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A common challenge facing public health practitioners and communication scholars is how to best change perceptions and increase favorable attitudes and awareness of health recommendations, such as help-seeking about depression. Given the need to identify persuasive ways to communicate depression, this study examined how discrete emotions, cognition, and engaging eHealth information-seeking behavior affected US adults' intentions regarding help-seeking about depression. The results from an online survey of 1422 US adults revealed (1) elated emotion and loving emotion; (2) depression consciousness; (3) attitude toward seeking help from mental health services; and (4) eHealth information-seeking significantly predicted intention to seek help from professionals. In addition, depression consciousness, attitude toward seeking help from mental health services, and eHealth information-seeking acted as sequential mediators for the relationship between elated emotion, loving emotion, and behavioral intention. Implications for health communication and depression communication research and practice are discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

We explored the potential benefits and costs of believing one can change their weight (i.e. growth mindset) in the context of a digital weight management program. We investigated mechanisms by which growth mindsets relate to weight loss achievement and body shame. Among participants seeking to lose weight ( N = 1626; 74.7% female; 77.9% White; M age = 45.7), stronger growth mindsets indirectly predicted greater weight loss achievement through positive offset expectations and subsequent increased program engagement. Additionally, stronger growth mindsets predicted less body shame through positive offset expectations but predicted more body shame through increased onset responsibility, replicating the double-edged sword model of growth mindsets. We conclude with applications that leverage growth mindsets for optimal behavior change while mitigating costs such as body shame., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Author ASH. is an employee of Noom Inc. and has received salary and/or stock compensation from Noom Inc. Author SE. is a contractor for Noom and received salary but not stock options. The Supplemental Material are available via the Sage Journals platform.

Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), including lung, head & neck, bladder, and skin SCCs often display constitutive activation of the KEAP1-NRF2 pathway. Constitutive activation is achieved through multiple mechanisms, including activating mutations in NFE2L2 (NRF2). To determine the functional consequences of Nrf2 activation on skin SCC development, we assessed the effects of mutant Nrf2 E79Q expression, one of the most common activating mutations in human SCCs, on tumor promotion and progression in the mouse skin multistage carcinogenesis model using a DMBA-initiation/TPA-promotion protocol where the Hras A->T mutation (Q61L) is the canonical driver mutation. Nrf2 E79Q expression was temporally and conditionally activated in the epidermis at two stages of tumor development: 1) after DMBA initiation in the epidermis but before cutaneous tumor development and 2) in pre-existing DMBA-initiated/TPA-promoted squamous papillomas. Expression of Nrf2 E79Q in the epidermis after DMBA initiation but before tumor occurrence inhibited the development/promotion of 70% of squamous papillomas. However, the remaining papillomas often displayed non-canonical Hras and Kras mutations and enhanced progression to SCCs compared to control mice expressing wildtype Nrf2. Nrf2 E79Q expression in pre-existing tumors caused rapid regression of 60% of papillomas. The remaining papillomas displayed the expected canonical Hras A->T mutation (Q61L) and enhanced progression to SCCs. These results demonstrate that mutant Nrf2 E79Q enhances the promotion and progression of a subset of skin tumors and alters the frequency and diversity of oncogenic Ras mutations when expressed early after initiation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors have declared they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study investigated the effects of different approach directions, movement speeds, and trajectories of a co-robot's end-effector on workers' mental stress during handover tasks., Background: Human-robot collaboration (HRC) is gaining attention in industry and academia. Understanding robot-related factors causing mental stress is crucial for designing collaborative tasks that minimize workers' stress., Methods: Mental stress in HRC tasks was measured subjectively through self-reports and objectively through galvanic skin response (GSR) and electromyography (EMG). Robot-related factors including approach direction, movement speed, and trajectory were analyzed., Results: Movement speed and approach direction had significant effects on subjective ratings, EMG, and GSR. High-speed and approaching from one side consistently resulted in higher fear, lower comfort, and predictability, as well as increased EMG and GSR signals, indicating higher mental stress. Movement trajectory affected GSR, with the sudden stop condition eliciting a stronger response compared to the constrained trajectory. Interaction effects between speed and approach direction were observed for "surprise" and "predictability" subjective ratings. At high speed, approach direction did not significantly differ, but at low speeds, approaching from the side was found to be more surprising and unpredictable compared to approaching from the front., Conclusion: The mental stress of workers during HRC is lower when the robot's end effector (1) approaches a worker within the worker's field of view, (2) approaches at a lower speed, or (3) follows a constrained trajectory., Application: The outcome of this study can serve as a guide to design HRC tasks with a low level of workers' mental stress., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Nicole Lindenblatt acts as a consultant and scientific advisor for Medical Microinstruments.

