Category: Statistics

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 9;19(4):e0299825. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299825. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

Chilling sensitivity is one of the greatest challenges affecting the marketability and profitability of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) in the US and worldwide. Currently, there are no sweet basils commercially available with significant chilling tolerance and traditional aroma profiles. This study was conducted to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) responsible for chilling tolerance and aroma compounds in a biparental mapping population, including the Rutgers advanced breeding line that served as a chilling tolerant parent, ‘CB15’, the chilling sensitive parent, ‘Rutgers Obsession DMR’ and 200 F2 individuals. Chilling tolerance was assessed by percent necrosis using machine learning and aroma profiling was evaluated using gas chromatography (GC) mass spectrometry (MS). Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were generated from genomic sequences derived from double digestion restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) and converted to genotype data using a reference genome alignment. A genetic linkage map was constructed and five statistically significant QTLs were identified in response to chilling temperatures with possible interactions between QTLs. The QTL on LG24 (qCH24) demonstrated the largest effect for chilling response and was significant in all three replicates. No QTLs were identified for linalool, as the population did not segregate sufficiently to detect this trait. Two significant QTLs were identified for estragole (also known as methyl chavicol) with only qEST1 on LG1 being significant in the multiple-QTL model (MQM). QEUC26 was identified as a significant QTL for eucalyptol (also known as 1,8-cineole) on LG26. These QTLs may represent key mechanisms for chilling tolerance and aroma in basil, providing critical knowledge for future investigation of these phenotypic traits and molecular breeding.

PMID:38593174 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0299825

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 9;19(4):e0301843. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301843. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

Leisure plays a key role in the happiness of youth. Studies have shown that various factors of leisure, such as the type, the time, the cost, and the space, have an influence on the adolescents’ happiness. However, little is known about which of these factors is a major factor in youth’s happiness. The purpose of this study is to explore the leisure factors that determine happiness in adolescents by examining the relationship between happiness and various leisure factors. The study used the method of machine learning to analyze national statistical data, National Leisure Activity Survey. The data used in this study were from the National Leisure Activity Survey 2019, which is a national statistic produced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the Republic of Korea. The analysis found that leisure perceptions, academic and leisure balance, and public leisure space have a very important impact on the adolescents’ well-being. The findings of this research may contribute to a better understanding of leisure and happiness in adolescents, and will also help adolescents make better use of their leisure time, leading to better leisure lives, and ultimately contribute to raising their level of happiness.

PMID:38593163 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0301843

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 9;19(4):e0301410. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301410. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a prominent source of harm and death globally, and it is the leading cause of premature death among prisoners. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with suicidal ideation and attempt among prisoners in Northwest Ethiopia.

METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study design was performed from May 23 to June 22, 2022. After proportional allocation to the three correctional institutions, a total of 788 study participants were randomly recruited. The World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was used to evaluate suicide ideation and attempt. To determine factors associated with suicidal ideation and attempt, multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted. At a 95% confidence interval (CI) of P-value <0.05, statistical significance was declared.

RESULTS: The prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt among prisoners was 23.6% and 10.7%, with 95% CI (20.76, 26.70) and (8.68, 13.02), respectively. Female sex (AOR = 2.38, 95% CI: 1.12, 5.05), family history of mental illness (AOR = 3.09, 95% CI: 1.93, 4.88), depression (AOR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.43, 2.98), poor social support (AOR = 2.76, 95% CI: 1.56, 4.85) and previous incarceration (AOR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.18, 2.86) were significantly associated with suicidal ideation. However, being single (AOR = 2.58, 95% CI: 1.47, 4.54), family history of suicide (AOR = 2.43, 95% CI: 1.18, 5.01), depression (AOR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.59, 4.31) and previous imprisonments (AOR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.20, 3.69) were associated with suicidal attempt.

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt among prisoners were found to be high. Therefore, the findings of this study recommend that early detection and design of prison mental health services should be delivered to develop mental health care, prevention, and intervention programs for incarcerated people to improve suicidal behavior in prison.

PMID:38593147 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0301410

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 9;19(4):e0299771. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299771. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

Niger is highly vulnerable to rainfall variability, often with adverse socioeconomic consequences. This study examined observed subseasonal rainfall variability during Niger’s monsoon season (May to September). Using k-means clustering of dekadal (ten-day) rainfall, a typology was developed for the annual evolution of the monsoon season. Year-to-year rainfall variability for each of the first few dekads of the season is modest, but the middle, or peak of the rainy season demonstrates large interannual variability. Clustering analysis of annual timeseries for each dekad of the season revealed two types of monsoon progression. The distinction between the two types is strongly dependent on differences during the latter half of the season. For the first and third ten-day periods in August, and the first ten days in September, the two groups of years are more distinct. These results imply that while reliable prediction of the timing of anomalous onsets will be challenging, due to the relatively narrow range of uncertainty historically, there are opportunities for further exploration of dynamic and or statistical predictors or precursors using this typology that could potentially provide better information for decision-makers, especially with respect to agriculture.

