Portion Of Individuals Research Articles

A rapid and effective method for species identification of edible boletes: FT-NIR spectroscopy combined with ResNet

The accurate and rapid species identification of edible boletes was associated to prevent food safety incidents caused by eating poisonous boletes and commercial fraud activities. This study aimed to develop an approach to accurately identify boletes species using Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy. A total of 418 samples were collected for the study, which included five common edible boletes species. For each sample, two portions (cap and stipe) were analyzed by FT-NIR spectroscopy. Firstly, partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models were developed using the single and fused FT-NIR spectral data of cap and stipe. Then, residual convolutional neural network (ResNet) models were developed using the FT-NIR two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCOS) images of the individual portion (cap and stipe). The results showed that the ResNet model was more suitable for boletes species identification due to the easy operation and accurate classification. For both ResNet models established by the 2DCOS images of cap and stipe, samples were correctly classified as species with 100 % accuracy in the training set and test set. Furthermore, 42 external validation samples were completely identified as species. To summarize, FT-NIR spectroscopy combined with ResNet could be considered as a rapid and effective approach for identifying edible boletes species, which may a promising analytical method for edible fungi species identification.

The psychometric properties of the grazing questionnaire in an obesity sample with and without binge eating disorder

BackgroundDespite being the first validated measure of grazing, the Grazing Questionnaire (GQ) has not been investigated among individuals with obesity. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the GQ in an obesity sample.MethodsParticipants (N = 259) were recruited from community and clinical settings in Australia. The sample comprised adults with normal weight (n = 77) and obesity (n = 182). A portion of individuals with obesity (n = 102) had binge eating disorder (BED). Data from the obesity group was examined to establish the factor structure, validity, and reliability of the GQ. A one-way ANOVA with planned contrasts was conducted to compare scores on the GQ across groups.ResultsConfirmatory factor analysis revealed that the 2-factor model of the GQ was the best model fit for individuals with obesity. The GQ demonstrated high internal consistency, test–retest reliability over 3 months, and convergent and divergent validity. As hypothesised, the obesity group had significantly higher scores on the GQ than the normal weight group, while the obesity with BED group had significantly higher scores than the obesity without BED group.ConclusionThis was the first study to investigate the psychometric properties of the GQ in an obesity sample. Overall, findings indicated that the GQ is a psychometrically sound measure of grazing among individuals with obesity. These findings provide further support for two distinct subtypes of grazing and highlight the importance of increased assessment and management of grazing behaviours for individuals with obesity and eating disorders.Plain English summaryMaintaining a healthy weight is one of the greatest challenges for individuals with obesity. Certain eating patterns such as grazing may contribute to difficulties in weight management. Grazing is the repetitive and unplanned eating of small amounts of food that is not related to feeling hungry. Researchers and clinicians often use self-report questionnaires to measure grazing. However, the first validated questionnaire of grazing has not been investigated among individuals with obesity. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine and validate the Grazing Questionnaire in individuals with obesity. Overall, our results showed that the Grazing Questionnaire is a valid and reliable self-report measure of grazing in individuals with obesity. Similar to previous research, we found that there are two subtypes of grazing. The first subtype involves continuous, unplanned eating. The second subtype is associated with a sense of loss of control over eating. We also found that people with obesity and binge eating disorder graze more than people with obesity that do not have binge eating disorder, while both groups graze more than individuals with normal weight. We recommend that clinicians routinely assess and treat unhelpful grazing patterns when working with individuals with obesity and eating disorders.

A Review on Leaf Disease Detection Using Different Approaches

Abstract: India is among the nation where a large portion of individuals rely upon agriculture. The recognizable proof of pomegranates organic product illness is a test that can be made simple by utilizing picture handling for distinguishing infections of natural product. Disease detection in leaves plays a very important role in the field of agriculture. In this literature review, we are comparing various methodologies used to detect the disease in leaves.

