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Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 2021 Mar 13;84:105321. Epub 2021 Mar 13.

Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

Purpose: To develop and test the application of a quasi-automated screening procedure identifying probable toe walking in a large population of preschool children.

Methods: The proposed screening procedure was designed to identify children exhibiting signs of toe walking in a previously recruited cohort of preschool children (MiPS cohort). The procedure combines parent observation (step 1), objective parameters of foot contact during gait by an automated screening of 3-D video recordings (step 2), and clinical video screening of the children identified in step 1 and/or 2 (step 3). Read More

Heliyon 2021 Mar 13;7(3):e06483. Epub 2021 Mar 13.

West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.

Anther indehiscence in certain wide crosses combines male sterility with stigma exertion, a phenomenon that is desirable for hybrid rice seed production. This study sought to identify chromosomal region(s) that combine anther indehiscence with exerted stigmas. A mapping population consisting of 189 BCF plants was derived from a cross between CRI-48 and Jasmine 85 and backcrossing the resulting F to Jasmine 85. Read More

J Dairy Sci 2021 Mar 11. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding, 4201 Northview Drive, Suite 302, Bowie, MD 20716.

Genetic selection has been a very successful tool for the long-term improvement of livestock populations, and the rapid adoption of genomic selection over the last decade has doubled the rate of gain in some populations. Breeding programs seek to identify genetically superior parents of the next generation, typically as a function of an index that combines information about many economically important traits into a single number. In the United States, the data that drive this system are collected through the national dairy herd improvement program that began more than a century ago. Read More

Hum Genomics 2021 Mar 12;15(1):16. Epub 2021 Mar 12.

Department of Medical Ethics, Philosophy and History of Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, PO Box 2400, Rotterdam, 3000, CA, The Netherlands.

Background: Genomic research on neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), particularly involving minors, combines and amplifies existing research ethics issues for biomedical research. We performed a review of the literature on the ethical issues associated with genomic research involving children affected by NDDs as an aid to researchers to better anticipate and address ethical concerns.

Results: Qualitative thematic analysis of the included articles revealed themes in three main areas: research design and ethics review, inclusion of research participants, and communication of research results. Read More

Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2021 Mar 4;110:110296. Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Human Genetics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Electronic address:

Background: Tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of serotonin in the brain. This study aims to investigate the role of a functional variant in TPH2 (rs17110747) in the pathophysiology of ADHD. This variant has been implicated in mood disorders in recent meta-analysis. Read More

Antioxidants (Basel) 2021 Jan 26;10(2). Epub 2021 Jan 26.

Department of Biomolecular Sciences, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, 61029 Urbino, Italy.

I-152 combines two pro-glutathione (GSH) molecules, namely N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) and cysteamine (MEA), to improve their potency. The co-drug efficiently increases/replenishes GSH levels in vitro and in vivo; little is known about its mechanism of action. Here we demonstrate that I-152 not only supplies GSH precursors, but also activates the antioxidant kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1/nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (KEAP1/NRF2) pathway. Read More

Front Plant Sci 2020 23;11:601013. Epub 2020 Dec 23.

Sustainable Land Use and Climate Change, Department of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Climate change impacts imply that the stabilization and improvement of agricultural production systems using technological innovations has become vital. Improvements in plant breeding are integral to such innovations. In the context of German crop breeding programs, the economic impact of exchanging genetic material has yet to be determined. Read More

J Mater Chem B 2021 01 5;9(4):1030-1039. Epub 2021 Jan 5.

State Key Laboratory of Robotics and Systems, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.

Small intestine-targeted drug delivery by oral administration has aroused the growing interest of researchers. In this work, the child-parent microrobot (CPM) as a vehicle protects the child microrobots (CMs) under a gastric acid environment and releases them in the small intestinal environment. The intelligent hydrogel-based CPMs with sphere, mushroom, red blood cell, and teardrop shapes are fabricated by an extrusion-dripping method. Read More

Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2020 Dec 28. Epub 2020 Dec 28.

Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department of Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Röntgenweg 13, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.

Purpose: Deposition of misfolded alpha-synuclein (αSYN) aggregates in the human brain is one of the major hallmarks of synucleinopathies. However, a target-specific tracer to detect pathological aggregates of αSYN remains lacking. Here, we report the development of a positron emission tomography (PET) tracer based on anle138b, a compound shown to have therapeutic activity in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases. Read More

Front Psychol 2020 23;11:593995. Epub 2020 Nov 23.

Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.

Children's math self-concepts-their beliefs about themselves and math-are important for teachers, parents, and students, because they are linked to academic motivation, choices, and outcomes. There have been several attempts at improving math achievement based on the training of math skills. Here we took a complementary approach and conducted an intervention study to boost children's math self-concepts. Read More

Front Psychiatry 2020 19;11:601779. Epub 2020 Nov 19.

Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States.