Influenza outbreaks are a major burden worldwide annually. While seasonal vaccines do provide protection against infection, they are limited in that they need to be updated every year to account for the constantly mutating virus. Recently, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) encapsulating mRNA have seen major success as a vaccine platform for SARS-CoV-2. Herein, we applied LNPs to deliver an mRNA encoding a computationally optimized broadly active (COBRA) influenza immunogen. These COBRA mRNA LNPs induced a broadly active neutralizing antibody response and protection after lethal influenza challenge. To further increase the immunogenicity of the COBRA mRNA LNPs, we combined them with acetalated dextran microparticles encapsulating a STING agonist. Contrary to recent findings, the STING agonist decreased the immunogenicity of the COBRA mRNA LNPs which was likely due to a decrease in mRNA translation as shown in vitro. Overall, this work aids in future selection of adjuvants to use with mRNA LNP vaccines., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There are no conflicts to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study examines how L1 English-L2 French learners use L1 articulatory and acoustic categories to produce L2 vowels that are both similar to and different from their L1 vowels. Previous studies examining the relationship between L1 and L2 sound inventories have found that learners reuse L1 phone categories to produce L2 phones that are perceived as similar, but importantly, there is a lack of articulatory data included in these types of studies, which has reinforced the assumption that vowel categories can be solely represented by their acoustic properties. The present study uses ultrasound tongue imaging data and videos of lip rounding in addition to acoustic data to examine how L1 English-L2 French learners produce the French vowels /i y u e ø o/ compared with their English vowels /i u e o/. The results focus on individual paths to category formation to show how learners articulate L2 vowels, and reveal that they tend to reuse L1 tongue body gestures to produce the French vowels /i u e o/, and lip rounding gestures to produce the round vowels /y u o/. This study demonstrates that transfer of articulatory gestures depends on vowel quality and emphasizes the importance of using articulatory data to inform theories of L2 category formation.

Advances in robotics have contributed to the prevalence of human-robot collaboration (HRC). However, working and interacting with collaborative robots in close proximity can be psychologically stressful. Therefore, understanding the impacts of human-robot interaction (HRI) on mental stress is crucial for enhancing workplace well-being. To this end, this study investigated how the HRI factors - presence, complexity, and modality - affect the psychological stress of workers. We employed both the NASA-Task Load Index for subjective assessment and physiological metrics including galvanic skin responses, electromyography, and heart rate for objective evaluation. An experimental setup was implemented in which human operators worked together with a collaborative robot on Lego assembly tasks, using different interaction paradigms including pressing buttons, showing hand gestures, and giving verbal commands. The results revealed that the introduction of interactions during HRC helped reduce mental stress and that complex interactions resulted in higher mental stress than simple interactions. Meanwhile, using hand gestures led to significantly higher mental stress than pressing buttons and verbal commands. The findings provided practical insights for mitigating mental stress in the workplace and promoting wellness in the era of HRC., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Plant viruses pose a significant threat to agriculture. Several are stable outside their hosts, can enter water bodies and remain infective for prolonged periods of time. Even though the quality of irrigation water is of increasing importance in the context of plant health, the presence of plant viruses in irrigation waters is understudied. In this study, we conducted a large-scale high-throughput sequencing (HTS)-based virome analysis of irrigation and surface water sources to obtain complete information about the abundance and diversity of plant viruses in such waters. We detected nucleic acids of plant viruses from 20 families, discovered several novel plant viruses from economically important taxa, like Tobamovirus and observed the influence of the water source on the present virome. By comparing viromes of water and surrounding plants, we observed presence of plant viruses in both compartments, especially in cases of large-scale outbreaks, such as that of tomato mosaic virus. Moreover, we demonstrated that water virome data can extensively inform us about the distribution and diversity of plant viruses for which only limited information is available from plants. Overall, the results of the study provided extensive insights into the virome of irrigation waters from the perspective of plant health. It also suggested that an HTS-based water virome surveillance system could be used to detect potential plant disease outbreaks and to survey the distribution and diversity of plant viruses in the ecosystem., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Electron carrier proteins (ECPs), binding iron-sulfur clusters, are vital components within the intricate network of metabolic and photosynthetic reactions. They play a crucial role in the distribution of reducing equivalents. In Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, the ECP network includes at least nine ferredoxins. Previous research, including global expression analyses and protein binding studies, has offered initial insights into the functional roles of individual ferredoxins within this network. This study primarily focuses on Ferredoxin 9 (slr2059). Through sequence analysis and computational modeling, Ferredoxin 9 emerges as a unique ECP with a distinctive two-domain architecture. It consists of a C-terminal iron‑sulfur binding domain and an N-terminal domain with homology to Nil-domain proteins, connected by a structurally rigid 4-amino acid linker. Notably, in contrast to canonical [2Fe2S] ferredoxins exemplified by PetF (ssl0020), which feature highly acidic surfaces facilitating electron transfer with photosystem I reaction centers, models of Ferredoxin 9 reveal a more neutral to basic protein surface. Using a combination of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and square-wave voltammetry on heterologously produced Ferredoxin 9, this study demonstrates that the protein coordinates 2×[4Fe4S] 2+/1+ redox-active and magnetically interacting clusters, with measured redox potentials of -420 ± 9 mV and - 516 ± 10 mV vs SHE. A more in-depth analysis of Fdx9's unique structure and protein sequence suggests that this type of Nil-2[4Fe4S] multi-domain ferredoxin is well conserved in cyanobacteria, bearing structural similarities to proteins involved in homocysteine synthesis in methanogens., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None of the co-authors received any financial or non-financial assistance provided by a third party for the reported work. None of the co-authors have any financial interest or relationship related to the subject matter directly or indirectly related to this manuscript. This work is not pending any patents or copyrights., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

