The Use of Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) to Predict the Carcass Composition of Lambs

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate models for predicting the carcass composition of lambs. Forty male lambs of two different breeds were included in our analysis. The lambs were slaughtered and their hot carcass weight was obtained. After cooling for 24 hours, the subcutaneous fat thickness was measured between the 12th and 13th rib and the total breast bone tissue thickness was taken in the middle of the second sternebrae. The left side of all carcasses was dissected into five components and the proportions of lean meat, subcutaneous fat, intermuscular fat, kidney and knob channel fat, and bone plus remainder were otained. Our models for carcass composition were fitted using the SUR estimator which is novel in this area. The results were compared to OLS estimates and evaluated by several statistical measures. As the models are intended to predict carcass composition, we particularly focussed on the PRESS statistic, because it assesses the precision of the model in predicting carcass composition. Our results showed that the SUR estimator performed better in predicting LMP and IFP than the OLS estimator. Although objective carcass classification systems could be improved by using the SUR estimator, it has never been used before for predicting carcass composition.Carcass, Quality, Ordinary least squares, Seemingly unrelated regression

Benchmarked effectiveness of family and school involvement in group exposure therapy for adolescent anxiety disorder

Although cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for adolescents with anxiety disorders, the majority remain impaired following treatment. We developed a group CBT program (RISK) with high degrees of exposure practice and family and school involvement delivered in a community-based setting and investigated its effectiveness. The treatment involved adolescents (N = 90), with a primary diagnosis of anxiety disorder (82%) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (18%), and their families who received 38 hours of group treatment over 10 weeks. Diagnostic status and symptom severity were assessed at pre- and post-treatment, and a 12-month follow-up and benchmarked against previous effectiveness studies. Our results showed that, at post-treatment, the RISK-treatment was comparably effective as benchmarks on measures of diagnostic status, parent-rated measures, adolescent-rated measures, and clinician-rated measures. At 12-month follow-up all outcomes were superior to benchmarks, including the proportion of participants in remission (79.5%, 95% Highest Posterior Density Interval [74.7, 84.2]), indicating that the RISK-treatment enhanced effectiveness over time. The combination of group format, a high degree of exposure practice, and school and family involvement is a promising format for real-world settings that may help sustain and increase treatment effectiveness. Trial registered at helseforskning.etikkom.no (reg. nr. 2017/1367).publishedVersio

Primary Hemiarthroplasty for the Treatment of Basicervical Femoral Neck Fractures

Purpose Basicervical femoral neck fractures are uncommon injuries that occur at the extracapsular base of the femoral neck at its transition with the intertrochanteric line. Controversy remains in the orthopedic literature as to the optimal method of treatment for this fracture type given the inherent instability and greater rate of implant failure with traditional fixation constructs. The purpose of this study is to quantify the incidence and preferred treatment methods of basicervical hip fractures at a single, regional, Level 1 trauma center and to identify differences in postoperative complications between treatment options. Methods The present study is a retrospective case series from a single regional health network, including 316 patients with hip fractures. Basicervical femoral neck fractures were identified. Reoperation rates within 90 days, implant failures or nonunions, postoperative ambulation distances and range of motion, and discharge dispositions were compared across patients grouped by surgical treatment with either cephalomedullary nail, sliding hip screw, or hemiarthroplasty (HA). Results Basicervical femoral neck fractures represented 6.6% of this study population. The cephalomedullary nail group demonstrated rates of implant failure and return to the operating room within 90 days of 40% (4/10) and 20% (2/10), respectively. No patients who underwent hemiarthroplasty experienced a failure of fixation or return to the operating room. Conclusions This study suggests a much lower rate of fixation failure or need for reoperation with hemiarthroplasty treatment compared to cephalomedullary nail construct for basicervical femoral neck fractures and may be an underutilized treatment method for this fracture type. The promising results seen with this case series should encourage further investigation into HA as a primary treatment for these uncommon, yet challenging, fractures

Puberty disorders among ART-conceived singletons : a Nordic register study from the CoNARTaS group