Size-efficient sparse population for strictly structured quantum genetic algorithm

Quantum genetic algorithm is a field of research to discover a potential structure to realize an effective heuristic, evolutionary optimization technique powered by quantum computation. Apart from contemporary efforts to look for a novel quantum evolutionary design, some studies suggest the idea of strictly structured quantum genetic algorithm, which rigorously imitates the classical practice via a sparse population to sample a few individuals from the given problem’s domain, as opposed to the conventional quantum practice that transforms the entire domain into a population itself. Albeit having its own advantages, the algorithm requires to periodically measure and reinitialize the quantum system over generations. It therefore leads to several computational inefficiency issues including the wasteful population initialization, during which individuals that rather marginally contribute to the overall optimization are iteratively generated. This paper proposes that the algorithmic inefficiency from the mentioned problem can be alleviated by preemptively eliminating a large portion of undesirable individuals and still maintain the tasked optimization result to an acceptable degree. The main idea is to deliberately reduce the amount of randomness among the quantum population, thereby discarding individuals that do not contain any fitted genes. A number of tests were conducted on continuous optimization problems to validate the theory of the proposed method, resulting that it can effectively reduce the size of the involved population while minimizing the loss in the original algorithm’s performance.

Changes in Blood Lipid Levels After a Digitally Enabled Cardiometabolic Preventive Health Program: Pre-Post Study in an Adult Dutch General Population Cohort.

BackgroundDespite widespread education, many individuals fail to follow basic health behaviors such as consuming a healthy diet and exercising. Positive changes in lifestyle habits are associated with improvements in multiple cardiometabolic health risk factors, including lipid levels. Digital lifestyle interventions have been suggested as a viable complement or potential alternative to conventional health behavior change strategies. However, the benefit of digital preventive interventions for lipid levels in a preventive health context remains unclear.ObjectiveThis observational study aimed to determine how the levels of lipids, namely total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, changed over time in a Dutch general population cohort undergoing a digital preventive health program. Moreover, we looked to establish associations between lifestyle factors at baseline and lipid levels.MethodsWe included 348 adults from the Dutch general population who underwent a digitally enabled preventive health program at Ancora Health between January 2020 and October 2021. Upon enrollment, participants underwent a baseline assessment involving a comprehensive lifestyle questionnaire, a blood biochemistry panel, physical measurements, and cardiopulmonary fitness measurements. Thereafter, users underwent a lifestyle coaching program and could access the digital application to register and track health behaviors, weight, and anthropometric data at any time. Lipid levels were categorized as normal, elevated, high, and clinical dyslipidemia according to accepted international standards. If at least one lipid marker was high or HDL was low, participants received specific coaching and advice for cardiometabolic health. We retrospectively analyzed the mean and percentage changes in lipid markers in users who were remeasured after a cardiometabolic health–focused intervention, and studied the association between baseline user lifestyle characteristics and having normal lipid levels.ResultsIn our cohort, 199 (57.2%) participants had dyslipidemia at baseline, of which 104 participants were advised to follow a cardiometabolic health–focused intervention. Eating more amounts of favorable food groups and being more active were associated with normal lipid profiles. Among the participants who underwent remeasurement 9 months after intervention completion, 57% (17/30), 61% (19/31), 56% (15/27), 82% (9/11), and 100% (8/8) showed improvements at remeasurement for total, LDL, HDL, and non-HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, respectively. Moreover, between 35.3% and 77.8% showed a return to normal levels. In those with high lipid levels at baseline, total cholesterol decreased by 0.5 mmol/L (7.5%), LDL cholesterol decreased by 0.39 mmol/L (10.0%), non-HDL cholesterol decreased by 0.44 mmol/L (8.3%), triglycerides decreased by 0.97 mmol/L (32.0%), and HDL increased by 0.17 mmol/L (15.6%), after the intervention.ConclusionsA cardiometabolic screening program in a general population cohort identified a significant portion of individuals with subclinical and clinical lipid levels. Individuals who, after screening, actively engaged in a cardiometabolic health–focused lifestyle program improved their lipid levels.

Live imaging of avian epiblast and anterior mesendoderm grafting reveals the complexity of cell dynamics during early brain development.

ABSTRACTDespite previous intensive investigations on epiblast cell migration in avian embryos during primitive streak development before stage (st.) 4, this migration at later stages of brain development has remained uninvestigated. By live imaging of epiblast cells sparsely labeled with green fluorescence protein, we investigated anterior epiblast cell migration to form individual brain portions. Anterior epiblast cells from a broad area migrated collectively towards the head axis during st. 5-7 at a rate of 70-110 µm/h, changing directions from diagonal to parallel and forming the brain portions and abutting head ectoderm. This analysis revised the previously published head portion precursor map in anterior epiblasts at st. 4/5. Grafting outside the brain precursor region of mCherry-expressing nodes producing anterior mesendoderm (AME) or isolated AME tissues elicited new cell migration towards ectopic AME tissues. These locally convergent cells developed into secondary brains with portions that depended on the ectopic AME position in the anterior epiblast. Thus, anterior epiblast cells are bipotent for brain/head ectoderm development with given brain portion specificities. A brain portion potential map is proposed, also accounting for previous observations.

