Highest Average Rank Research Articles

Sistem Pendukung Keputusan Dengan Menggunakan Metode ELECTRE II Dalam Menentukan Faktor Yang Mempengaruhi Pemilihan Sabun Mandi

Reviewed and with the increasing public awareness of skin health, soap manufacturers are competing to offer their products with various fragrances, forms, and benefits to the public. Each individual certainly has different criteria in choosing bath soap products, such as packaging, product price, product fragrance, type and form, and so on. The purpose of this research is to determine the factors that serve as the basis for each individual in choosing bath soap products by implementing the Elimination et Choix Traduisant la Réalité II (ELECTRE II) method. The ELECTRE II method uses simple criteria, namely setting the same threshold value for all criteria. In contrast, other methods use pseudo criteria where the threshold value is not the same for all criteria. The ELECTRE II method is one of the Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) methods that is effective in determining ranking, as it involves both qualitative and quantitative criteria. Based on the research results, product quality becomes the priority factor in choosing bath soap products, with a Concordance value of 1.375 and a Discordance value of -1.80063, as well as the highest average rank, which is 1. The product price factor ranks second, followed by the skin condition factor in third place, and the product fragrance factor, which ranks last with an average rank of 4.

ADMET-AI: a machine learning ADMET platform for evaluation of large-scale chemical libraries.

The emergence of large chemical repositories and combinatorial chemical spaces, coupled with high-throughput docking and generative AI, have greatly expanded the chemical diversity of small molecules for drug discovery. Selecting compounds for experimental validation requires filtering these molecules based on favourable druglike properties, such as Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, and Toxicity (ADMET). We developed ADMET-AI, a machine learning platform that provides fast and accurate ADMET predictions both as a website and as a Python package. ADMET-AI has the highest average rank on the TDC ADMET Leaderboard, and it is currently the fastest web-based ADMET predictor, with a 45% reduction in time compared to the next fastest public ADMET web server. ADMET-AI can also be run locally with predictions for one million molecules taking just 3.1 h. The ADMET-AI platform is freely available both as a web server at admet.ai.greenstonebio.com and as an open-source Python package for local batch prediction at github.com/swansonk14/admet_ai (also archived on Zenodo at doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10372930). All data and models are archived on Zenodo at doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10372418.

Surgeons’ Survey of the Aging Face With a Focus on the Aging Nose

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate how facial cosmetic surgeons rank different areas of the aging face by comparing those areas for the greatest impact on surgical rejuvenation. It was hypothesized that the nose would be ranked lower than most other areas of the aging face. Materials and Methods: Fifty surveys were included in this study and were completed by surgeons from the following specialties: oral and maxillofacial surgery, oculoplastic surgery, otolaryngology, general surgery, plastic surgery, dermatology, and obstetrics/gynecology. The 12 ranked areas of the face (from 1 to 12) were skin, hair/hairline, brows, periorbital area, nose, ears, cheeks, midface/nasolabial area, dentition, perioral area, lower face/chin/jowls, and neck. Each of these areas of the face was also rated based on the surgeons’ assessment of the level of importance when evaluating and treating the aging face on a 5-level scale, ranging from level 1 (not important) to level 5 (very important). Results: The average rank for the nose was 9.30. The highest average ranking was the periorbital region with 2.74 and the lowest average ranking was the ears at 11.02. The surgeons’ ratings of the nose were 0% for level 1 (not important), 20% for level 2 (slightly important), 30% for level 3 (somewhat important), 26% for level 4 (important), and 16% for level 5 (very important). The average level rating of the nose was 3.413 (somewhat important). In comparison, the highest average rating was for the periorbital region at 4.837 (very important) and the lowest average rating was the ears at 2.957 (somewhat important). Using a significance level of P < .05, the nose is both ranked and rated as less important than 7 out of 11 other areas of the face: the periorbital area, the lower face, the skin, the neck, the midface, the perioral area, and the cheeks. The difference between the ranking and rating of the nose and that of the brows, dentition, hairline, and the ears was not considered significant. Discussion: This study confirmed the hypothesis that when comparing the areas of the aging face that would have the most effect on surgical facial rejuvenation, the nose was ranked lower than most other areas of the face except the ears. The nose undergoes multiple anatomical changes with age that affect both appearance and nasal function. Therefore, the rhinoplasty for the aging nose should not be overlooked as an important contributor to facial rejuvenation and a potential to improve nasal function. Conclusion: The nose is most often considered of lower importance compared with other areas of the face by facial cosmetic surgeons when evaluated for impact on surgical facial rejuvenation.

