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Introduction: This study evaluated the patterns of smoking cessation at Wave 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study among established cigarette smokers who were also current e-cigarettes users at Wave 3.Methods: We assessed changes in smoking frequency at Wave 4 among established cigarette and e-cigarette users at Wave 3. The demographics of participants were analyzed as well as e-cigarettes device types, number of cigarettes smoked and time from waking up until the first cigarette. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios as well as percentage of discontinuing cigarettes use at Wave 4 were calculated for the different categories of dual users.Results: Among dual users at Wave 3, 13.1% quit cigarette smoking at Wave 4, whereas half discontinued e-cigarette use and maintained exclusive cigarette smoking. Significant differences in the percentage of smoking cessation were observed across demographic groups - dual users with a bachelor's degree were more likely to quit smoking than dual users who did not finish high school (aOR = 3.06, 95% CI: 1.17-8.00) and smokers aged 25-64 years were less likely to quit smoking than those aged 18-24 years (aOR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.28-0.86 for smokers aged 25-44 years, and aOR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.20-0.87 for those aged 45-64). Dual users who smoked more than 15 cigarettes per day were significantly less likely to stop smoking (aOR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.17-0.88).Conclusion: E-cigarettes have the potential to aid in smoking cessation. Questions remain as to whether dual use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes should be encouraged as a transitional phase on the path to smoking cessation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maize (Zea Mays) is one of the world's most important crops. Hybrid maize lines resulted a major improvement in corn production in the previous and current centuries. Understanding the genetic mechanisms of the corn production associated traits greatly facilitate the development of superior hybrid varieties. Result: In this study, four ear traits associated with corn production of Nested Association Mapping (NAM) population were analyzed using a full genetic model, and further, optimal genotype combinations and total genetic effects of current best lines, superior lines, and superior hybrids were predicted for each of the traits at four different locations. The analysis identified 21–34 highly significant SNPs (−log10P > 5), with an estimated total heritability of 37.31–62.34%, while large contributions to variations was due to dominance, dominance-related epistasis, and environmental interaction effects ( h D + 2 = ^ 14.06% ~ 49.28%), indicating these factors contributed significantly to phenotypic variations of the ear traits. Environment-specific genetic effects were also discovered to be crucial for maize ear traits. There were four SNPs found for three ear traits: two for ear length and weight, and two for ear row number and length. Using the Enumeration method and the stepwise tuning technique, optimum multi-locus genotype combinations for superior lines were identified based on the information obtained from GWAS. Conclusions: Predictions of genetic breeding values showed that different genotype combinations in different geographical regions may be better, and hybrid-line variety breeding with homozygote and heterozygote genotype combinations may have a greater potential to improve ear traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein ubiquitination is common and crucial in cellular functions, however, little is known about how deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) reverse regulate the ubiquitination signaling process. PPPDE family proteins are a novel class of deubiquitinating peptidases with demonstrated deubiquitination/deSUMOylating activities. In this study, we identified 10 PPPDE genes from the rice (Oryza sativa L.) genome unevenly distributed on five chromosomes, where most of these members have not been reported to date. Based on the gene structure, the OsPPPDE family consists of three distinct subgroups within the phylogenetic tree. Cis-element analysis identified light/phytohormone-responsive, development, and abiotic stress-related elements in the promoters of OsPPPDE. Furthermore, we conducted and analyzed the transcript abundance of OsPPPDE under various tissues and stresses using the transcriptome data of 352 samples from the Rice Expression Database and GEO datasets. Moreover, OsPPPDE5 showed differential regulation of its transcript abundance during Cd and drought stress. Collinearity and syntenic analysis of 101 PPPDEs and PPPDE-like proteins in 10 plant genomes indicated that this family is evolutionarily conserved. Domestication analysis suggests that OsPPPDEs may contribute to indica–japonica divergence using the data from the 3K Rice Genome Project. Our study provides a foundation for further study on the function and molecular mechanism of the OsPPPDE gene family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing a confidence interval for the ratio of two quantities is an important task in statistics because of its omnipresence in real world applications. For such a problem, the MOVER-R (method of variance recovery for the ratio) technique, which is based on the recovery of variance estimates from confidence limits of the numerator and the denominator separately, was proposed as a useful and efficient approach. However, this method implicitly assumes that the confidence interval for the denominator never includes zero, which might be violated in practice. In this article, we first use a new framework to derive the MOVER-R confidence interval, which does not require the above assumption and covers the whole parameter space. We find that MOVER-R can produce an unbounded confidence interval, just like the well-known Fieller method. To overcome this issue, we further propose the penalized MOVER-R. We prove that the new method differs from MOVER-R only at the second order. It, however, always gives a bounded and analytic confidence interval. Through simulation studies and a real data application, we show that the penalized MOVER-R generally provides a better confidence interval than MOVER-R in terms of controlling the coverage probability and the median width. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Group format weight loss interventions have benefits over individual format, but privacy concerns may limit their uptake. Method: In this study, adults with obesity and interest in losing weight were recruited nationally online and randomly assigned to view one of eight videos describing a hypothetical, group behavioral weight loss intervention. Based on three fully crossed factors, the videos varied on privacy features of intervention (present or not); matching participants to group based on weight loss barriers (matched or not); and intervention format (online or in-person). Participants rated their willingness to join, privacy concerns, and perceived effectiveness of these interventions. They further reported preference for individual or group format interventions and reason for preferences. Results: Description of privacy features, matching of participants, and format did not affect willingness to join, privacy concerns, or perceived effectiveness of the intervention. Privacy concerns were associated with lower willingness to join and lower perceived intervention effectiveness, and greater social anxiety and weight stigma. More participants preferred individual over group format (40.1% vs 33.9%; 26% selected neither) and preference for individual format was associated with greater privacy concerns. Conclusion: Strategies to address privacy concerns in group-based interventions warrant further attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generalizability of study findings may be influenced by pre-enrollment trial procedures, including the use of behavioral run-in periods. The study goals were to determine whether behavioral run-in periods and other pre-enrollment processes affect outcomes in randomized trials of behavioral weight loss interventions that have contributed to clinical guidelines. The sample was behavioral weight loss intervention trials included in the 2018 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force systematic review. Information on pre-enrollment processes (total steps, in-person steps, behavioral run-in) was abstracted, and meta-regressions were conducted in 2022 to test whether pre-enrollment processes were associated with weight loss at 6 or 12 months and trial retention at 12 months. Across 80 trials, the median number of total pre-enrollment steps was 2 (range=1–5), and that of in-person pre-enrollment steps was 1 (range=0–4). Almost one-third of the trials (k =24; 30%) used a behavioral run-in. The most common run-in tasks were self-monitoring physical activity (k =9) or both physical activity and diet (k =6). Greater weight loss was observed in trials with behavioral run-ins at 6 months (−2.33 kg; 95% CI= −3.72, −0.93) and, to an attenuated extent, at 12 months (−0.86 kg; 95% CI= −1.72, 0.01) compared to those without run-ins. The total number of pre-enrollment steps was also associated with greater 6-month weight loss (−0.85 kg; 95% CI= −1.59, −0.11). Higher retention was associated with total number of pre-enrollment steps and in-person steps and marginally with the presence of run-ins. The use of more pre-enrollment processes is associated with greater weight loss in behavioral weight loss trials and may impact the generalizability of outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schematic illustration of the integrated membrane-triggered adsorption combining struvite crystallization concept for phosphorus recovery from PG leachate. [Display omitted] • More than 89.23% of the phosphorus anions in the phosphogypsum leachate can be recovered via membrane-triggered adsorption. • 79.36% of desorbed phosphorus can be recovered via struvite crystallization with a purity of 89.83%. • The novel process demonstrates a green and sustainable strategy toward phosphorus recovery from phosphogypsum leachate. Phosphorus pollution from phosphogypsum (PG) leachate has caused severe