Removal of single‐site N‐linked glycans on factor VIII alters binding of domain‐specific monoclonal antibodies

BackgroundA portion of individuals with hemophilia A develop neutralizing antibodies called inhibitors to glycoprotein factor VIII (FVIII). There are multiple risk factors that contribute to the risk of inhibitor formation. However, knowledge of the role of FVIII asparagine (N)‐linked glycosylation in FVIII immunity is limited. ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of site‐specific N‐linked glycan removal on FVIII biochemical properties, endocytosis by murine bone marrow‐derived dendritic cells (BMDCs), and antibody responses. MethodsFour recombinant B domain‐deleted (BDD) FVIII variants with single‐site amino acid substitutions to remove N‐linked glycans were produced for experimental assays. ResultsBDD FVIII‐N41G, FVIII‐N239A, FVIII‐N1810A, and FVIII‐N2118A with confirmed removal of N‐linked glycans and similar glycosylation profiles to BDD FVIII were produced. There were no differences in thrombin activation or von Willebrand factor binding of FVIII variants compared with BDD FVIII; however, reduced FVIII expression, activity, and specific activity was observed with all variants. BDD FVIII‐N41G and FVIII‐N1810A had reduced uptake by BMDCs, but there were no differences in antibody development in immunized hemophilia A mice compared with BDD FVIII. Half of a repertoire of 12 domain‐specific FVIII MAbs had significantly reduced binding to ≥1 FVIII variant with a 50% decrease in A1 domain MAb 2‐116 binding to FVIII‐N239A. ConclusionsModifications of FVIII N‐linked glycans reduced FVIII endocytosis by BMDCs and binding of domain‐specific FVIII MAbs, but did not alter de novo antibody production in hemophilia A mice, suggesting that N‐glycans do not significantly contribute to inhibitor formation.

Tumor-derived Jagged1 promotes cancer progression through immune evasion.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy is generating remarkable responses in individuals with cancer, but only a small portion of individuals with breast cancer respond well. Here we report that tumor-derived Jagged1 is a key regulator of the tumor immune microenvironment. Jagged1 promotes tumorigenesis in multiple spontaneous mammary tumor models. Through Jagged1-induced Notch activation, tumor cells increase expression and secretion of multiple cytokines to help recruit macrophages into the tumor microenvironment. Educated macrophages crosstalk with tumor-infiltrating Tcells to inhibit Tcell proliferation and tumoricidal activity. In individuals with triple-negative breast cancer, a high expression level of Jagged1 correlates with increased macrophage infiltration and decreased Tcell activity. Co-administration of an ICI PD-1 antibody with a Notch inhibitor significantly inhibits tumor growth in breast cancer models. Our findings establish a distinct signaling cascade by which Jagged1 promotes adaptive immune evasion of tumor cells and provide several possible therapeutic targets.

A longitudinal approach to understanding risk factors for problem alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundWe conducted a longitudinal study to examine person‐centered heterogeneity in problem drinking risk during the 2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic. We aimed to differentiate high‐ from low‐risk subgroups of drinkers during the pandemic, to report on the longitudinal follow‐up of the baseline sample reported in Wardell et al. (Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 44, 2020, 2073), and to examine how subgroups of drinkers differed on coping‐related and pre‐pandemic alcohol vulnerability factors.MethodsCanadian alcohol users (N = 364) were recruited for the study. Participants completed surveys at four waves (spaced 3 months apart), with the first being 7 to 8 weeks after the COVID‐19 state of emergency began in Canada. The data were analyzed using a parallel process latent growth class analysis followed by general linear mixed models analysis.ResultsWe found evidence for three latent classes: individuals who increased drinking (class 1; n = 23), low‐risk drinkers (class 2; n = 311), and individuals who decreased drinking (class 3; n = 30). Participants who increased (vs. those who decreased) problem drinking during the pandemic struggled with increasing levels of social disconnection and were also increasingly more likely to report drinking to cope with these issues. Those in the increasing class (relative to low‐risk drinkers) reported increasing levels of depression during the study. Relative to low‐risk drinkers, participants in the increasing class had higher pre‐pandemic AUDIT scores, greater frequency of solitary drinking, and higher alcohol demand. Interestingly, participants in the decreasing class had the highest pre‐pandemic AUDIT scores.ConclusionsWe examined longitudinal data to identify subgroups of drinkers during the pandemic and to identify factors that may have contributed to increased problem drinking. Findings suggest that while most of the sample did not change their alcohol use, a small portion of individuals escalated use, while a small portion decreased their drinking. Identifying the vulnerability factors associated with increased drinking could aid in the development of preventative strategies and intervention approaches.