Creencias irracionales en estudiantes del nivel secundario de un centro de educación básica alternativa

The objective of this article is to determine the differences in irrational beliefs among secondary school students from a Center for Alternative Basic Education, according to gender and age group. This is a descriptive study with a comparative descriptive design. The population was obtained through a census, and is made up of 161 students of both sexes from the first to the fourth grade of secondary school. The Albert Ellis Irrational Belief Inventory was administered. Frequencies and percentages were calculated, and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test and the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis U tests were used to test the hypotheses. The analysis showed that the differences in irrational beliefs, considering gender, are not significant at the level of p < 0.05, except for one irrational belief: dependence (U = 1.687.000; Unilateral sig. = 0.036), with a higher average rank in the male group. Likewise, the results show that, according to the age group, there are no significant differences, at the level of p < 0.05, in irrational beliefs, except problem avoidance (X2 = 7.017; Sig. = 0.030), with a higher average rank in the group of students aged 20 to 29. 

The Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index: A method to rank heterogenous extractive industry companies for governance purposes

AbstractThe Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI) covers 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. It is based on an international expert perception survey among 173 members of the International Panel on Arctic Environmental Responsibility (IPAER), whose input is processed using segmented string relative ranking (SSRR) methodology. Equinor, Total, Aker BP, ConocoPhillips, and BP are seen as the most environmentally responsible companies, whereas Dalmorneftegeophysica, Zarubejneft, ERIELL, First Ore‐Mining Company, and Stroygaz Consulting are seen as the least environmentally responsible. Companies operating in Alaska have the highest average rank, whereas those operating in Russia have the lowest average rank. Larger companies tend to rank higher than smaller companies, state‐controlled companies rank higher than privately controlled companies, and oil and gas companies higher than mining companies. The creation of AERI demonstrates that SSRR is a low‐cost way to overcome the challenge of indexing environmental performance and contributing to environmental governance across disparate industrial sectors and states with divergent environmental standards and legal and political systems.

Investigating an in silico approach for prioritizing antidepressant drug prescription based on drug-induced expression profiles and predicted gene expression.

In clinical practice, an antidepressant prescription is a trial and error approach, which is time consuming and discomforting for patients. This study investigated an in silico approach for ranking antidepressants based on their hypothetical likelihood of efficacy. We predicted the transcriptomic profile of citalopram remitters by performing an in silico transcriptomic-wide association study on STAR*D GWAS data (N = 1163). The transcriptional profile of remitters was compared with 21 antidepressant-induced gene expression profiles in five human cell lines available in the connectivity-map database. Spearman correlation, Pearson correlation, and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test were used to determine the similarity between antidepressant-induced profiles and remitter profiles, subsequently calculating the average rank of antidepressants across the three methods and a p value for each rank by using a permutation procedure. The drugs with the top ranks were those having a high positive correlation with the expression profiles of remitters and that may have higher chances of efficacy in the tested patients. In MCF7 (breast cancer cell line), escitalopram had the highest average rank, with an average rank higher than expected by chance (p = 0.0014). In A375 (human melanoma) and PC3 (prostate cancer) cell lines, escitalopram and citalopram emerged as the second-highest ranked antidepressants, respectively (p = 0.0310 and 0.0276, respectively). In HA1E (kidney) and HT29 (colon cancer) cell types, citalopram and escitalopram did not fall among top antidepressants. The correlation between citalopram remitters' and (es)citalopram-induced expression profiles in three cell lines suggests that our approach may be useful and with future improvements, it can be applicable at the individual level to tailor treatment prescription.

