Exploring the interaction of reading and attention through connectivity with the frontal-eye-field.

Attentional processes are crucial to ensure successful reading, and theories of dyslexia propose that dysfunctional attention networks may contribute to the observed reading deficits. The goals of this study were to localize a region of the frontal-eye-field (FEF) involved in both reading and attention and examine its connectivity with regions in the reading and attention networks, given the known role of the FEF in attentional processes and theorized role in reading. In Experiment 1, we revisited the results of our previous hybrid reading and attention study.

Clinical implementation and outcome evaluation of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPYD) pharmacogenomic testing for fluoropyrimidine dosing in a Canadian Provincial Healthcare center.

Background: 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) and its pro-drug, capecitabine, are widely used to treat solid tumors. Patients with dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPYD) deficiency are at increased risk for severe treatment-related toxicity. This study reported the implementation of DPYD genotyping in clinical practice and assessed the impact of genotype-guided dosing on clinical outcomes.

Characterization of a real-world population with pediatric epilepsy point-of-care standardized data collection as a tool for healthcare quality improvement and disparities research in Canada.

Objective: Electronic health records offer the opportunity for quality-improvement (QI) initiatives addressing health disparities in epilepsy care. The Pediatric Epilepsy Outcome-Informatics Project (PEOIP) at Alberta Children's Hospital implemented point-of-care data entry into a standardized pediatric epilepsy electronic note as part of routine clinical care to support QI initiatives. Our study validated collected data by assessing the prevalence of patient characteristics, ethno-racial background, and 4 of the most common severe epilepsy syndromes: infantile epileptic spasms, Dravet, Lennox-Gastaut, and developmental epileptic encephalopathy with spike-wave action in sleep.

Anthropometric Profiles, Adiposity, and Physical Fitness in Long-Haul Truck Drivers: Implications for Chronic Disease Risk.

Long-haul truck drivers (LHTD) face unique occupational challenges, including prolonged sedentary periods, irregular meal patterns, and limited access to physical activity, contributing to high levels of adiposity and elevated risks for chronic diseases. This study examined relationships between anthropometric measures, body composition, physical fitness, and occupational factors among Canadian LHTD and compared field-testing equipment for assessments of body composition. 197 LHTD underwent assessments of body anthropometry (body mass index, skinfold thickness, bioelectrical impedance analysis, segment circumference), grip strength, and completed a survey on physical activity and the work environment.

Leveraging dynamic stability to infer regulation in protein-protein interaction networks: A study of infectious vulnerability in COPD.

The fourth leading cause of death in the US, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is punctuated by frequent viral and bacterial infections causing severe acute exacerbations (AECOPD) and increased mortality. In previous work we have shown that altered immune cell signaling may confer increased and persistent susceptibility to infection. Here we continue this investigation by conducting broad-spectrum proteomic profiling of circulating white blood cells to assemble an empirical protein-protein interaction network associated with frequency of infectious exacerbation.

Nutritional Value, Antinutritional Factors, and Protein Quality of Seeds: A Sustainable Protein Source.

This study evaluated the nutritional and antinutritional (ANFs) composition and protein profiles of different components of Ramon () seed, including the seed coat, fruit, and both roasted and green (unprocessed) seeds. Proximate composition, mineral content, ANFs quantification, amino acid profile, protein digestibility, SDS-PAGE, proteomics, and gluten ELISA were performed. Protein contents ranged from 9.

Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems.

Theory predicts that high population density leads to more strongly connected spatial and social networks, but how local density drives individuals' positions within their networks is unclear. This gap reduces our ability to understand and predict density-dependent processes. Here we show that density drives greater network connectedness at the scale of individuals within wild animal populations.

Implications for Lameness Control in Cattle.

Themes common to beef and dairy cattle in the prevention of claw horn lesions are enhancements to comfort, flooring, and handling practices, and careful use of hoof trimming to unload pressure on the claws, without the removal of excessive amounts of horn. Infectious lesion control emphasizes the role of individuals in the herd infected with active lesions and the need for close contact and moist underfoot conditions for spread, providing a role for well-managed pen conditions and potential utilization of footbathing and disinfection practices, as well as enhancements to skin integrity and animal immunity.

Peptide immunoarrays for rationale development of vaccines with enhanced cross-reactivity.

Vaccines of enhanced range of protection could help to control newly emerging infectious diseases while providing greater resilience to any subsequent variants. Such "universal vaccines" are an idealized, but unrealized, goal that may benefit from unbiased, high-throughput approaches that define antibody cross-reactivity to enable rational selection of cross-protective epitopes. The priority of this investigation is to establish a pipeline for the identification and preliminary characterization of epitopes with enhanced cross-reactivity.

The Impact of War on Asthma, a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: An EAACI Task Force Report.

Wartime events have been followed by an increase in asthma prevalence, which is believed to result from a combination of environmental hazards and psychological trauma. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate this relationship by pooling available data on various wartime exposures, such as occupational, environmental, and psychological factors. MEDLINE, Scopus, and Cochrane databases were searched for articles that measure the effect of war-related exposures on asthma.

Genome-Wide Identification, Characterization, and Expression Analysis of Gene Family in .