This paper argues that the best interpretation of the human nature concept used in evolutionary social science (ESS) is as the human adaptive complex. This understanding of the concept enables us to make sense of the features of human nature that are described in that literature as symptomatic of traits which are part of human nature, rather than being constitutive of human nature itself. This enables this proposal to make better sense of how the human nature concept is used than other current proposals for how to understand that concept., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aquatic algal communities demonstrated their appeal for diverse industrial applications due to their vast availability, ease of harvest, lower production costs, and ability to biosynthesize valuable molecules. Algal biomass is promising because it can multiply in water and on land. Integrated algal systems have a significant advantage in wastewater treatment due to their ability to use phosphorus and nitrogen, simultaneously accumulating heavy metals and toxic substances. Several species of microalgae have adapted to thrive in these harsh environmental circumstances. The potential of algal communities contributes to achieving the United Nations' sustainable development goals in improving aquaculture, combating climate change, reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, and providing biomass as a biofuel feedstock. Algal-based biomass processing technology facilitates the development of a circular bio-economy that is both commercially and ecologically viable. An integrated bio-refinery process featuring zero waste discharge could be a sustainable solution. In the current review, we will highlight wastewater management by algal species. In addition, designing and optimizing algal bioreactors for wastewater treatment have also been incorporated., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), one of the most common endocrine disorders in women, may involve both environmental and genetic factors. One potential environmental factor of concern is exposure to phthalates and other endocrine disrupting chemicals many of which have adverse effects on the female reproductive system. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate possible association between prenatal phthalate exposure and PCOS. Six databases were searched for relevant human studies. Inclusion criteria were female human population diagnosed with PCOS and exposed during any lifestage to any phthalate or phthalate metabolite through oral, dermal, inhalation, or intravenous route. Search results were screened for relevance, and studies that met the inclusion criteria were evaluated for study quality using Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tools. The systematic literature search yielded seven articles, six case-control studies and one cohort study. Three studies found a significant positive association, two studies found a significant negative association, and two studies found no association between phthalate exposure and the incidence of PCOS. Even though studies found no consistent pattern on association with phthalates and PCOS, the results of analyzed studies did not exclude possible effects of phthalates on the female reproductive and metabolic system. Some of the factors in study design such as recruiting participants from IVF clinics and young age of participants may have biased the results. Further studies with more careful study design and longer follow-up time are needed to bring more reliable information about the role of phthalates in onset of PCOS., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study uses non-native perception data to examine the relationship between perceived phonetic similarity of segments and their phonological patterning. Segments that are phonetically similar to one another are anticipated to pattern together phonologically, and segments that share articulatory or acoustic properties are also expected to be perceived as similar. What is not yet clear is whether segments that pattern together phonologically are perceived as similar. This study addresses this question by examining how L1 English listeners and L1 Guébie listeners perceive non-native implosive consonants compared with plosives and sonorants. English does not have contrastive implosives, whereas Guébie has a bilabial implosive. The bilabial implosive phonologically patterns with sonorants in Guébie, to the exclusion of obstruents. Two perception experiments show English listeners make more perceptual categorization errors between implosives and voiced plosives than Guébie listeners do, but both listener groups are more likely to classify implosives as similar to voiced plosives than sonorants. The results also show that Guébie listeners are better at categorizing non-native implosive consonants (i.e., alveolar implosives) than English listeners, showing that listeners are able to extend features or gestures from their L1 to non-native implosive consonants. The results of these experiments suggest a cross-linguistic perceptual similarity hierarchy of implosives compared with other segments that are not affected by L1 phonological patterning.