Initial Efficacy Testing of an Autobiographical Memory Intervention on Advance Care Planning for Patients With Terminal Cancer.

To test the efficacy of a novel intervention to facilitate advance care planning. . Exploratory, quasiexperimental pilot study with two independent groups. . A large hospice located in the southwestern United States. . A convenience sample of 50 participants with terminal cancer enrolled in hospice. . An autobiographical memory (ABM) intervention used the participants' experiences with cancer and end of life for the purpose of directing advance care planning. . Two domains of advance care planning, decision making and communication, were measured in relation to 11 variables. The ABM intervention was nonthreatening, short in duration, and easily completed with participants as they recalled, without hesitation, specific personal memories of family and friends who had died and their advance care plans. The Mann-Whitney nonparametric test revealed that participants in the experimental group had a higher average rank than those in the control group for communicating the decision about antibiotics, as well as exhibited a trend toward significance for five other advance care planning variables. . Findings showed that directive ABMs may be effective in influencing the decision making and communication of advance care planning for terminally ill patients with cancer. . The current level of understanding about using the ABM intervention suggests that nurses can initiate an advance care planning conversation using this approach.

Factors Influencing Physicians' Selection of Continuous Professional Development Activities: A Cross-Specialty National Survey.

We sought to understand what influences physicians' decisions about participation in continuous professional development (CPD) activities, and how often physicians engage in specific CPD activities. From September 2015 to April 2016, we administered a survey to 4648 randomly sampled licensed US physicians. Survey items addressed perceived barriers to CPD, factors that might influence participation in four prototypical CPD activities (reading an article, or completing a local activity, online course, or far-away course), and frequency of CPD engagement. Nine hundred eighty-eight (21.6%) physicians responded. The most important barriers were time (mean [SD] 3.5 [1.3], 1 = not important, 5 = extremely important) and cost (2.9 [1.3]). In prioritizing factors influencing participation in four prototypical CPD activities, topical relevance consistently had the highest average rank. Quality of content and time to complete the activity were also frequently selected. Over the past 3 years, most physicians reported having participated in patient-focused learning and self-directed learning on a weekly basis; quality improvement and local continuing medical education (CME) activities several times per year; online learning, on-site courses, and national board-related activities a few times per year; and interprofessional learning less than once per year. Physicians believed that they ought to engage more often in all of these activities except board-related activities. They would like CME credit for these activities much more often than currently obtained. The reasons physicians select a given CPD activity vary by activity, but invariably include topic and quality of content. Physicians want CME credit for the CPD activities they are already doing.

May the same numerical optimizer be used when searching either for the best or for the worst solution to a real-world problem?

Over the last two decades numerous metaheuristics have been proposed and it seems today that nobody is able to understand, evaluate, or compare them all. In principle, optimization methods, including the recently popular Evolutionary Computation or Swarm Intelligence-based ones, should be developed in order to solve real-world problems. Yet the vast majority of metaheuristics are tested in the source papers on artificial benchmarks only, so their usefulness for various practical applications remains unverified. As a result, choosing the proper method for a particular real-world problem is a difficult task. This paper shows that such a choice is even more complicated if one wishes, with good reason, to use metaheuristics twice, once to find the best and then to find the worst solutions for the specific numerical real-world problem. It often occurs that for either case different optimizers are to be recommended. The above finding is based on testing 30 metaheuristics on numerical real-world problems from CEC2011. First we solve 22 minimization problems as defined for CEC2011. Then we reverse the objective function for each problem and search for its maximizing solution. We also observe that algorithms that are highly ranked on average may not perform best for any given specific problem. Rather, the highest average ranking may be achieved by methods that are never among the poorest ones. In other words, occasional winners may get less attention than rare losers.

