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BackgroundPolitical rhetoric from the former U.S. president influences Latinx adults' feelings of safety and their decisions to seek care in the emergency department (ED).ObjectiveOur aim was to examine the impact of political rhetoric on feelings of safety and health care access in the pediatric population.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study of undocumented Latinx families (ULF), Latinx U.S. citizen families (LCF), and non-Latinx U.S. citizen families (NLF) conducted from November 2018 through February 2020 by means of interviewing a convenience sample of parents and guardians who brought their child to a pediatric clinic and two EDs in California.ResultsOf 705 parents approached, 449 (63.7%) agreed to participate: 138 ULF, 150 LCF, and 158 NLF. Most ULF (95%), LCF (88%), and NLF (78%) parents and guardians had heard anti-immigrant statements from the former U.S. president and most (94% ULF, 90% LCF, 86% NLF) believed these measures against immigrants were being enacted or will be enacted. More ULF (75%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 67-81%) reported that these statements made them concerned about their child's safety in the United States compared with 36% (95% CI 28-45%) and 34% (95% CI 26-43%) of LCF and NLF, respectively. More ULF 17% (95% CI 11-24%) said that these statements made them afraid to bring their child for medical care, compared with 5% (95% CI 2-10%) and 3% (95% CI 1-7%) of LCF and NLF, respectively.ConclusionsMost parents heard statements against undocumented immigrants by the former U.S. president and most believed measures were being enacted. This rhetoric had a substantial negative impact on ULF parents in terms of safety concerns for their child and fear of accessing health care.

Introduction Pregnancy has a profound impact on physical fitness, and delivery does not allow for rapid return to peak performance levels as physiologic changes can persist for greater than 1 year postpartum. Multiple studies across all military services have documented decrements in physical performance with pregnancy among women. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of serial pregnancies on physical fitness and body composition in a cohort of Army women. We hypothesized that a second pregnancy would be associated with increasing decrements in physical fitness in active duty soldiers beyond that seen following a first delivery. Materials and Methods This retrospective cohort study screened all active duty soldiers who had delivered a singleton pregnancy of ≥32 weeks gestation between January 1, 2011 and March 31, 2017 at a single military medical center. This roster of eligible women was used to extract Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) and height/weight data from the U.S. Army Digital Training Management System. Soldiers who delivered their first 2 pregnancies over this period were included. Select antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum data were collected from the electronic medical record. The primary outcome variables were raw scores for push-ups, sit-ups, and run events as well as weight measures across the 2 pregnancies. The secondary outcomes were the failure rates on both the APFT events and body mass index measurements. Data were analyzed using paired t -tests to compare the means of APFT scores across the 2 pregnancies. The subjects served as their own controls. This study was approved by Regional Health Command-Pacific. Results A total of 2,103 active duty soldiers delivered singleton pregnancies at Tripler Army Medical Center between January 2011 and March 2017. Among these, 16 women delivered both their first- and second-term pregnancies and had APFT data available for analysis. Average age at time of first and second delivery was 26.1 and 28.1 years, respectively. Mean time separating the first postpartum APFT from the delivery was 8.8 months for the first pregnancy and 7.3 months following the second. A significant decrease in mean sit-up score was found comparing APFT-1 with APFT-2 (72.1 vs 65.7, P  = .043) and comparing APFT-1 to APFT-3 (72.1 vs 60.9, P  = .002). A significant increase in mean run time was found comparing APFT-1 to APFT-3 (16.9 minutes vs 17.9 minutes, P  = .010) and APFT-2 to APFT-3 (17.5 minutes vs 17.9 minutes, P  = .027). Comparing APFT-1 to APFT-3 showed a significant decrease in sit-up raw scores (P  = .002), run times (P  = .010), and total APFT scores (P  = .01). Overall, the data show a trend of decreasing performance in all APFT events across the 3 APFTs and a trend toward higher failure rates. This cohort of soldiers did not experience weight gain following the pregnancies. Conclusions The present study is the first to analyze the association of serial pregnancies on physical fitness utilizing a validated physical fitness test, and the results suggest that a second pregnancy is associated with progressive worsening of performance. This study is limited by the small sample size, and future studies could further elucidate the degree to which serial pregnancies affect physical fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of magnetic resonance imaging, which safely allows in vivo quantification of anatomical and physiological features of the brain, has revolutionized pediatric neuroscience. Longitudinal studies are useful for the characterization of developmental trajectories (ie, changes in imaging measures by age). Developmental trajectories (as opposed to static measures) have proven to have greater power in discriminating healthy from clinical groups and in predicting cognitive/behavioral measures, such as IQ. Here we summarize results from an ongoing longitudinal pediatric neuroimaging study that has been conducted at the Child Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health since 1989. Developmental trajectories of structural MRI brain measures from healthy youth are compared and contrasted with trajectories in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and childhood-onset schizophrenia. Across ages 5-25 years, in both healthy and clinical populations, white matter volumes increase and gray matter volumes follow an inverted U trajectory, with peak size occurring at different times in different regions. At a group level, differences related to psychopathology are seen for gray and white matter volumes, rates of change, and for interconnectedness among disparate brain regions.

[West J Emerg Med. 2012;13(1):98–99.]

[West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(4):526–527.]

[West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(4):579–580.]