Gene drive is an emerging biotechnology with applications in global health, conservation and agriculture. Scientists are preparing for field trials, triggering debate about when and how to release gene-drive organisms. These decisions depend on public understandings of gene drive, which are shaped by language. While some studies on gene drive communication assume the need to persuade publics of expert definitions of gene drive, we highlight the importance of meaning-making in communication and engagement. We conducted focus groups with humanities and science teachers in the United Kingdom and United States to explore how different media framings stimulated discussions of gene drive. We found diversity in the value of these framings for public debate. Interestingly, the definition favoured by gene drive scientists was the least popular among participants. Rather than carefully curating language, we need opportunities for publics to make sense and negotiate the meanings of a technology on their own terms.

Background: Manual dexterity is a fundamental motor skill that allows us to perform complex daily tasks. Neuromuscular injuries, however, can lead to the loss of hand dexterity. Although numerous advanced assistive robotic hands have been developed, we still lack dexterous and continuous control of multiple degrees of freedom in real-time. In this study, we developed an efficient and robust neural decoding approach that can continuously decode intended finger dynamic movements for real-time control of a prosthetic hand., Methods: High-density electromyogram (HD-EMG) signals were obtained from the extrinsic finger flexor and extensor muscles, while participants performed either single-finger or multi-finger flexion-extension movements. We implemented a deep learning-based neural network approach to learn the mapping from HD-EMG features to finger-specific population motoneuron firing frequency (i.e., neural-drive signals). The neural-drive signals reflected motor commands specific to individual fingers. The predicted neural-drive signals were then used to continuously control the fingers (index, middle, and ring) of a prosthetic hand in real-time., Results: Our developed neural-drive decoder could consistently and accurately predict joint angles with significantly lower prediction errors across single-finger and multi-finger tasks, compared with a deep learning model directly trained on finger force signals and the conventional EMG-amplitude estimate. The decoder performance was stable over time and was robust to variations of the EMG signals. The decoder also demonstrated a substantially better finger separation with minimal predicted error of joint angle in the unintended fingers., Conclusions: This neural decoding technique offers a novel and efficient neural-machine interface that can consistently predict robotic finger kinematics with high accuracy, which can enable dexterous control of assistive robotic hands., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None declared., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The study of counterproductive work behavior (CWB), intentional actions by employees that are deleterious to the organization and/or its stakeholders, has produced research on the dimensionality of CWB, as well as its situational and dispositional antecedents. Absent from these advancements have been investigations into the potential utility of a taxonomy of counterproductive employee types-a "person-oriented" approach. Our latent profile analysis ( N = 522) suggested a four-profile solution which included one profile with uniformly low rates across CWBs (here termed "Angels;" 14% of the sample), and three profiles with higher CWB rates but which were distinguishable by different CWBs being most frequent in each group. Specifically, one profile was distinguished from the Angels group by higher rates of less severe CWBs (misuse of time/resources and poor attendance; 33% of the sample). The other two of the three counterproductive profiles were similar to each other except that one was characterized by higher drug use than the other (14% of the sample). The profiles also differed significantly on narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, and on self-reports of prior arrest and censure by employers. Provided these distinctions among profiles, the treatment and assumptions of employee counterproductivity in research and practice should be revisited, particularly when using models assuming a homogenous, monotonic relationship between counterproductive behaviors across employees. Implications for our conceptual understanding of counterproductivity and applied interventions aimed at reducing CWBs are discussed, alongside recommendations for future person-oriented research on CWB., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests., (© Person-Oriented Research.)

A validated physiological manikin method was used to qualify environmentally dependent correlations between firefighter turnout total heat loss (THL) and intrinsic evaporative resistance ( R ef ) heat strain indexes and core temperature rise in stressful work conducted in mild (25 °C, 65% relative humidity [RH]) and hot (35 °C, 40% RH; 40 °C, 28% RH) conditions. Five turnout suit constructions representing a wide range of breathability were selected. The observed correlations between measured material heat loss and core temperature showed that the THL heat strain index accurately forecast thermal burden in mild environments (<25 °C); while the R ef index provided accurate prediction in hot environments (>35 °C). They showed that the THL index did not predict heat strain in hot work environments. The findings of this study support incorporating both the R ef and THL heat strain indexes as dual metrics for characterizing the heat strain performance of turnout clothing fabrics.