Several studies have reported that individuals with chronic depression have higher rates of depressive disorders, and particularly chronic depression, in their first-degree relatives, compared to those with non-chronic (episodic) major depression. In addition, a few studies have suggested that offspring of parents with chronic depression have elevated rates of depression and other psychopathology. Most of this work uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which defines chronicity as persistence for at least 2 years. Read More

J Psychoactive Drugs 2020 Dec 15:1-8. Epub 2020 Dec 15.

Department of Public Health & Primary Care, Institute of Population Health, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin , Dublin, Ireland.

Several studies suggest parental substance use, while not always the case, exposes children to a higher risk of physical, psychological, behavioral and emotional problems. Identifying interventions that best support the parent and child needs is imperative. The PuP programme aims to improve family functioning and child outcomes by supporting parents who are or have been drug or alcohol dependent. Read More

World J Clin Cases 2020 Nov;8(21):5149-5158

Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, China.

Background: A hybrid operating room (Hybrid-OR) is a surgical theatre that combines a conventional operating room with advanced medical imaging devices. There are still plenty of limitations when endovascular treatment or microsurgical treatment is used individually to treat large or giant carotid-ophthalmic aneurysms.

Aim: To explore and summarize the technical features and effectiveness of the application of a Hybrid-OR in managing major intracranial carotid-ophthalmic aneurysms. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Mar 7;760:143408. Epub 2020 Nov 7.

Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS-CSIC), Seville, Spain. Electronic address:

Partial transformation of pollutants and mobilization of the produced metabolites may contribute significantly to the risks resulting from biological treatment of soils polluted by hydrophobic chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Pyrene, a four-ringed PAH, was selected here as a model pollutant to study the effects of sunflower plants on the bacterial accessibility and cometabolism of this pollutant when located at a spatially distant source within soil. We compared the transformation of passively dosed C-labeled pyrene in soil slurries and planted pots that were inoculated with the bacterium Pseudomonas putida G7. Read More

Health Econ 2021 Jan 23;30(1):129-143. Epub 2020 Oct 23.

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.

Many aspects of asthma-in particular the relationship between beliefs, averting behaviors, and symptoms-are not directly observable from market data. An approach that combines observable market data with nonmarket valuation to gather data on unobservable aspects of the illness can improve efforts to quantify the burden of asthma if it accounts for the endogeneity in the system. Such approaches are used in the valuation of recreation but have not been widely used to value the burden of a chronic illness. Read More

BMC Public Health 2020 Oct 14;20(1):1544. Epub 2020 Oct 14.

Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, The University of Hong Kong, 3/F, Ap Lei Chau Clinic, 161 Ap Lei Chau Main Street, Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Background: Parent-child exercises involve children and parents to do workout together and have positive effects on physical and mental health. We developed a mobile app on parent-child exercises called Family Move, which combines coaching videos with game features such as points and level system to enhance the health and wellbeing of both children and parents through parent-child exercises. This pilot pre-post study investigated whether the Family Move app-based intervention had a positive effect on children's health-related quality of life (HRQOL), psychosocial wellbeing, and physical activity (PA) level. Read More

Health Soc Care Community 2020 Sep 18. Epub 2020 Sep 18.

Norah Fry Research Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.

The Mellow Futures programme is a specially adapted parenting programme for mothers with learning difficulties that combines group work with home-based support. This paper reports on the findings of prospective and retrospective interviews with professionals who had referred mothers to the programme in England or Scotland between 2013 and 2015. The aim was to explore their perceptions of the programme as a whole, and its impact on the mothers they had referred to it. Read More

Trauma Violence Abuse 2020 Sep 18:1524838020957986. Epub 2020 Sep 18.

15636Rutgers University-Camden, NJ, USA.

Despite the importance of understanding the prevalence, causes, and consequences of conflict and violence within families, the specific risk of violence following a family member's release from incarceration has been hard to ascertain. Research indicates that a significant percentage of persons released from incarceration will experience involvement in family violence in their life, yet it remains unclear whether this heightened risk exists due to larger family or structural contexts or whether incarceration itself leads to heightened risk of family violence after release. Using an integrative review methodology that combines results from both qualitative and quantitative studies, we review existing studies of family violence after incarceration to explore (1) the prevalence, (2) variation in measurement, (3) risk factors, and (4) protective factors for family violence after a family member's incarceration. Read More

Genome Res 2020 08 19;30(8):1154-1169. Epub 2020 Aug 19.

Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX3 7BN, United Kingdom.

The characterization of de novo mutations in regions of high sequence and structural diversity from whole-genome sequencing data remains highly challenging. Complex structural variants tend to arise in regions of high repetitiveness and low complexity, challenging both de novo assembly, in which short reads do not capture the long-range context required for resolution, and mapping approaches, in which improper alignment of reads to a reference genome that is highly diverged from that of the sample can lead to false or partial calls. Long-read technologies can potentially solve such problems but are currently unfeasible to use at scale. Read More

Science 2020 08;369(6505):799-806

Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA.