The Effect of Merit Aid on Enrollment: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of Iowa’s National Scholars Award

The cost of attending college has risen steadily over the past 30 years, making financial aid an important determinant of college choice for many students and a subject of concern for colleges and state governments. In this paper, we estimate the effect of rule-based merit aid assignment on students’ enrollment decisions at the University of Iowa. Iowa evaluates many students using an admissions score comprised of high school grade point average and class rank, core high school courses, and one’s ACT test score. Students from out-of-state who meet a specific threshold score qualify for the National Scholars Award (NSA), presently worth nearly $20,000 over 4 years. We employ a regression discontinuity model to take advantage of award assignment criteria, finding that the award does increase the probability of enrollment at Iowa. This result is robust for several applicant subsamples and passes falsification checks using Iowa residents, who are ineligible for the award. Preliminary analysis of an earlier, tiered version of the currently single-valued award suggests that the NSA may have strong effects on very high-achieving candidates.

A gene expression estimator of intramuscular fat percentage for use in both cattle and sheep.

BackgroundThe expression of genes encoding proteins involved in triacyglyceride and fatty acid synthesis and storage in cattle muscle are correlated with intramuscular fat (IMF)%. Are the same genes also correlated with IMF% in sheep muscle, and can the same set of genes be used to estimate IMF% in both species?ResultsThe correlation between gene expression (microarray) and IMF% in the longissimus muscle (LM) of twenty sheep was calculated. An integrated analysis of this dataset with an equivalent cattle correlation dataset and a cattle differential expression dataset was undertaken. A total of 30 genes were identified to be strongly correlated with IMF% in both cattle and sheep. The overlap of genes was highly significant, 8 of the 13 genes in the TAG gene set and 8 of the 13 genes in the FA gene set were in the top 100 and 500 genes respectively most correlated with IMF% in sheep, P-value = 0. Of the 30 genes, CIDEA, THRSP, ACSM1, DGAT2 and FABP4 had the highest average rank in both species. Using the data from two small groups of Brahman cattle (control and Hormone growth promotant-treated [known to decrease IMF% in muscle]) and 22 animals in total, the utility of a direct measure and different estimators of IMF% (ultrasound and gene expression) to differentiate between the two groups were examined. Directly measured IMF% and IMF% estimated from ultrasound scanning could not discriminate between the two groups. However, using gene expression to estimate IMF% discriminated between the two groups. Increasing the number of genes used to estimate IMF% from one to five significantly increased the discrimination power; but increasing the number of genes to 15 resulted in little further improvement.ConclusionWe have demonstrated the utility of a comparative approach to identify robust estimators of IMF% in the LM in cattle and sheep. We have also demonstrated a number of approaches (potentially applicable to much smaller groups of animals than conventional methods) to using gene expression to rank animals for IMF% within a single farm/treatment, or to estimate differences in IMF% between two farms/treatments.

Comparaison de l'endettement public dans les provinces canadiennes et dans les États américains : une analyse de sensibilité

Cet article présente une comparaison de l'endettement de l'ensemble des administrations publiques (incluant une part de la dette fédérale) dans les provinces canadiennes et dans les États des États-Unis pendant la période 2000–2007. L'étude a permis de classer ces 60 entités fédérées, selon 5 concepts de dette publique, de la plus endettée à la moins endettée. Parmi les provinces canadiennes, le Québec (rang moyen le plus bas) et l'Alberta (rang moyen le plus élevé) présentent le bilan le plus stable d'un classement à l'autre; toutes les autres provinces montrent des fluctuations importantes selon les classements. La répartition de la dette fédérale entre les provinces (au Canada) et les États (aux États-Unis), ainsi que les concepts de dette utilisés influencent donc significativement, et dans certains cas de façon très importante, le classement.