Developing the next generation of cellular therapies will depend on fast, versatile, and efficient cellular reprogramming. Novel biomaterials will play a central role in this process by providing scaffolding and bioactive signals that shape cell fate and function. Previously, our lab reported that dry macroporous alginate scaffolds mediate retroviral transduction of primary T cells with efficiencies that rival the gold-standard clinical spinoculation procedures, which involve centrifugation on Retronectin-coated plates. This scaffold transduction required the scaffolds to be both macroporous and dry. Transduction by dry, macroporous scaffolds, termed "Drydux transduction," provides a fast and inexpensive method for transducing cells for cellular therapy, including for the production of CAR T cells. In this study, we investigate the mechanism of action by which Drydux transduction works through exploring the impact of pore size, stiffness, viral concentration, and absorption speed on transduction efficiency. We report that Drydux scaffolds with macropores ranging from 50-230 μm and with Young's moduli ranging from 25-620 kPa all effectively transduce primary T cells, suggesting that these parameters are not central to the mechanism of action, but also demonstrating that Drydux scaffolds can be tuned without losing functionality. Increasing viral concentrations led to significantly higher transduction efficiencies, demonstrating that increased cell-virus interaction is necessary for optimal transduction. Finally, we discovered that the rate with which the cell-virus solution is absorbed into the scaffold is closely correlated to viral transduction efficiency, with faster absorption producing significantly higher transduction. A computational model of liquid flow through porous media validates this finding by showing that increased fluid flow substantially increases collisions between virus particles and cells in a porous scaffold. Taken together, we conclude that the rate of liquid flow through the scaffolds, rather than pore size or stiffness, serves as a central regulator for efficient Drydux transduction.

Recently, there has been increasing interest in the activation of mast cells to promote vaccine efficacy. Several mast cell activating (MCA) compounds have been reported such as M7 and Compound 48/80 (C48/80). While these MCAs have been proven to be efficacious vaccine adjuvants, their translatability is limited by batch-to-batch variability, challenging large-scale manufacturing, and poor in vivo stability for the M7 peptide. Due to this, high throughput screening was performed to identify small molecule MCAs. Several potent MCAs were identified via this screening, but the in vivo translatability of the compounds was limited due to their poor aqueous solubility. To enhance the delivery of these MCAs we encapsulated them in acetalated dextran (Ace-DEX) microparticles (MPs). We have previously utilized Ace-DEX MPs for vaccine delivery due to their passive targeting to phagocytic cells, acid sensitivity, and tunable degradation. Four different MCA loaded MPs were combined with West Nile Virus Envelope III protein (EDIII) and their vaccine adjuvant activities were compared in vivo. MPs containing the small molecule MCA ST101036 produced the highest anti-EDIII IgG titers of all the MCAs tested. Further, ST101036 MPs produced higher titers than ST101036 formulated with PEG as a cosolvent which highlights the benefit of Ace-DEX MPs over a conventional formulation technique. Finally, in a mouse model of West Nile Virus infection ST101036 MPs produced similar survival to soluble M7 (80-90%). Overall, these data show that ST101036 MPs produce a robust antibody response against EDIII and survival emphasizing the benefits of using Ace-DEX as a delivery platform for the poorly soluble ST101036., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Ainslie reports financial support was provided by National Institutes of Health. Bachelder has patent #PCT/US2009/049415 pending to BERKELEY LAB., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is the leading metabolic disorder in children worldwide. Over time, incidence rates have continued to rise with 20 million individuals affected globally by the autoimmune disease. The current standard of care is costly and time-consuming requiring daily injections of exogenous insulin. T1D is mediated by autoimmune effector responses targeting autoantigens expressed on pancreatic islet β-cells. One approach to treat T1D is to skew the immune system away from an effector response by taking an antigen-specific approach to heighten a regulatory response through a therapeutic vaccine. An antigen-specific approach has been shown with soluble agents, but the effects have been limited. Micro or nanoparticles have been used to deliver a variety of therapeutic agents including peptides and immunomodulatory therapies to immune cells. Particle-based systems can be used to deliver cargo into the cell and microparticles can passively target phagocytic cells. Further, surface modification and controlled release of encapsulated cargo can enhance delivery over soluble agents. The induction of antigen-specific immune tolerance is imperative for the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as T1D. This review highlights studies that utilize particle-based platforms for the treatment of T1D., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

This study aimed to understand whether youth involved with the child welfare system in the USA are receiving formal and informal sex education. Data come from the Second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing, a nationally representative sample of children and adolescents in contact with child protective services. Participants included young people ( n =1093, aged 11-21) involved with the child welfare system. Participants reported whether they had received formal sex education about a) abstinence only; b) contraceptives/condoms only; c) abstinence and contraceptives/condoms; or d) none. They also reported whether they knew where to access family planning services. We examined the prevalence of sex education experiences and differences in sex education access and knowledge based on participants' pregnancy history and sociodemographic characteristics. Only half (49%) of participants had received any form of formal sex education. Pregnant youth were less likely to have received any sex education compared to non-pregnant youth ( p =.045). 72% of adolescents who had received sex education about contraceptives/condoms reported knowing where to access family planning services compared to only 46% of adolescents who had not received sex education about contraceptives/condoms ( p =.014). There is a pressing need for comprehensive sex education among young people involved with the child welfare system in the USA.