Concerns Around Opposition to the Green Pass in Italy: Social Listening Analysis by Using a Mixed Methods Approach

BackgroundThe recent introduction of COVID-19 certificates in several countries, including the introduction of the European green pass, has been met with protests and concerns by a fraction of the population. In Italy, the green pass has been used as a nudging measure to incentivize vaccinations because a valid green pass is needed to enter restaurants, bars, museums, or stadiums. As of December 2021, a valid green pass can be obtained by being fully vaccinated with an approved vaccine, recovered from COVID-19, or tested. However, a green pass obtained with a test has a short validity (48 hours for the rapid test, 72 hours for the polymerase chain reaction test) and does not allow access to several indoor public places.ObjectiveThis study aims to understand and describe the concerns of individuals opposed to the green pass in Italy, the main arguments of their discussions, and their characterization.MethodsWe collected data from Telegram chats and analyzed the arguments and concerns that were raised by the users by using a mixed methods approach.ResultsMost individuals opposing the green pass share antivaccine views, but doubts and concerns about vaccines are generally not among the arguments raised to oppose the green pass. Instead, the discussion revolves around the legal aspects and the definition of personal freedom. We explain the differences and similarities between antivaccine and anti–green pass discourses, and we discuss the ethical ramifications of our research, focusing on the use of Telegram chats as a social listening tool for public health.ConclusionsA large portion of individuals opposed to the green pass share antivaccine views. We suggest public health and political institutions to provide a legal explanation and a context for the use of the green pass, as well as to continue focusing on vaccine communication to inform vaccine-hesitant individuals. Further work is needed to define a consensual ethical framework for social listening for public health.

Low-salt diet increases mRNA expression of aldosterone-regulated transporters in the intermediate portion of the endolymphatic sac.

The endolymphatic sac is a small sac-shaped organ at the end of the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear. The endolymphatic sac absorbs the endolymph, in which the ion balance is crucial for inner ear homeostasis. Of the three sections of the endolymphatic sac, the intermediate portion is the center of endolymph absorption, particularly sodium transport, and is thought to be regulated by aldosterone. Disorders of the endolymphatic sac may cause an excess of endolymph (endolymphatic hydrops), a histological observation in Meniere's disease. A low-salt diet is an effective treatment for Meniere's disease, and is based on the assumption that the absorption of endolymph in the endolymphatic sac abates endolymphatic hydrops through a physiological increase in aldosterone level. However, the molecular basis of endolymph absorption in each portion of the endolymphatic sac is largely unknown because of difficulties in gene expression analysis, resulting from its small size and intricate structure. The present study combined reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and laser capture microdissection techniques to analyze the difference of gene expression of the aldosterone-controlled epithelial Na+ channel, thiazide-sensitive Na+-Cl- cotransporter, and Na+, K+-ATPase genes in the three individual portions of the endolymphatic sac in a rat model. A low-salt diet increased the expression of aldosterone-controlled ion transporters, particularly in the intermediate portion of the endolymphatic sac. Our findings will contribute to the understanding of the physiological function of the endolymphatic sac and the pathophysiology of Meniere's disease.

Worsening sleep quality across the lifespan and persistent sleep disturbances in persons with opioid use disorder.

Individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) may experience worsening sleep quality over time, and a subset of individuals may have sleep disturbances that precede opioid use and do not resolve following abstinence. The purpose of the present study was to (1) collect retrospective reports of sleep across the lifespan and (2) identify characteristics associated with persistent sleep disturbance and changes in sleep quality in persons with OUD. Adults with OUD (n = 154) completed a cross-sectional study assessing current and past sleep disturbance, opioid use history, and chronic pain. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to examine changes in retrospectively reported sleep quality, and whether changes varied by screening positive for insomnia and/or chronic pain. Multivariate linear regression analyses were used to identify additional correlates of persistent sleep disturbance. Participants reported that their sleep quality declined over their lifespan. Changes in reported sleep over time varied based on whether the individual screened positive for co-occurring insomnia and/or chronic pain. In regression analyses, female sex (β = 0.16, P = .042), a greater number of treatment episodes (β = 0.20, P = .024), and positive screens for chronic pain (β = 0.19, P = .018) and insomnia (β=0.22, P = .013) were associated with self-reported persistent sleep disturbance. Only a portion of participants who screened positive for sleep disorders had received a formal diagnosis. OUD treatment providers should routinely screen for co-occurring sleep disturbance and chronic pain. Interventions that treat co-occurring OUD, sleep disturbance, and chronic pain are needed. Ellis JD, Mayo JL, Gamaldo CE, Finan PH, Huhn AS. Worsening sleep quality across the lifespan and persistent sleep disturbances in persons with opioid use disorder. J Clin Sleep Med. 2022;18(2):587-595.

On self-adaptive stochastic ranking in decomposition many-objective evolutionary optimization

Evolutionary multi-objective optimization problems have attracted increasingly attention in the evolutionary computing community. Now a lot of efforts have been devoted to this direction. For example, the proposed Pareto-dominated, decomposition-based and indicator-based methods have improved the scalability of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs). However, with the increase of the number of objectives, the portion of non-dominated individuals in the population is too large, and the distinguishability of individuals in the objective space decreases, which will affect the selection of elite solutions, thereby losing the balance of convergence and diversity. In this paper, a self-adaptive stochastic ranking method (SSR) is proposed to adaptively balance the convergence and diversity in high-dimensional space according to the state of the population. It has been embedded into the MOEA/D framework to form a novel multi-objective optimization algorithm, named MOEA/D-SSR. In addition, an improved shift-based density estimation strategy (ISDE) is adopted to enhance the convergence and diversity. Compared with the existing MOEAs on benchmark suite DTLZ and WFG with up to 10 objectives, the performance of the our algorithm has been verified. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is competitive compared with the most advanced MOEAs.

Migrant Cuisine, Cookshops and Elite Catering: Eating Out in Metropolitan Amsterdam (1650-1815)

The Dutch Republic (1588-1795) is not well known for its cuisine. On the contrary, historians mock the primitive dishes, combined with excessive drinking, smoking and other bad habits. Yet some contemporary travellers paint a more positive picture. New research confirms that Amsterdam, the Dutch metropole, offered plenty culinary experiences. Up-market establishments - like the Garnalendoelen - catered for the ruling class, yet ordinary people such as foreign students and local artisans were also welcome. At the bottom of the market, gaarkeukens provided a hungry crowd with cheap freshly baked snacks. Between these two extremes, innkeepers and their kitchen staff cooked set menus for fixed prices as well as expensive delicacies, served at flexible dinner times. A number of French chefs - Protestant as well as Catholic - served the acclaimed cuisine of their homeland. The distinction of these early eateries with the modern restaurant is therefore often exaggerated: Amsterdam inns already offered separate tables, private cabins and flexible dinner times. During the Batavian-French era (1795-1813), innovative proprietors also introduced printed menu cards, longer opening hours, individual portions and more exquisite dishes.

Viruses Don't Discriminate, But People Do: Teaching Writing for Health Professionals in the Context of Covid-19 and Black Lives Matte

Teachers of writing are not therapists. This much I know. That seems obvious, but it’s not so obvious in times like these. Nor was it obvious when I co-wrote an article on teaching in times of trauma in 2016. I wrote about teaching writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) during the remaining two weeks of the 2014 spring quarter after Elliot Rodger murdered six students before killing himself. My co-author wrote about teaching in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Both of these events, though caused by different forces, revealed underlying issues of misogyny and racism. Both events caused major crises for teachers and students alike; after all, “[t]raumatic events that threaten life, health, body integrity, and the lives of others are ubiquitous and have life-altering impacts for a substantial portion of individuals” (Gerhart, Canetti, Hobfall, 2015, p. 4). We concluded that, while we are not therapists, we felt a responsibility to address challenges and inequalities in our classes when unforeseen traumatic events were happening in our communities, and to give students agency in that process.