Level of Adherence of the Islamic Citizenship Culture Elements ( ICCE ) : A Case Study of the Citizens of the City of Isfahan

The present study aimed to review the level of adherence of the citizens of the city of Isfahan to the Islamic culture, elements of descriptive method with the citizen - the collection is done. Statistical research community now includes all the citizens of the city of Isfahan to visit. The Statistical Society of using cluster sampling method of the selection of the 5 region, among a number of 380 million citizens as the sample size using the formula sampling Cochran were chosen. Tools for collecting information on the study questionnaire, researcher 3 forms: beliefs, values norms behaviors that was to determine the validity of the formal validity of research tools, content structure (operating analysis) was used for measuring instruments validation; using cronbach coefficient equal to 0.89 was estimated to analyze information on two levels of descriptive statistics includes (%; mean SD) at the level of inference include (factor analysis, sample t- test Tests of LSD). The findings showed honesty has the highest average ranking among the elements is the value of citizenship, as well as the of accountability conscience order something» has the highest load factor. The of and denies the public an average of the highest ranked among the behavioral elements of citizenship. The results also showed indicates level of adherence to the Islamic culture is a of the citizen component using the native words expressions rely on» «native food use» «abstain from speaking on the phone the tourist in regard to experience trips» «attending meetings to interpret Quran» Quran Hadith «maintain» «» «» «consult the people's goodwill, respect for the rights of animals (avoiding persecution. The spirit of Jihad martyrdom» «adherence to legal funds» «practical adherence to ethics (morality oriented course of conduct action) in the medium the other detected was above average.

A semantic-based method for extracting concept definitions from scientific publications: evaluation in the autism phenotype domain

BackgroundA variety of informatics approaches have been developed that use information retrieval, NLP and text-mining techniques to identify biomedical concepts and relations within scientific publications or their sentences. These approaches have not typically addressed the challenge of extracting more complex knowledge such as biomedical definitions. In our efforts to facilitate knowledge acquisition of rule-based definitions of autism phenotypes, we have developed a novel semantic-based text-mining approach that can automatically identify such definitions within text.ResultsUsing an existing knowledge base of 156 autism phenotype definitions and an annotated corpus of 26 source articles containing such definitions, we evaluated and compared the average rank of correctly identified rule definition or corresponding rule template using both our semantic-based approach and a standard term-based approach. We examined three separate scenarios: (1) the snippet of text contained a definition already in the knowledge base; (2) the snippet contained an alternative definition for a concept in the knowledge base; and (3) the snippet contained a definition not in the knowledge base. Our semantic-based approach had a higher average rank than the term-based approach for each of the three scenarios (scenario 1: 3.8 vs. 5.0; scenario 2: 2.8 vs. 4.9; and scenario 3: 4.5 vs. 6.2), with each comparison significant at the p-value of 0.05 using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.ConclusionsOur work shows that leveraging existing domain knowledge in the information extraction of biomedical definitions significantly improves the correct identification of such knowledge within sentences. Our method can thus help researchers rapidly acquire knowledge about biomedical definitions that are specified and evolving within an ever-growing corpus of scientific publications.

Variation in the degree of specialization can maintain local diversity in model communities

We hypothesize that the continuum between generalist and specialist adaptations is an important general trade-off axis in the maintenance of local diversity, and we explore this idea with a simple model in which there are patch types to which species arrive as propagules and compete. Each patch type is defined by a competitive ranking of all species. A highly specialist species is the top competitor in one patch type but has a relatively low average ranking across different patch types, while a generalist species has a high average rank across patch types but is not the top competitor in any patch type. We use random dispersal and vary the fecundity of all species together to vary total propagule density and therefore recruitment limitation and density-dependent mortality. When fecundity is very high, each patch becomes occupied by its specialist species and generalists go extinct, so the number of species at equilibrium is equal to the number of patch types. If fecundity is very low, generalists dominate and specialists go extinct. There is a range of fecundity levels in which specialists, generalists, and intermediates coexist, and the number of species is substantially greater than the number of patch types. While coexistence of specialists and generalists has been considered a problem in evolutionary ecology, our results suggest to the contrary that this trade-off contributes to the maintenance of local diversity.

