COMPARING MEASURING METHODS USING THE SENSITIVITY RATIO: AN APPLICATION TO RESISTANCE SCREENING IN SOYBEANS

When there are several methods of measuring a physical or chemical property, it is necessary to determine which method is best. If both methods are measured on the same scale, the most precise method will be preferred. However, often the methods have different scales. The sensitivity ratio allows for explicit comparison of methods with different scales. We use the sensitivity ratio to compare soybean resistance screening methods to evaluate the resistance of soybean varieties to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. When compared to the root mean square error or the coefficient of variation, the sensitivity ratio can order methods differently both when the methods are measured on different scales and on the same scale. Our results cast doubt upon using standard precision statistics such as the root mean square error or the coefficient of variation to compare measuring methods and we suggest that the sensitivity ratio should be used instead

Parent Skills Training: Expanding School-Based Services for Adolescent Mothers

This article reports the results of a collaborative intervention effort between a teen-parent program and a school of social work Social work faculty and students participated in a program aimed at strengthening parental skills and the utilization of social support among adolescent mothers who were enrolled in a special high school program. The results of this evaluation study point to additional factors, such as empathy training and stress management, which need to be included in a comprehensive service-delivery program for school-age mothers.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68359/2/10.1177_104973159200200203.pd

Treatment with a corticotrophin releasing factor 2 receptor agonist modulates skeletal muscle mass and force production in aged and chronically ill animals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Muscle weakness is associated with a variety of chronic disorders such as emphysema (EMP) and congestive heart failure (CHF) as well as aging. Therapies to treat muscle weakness associated with chronic disease or aging are lacking. Corticotrophin releasing factor 2 receptor (CRF2R) agonists have been shown to maintain skeletal muscle mass and force production in a variety of acute conditions that lead to skeletal muscle wasting.</p> <p>Hypothesis</p> <p>We hypothesize that treating animals with a CRF2R agonist will maintain skeletal muscle mass and force production in animals with chronic disease and in aged animals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We utilized animal models of aging, CHF and EMP to evaluate the potential of CRF2R agonist treatment to maintain skeletal muscle mass and force production in aged animals and animals with CHF and EMP.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In aged rats, we demonstrate that treatment with a CRF2R agonist for up to 3 months results in greater extensor digitorum longus (EDL) force production, EDL mass, soleus mass and soleus force production compared to age matched untreated animals. In the hamster EMP model, we demonstrate that treatment with a CRF2R agonist for up to 5 months results in greater EDL force production in EMP hamsters when compared to vehicle treated EMP hamsters and greater EDL mass and force in normal hamsters when compared to vehicle treated normal hamsters. In the rat CHF model, we demonstrate that treatment with a CRF2R agonist for up to 3 months results in greater EDL and soleus muscle mass and force production in CHF rats and normal rats when compared to the corresponding vehicle treated animals.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data demonstrate that the underlying physiological conditions associated with chronic diseases such as CHF and emphysema in addition to aging do not reduce the potential of CRF2R agonists to maintain skeletal muscle mass and force production.</p

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Evaluation of Resistance Screening Methods for Sclerotinia Stem Rot of Soybean and Dry Bean

Three methods to identify levels of resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in soybean (Glycine max) and dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) were compared using multiple data analyses. The three methods were mycelial plug inoculations of cotyledons, cut stems, and detached leaves. Six S. sclerotiorum isolates of known relative aggressiveness were inoculated on each of three soybean and dry bean cultivars with varied response to S. sclerotiorum. For soybean, all three inoculation methods accurately identified isolate aggressiveness irrespective of cultivar, but identification of susceptible and partially resistant soybean cultivars was influenced by isolate. For dry bean, the cotyledon and cut stem methods accurately identified isolate aggressiveness, but identification of susceptible and partially resistant dry bean cultivars was influenced by isolate and inoculation method. The cut stem method had the smallest coefficient of variation and was more precise for detecting interactions. When considering root mean square residual error combined over species and experiments, coefficient of variation based on residual error, significance of isolate-by-cultivar interaction from ANOVA, rank correlation between pairs of methods, and sensitivity ratio for the three resistance screening methods under controlled environmental conditions, the cut stem method was statistically better than the cotyledon and detached leaf methods for evaluating resistance in soybean and dry bean cultivars

LINE- and Alu-containing genomic instability hotspot at 16q24.1 associated with recurrent and nonrecurrent CNV deletions causative for ACDMPV

Transposable elements modify human genome by inserting into new loci or by mediating homology-, microhomology-, or homeology-driven DNA recombination or repair, resulting in genomic structural variation. Alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of pulmonary veins (ACDMPV) is a rare lethal neonatal developmental lung disorder caused by point mutations or copy-number variant (CNV) deletions of FOXF1 or its distant tissue-specific enhancer. Eighty-five percent of 45 ACDMPV-causative CNV deletions, of which junctions have been sequenced, had at least one of their two breakpoints located in a retrotransposon, with more than half of them being Alu elements. We describe a novel similar to 35 kb-large genomic instability hotspot at 16q24.1, involving two evolutionarily young LINE-1 (L1) elements, L1PA2 and L1PA3, flanking AluY, two AluSx, AluSx1, and AluJr elements. The occurrence of L1s at this location coincided with the branching out of the Homo-Pan-Gorilla clade, and was preceded by the insertion of AluSx, AluSx1, and AluJr. Our data show that, in addition to mediating recurrent CNVs, L1 and Alu retrotransposons can predispose the human genome to formation of variably sized CNVs, both of clinical and evolutionary relevance. Nonetheless, epigenetic or other genomic features of this locus might also contribute to its increased instability