Polycyclic diterpenes exhibit many important biological activities, but de novo synthetic access to these molecules is highly challenging because of their structural complexity. Semisynthetic access has also been limited by the lack of chemical tools for scaffold modifications. We report a chemoenzymatic platform to access highly oxidized diterpenes by a hybrid oxidative approach that strategically combines chemical and enzymatic oxidation methods. Read More

J Adolesc 2020 08 4;83:95-99. Epub 2020 Aug 4.

Kent State University, PO Box 5190, Kent, 44242-0001, OH, USA. Electronic address:

Although scientific research on adolescent romantic and sexual development has proliferated in recent years, currently, too little is known about how development in these areas can be understood across diverse populations (e.g., different socio-cultural groups within countries) and contexts (e. Read More

Dev Cogn Neurosci 2020 10 25;45:100829. Epub 2020 Jul 25.

Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and modulate emotions, behaviour, and cognition in order to adapt to changing circumstances. Developing adequate self-regulation is associated with better social coping and higher educational achievement later in life; poor self-regulation has been linked to a variety of detrimental developmental outcomes. Here, we focus on the development of neurocognitive processes essential for self-regulation. Read More

Appl Neuropsychol Child 2020 Jul 23:1-13. Epub 2020 Jul 23.

Psychology Department, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

The term "metacognition" describes thinking about a cognitive phenomenon or, more simply put, thinking about thinking . Metacognition involves using knowledge about one's cognitive processes to change behavior, including monitoring and controlling cognition. Metacognition is vital for learning and is often more difficult for children with neurodevelopmental concerns (e. Read More

J Consult Clin Psychol 2020 Aug;88(8):708-725

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.

Objective: To evaluate a lay provider-delivered, brief intervention to reduce problem drinking and related family consequences among men in Kenya. The 5-session intervention combines behavioral activation (BA) and motivational interviewing (MI). It integrates family-related material explicitly and addresses central cultural factors through gender transformative strategies. Read More

Dev Sci 2021 Mar 29;24(2):e13015. Epub 2020 Jul 29.

Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Visual attention measures of receptive vocabulary place minimal task demand on participants and produce a more accurate measure of language comprehension than parent report measures. However, current gaze-based measures employ visual comparisons limited to two simultaneous items. With this limitation, the degree of similarity of the target to the distractor can have a significant impact on the interpretation of task performance. Read More

J Vis Exp 2020 06 16(160). Epub 2020 Jun 16.

Unidad de Hortofruticultura, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón (CITA); Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón - IA2 (CITA-Universidad de Zaragoza).

Self-incompatibility in Rosaceae is determined by a Gametophytic Self-Incompatibility System (GSI) that is mainly controlled by the multiallelic locus S. In apricot, the determination of self- and inter-(in)compatibility relationships is increasingly important, since the release of an important number of new cultivars has resulted in the increase of cultivars with unknown pollination requirements. Here, we describe a methodology that combines the determination of self-(in)compatibility by hand-pollinations and microscopy with the identification of the S-genotype by PCR analysis. Read More

Contemp Clin Trials 2020 08 2;95:106072. Epub 2020 Jul 2.

Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60608, United States; Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60608, United States. Electronic address:

Despite evidence for effective integrated behavior therapy for treating comorbid obesity and depression, treatment response is highly variable and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain unknown. This hampers efforts to identify mechanistic targets in order to optimize treatment precision and potency. Funded within the NIH Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) Research Network, the 2-phased ENGAGE research project applies an experimental precision medicine approach to address this gap. Read More

PLoS One 2020 25;15(6):e0234882. Epub 2020 Jun 25.

Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.

Strong early vigour plays a crucial role in wheat yield improvement by enhancing resource utilization efficiency. Synthetic hexaploid wheat (SHW) combines the elite genes of tetraploid wheat with Aegilops tauschii and has been widely used in wheat genetic improvement for its abundant genetic variation. The two SHWs Syn79 and Syn80 were derived from the crossing of the same tetraploid wheat DOY1 with two different Ae. Read More

Stud Health Technol Inform 2020 Jun;270:1297-1298

University Hospital Muenster, Germany.

In order to assist parents in providing rapid first aid to children in case of emergency, a mobile emergency application was developed. The children's emergency app works with intuitive graphics and checklists and combines several functions such as tips for preventing accidents, easy-to-understand instructions for first-aid actions and a search function for the next pediatrician or hospital. This app is not intended to be a substitute, but rather an addition to first aid courses. Read More

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020 07 1;375(1803):20190495. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Department of Ecology and School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.

Traditional attempts to understand the evolution of human cognition compare humans with other primates. This research showed that relative brain size covaries with cognitive skills, while adaptations that buffer the developmental and energetic costs of large brains (e.g. Read More