problems in the water environment and ecology. Efficient phosphate recovery and resource utilization techniques are crucial as they can aid the phosphorus pollution problem and recover the scarcity of phosphorus resources. Herein, we developed a highly efficient phosphorus recovery strategy from PG leachate by integrating the ZrO 2 membrane-triggered adsorption technique with the struvite crystallization process. More than 89.23% of the phosphorus anions in the PG leachate can be recovered via membrane-triggered adsorption. With the concentrated phosphate anions washed from membrane adsorption, the phosphate anions can be further employed for struvite crystallization, and an overall phosphorus recovery efficiency of 59.36% can be achieved. The obtained fine struvite product is of high purity, with NH 4 MgPO 4 ·6H 2 O weight ratio of up to 89.83%. The novel strategy developed here demonstrates a green and sustainable strategy toward phosphorus recovery from the PG or PG-polluted groundwater or surface water leachate, which could be applied to practical phosphorus recovery and struvite fertilizer production. The commercialization of this strategy will shed light on the emergency PG pollution control at the YangtzeRiver upstream area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cottonseed is one of the most important raw materials for plant protein, oil and alternative biofuel for diesel engines. Understanding the complex genetic basis of cottonseed traits is requisite for achieving efficient genetic improvement of the traits. However, it is not yet clear about their genetic architecture in genomic level. GWAS has been an effective way to explore genetic basis of quantitative traits in human and many crops. This study aims to dissect genetic mechanism seven cottonseed traits by a GWAS for genetic improvement. Results: A genome-wide association study (GWAS) based on a full gene model with gene effects as fixed and gene-environment interaction as random, was conducted for protein, oil and 5 fatty acids using 316 accessions and ~ 390 K SNPs. Totally, 124 significant quantitative trait SNPs (QTSs), consisting of 16, 21, 87 for protein, oil and fatty acids (palmitic, linoleic, oleic, myristic, stearic), respectively, were identified and the broad-sense heritability was estimated from 71.62 to 93.43%; no QTS-environment interaction was detected for the protein, the palmitic and the oleic contents; the protein content was predominantly controlled by epistatic effects accounting for 65.18% of the total variation, but the oil content and the fatty acids except the palmitic were mainly determined by gene main effects and no epistasis was detected for the myristic and the stearic. Prediction of superior pure line and hybrid revealed the potential of the QTSs in the improvement of cottonseed traits, and the hybrid could achieve higher or lower genetic values compared with pure lines. Conclusions: This study revealed complex genetic architecture of seven cottonseed traits at whole genome-wide by mixed linear model approach; the identified genetic variants and estimated genetic component effects of gene, gene-gene and gene-environment interaction provide cotton geneticist or breeders new knowledge on the genetic mechanism of the traits and the potential molecular breeding design strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With development of sequencing technology, dense single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been available, enabling uncovering genetic architecture of complex traits by genome-wide association study (GWAS). However, the current GWAS strategy usually ignores epistatic and gene-environment interactions due to absence of appropriate methodology and heavy computational burden. This study proposed a new GWAS strategy by combining the graphics processing unit- (GPU-) based generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) algorithm with mixed linear model approach. The reliability and efficiency of the analytical methods were verified through Monte Carlo simulations, suggesting that a population size of nearly 150 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) had a reasonable resolution for the scenarios considered. Further, a GWAS was conducted with the above two-step strategy to investigate the additive, epistatic, and gene-environment associations between 701,867 SNPs and three important quality traits, gelatinization temperature, amylose content, and gel consistency, in a RIL population with 138 individuals derived from super-hybrid rice Xieyou9308 in two environments. Four significant SNPs were identified with additive, epistatic, and gene-environment interaction effects. Our study showed that the mixed linear model approach combining with the GPU-based GMDR algorithm is a feasible strategy for implementing GWAS to uncover genetic architecture of crop complex traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Distinct changes in gene expression of the IL-1 axis are found in PDAC. • IL-1 axis expression is correlated with changes in immune checkpoint proteins. • Changes in the IL-1 axis impact the tumor immune milieu. • Low tumor expression of IL1B is associated with decreased overall survival. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) plays a key role in carcinogenesis and several IL-1-targeted therapeutics are under investigation for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We sought to broaden our understanding of how the family of IL-1 ligands and receptors impact the tumor immune landscape and patient survival in PDAC. Gene expression data and DNA methylation data for IL1A, IL1B, IL1RN, IL1R1, IL1R2, and IL1RAP was attained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and cross validated using the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Immune cell-type abundance was estimated using CIBERSORTx. Further confirmatory soluble protein analysis and peripheral blood immunophenotyping were performed on available tissue samples from our institution. 169 PDAC patients and 50 benign pancreatic TCGA-based samples were analyzed. IL1A (p < 0.001), IL1RN (p < 0.001), IL1R2 (p < 0.001), and IL1RAP (p = 0.006) were markedly increased in PDAC tumor tissue compared to benign pancreatic tissue. Furthermore, expression of IL1A, IL1B and IL1R1 were positively correlated with gene expression of immune checkpoints PVR, CD274, CD47, CD80, and HLA-A/B/C (p < 0.001). IL1B and IL1R1 were correlated to expression of PDCD1, CD86, CTLA4 and IDO1 (<0.001). Low expression of IL1RN (p = 0.020), IL1R2 (p = 0.015), and IL1RAP (p = 0.003) and high expression of IL1B (p = 0.031) were correlated with increased patient survival. At the protein level, IL-1β was correlated with increased peripheral central memory CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells as well as decreased Th2 cells. These findings suggest that the IL-1 axis plays a complex and pivotal role in the host immune response to PDAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most important agronomic and quality traits of crops are quantitative in nature. The genetic variations in such traits are usually controlled by sets of genes called quantitative trait loci (QTLs), and the interactions between QTLs and the environment. It is crucial to understand the genetic architecture of complex traits to design efficient strategies for plant breeding. In the present study, a new experimental design and the corresponding statistical method are presented for QTL mapping. The proposed mapping population is composed of double backcross populations derived from backcrossing both homozygous parents to DH (double haploid) or RI (recombinant inbreeding) lines separately. Such an immortal mapping population allows for across-environment replications, and can be used to estimate dominance effects, epistatic effects, and QTL-environment interactions, remedying the drawbacks of a single backcross population. In this method, the mixed linear model approach is used to estimate the positions of QTLs and their various effects including the QTL additive, dominance, and epistatic effects, and QTL-environment interaction effects (QE). Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to investigate the performance of the proposed method and to assess the accuracy and efficiency of its estimations. The results showed that the proposed method could estimate the positions and the genetic effects of QTLs with high efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Little is known about the relationship between eating behavior and weight gain during pregnancy.Purpose: Our objective was to assess the relationship among self-reported cognitive restraint, disinhibition, and hunger, and excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) as defined by the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) 2009 guidelines. Based on previous research examining eating behaviors and weight gain in non-pregnant women, we hypothesized that excessive GWG would be related to higher cognitive restraint, higher disinhibition, and higher perception of hunger.Methods: 190 pregnant women from the Glowing study completed the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) at the enrollment visit, which included subscales assessing restraint, disinhibition, and hunger. Participants' height and weight from <10 weeks through 36 weeks gestation were measured, allowing classification within or in excess of the IOM guidelines adjusted for the week of the final measurement.Results: The odds that a participant would gain weight above IOM recommendations was 1.2 times higher (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.05-1.29) for each one-unit increase in the disinhibition subscale in the unadjusted logistic regression. However, after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and baseline BMI categories, participants' TFEQ scores were not associated with the likelihood of having GWG above IOM guidelines. Eating behaviors subscales were modestly correlated with baseline BMI categories (all rs < 0.50 with p-values ranging from <0.001 to 0.619).Conclusions: Although disinhibition scores had a significant relationship with excessive GWG, the significance of this relationship was not sustained after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and baseline BMI categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]