Background and Aims Organelle genomes are usually maternally inherited in angiosperms. However, biparental inheritance has been observed, especially in hybrids resulting from crosses between divergent genetic lineages. When it concerns the plastid genome, this exceptional mode of inheritance might rescue inter-lineage hybrids suffering from plastid–nuclear incompatibilities. Genetically differentiated lineages of Silene nutans exhibit strong postzygotic isolation owing to plastid–nuclear incompatibilities, highlighted by inter-lineage hybrid chlorosis and mortality. Surviving hybrids can exhibit variegated leaves, which might indicate paternal leakage of the plastid genome. We tested whether the surviving hybrids inherited the paternal plastid genome and survived thanks to paternal leakage. Methods We characterized the leaf phenotype (fully green, variegated or white) of 504 surviving inter-lineage hybrids obtained from a reciprocal cross experiment among populations of four genetic lineages (W1, W2, W3 and E1) of S. nutans from Western Europe and genotyped 560 leaf samples (both green and white leaves for variegated hybrids) using six lineage-specific plastid single nucleotide polymorphisms. Key Results A high proportion of the surviving hybrids (≤98 %) inherited the paternal plastid genome, indicating paternal leakage. The level of paternal leakage depended on cross type and cross direction. The E1 and W2 lineages as maternal lineages led to the highest hybrid mortality and to the highest paternal leakage from W1 and W3 lineages in the few surviving hybrids. This was consistent with E1 and W2 lineages, which contained the most divergent plastid genomes. When W3 was the mother, more hybrids survived, and no paternal leakage was detected. Conclusions By providing a plastid genome potentially more compatible with the hybrid nuclear background, paternal leakage has the potential to rescue inter-lineage hybrids from plastid–nuclear incompatibilities. This phenomenon might slow down the speciation process, provided hybrid survival and reproduction can occur in the wild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kindergarten retention is a popular practice for children who are considered unready for primary school. However, past research has not yet succeeded to find consistent, strong empirical evidence supporting the practice. In the current study, kindergarten repeaters' development in nine psychosocial domains is compared with that of equally at risk but (1) continuously promoted age-mates and (2) promoted age-mates who repeated first grade instead. Analysing data from a large-scale longitudinal study using propensity score matching and multilevel modelling, the findings reveal no harm of kindergarten retention for at-risk children's long term psychosocial development. Rather, we find that, relative to equally at-risk but continuously promoted children, kindergarten repeaters benefit from retention with respect to higher levels of well-being, and peer relations, and lower levels of hyperactivity, aggression and asocial behaviour. Compared to similar children who were promoted but who were retained in first grade instead, kindergarten repeaters are found to benefit more from retention with respect to higher levels of well-being, self-confidence, attitude to work and independent behaviour, and lower levels of hyperactivity.

When a child does not seem to be ready for primary school, a popular practice is to grant the child more time by letting it repeat kindergarten. However, previous quasi-experimental research demonstrated negative, though diminishing, effects of kindergarten retention on academic learning during the first years of primary school. The present study extends the existing evidence by addressing children's post-treatment school trajectories. Analysing data from a large-scale longitudinal study, we find that, on average, kindergarten repeaters would perform better for mathematics until five years later, were they promoted to first grade instead. However, if promoted instead, kindergarten repeaters would also have a higher likelihood to be retained in first grade and, under that condition, have a lower growth rate and score lower for mathematics five years later.

Bioconversion is a biological process by which organic materials are converted into products with higher biological and commercial value. During its larval stage the black soldier fly Hermetia illucens is extremely voracious and can feed on a wide variety of organic materials. To study the impact of different fruit byproducts on the insect's growth, final larval biomass, substrate reduction, bioconversion parameters, and larval nutritional composition, 10 000 black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) were reared on 7.0 kg of one of three substrates (strawberry, tangerine, or orange) or on a standard diet as a control. The results highlight that BSFL can successfully feed and grow on each of these diets, though their development time, growth rate, and final biomass were differently impacted by the substrates, with strawberry being the most suitable. The lipid and protein contents of BSFL were similar among larvae fed on different substrates; however, major differences were detected in ash, micronutrient, fiber, fatty acid, and amino acid contents. Overall, the results indicate that fruit waste management through the BSFL bioconversion process represents a commercially promising resource for regional and national agrifood companies. Our study offers new perspectives for sustainable and environmentally friendly industrial development by which fruit byproducts or waste might be disposed of or unconventionally enhanced to create secondary products of high biological and economic value, including BSFL biomass as animal feed or, in perspective, as alternative protein source for human nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: There is growing evidence that cytonuclear incompatibilities (i.e. disruption of cytonuclear coadaptation) might contribute to the speciation process. In a former study, we described the possible involvement of plastid–nuclear incompatibilities in the reproductive isolation between four lineages of Silene nutans (Caryophyllaceae). Because organellar genomes are usually cotransmitted, we assessed whether the mitochondrial genome could also be involved in the speciation process, knowing that the gynodioecious breeding system of S. nutans is expected to impact the evolutionary dynamics of this genome.Using hybrid capture and high‐throughput DNA sequencing, we analyzed diversity patterns in the genic content of the organellar genomes in the four S. nutans lineages.Contrary to the plastid genome, which exhibited a large number of fixed substitutions between lineages, extensive sharing of polymorphisms between lineages was found in the mitochondrial genome. In addition, numerous recombination‐like events were detected in the mitochondrial genome, loosening the linkage disequilibrium between the organellar genomes and leading to decoupled evolution.These results suggest that gynodioecy shaped mitochondrial diversity through balancing selection, maintaining ancestral polymorphism and, thus, limiting the involvement of the mitochondrial genome in evolution of hybrid inviability between S. nutans lineages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]