Background: The Environmental Affordances Model theorizes that systemic racism disproportionately exposes African Americans in the United States to chronic everyday stressors (e.g., individual racism) while simultaneously shaping the availability of coping resources (e.g., fast food outlets) and engagement in self-regulatory strategies (e.g., emotional eating). Greater engagement in self-regulatory strategies is theorized to preserve mental health while contributing to medical morbidities and mortality., Objective: However, few studies have tested the Environmental Affordances Model, limiting our understanding of how the proposed pathways operate in the lives of African Americans., Methods: In the present study, the associations between systemic racism (institutional racism, cultural racism, neighborhood disadvantage), chronic everyday stressors (exposure to individual racism), emotional eating, and mental (anxiety symptomatology) and physical (self-rated overall physical health) health are assessed in a sample of 751 African Americans aged 18 to 88., Results: The path analysis reveals that institutional and cultural racism are both positively associated with individual racism. Neighborhood disadvantage is inversely associated with individual racism. Individual racism is significantly associated with greater anxiety symptomatology but is unrelated to self-rated overall physical health. Institutional and cultural racism are associated with emotional eating although individual racism and neighborhood disadvantage are not. Moreover, engagement in emotional eating exacerbates, rather than mitigates, the impacts of individual racism on anxiety symptomatology., Conclusions: We conclude that institutional and cultural racism contribute to individual racism experiences and emotional eating whereas emotional eating exacerbates associations among individual racism and anxiety symptomatology., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This article describes results from a survey of firefighters designed to identify conditions that contribute to heat strain in structural firefighting. Based on responses from about 3000 firefighters across the USA and Canada, the article provides invaluable information about how firefighters associate environmental conditions, work tasks and other factors with heat strain. One-half of firefighters surveyed have experienced heat stress during their service. They can wear fully deployed turnout gear for 2 h or more at the fire scene, reinforcing the importance of turnout suit breathability as a factor in heat strain. Survey results are useful in weighing the comparative value of total heat loss (THL) and evaporative heat resistance (Ref) for predicting turnout-related heat strain. Survey findings support the inclusion of a performance criterion in the National Fire Protection Association 1971 standard for firefighter personal protective equipment based on limiting Ref of turnout materials along with current THL requirement.

Objective: We propose a method for recognizing driver distraction in real time using a wrist-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU)., Background: Distracted driving results in thousands of fatal vehicle accidents every year. Recognizing distraction using body-worn sensors may help mitigate driver distraction and consequently improve road safety., Methods: Twenty participants performed common behaviors associated with distracted driving while operating a driving simulator. Acceleration data collected from an IMU secured to each driver's right wrist were used to detect potential manual distractions based on 2-s long streaming data. Three deep neural network-based classifiers were compared for their ability to recognize the type of distractive behavior using F1-scores, a measure of accuracy considering both recall and precision., Results: The results indicated that a convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM) deep neural network outperformed a convolutional neural network (CNN) and recursive neural network with long short-term memory (LSTM) for recognizing distracted driving behaviors. The within-participant F1-scores for the ConvLSTM, CNN, and LSTM were 0.87, 0.82, and 0.82, respectively. The between-participant F1-scores for the ConvLSTM, CNN, and LSTM were 0.87, 0.76, and 0.85, respectively., Conclusion: The results of this pilot study indicate that the proposed driving distraction mitigation system that uses a wrist-worn IMU and ConvLSTM deep neural network classifier may have potential for improving transportation safety.

Lay Abstract: Researchers who study autism-related interventions do a poor job reporting data related to the race and ethnicity of autistic individuals who participate in their studies, and of those who do report these data, the participants are overwhelmingly White. This is problematic for many reasons, as we know little about how interventions are meeting the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse populations, and we assume that interventions are effective for all when they have been developed and validated primarily with and for White children. This study examined the reporting patterns of autism intervention researchers whose work was included in a large-scale systematic review of the intervention literature published between 1990 and 2017. We found that only 25% of studies (out of 1,013 included in the review) included data related to the race and ethnicity of their participants, with minimal change in reporting patterns across the years. In studies with reported data, White participants had the highest rate of participation, with a large gap between the next highest rates of participation among Hispanic/Latino, Black, and Asian participants. Other race and ethnicity groups had very low representation. This study includes additional analyses which examine how the reporting patterns and the inclusion of racially and ethnically diverse participants varies across study types, interventions, and outcome areas. Reporting this data is merely a starting point to begin to address the many disparities in autism-related healthcare, education, and research practices, and this article includes broader implications and next steps to ensure the field becomes more equitable and inclusive.