Measuring joint space-time accessibility in transit network under travel time uncertainty

In densely populated areas, joint activity participation such as shopping and eating outside represents a substantial portion of individuals' daily activity-travel patterns. Individuals have several considerations in making joint activity choice behaviour such as space-time coordination, activity start time, activity location and joint activity duration. In a congested transit network, the travel time uncertainty significantly affects individuals' activity and travel choice behaviour. To conduct some important joint activities, individuals normally have high expectations of on-time arrival. Thus, the measurement of space-time accessibility in transportation networks should be extended to consider joint activity choices and travel time uncertainty. In this paper, a new method for measuring space-time accessibility is proposed for individuals' joint activities in transit network with consideration of travel time uncertainty. A reliable alighting location model is proposed to identify all feasible alighting locations in transit network to perform joint activities by explicitly considering constraints of on-time arrival probabilities. Individuals’ joint space-time accessibility (JSTA) is measured based on reliable alighting locations, travel time budget, and points of interests. Massive smart card data from metro network in Nanjing, China are used to show the merits of the proposed JSTA measure. The results show that there is a significant difference between the space-time accessibility to independent activity and that to joint activity under various on-time arrival probabilities. The effects of spatial (de)concentration of anchor locations and minimum joint activity duration on JSTA, and the role of additional participants are also presented in various scenarios. The proposed JSTA measure can be used to help policy makers to evaluate transit network development and land use planning in urban areas.

Coverage evaluation surveys following soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis mass drug administration in Wolaita Zone of Ethiopia-The Geshiyaro project.

The Geshiyaro project aims to break transmission of soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis in the Wolaita Zone of Ethiopia through a combination of two interventions: behavior change communication (BCC) for increased water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) infrastructure use alongside preventive chemotherapy (PC) using albendazole (ALB) and praziquantel (PZQ), targeted to reach 90% treatment coverage. Coverage evaluation surveys (CES) were conducted post-treatment, and the resultant survey coverage was compared to reported administrative coverage. This provided a secondary confirmation of the Geshiyaro project coverages, and is used to monitor the success of each Mass Drug Administration (MDA) round. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 13 woredas (districts) of the Wolaita Zone. All eligible individuals from the selected households were invited for an interview. The study design, sample size, analysis and report writing were conducted according to the World Health Organization (WHO) CES guidelines for PC. The study interviewed a total of 3,568 households and 18,875 individuals across 13 woredas in the Wolaita Zone. Overall, the survey coverage across all studied woredas was 81.5% (95% CI; 80.9-82.0%) for both ALB and PZQ. Reported administrative coverage across all studied woredas was higher than survey coverage, 92.7% and 91.2% for ALB and PZQ, respectively. A significant portion of individuals (17.6%) were not offered PC. The predominant reason for not achieving the target coverage of 90% was beneficiary absenteeism during MDA (6.6% ALB, 6.8% PZQ), followed by drug distributors failing to reach all households (4.7% ALB, 4.8% PZQ), and beneficiaries not informed of the program (1.3% ALB, 1.7% PZQ). Programmatic actions will need to be taken during the next MDA campaign to achieve the targeted Geshiyaro project coverage threshold across data collection and program engagement. Adequate training and supervision on recording and reporting administrative coverage should be provided, alongside improved social mobilization of treated communities to increase participation, and strengthened institutional partnerships and communication.

Discrepancy between plasma pTau181 and tau‐PET statuses

AbstractBackgroundAssessments of tau usually come from cerebrospinal fluid or Positron Emission Tomography (PET). However, those methods are expensive and not readily available. Current research is focusing on cost‐effective blood‐based biomarkers, and a novel immunoassay for plasma pTau181 has been created. Even though there are strong associations between plasma pTau181 and PET, no study has yet investigated whether plasma pTau181 can be used to detect early AD‐pathology. Does the status of plasma pTau181 always correlate with tau‐PET status?MethodWe assessed 269 individuals from the TRIAD cohort (164 CU, 60 MCI and 45 AD) that underwent plasma pTau181 assessment, [18F]MK6240 tau‐PET scan, [18F]AZD4694 amyloid‐PET scan to assess their amyloid status, an MRI and a neuropsychological evaluation. We conducted statistical analyses using R, first to calculate the threshold values for positivity in both tau assessing methods and to make comparisons between the groups. For tau‐PET, we used [18F]MK6240 SUVR in the temporal meta‐ROI.ResultUsing Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves, we established that the cut‐off for positivity for plasma pTau181 was 11.1060 pg/mL, while for tau‐PET, it was 1.1827 SUVR. 182 individuals had concordant statuses for both plasma pTau181 and tau‐PET, while 87 were discrepant. 64 were plasma+/PET‐, with a majority cognitively unimpaired (CU) and 23 were plasma‐/PET+, with values close to the thresholds, and mostly MCI or AD (Figure1). Moreover, concomitant plasma/PET statuses were usually accompanied by a similar Ab status (Figure2). CU Ab+ individuals were found in high proportion in the plasma+/PET‐ group (Figure3).ConclusionMost of the participants had concordant statuses for plasma pTau181 and tau‐PET, which correlate well with memory scores and diagnoses. However, there was a significant portion of discordant individuals, which were predominantly plasma+/PET‐. This corroborates findings from comparisons between CSF pTau181 and tau‐PET, with CSF positivity coming before PET. Plasma pTau181 is also a great tool to assess Ab status, even before the onset of tau‐PET abnormalities. Assessing tau through plasma or PET is thought to suggest different stages of pathological progression.