United3D: A Protein Model Quality Assessment Program That Uses Two Consensus Based Methods

In protein structure prediction, such as template-based modeling and free modeling (ab initio modeling), the step that assesses the quality of protein models is very important. We have developed a model quality assessment (QA) program United3D that uses an optimized clustering method and a simple Cα atom contact-based potential. United3D automatically estimates the quality scores (Qscore) of predicted protein models that are highly correlated with the actual quality (GDT_TS). The performance of United3D was tested in the ninth Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction (CASP9) experiment. In CASP9, United3D showed the lowest average loss of GDT_TS (5.3) among the QA methods participated in CASP9. This result indicates that the performance of United3D to identify the high quality models from the models predicted by CASP9 servers on 116 targets was best among the QA methods that were tested in CASP9. United3D also produced high average Pearson correlation coefficients (0.93) and acceptable Kendall rank correlation coefficients (0.68) between the Qscore and GDT_TS. This performance was competitive with the other top ranked QA methods that were tested in CASP9. These results indicate that United3D is a useful tool for selecting high quality models from many candidate model structures provided by various modeling methods. United3D will improve the accuracy of protein structure prediction.

Meta-analysis of Genome-Wide Linkage Studies of Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is considered as a hereditary skin disease. Recently, a latest form of genetic research, genome-wide linkage study, has been carried out to detect its specific susceptibility genes. Since the results of these studies have been inconsistent, with linkage confirmed in different regions, we performed this meta-analysis. To assess heritability and identify chromosomal regions showing evidence of AD. A comprehensive and systematic search was conducted with PubMed databases. We combined results from three non-overlapping genome-wide linkage studies of AD, using the heterogeneity-based genome scan meta-analysis (HEGESMA) method, a rank-based analysis that assesses the strongest evidence for linkage within bins of a 30-centimorgan width on autosomes and the X chromosome. The following ten bins had a p value of less than .05 in both weighted and unweighted analyses, suggesting that these bins contain AD-linked loci: 3.2, 3.4, 3.5, 4.5, 5.1, 5.2, 6.3, 9.2, 9.4, and 22.1. HEGESMA produced significant genome-wide evidence for linkage on 3p14.1-q12.3, with high average rank and low between-study heterogeneity; 5pter-p15.1 represents new significant loci not reported previously. HEGESMA confirms the region encoding CD80, CD86, and interleukins on chromosomes 3 and 5. The filaggrin gene (FLG) may be the susceptibility factor.

Using Standard Studies to Interpret the Scores from Scales for Assessing the Internal Validity of Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective A large number of tools for assessing the quality of randomized controlled trials are available; however, users have little guidance as to whether a given score represents high or low validity. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of studies identified as having high-internal validity, referred to as the standard studies, to interpret internal validity scores from studies with unknown internal validity. Methods The standard studies were identified by locating 6 candidate studies reporting the findings of randomized controlled trials from the Journal of American Medicine Association or the New England Journal of Medicine and scoring the studies using 2 scales, the Jadad scale (high score = 5; low = 0) and an internal validity information scale (IVI; high score = 70; low = 0). The 2 studies with the highest average rank were chosen as the standard studies. To determine if the standard studies facilitate interpretation of internal validity scores, 11 randomized controlled trials of garlic for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia were scored using both the Jadad and IVI scales and differences in scores resolved by consensus. The total mean scores were compared with the standard-study mean using a 1-sample t test; the interpretation was based on the comparison. Results The mean-internal validity score for the 2 standard studies was 4.5(90%) for the Jadad scale and 64 (91%) for the IVI scale. For the garlic studies, the Jadad scores ranged from 3 to 5 (60% to 80%), the IVI scores from 15 to 59 (21% to 84%); the mean scores were 4 (standard deviation = 0.9; 80%) and 37(53%), respectively. On the IVI scale, the garlic studies had lower internal validity (P < 0.001), a finding substantiated by the low scores for addressing withdrawals, blinding, and adherence. On the Jadad scale, the scores were comparable with the score for the standard studies (P = 0.093). Conclusions The strategy of using the standard studies to interpret the scores for the IVI scale worked well; the comparison indicated that, overall, the garlic studies were of low-internal validity. With the Jadad scale, the strategy resulted in erroneous conclusions that the garlic studies had relatively high-internal validity; however, it did indicate that the Jadad scale is limited and may not identify studies with very low-internal validity. The results of this study suggest that scales used to assess internal validity should be tested on studies with a range of validity, so the functional characteristics of the scale can be identified.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide scans provides evidence for sex- and site-specific regulation of bone mass.