PMID:38593139 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0299771

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 9;19(4):e0297430. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297430. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Basic Life Support (BLS) is a sequence of care provided to patients who are experiencing respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest, or airway obstruction. Its main purpose is to maintain the airway, breathing, and circulation through CPR. This review aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of Health Professionals’ knowledge and practice on basic life support in Ethiopia.

METHOD: Eligible primary studies were accessed from international database (PubMed, Google Scholar, Hinari databases) and grey literatures found in online repositories. The required data were extracted from those studies and exported to Stata 17 for analysis. A weighted inverse-variance random-effects model and Der Simonian-Laird estimation method were used to compute the overall pooled prevalence of Health Professional’s knowledge, practice of basic life support and its predictors. Variations across the included studies were checked using forest plot, funnel plot, I2 statistics, and Egger’s test.

RESULT: A total of 5,258 Health Professionals were included from 11 studies. The pooled prevalence of knowledge and practice outcomes on basic life support in Ethiopia were 47.6 (95% CI: 29.899, 65.300, I2: 99.21%) and 44.42 (95% CI: 16.42, 72.41, I2: 99.69) respectively. Educational status of the Professional’s was significantly associated with knowledge outcome. Those who had degree and above were 1.9 times (AOR: 1.90 (1.24, 2.56)) more likely knowledgeable on basic life support than under degree.

CONCLUSION: The overall pooled estimates of Health Professionals knowledge and practice on basic life support was considerably low. The educational status of the Health Professionals was significantly associated with knowledge outcome. The Health Professionals and responsible stakeholders should focus on the basic life support at Health Institutions. The professionals should advance their knowledge and skill on basic life support for the patients.

PMID:38593136 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0297430

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 9;19(4):e0294276. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294276. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

Past research has shown that growth mindset and motivational beliefs have an important role in math and science career interest in adolescence. Drawing on situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT), this study extends these findings by investigating the role of parental motivational beliefs (e.g., expectancy beliefs, utility values) and parent growth mindset in math on adolescent career interest in math-intensive fields (e.g., mathematics, computer science, statistics, and engineering; MCSE) through adolescent motivational beliefs in math. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model using data from 290 adolescents (201 girls, 69.3%; Mage = 15.20), who participate in informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) youth programs, and their parents (162 parents, 87.7% female) in the United Kingdom and the United States. As hypothesized, adolescent expectancy beliefs, utility values, and growth mindset in math had a significant direct effect on MCSE career interest. Further, there was a significant indirect effect of parental expectancy beliefs in math on MCSE career interest through adolescents’ expectancy beliefs. Similarly, there was a significant indirect effect from parental utility values in math to MCSE career interest through adolescents’ utility values. The findings suggest that parents’ math motivational beliefs play a critical role in adolescent math motivational beliefs and their career interest in math-intensive fields.

PMID:38593114 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0294276

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Apr 16;121(16):e2320331121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2320331121. Epub 2024 Apr 9.

ABSTRACT

Smart polymer materials that are nonliving yet exhibit complex “life-like” or biomimetic behaviors have been the focus of intensive research over the past decades, in the quest to broaden our understanding of how living systems function under nonequilibrium conditions. Identification of how chemical and mechanical coupling can generate resonance and entrainment with other cells or external environment is an important research question. We prepared Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) self-oscillating hydrogels which convert chemical energy to mechanical oscillation. By cyclically applying external mechanical stimulation to the BZ hydrogels, we found that when the oscillation of a gel sample entered into harmonic resonance with the applied oscillation during stimulation, the system kept a “memory” of the resonant oscillation period and maintained it post stimulation, demonstrating an entrainment effect. More surprisingly, by systematically varying the cycle length of the external stimulation, we revealed the discrete nature of the stimulation-induced resonance and entrainment behaviors in chemical oscillations of BZ hydrogels, i.e., the hydrogels slow down their oscillation periods to the harmonics of the cycle length of the external mechanical stimulation. Our theoretical model calculations suggest the important roles of the delayed mechanical response caused by reactant diffusion and solvent migration in affecting the chemomechanical coupling in active hydrogels and consequently synchronizing their chemical oscillations with external mechanical oscillations.

PMID:38593071 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2320331121

JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2024 Apr 9;10:e48060. doi: 10.2196/48060.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The decline in global child mortality is an important public health achievement, yet child mortality remains disproportionally high in many low-income countries like Guinea-Bissau. The persisting high mortality rates necessitate targeted research to identify vulnerable subgroups of children and formulate effective interventions.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to discover subgroups of children at an elevated risk of mortality in the urban setting of Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. By identifying these groups, we intend to provide a foundation for developing targeted health interventions and inform public health policy.