Effect of temporal meta‐ROI and Braak1&2 ROI on the dissociation between plasma pTau181 and PET statuses

AbstractBackgroundTau is usually assessed through cerebrospinal fluid or Positron Emission Tomography (PET). However, those methods are expensive and not readily available. Research is now focusing on cost‐effective blood‐based biomarkers to assess Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathophysiologies. A novel immunoassay for plasma pTau181 has been created, and even though there are strong associations between plasma pTau181 and PET, no study has yet investigated which cortical area better reflects plasma tau.MethodWe assessed 269 individuals from the TRIAD cohort (164 CU, 60 MCI and 45 AD) that underwent plasma pTau181 assessment, [18F]MK6240 tau‐PET scan, [18F]AZD4694 amyloid‐PET scan to assess their amyloid‐b (Ab) status, an MRI and a neuropsychological evaluation. We conducted statistical analyses using R, first to calculate the threshold values for positivity in both tau assessing methods and to make comparisons between the groups. SUVR values for [18F]MK6240 were either based on Braak1 SUVR or temporal meta‐ROI SUVR.ResultUsing Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves, we established that the cut‐off for positivity for plasma pTau181 was 11.1060 pg/mL. When using Braak1 mask, the cut‐off for positivity was 1.040 SUVR (B1+/‐), while with temporal meta‐ROI it was 1.1827 (TMR+/‐). In both cases, we observed a majority of concordant individuals. However, we obtained 87 discordant individuals in the plasma/TMR, mostly plasma+/TMR‐, and 78 in the plasma/B1 analyses, mostly plasma‐/B1+ (Figure 1). Concomitant status of plasma/TMR was usually accompanied by a similar Ab status. However, in the Braak1 analyses, Ab status seemed to closely follow the PET status (Figure 2).ConclusionThe cut‐off values for positivity using Braak1 mask is significantly smaller than when using temporal meta‐ROI. Using the temporal meta‐ROI mask, we had more discrepant individuals that were plasma+/TMR‐, with plasma‐/TMR+ individuals close to the threshold values. It was accurate at predicting negative biomarker statuses in CU participants, and positive in AD participants. Conversely, we had more plasma‐/B1+ individuals when using Braak1 mask, with values more spread around the plot. Due to low threshold values, portion of CU and MCI individuals were categorized as positive to both biomarkers. Finally, B1 status seemed to follow closely the Ab levels. Plasma pTau181 thus seems to reflect better temporal meta‐ROI tau.

Effects of Chronic Social Defeat Stress on Behavior and Dopamine Receptors in Adolescent Mice With 6-Hydroxydopamine Lesions of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex.

Background: Social stress factors in schizophrenia have long-term effects, but will only induce symptoms in a portion of individuals, even if exposed to identical stress.Methods: In the current experiment, we examined mice with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) injury to select for members of a “stress-susceptible group,” and observed the changes in their behavior and the expression of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors in the amygdala and hippocampus.Results: We observed that after chronic social defeat stress, 72.6% of the 6-OHDA lesioned mice exhibited stress response to aggressors, compared to 52.3% of the blank control group. Both the 6-OHDA lesion + social defeat and social defeat groups exhibited anxiety and depression-like behavior. However, social cognitive impairment in the mice from the 6-OHDA lesion + social defeat group was more significant and the D1 expression levels in the amygdala were significantly decreased.Conclusion: These results suggest that the reason that adolescent mice with cortical injury were highly sensitive to defeat stress and had more prominent social cognitive impairment may be the decreased selectivity of D1 in the amygdala.