Several genome-wide scans have been performed to detect loci that regulate BMD, but these have yielded inconsistent results, with limited replication of linkage peaks in different studies. In an effort to improve statistical power for detection of these loci, we performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide scans in which spine or hip BMD were studied. Evidence was gained to suggest that several chromosomal loci regulate BMD in a site-specific and sex-specific manner. BMD is a heritable trait and an important predictor of osteoporotic fracture risk. Several genome-wide scans have been performed in an attempt to detect loci that regulate BMD, but there has been limited replication of linkage peaks between studies. In an attempt to resolve these inconsistencies, we conducted a collaborative meta-analysis of genome-wide linkage scans in which femoral neck BMD (FN-BMD) or lumbar spine BMD (LS-BMD) had been studied. Data were accumulated from nine genome-wide scans involving 11,842 subjects. Data were analyzed separately for LS-BMD and FN-BMD and by sex. For each study, genomic bins of 30 cM were defined and ranked according to the maximum LOD score they contained. While various densitometers were used in different studies, the ranking approach that we used means that the results are not confounded by the fact that different measurement devices were used. Significance for high average rank and heterogeneity was obtained through Monte Carlo testing. For LS-BMD, the quantitative trait locus (QTL) with greatest significance was on chromosome 1p13.3-q23.3 (p = 0.004), but this exhibited high heterogeneity and the effect was specific for women. Other significant LS-BMD QTLs were on chromosomes 12q24.31-qter, 3p25.3-p22.1, 11p12-q13.3, and 1q32-q42.3, including one on 18p11-q12.3 that had not been detected by individual studies. For FN-BMD, the strongest QTL was on chromosome 9q31.1-q33.3 (p = 0.002). Other significant QTLs were identified on chromosomes 17p12-q21.33, 14q13.1-q24.1, 9q21.32-q31.1, and 5q14.3-q23.2. There was no correlation in average ranks of bins between men and women and the loci that regulated BMD in men and women and at different sites were largely distinct. This large-scale meta-analysis provided evidence for replication of several QTLs identified in previous studies and also identified a QTL on chromosome 18p11-q12.3, which had not been detected by individual studies. However, despite the large sample size, none of the individual loci identified reached genome-wide significance.

Variation in social rank acquisition influences lifetime reproductive success in black-capped chickadees

Dominance relationships structure many animal societies, yet the process of rank attainment is poorly understood. We investigated acquisition of social dominance in winter flocks and its fitness consequences in male black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) over a 10-year period. Age was the best predictor of rank, and paired comparisons showed high-ranked males to be older than their low-ranked flock-mates. When controlling for age, morphological variables did not predict male social rank, but high-ranked males were heavier, had lower fat scores and were in leaner condition than low-ranked males. Males that survived between years tended to increase in rank over time; however, the rate of rank advancement varied individually. Rank reversals between familiar contestants were rare, and changes in male social rank were associated with changes in flock membership. Average lifetime reproductive success (LRS) of males and females was variable and best predicted by lifespan. Male rank history also influenced realized reproductive success. Birds with higher average rank over their lifespan were more likely to reproduce successfully. However, among successful birds, average rank did not significantly predict LRS. Thus, birds that lived longer and attained high social rank earlier had higher fitness, but this effect was not manifested as fine-scale differences among successful individuals. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the importance of social factors influencing individual fitness.