STUDY QUESTION Do ART-conceived children have an increased risk for puberty disorders? SUMMARY ANSWER Both ART-conceived boys and girls had a higher risk of puberty disorders; early puberty was more common among girls and late puberty among boys. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Some physiological differences in growth and metabolism have been reported for ART-conceived children compared to non-ART-conceived children. Knowledge on pubertal development and disorders in ART-conceived children is limited. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION A register-based cohort study was carried out including data from 1985 to 2015. The Committee of Nordic Assisted Reproductive Technology and Safety (CoNARTaS) study population consists of all live and stillborn children, as well as their mothers, registered in the Medical Birth Registers during the study period in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS A total of 122 321 ART-conceived singletons and 6 576 410 non-ART singletons born in Denmark (1994-2014), Finland (1990-2014), Norway (2002-2015) and Sweden (1985-2015) were included. Puberty disorders were defined using International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD)-9/ICD-10 codes and classified in the following groups: late puberty (6268/E30.0), early puberty (2591 and 2958/E30.1 and E30.8) and unspecified disorders (V212 and V579/E30.9 and Z00.3 as well as Z51.80 for Finland). The results in Cox regression were adjusted for maternal age, parity, smoking, gestational diabetes, chronic hypertension, hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and country, and further for either gestational age, birthweight, small for gestational age or large for gestational age. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE There were 37 869 children with diagnoses related to puberty disorders, and 603 of them were born after ART. ART-conceived children had higher risks for early (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 1.45, 95% CI: 1.29-1.64) and late puberty (aHR 1.47, 95% CI: 1.21-1.77). Girls had more diagnoses related to early puberty (aHR 1.46, 95% CI: 1.29-1.66) and boys with late puberty (aHR 1.55, 95% CI: 1.24-1.95). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Using reported puberty disorders with ICD codes in health care registers might vary, which may affect the numbers of cases found in the registers. Register data may give an underestimation both among ART and non-ART-conceived children, especially among non-ART children, who may not be as carefully followed as ART-conceived children. Adjustment for causes and duration of infertility, mothers' own puberty characteristics and BMI, as well as children's BMI, was not possible because data were not available or data were missing for the early years. It was also not possible to compare ART to non-ART siblings or to study the pubertal disorders by cause of subfertility owing to a small number of discordant sibling pairs and a large proportion of missing data on cause of subfertility. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS This large, register-based study suggests that ART-conceived children have a higher risk for puberty disorders. However, the mechanisms of infertility and pubertal onset are complex, and ART is a rapidly advancing field with various treatment options. Studying the pubertal disorders of ART-conceived offspring is a continuing challenge. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This work was supported by the Nordic Trial Alliance: a pilot project jointly funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and NordForsk (71450), the Central Norway Regional Health Authorities (46045000), the Nordic Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (NF13041, NF15058, NF16026 and NF17043), the Interreg oresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak European Regional Development Fund (ReproUnion project), the Research Council of Norway's Centre of Excellence funding scheme (262700), the Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the county councils, the ALF-agreement (ALFGBG-70940) and FLUX Consortium 'Family Formation in Flux-Causes, Consequences and Possible Futures', funded by the Strategic Research Council, Academy of Finland (DEMOGRAPHY 345130). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.Peer reviewe

Gene expression studies for the analysis of domoic acid production in the marine diatom Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries

Background: Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries Hasle (Hasle) (Ps-n) is distinctive among the ecologically important marine diatoms because it produces the neurotoxin domoic acid. Although the biology of Ps-n has been investigated intensely, the characterization of the genes and biochemical pathways leading to domoic acid biosynthesis has been limited. To identify transcripts whose levels correlate with domoic acid production, we analyzed Ps-n under conditions of high and low domoic acid production by cDNA microarray technology and reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) methods. Our goals included identifying and validating robust reference genes for Ps-n RNA expression analysis under these conditions. Results: Through microarray analysis of exponential- and stationary-phase cultures with low and high domoic acid production, respectively, we identified candidate reference genes whose transcripts did not vary across conditions. We tested eleven potential reference genes for stability using RT-qPCR and GeNorm analyses. Our results indicated that transcripts encoding JmjC, dynein, and histone H3 proteins were the most suitable for normalization of expression data under conditions of silicon-limitation, in late-exponential through stationary phase. The microarray studies identified a number of genes that were up- and down-regulated under toxin-producing conditions. RT-qPCR analysis, using the validated controls, confirmed the up-regulation of transcripts predicted to encode a cycloisomerase, an SLC6 transporter, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, glutamate dehydrogenase, a small heat shock protein, and an aldo-keto reductase, as well as the down-regulation of a transcript encoding a fucoxanthin-chlorophyll a-c binding protein, under these conditions. Conclusion: Our results provide a strong basis for further studies of RNA expression levels in Ps-n, which will contribute to our understanding of genes involved in the production and release of domoic acid, an important neurotoxin that affects human health as well as ecosystem function.Plymouth State University Graduate Programs OfficeWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution Academic Programs OfficeNew Hampshire IDeA Network of Biological Research Excellence (NH-INBRE)National Center for Research Resources (U.S.) (Grant 5P20RR030360-03)National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) (Grant 8P20GM103506-03

The derivation of the formyl-group oxygen of chlorophyll b in higher plants from molecular oxygen.

The mechanism of formation of the formyl group of chlorophyll b has long been obscure but, in this paper, the origin of the 7-formyl-group oxygen of chlorophyll b in higher plants was determined by greening etiolated maize leaves, excised from dark-grown plants, by illumination under white light in the presence of either H218O or 18O2 and examining the newly synthesized chlorophylls by mass spectroscopy. To minimize the possible loss of 18O label from the 7-formyl substituent by reversible formation of chlorophyll b-71-gem-diol (hydrate) with unlabelled water in the cell, the formyl group was reduced to a hydroxymethyl group during extraction with methanol containing NaBH4: chlorophyll a remained unchanged during this rapid reductive extraction process. Mass spectra of chlorophyll a and [7-hydroxymethyl]-chlorophyll b extracted from leaves greened in the presence of either H218O or 18O2 revealed that 18O was incorporated only from molecular oxygen but into both chlorophylls: the mass spectra were consistent with molecular oxygen providing an oxygen atom not only for incorporation into the 7-formyl group of chlorophyll b but also for the well-documented incorporation into the 131-oxo group of both chlorophylls a and b [see Walker, C. J., Mansfield, K. E., Smith, K. M. & Castelfranco, P. A. (1989) Biochem. J. 257, 599–602]. The incorporation of isotope led to as much as 77% enrichment of the 131-oxo group of chlorophyll a: assuming identical incorporation into the 131 oxygen of chlorophyll b, then enrichment of the 7-formyl oxygen was as much as 93%. Isotope dilution by re-incorporation of photosynthetically produced oxygen from unlabelled water was negligible as shown by a greening experiment in the presence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea. The high enrichment using 18O2, and the absence of labelling by H218O, unequivocally demonstrates that molecular oxygen is the sole precursor of the 7-formyl oxygen of chlorophyll b in higher plants and strongly suggests a single pathway for the formation of the chlorophyll b formyl group involving the participation of an oxygenase-type enzyme