Rural adults experience disparities in colorectal cancer screening, a trend even more distinct among rural Black adults. Healthcare disruptions caused by COVID-19 exacerbated inequities, heightening attention on virtual communication strategies to increase screening. Yet little is known about how rural adults perceive virtual human clinicians (VHCs). Given that identifying as rural influences perceived source credibility often through appearance judgments, the goal of this pilot was to explore how to develop VHCs that individuals highly identified with rurality find attractive. Between November 2018 and April 2019, we tested a culturally tailored, VHC-led telehealth intervention delivering evidence-based colorectal cancer prevention education with White and Black adults (N = 2079) in the United States recruited through an online panel who were non-adherent to screening guidelines and between 50 and 73 years of age. Participants were randomized on three factors (VHC race-matching, VHC gender-matching, Intervention type). Ordinal logistic regression models examined VHC appearance ratings. Participants with a high rural identity (A OR  = 1.12, CI = [1.02, 1.23], p  =.02) rated the VHCs more attractive. High rural belonging influenced VHC attractiveness for Black participants (A OR  = 1.22, CI = [1.03, 1.44], p  =.02). Also, Black participants interacting with a Black VHC and reporting high rural self-concept rated the VHC as more attractive (A OR  = 2.22, CI = [1.27, 3.91], p  =.01). Findings suggest adults for whom rural identity is important have more positive impressions of VHC attractiveness. For patients with strong rural identities, enhancing VHC appearance is critical to tailoring colorectal cancer prevention interventions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors.)

This study assessed the applicability of artificial neural networks (ANNs) as a tool to identify compounds contributing to compositional differences in coal-contaminated soils. An artificial neural network model was constructed from laser desorption ionization ultrahigh-resolution mass spectra obtained from coal contaminated soils. A good correlation (R 2  = 1.00 for model and R 2  = 0.99 for test) was observed between the measured and predicted values, thus validating the constructed model. To identify chemicals contributing to the coal contents of the soils, the weight values of the constructed model were evaluated. Condensed hydrocarbon and low oxygen containing compounds were found to have larger weight values and hence they were the main contributors to the coal contents of soils. In contrast, compounds identified as lignin did not contribute to the coal contents of soils. These findings were consistent with the conventional knowledge on coal and results from the conventional partial least square method. Therefore, we concluded that the weight interpretation following ANN analysis presented herein can be used to identify compounds that contribute to the compositional differences of natural organic matter (NOM) samples., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has severely affected all sectors of the economy, and the impacts are expected to last-long. One major impact is that migrants return to their original households in rural communities due to loss of jobs. Since rural communities are highly dependent on forest and agriculture for livelihoods, an influx of return migrants likely increases the consumption of forest products and intensifies the agriculture practices, increasing the pressure on forest resources. Based on in-person interview of 215 in 2018 before the pandemic and a phone interview of the same 215 rural households in 2021 at the peak of the pandemic in Kavrepalanchowk district in Nepal, this study addresses the following research questions: (1) Does COVID-19 exert differential impacts among the socio-economic groups? (2) How do return migrants affect the rural land use? (3) Do return migrants put additional pressure on forests resources? The rare before-and-after dataset provide a precious opportunity to assess the COVID-19 impacts on the livelihoods of rural households in the community forestry landscape in the Middle Hills of Nepal. We found that the impacts of COVID-19 were severe on the households with larger family size, those belonging to the marginalized caste groups, having lower number of livestock, low wellbeing index, those who rely on daily wage-based occupation, with low level of education, and the households with return migrants. A significant number of migrants were found to return to their village of origin. As a result, there was a decrease in abandoned land and an increase in the livestock number and forest product use. These findings provide timely insights for the post-pandemic recovery efforts in better targeting needy household with limited resource in the community forestry landscape in the Middle Hills of Nepal., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests associated with this publication. The research also acknowledges financial support received for this work and confirm that there is no role of the financial support on the research outcomes obtained., (© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Deforestation has contributed significantly to net greenhouse gas emissions, but slowing deforestation, regrowing forests and other ecosystem processes have made forests a net sink. Deforestation will still influence future carbon fluxes, but the role of forest growth through aging, management, and other silvicultural inputs on future carbon fluxes are critically important but not always recognized by bookkeeping and integrated assessment models. When projecting the future, it is vital to capture how management processes affect carbon storage in ecosystems and wood products. This study uses multiple global forest sector models to project forest carbon impacts across 81 shared socioeconomic (SSP) and climate mitigation pathway scenarios. We illustrate the importance of modeling management decisions in existing forests in response to changing demands for land resources, wood products and carbon. Although the models vary in key attributes, there is general agreement across a majority of scenarios that the global forest sector could remain a carbon sink in the future, sequestering 1.2-5.8 GtCO2e/yr over the next century. Carbon fluxes in the baseline scenarios that exclude climate mitigation policy ranged from -0.8 to 4.9 GtCO2e/yr, highlighting the strong influence of SSPs on forest sector model estimates. Improved forest management can jointly increase carbon stocks and harvests without expanding forest area, suggesting that carbon fluxes from managed forests systems deserve more careful consideration by the climate policy community.

