Conclusion and recommendation:
The magnitude of difficult airways was maxillofacial surgery. Among various airway assessment tests, no single test was perfectly accurate. Anaesthesia professionals are recommended to use a combination of preoperative airway assessments.
Paediatric Moyamoya disease: acute presentation with fever and confusion in an 8-year-old: a case report
Authors: Karki Deepika , Pant Prashant , Paudel Sandip , Kumar Sah Sumit , Regmi Samiksha , Bhandari Sanjeev 
Published: January 2024

Introduction and importance:
Moyamoya is a chronic vaso-occlusive cerebrovascular disorder which involves internal carotid artery and its proximal branches, forming compensatory Moyamoya vessels. It may manifest with diverse symptoms, but early detection is crucial for a favourable prognosis.

Case presentation:
The authors present a case of an 8-year-old child who presented to the emergency with acute onset fever and confusion in speech. Although the symptoms were vague, she was advised for a thorough investigation. MRI of the brain revealed an infarct on the brain that raised suspicion of a vaso-occlussive disorder. Subsequent magnetic resonance angiography and digital subtraction angiography revealed underlying Moyamoya disease.

Clinical discussion:
Although the initial diagnosis of Moyamoya disease can be challenging, prompt diagnosis and simple medical measures like single antiplatelet regimens are useful for secondary ischaemic prevention.

Conclusion:
This case highlights the essence of considering Moyamoya disease as one of the differentials while dealing with children presenting with subtle cerebrovascular symptoms.
Colocalization of Increased Midbrain Signals in Neuroinflammation and Tau PET Imaging Suggests the Diagnosis of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
Authors: Lu Jiaying , Ge Jingjie , Yu Hai , Zhao Guixian , Chen Xiangjun 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Clinical overlap with multiple other neurological diseases makes the diagnosis of autoimmune encephalitis challenging; consequently, a broad range of neurological diseases are misdiagnosed as autoimmune encephalitis. A 58-year-old man presented with abnormal behavior, irritability for 3 years, oculomotor disturbance, unsteady walking, and dysphagia and was suspected as having anti–dipeptidyl-peptidase–like protein 6 (DPPX) encephalitis as the anti-DPPX antibody was positive in the serum. However, the therapeutic effect of immunotherapy was unsatisfactory. Subsequently, colocalization of increased midbrain signals was observed in neuroinflammation PET using [18F]DPA-714 and in tau PET using [18F]florzolotau, suggesting the diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy.
A dual-gene reporter-amplifier architecture for enhancing the sensitivity of molecular MRI by water exchange
Authors: Huang Yimeng , Chen Xinyue , Zhu Ziyue , Mukherjee Arnab 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe development of genetic reporters for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is essential for investigating biological functions in intact animals. However, current MRI reporters have low sensitivity, making it challenging to create significant contrast against the tissue background, especially when only a small percentage of cells express the reporter. To overcome this limitation, we developed an approach that amplifies signals by co-expressing an MRI reporter gene, Oatp1b3, with a water channel, aquaporin-1 (Aqp1). We first show that the expression of Aqp1 amplifies the paramagnetic relaxation effect of Oatp1b3 by facilitating transmembrane water exchange. This mechanism provides Oatp1b3-expressing cells with access to a larger water pool compared with typical exchange-limited conditions. We further demonstrated that our methodology allows dual-labeled cells to be detected using approximately 10-fold lower concentrations of contrast agent than that in the Aqp1-free scenario. Finally, we show that our approach enables the imaging of mixed-cell populations containing a low fraction of Oatp1b3-labeled cells that are otherwise undetectable based on Oatp1b3 expression alone.
Expression diversity of cichlid MHC alleles
Authors: Bracamonte Seraina E. , Hablützel Pascal I. , Lozano-Martín Carlos , Barluenga Marta 
Published: January 2024

AbstractDiversification by natural selection is a major source of biodiversity. The selective pressures imposed by parasites on their hosts have the potential to increase diversity at immunologically relevant genes and maintain high polymorphism within and among populations. The immune genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are a hallmark of parasite-mediated selection. These genes frequently show local adaptation to the prevailing parasites. Although associations between parasites and alleles have been identified, they are often imperfect, indicating that parasite-mediated selection goes beyond sequence identity. Here, we explored allele-specific expression of MHC class IIB in cichlid fish and its relationship with sequence diversity. This revealed a few highly abundant alleles with consistently low expression, and many relatively rare alleles with high expression levels that were variable among individuals. Alleles that formed functional supertypes also had similar expression. This suggests that rare alleles may be those responding to parasites and that similar functionality may be provided by different alleles in different individuals. Our results further suggest that there could be an optimal number of MHC alleles per individual and that deviations from this optimum are compensated by adjusting expression levels. The common and lowly expressed alleles may have attained different functions, a patterns that appears to be consistent in Neotropical and African cichlids. Our study shows that MHC expression is highly variable among alleles potentially interacting with parasites, providing an additional substrate for selection. Furthermore, our study exemplifies how combining genetic diversity with detailed expression information can help identifying functionally relevant diversity.
Cell cycle length regulates heterochromatin reprogramming during early development in non-mammalian vertebrates
Authors: Fukushima Hiroto S , Ikeda Takafumi , Ikeda Shinra , Takeda Hiroyuki 
Published: January 2024

AbstractHeterochromatin marks such as H3K9me3 undergoes global erasure and re-establishment after fertilization, and the proper reprogramming of H3K9me3 is essential for early development. Despite the widely conserved dynamics of heterochromatin reprogramming in invertebrates and non-mammalian vertebrates, previous studies have shown that the underlying mechanisms may differ between species. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism of H3K9me3 dynamics in medaka (Japanese killifish,Oryzias latipes) as a non-mammalian vertebrate model, and found that rapid cell cycle during the cleavage stages causes DNA replication-dependent passive erasure of H3K9me3. We also found that cell cycle slowing, toward the mid-blastula transition, permits increasing nuclear accumulation of H3K9me3 histone methyltransferase Setdb1, leading to the onset of H3K9me3 re-accumulation. We further demonstrated that cell cycle length in early development regulates H3K9me3 reprogramming in zebrafish andXenopus laevisas well. Together with the previous studies in invertebrates, we propose that the cell cycle length-dependent mechanism for both global erasure and re-accumulation of H3K9me3 is widely conserved among rapid-cleavage species of non-mammalian vertebrates and invertebrates such asDrosophila,C. elegansand teleost fish.