METHODS: We used data from the health and demographic surveillance site, Bandim Health Project, covering 2003 to 2019. We identified baseline variables recorded before children reached the age of 6 weeks. The focus was on determining factors consistently linked with increased mortality up to the age of 3 years. Our multifaceted methodological approach incorporated spatial analysis for visualizing geographical variations in mortality risk, causally adjusted regression analysis to single out specific risk factors, and machine learning techniques for identifying clusters of multifactorial risk factors. To ensure robustness and validity, we divided the data set temporally, assessing the persistence of identified subgroups over different periods. The reassessment of mortality risk used the targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) method to achieve more robust causal modeling.

RESULTS: We analyzed data from 21,005 children. The mortality risk (6 weeks to 3 years of age) was 5.2% (95% CI 4.8%-5.6%) for children born between 2003 and 2011, and 2.9% (95% CI 2.5%-3.3%) for children born between 2012 and 2016. Our findings revealed 3 distinct high-risk subgroups with notably higher mortality rates, children residing in a specific urban area (adjusted mortality risk difference of 3.4%, 95% CI 0.3%-6.5%), children born to mothers with no prenatal consultations (adjusted mortality risk difference of 5.8%, 95% CI 2.6%-8.9%), and children from polygamous families born during the dry season (adjusted mortality risk difference of 1.7%, 95% CI 0.4%-2.9%). These subgroups, though small, showed a consistent pattern of higher mortality risk over time. Common social and economic factors were linked to a larger share of the total child deaths.

CONCLUSIONS: The study’s results underscore the need for targeted interventions to address the specific risks faced by these identified high-risk subgroups. These interventions should be designed to work to complement broader public health strategies, creating a comprehensive approach to reducing child mortality. We suggest future research that focuses on developing, testing, and comparing targeted intervention strategies unraveling the proposed hypotheses found in this study. The ultimate aim is to optimize health outcomes for all children in high-mortality settings, leveraging a strategic mix of targeted and general health interventions to address the varied needs of different child subgroups.

PMID:38592761 | DOI:10.2196/48060

Plants (Basel). 2024 Mar 7;13(6):757. doi: 10.3390/plants13060757.

ABSTRACT

The use of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) to spray pesticides currently occurs, but knowledge about this technology is lacking due to the different locations, targets, and products applied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the control of Urochloa decumbens with glyphosate applied using an RPA (10 L ha^-1) equipped with different spray nozzles (XR 11001 and AirMix 11001). For the purpose of comparison, ground application was also performed (100 L ha^-1). The deposition was evaluated by means of the quantification of a tracer by spectrophotometry, the droplet spectrum was evaluated with water-sensitive paper, and the control efficiency was evaluated based on visual measurements with percentage scores. Statistical process control was used to analyse the quality of the deposition in the area. The results showed that the application via RPA presented a greater amount of tracer on the leaves than the ground application, suggesting that the former is a good option for application, even providing a lower coverage and number of droplets per area. Both application methods were effective at controlling Urochloa decumbens. The nozzles showed potential for use in applications, with control efficiency higher than 84% from 21 days after application. The percentage of droplets smaller than 100 μm in the applications was less than 5%. No nonrandom behaviour was observed during deposition, indicating a high-quality process.

PMID:38592756 | DOI:10.3390/plants13060757

Blood Adv. 2024 Apr 9;8(7):1796-1803. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2023010511.

ABSTRACT

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s authorization of etranacogene dezaparvovec (Hemgenix) is a significant milestone, constituting not only the first FDA approval of a gene therapy for hemophilia but also the first approval of a liver-targeted adeno-associated virus vector gene therapy. This review summarizes the nonclinical studies and clinical development that supported regulatory clearance. Similar to other gene therapies for single gene disorders, both the short-term safety and the phenotypic improvement were unequivocal, justifying the modest-sized safety and efficacy database, which included 57 participants across the phase 2b (3 participants) and phase 3 (54 participants) studies. The most common adverse reactions included liver enzyme elevation, headache, flu-like symptoms, infusion-related reactions, creatine kinase elevation, malaise, and fatigue; these were mostly transient. One participant had hepatocellular carcinoma on a study-mandated liver ultrasound conducted 1 year after vector infusion; molecular analysis of the resected tumor showed no evidence of vector-related insertional mutagenesis as the etiology. A remarkable 96% of participants in the phase 3 trial were able to stop factor IX (FIX) prophylaxis, with the study demonstrating noninferiority to FIX prophylaxis in terms of the primary end point, annualized bleeding rate. Key secondary end points such as the annualized infusion rate, which declined by 97%, and the plasma FIX activity level at 18 months after infusion, with least squares mean increase of 34.3 percentage points compared with baseline, were both clinically and statistically significant. The FDA’s landmark approval of Hemgenix as a pioneering treatment for hemophilia stands on the shoulders of >20 years of gene therapy clinical research and heralds a promising future for genomic medicines.

PMID:38592711 | DOI:10.1182/bloodadvances.2023010511