Nitrogen (N) is crucial for plant growth and stress resistance and is primarily absorbed and transported by nitrate transporters (NRT). , known for its strong salt-alkali stress resistance, and genes have rarely been reported. This study aims to identify and analyze the gene family to understand its composition, evolutionary patterns, and roles in salt stress responses.

A Meta-Analysis of Sex-Based Differences in Health Service Use for Persons Living With Dementia Between 2018 and 2020 in Four Canadian Provinces.

Background: Ensuring equitable healthcare services for persons with dementia is of utmost importance. Recent evidence points to sex-based differences in healthcare use in this population. However, available evidence is based on data from limited geographic regions and predates the COVID-19 pandemic, which is said to have further magnified disparities.

Anxiolytic effects of diazepam in Trinidadian guppies exposed to chemical cues indicating predation risk.

The fear of predation is pervasive among vertebrate prey species, being characterized by neurobiological and behavioral changes induced by risk exposure. To understand the acquisition and attenuation of fearful phenotypes, such as dimensions of posttraumatic stress, researchers often use animal models, with prey fishes recently emerging as a nontraditional but promising model. Much is known about fear acquisition in prey fishes such as the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata, which inhabit high and low predation sites.

Phytomers, collet and founder cells: a "universal" plant embryonic body plan from a developmental, molecular, and evolutionary perspective.

This article presents a novel perspective on plant embryogenesis, fundamentally differentiating it from the animal embryo model upon which plant models have long been based to discern the genetic and molecular mechanisms. We propose a plant embryonic body plan that aligns developmental and evolutionary insights across all five embryophyte groups (bryophytes, lycophytes, monilophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms). This conceptual model is grounded in a Reprogramming Potential (RP) involving an activation (RP1+) -suppression (RP1-) switch (RP1+/RP1-), which integrates embryonic development in a stepwise manner across diverse embryophytes.

Ethnic and Gender Disparities in Access to Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery for Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD) in appropriately selected patients. DBS may be underused in certain patient populations, especially women and racialized groups. Barriers and biases to receiving DBS that could account for underuse among these groups are not well studied in Canada.

Investigation of morantel metabolism and its application in veterinary drug residue screening.

Background: Food Safety authorities routinely test food of animal origin to verify that veterinary drug residues (VDRs) are within maximum residue limits. For morantel, a gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) confirmatory method is effective, but it involves an extensive sample preparation that is not suitable for multiple analytes. Furthermore, the resulting marker residue is not specific to morantel.

Improving the reporting on health equity in observational research (STROBE-Equity): extension checklist and elaboration.

Data on health equity to inform societally relevant evidence based decisions and policy making are lacking in the research literature. Observational studies have the potential to provide data on health equity. Yet, guidance on how to report health equity data and considerations in observational research is inadequate.

Head Acceleration Events Sustained During High School Wrestling Matches: Grappling With Differences Between Male and Female Adolescents.

Wrestling is a popular high school sport despite high injury and concussion rates. Instrumented mouthguards can reliably measure head acceleration events (HAEs) accrued by wrestlers and may highlight potential sex differences; important considering the higher concussion rates among female athletes. The purpose of this study was to measure HAEs accrued in high school wrestling matches and compare frequency, magnitude, and head impact location between female and male wrestlers.

A scoping review of innovations that promote interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in primary care for older adults living with age-related chronic disease in rural areas.

Background And Objectives: An aging population and associated multi-morbid chronic diseases (CDs) require comprehensive health care across multiple disciplines. Literature suggests interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in primary care is effective for CD models of care. However, IPC requires innovative implementation, particularly in rural and remote areas where access to health care services and providers is often limited.

Anti-Obesity Effects of Extracts via the AMPK Signaling Pathway in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes.

Obesity is a major public health concern because of its association with metabolic disorders (e.g., type 2 diabetes mellitus) and cardiovascular diseases.

A national atlas to improve the study of Canadians living with long COVID (post-COVID-19 condition).

Objectives: To develop a national atlas of (1) Canadian cohorts studying or with the potential to study adults living with long COVID (LC) and (2) harmonize provincial and territorial administrative datasets to facilitate the creation of validated case-ascertainment algorithms and foster national collaboration on LC research.

Methods: We conducted a multifaceted environmental scan that included a comprehensive literature search and a survey of members of Canada's national LC research network between August 21, 2023, and November 10, 2023. We identified provincial and territorial cohorts, including those that were linkable to administrative data and common data elements among administrative datasets.

Improving the Reporting on Health Equity in Observational Research (STROBE-Equity): Extension Checklist and Elaboration.

Importance: Observational studies can provide valuable insights to inform decisions on health equity. Existing guidelines for reporting such studies, such as the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement, currently lack specific considerations for reporting on health equity. Health equity is defined as the absence of avoidable and unfair differences that may exist across individuals and populations due to structural and systematic inequities in living and working conditions, opportunities, and resources.

Unraveling bladder cancer-related circRNA biomarkers: a hybrid model combining deep learning and statistics.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a class of gene expression regulators with closed loop structures, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including bladder cancer (BC). Their stability in and presence in body fluids suggest potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. This study employed an ensemble model integrating deep learning, feature selection, and statistical analysis to identify BC-associated circRNA biomarkers from RNA-sequencing data of 454 BC patients and 19 healthy controls.