Motor neuron diseases (MND) including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson disease are commonly neurodegenerative, causing a gradual loss of nerve cells and affecting the mechanisms underlying changes in calcium (Ca 2+ )-regulated dendritic growth. In this study, the NSC-34 cell line, a population of hybridomas generated using mouse spinal cord cells with neuroblastoma, was used to investigate the effect of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) as part of an MND treatment model. After NSC-34 cells were seeded for 24 h, LIPUS stimulation was performed on the cells at days 1 and 3 using a non-focused transducer at 1.15 MHz for 8 min. NSC-34 cell proliferation and morphological changes were observed at various LIPUS intensities and different combinations of Ca 2+ channel blockers. The nuclear translocation of Ca 2+ -dependent transcription factors was also examined. We observed that the neurite outgrowth and cell number of NSC-34 significantly increased with LIPUS stimulation at days 2 and 4, which may be associated with the treatment's positive effect on the activation of Ca 2+ -dependent transcription factors, such as nuclear factor of activated T cells and nuclear factor-kappa B. Our findings suggest that the LIPUS-induced Ca 2+ signaling and transcription factor activation facilitate the morphological maturation and proliferation of NSC-34 cells, presenting a promising noninvasive method to improve stimulation therapy for MNDs in the future., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The current pandemic highlights the need for effective vaccines against respiratory viruses. An ideal vaccine should induce robust and long-lasting responses with high manufacturing scalability. We use an adjuvant comprised of a Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) agonist incorporated in a scalable microparticle platform to achieve durable protection against the influenza virus. This formulation overcomes the challenges presented by the cytosolic localization of STING and the hydrophilicity of its agonists. We evaluated a monoaxial formulation of polymeric acetalated dextran microparticles (MPs) to deliver the STING agonist cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP) which achieved >10× dose-sparing effects compared to other published work. Efficacy was evaluated in ferrets, a larger animal model of choice for influenza vaccines. cGAMP MPs with recombinant hemagglutinin reduced viral shedding and improved vaccine outcomes compared to a seasonal influenza vaccine. Importantly, sustained protection against a lethal influenza infection was detected a year after a single dose of the vaccine-adjuvant., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Robust and continuous neural decoding is crucial for reliable and intuitive neural-machine interactions. This study developed a novel generic neural network model that can continuously predict finger forces based on decoded populational motoneuron firing activities., Method: We implemented convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to learn the mapping from high-density electromyogram (HD-EMG) signals of forearm muscles to populational motoneuron firing frequency. We first extracted the spatiotemporal features of EMG energy and frequency maps to improve learning efficiency, given that EMG signals are intrinsically stochastic. We then established a generic neural network model by training on the populational neuron firing activities of multiple participants. Using a regression model, we continuously predicted individual finger forces in real-time. We compared the force prediction performance with two state-of-the-art approaches: a neuron-decomposition method and a classic EMG-amplitude method., Results: Our results showed that the generic CNN model outperformed the subject-specific neuron-decomposition method and the EMG-amplitude method, as demonstrated by a higher correlation coefficient between the measured and predicted forces, and a lower force prediction error. In addition, the CNN model revealed more stable force prediction performance over time., Conclusions: Overall, our approach provides a generic and efficient continuous neural decoding approach for real-time and robust human-robot interactions., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Streblospio benedicti is a common marine annelid that has become an important model for developmental evolution. It is the only known example of poecilogony (where two distinct developmental modes occur within a single species) that is due to a heritable difference in egg size. The dimorphic developmental programs and life-histories exhibited in this species depend on differences within the genome, making it an optimal model for understanding the genomic basis of developmental divergence. Studies using S. benedicti have begun to uncover the genetic and genomic principles that underlie developmental uncoupling, but until now they have been limited by the lack of availability of genomic tools. Here, we present an annotated chromosomal-level genome assembly of S. benedicti generated from a combination of Illumina reads, Nanopore long reads, Chicago and Hi-C chromatin interaction sequencing, and a genetic map from experimental crosses. At 701.4 Mb, the S. benedicti genome is the largest annelid genome to date that has been assembled to chromosomal scaffolds. The complete genome of S. benedicti is valuable for functional genomic analyses of development and evolution, as well as phylogenetic comparison within the annelida and the Lophotrochozoa. Despite having two developmental modes, there is no evidence of genome duplication or substantial gene number expansions. Instead, lineage-specific repeats account for much of the expansion of this genome compared with other annelids., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.)