Significant Amount Of Variation Research Articles

Zonal macroalgae blooms influenced by different aquaculture discharges in the Xuwen fringing reef, southern China

Reef-building corals are experiencing major impacts from climate change and increasing anthropogenic activities worldwide. Coral reef degradation is associated with the loss of coral species abundance and diversity, followed by an ecological imbalance that commonly occurs with a shift from coral- to macroalgae-dominated community states. The species composition of the bloom-forming macroalgae in the Xuwen National Coral Reef Reserve, southern China, and the associated drivers affecting the composition remain unclear. We investigated the relationship between zonal macroalgae blooms and different aquaculture discharges in this coral reef in March 2016. The structure of macroalgae communities varied greatly among the three study sites, with green and brown algae dominating the high-level pond aquaculture discharge zone; red, green and brown algae dominating the tidal flat aquaculture discharge zone; and green and brown algae dominating in the enclosure aquaculture discharge zone. A significant amount of variation in the structure and composition of the macroalgae community was explained by temperature, total suspended solids (TSS), chlorophyll a (Chla) and dissolved inorganic nutrients (DIN), while temperature and TSS had a significant relationship with these variables. Our findings highlight the negative effects of aquaculture sewage discharges on the health of coral reefs, and we recommend effective and integrated management of anthropogenic sewage discharge into coral reefs.

Age and Gender Representation on German TV

Television offers an enticing glimpse into the world, but its perspective is often skewed. When societal groups are systematically excluded from appearing on the screen, they lose the chance to represent their characteristics and interests. Recipients may then form distorted perceptions and attitudes towards those groups. Empirical research on the prevalence of such biases - especially across stations, time, and genre - has been limited by the effort of manual content analyses. We develop and validate a deep-learning based method for measuring age and gender of faces in video material. An analysis of approximately 16 million faces from six years of German mainstream TV across six stations is fused with existing program metadata indicating timing and genre of broadcasts, including advertisements. Multilevel regression models show a consistent and temporally stable discrimination against women and elderly people, along with a double discrimination of elderly women. A significant amount of variation across genres and systematic differences between public and private broadcasters furthermore indicate previously undocumented heterogeneity in the representation of societal groups on TV. We discuss potential implications of a genre-specific differentiation against the backdrop of societal trends.

Evaluation of the Financial Performance of the Municipalities in Slovakia in the Context of Multidimensional Statistics

In some studies, only financial aspects are emphasized, but we also see cases of assessing the financial health of municipalities through socio-economic indicators. Public organizations worldwide have had to increase their financial performance by adopting management practices. Nonetheless, financial performance might be mostly predicted by contingencies that are not within direct managerial control. The purpose of this paper is to identify clusters of municipalities on the basis of agglomerate cluster analysis, the results of which will point to the financial situation of the municipalities in the selected region. The main aim of this contribution is to identify the location of the municipalities of the chosen self-governing region of Slovakia using the clustering method by selected financial indicators. Individual clusters have similar properties and they differ from the characteristics of businesses in other clusters. The results show that organizational and environmental contingencies affect financial performance, but a significant amount of variation in financial performance is unexplained—indicating that management creates better financial health in the municipality and creates a clearer budget for the management, employees, and residents of the municipality.

Hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots\u2019 biodiversity

Studies in terrestrial and shallow-water ecosystems have unravelled the key role of interspecific interactions in enhancing biodiversity, but important knowledge gaps persist for the deep sea. Cold-water coral reefs are hotspots of biodiversity, but the role of interspecific interactions and “habitat cascades” (i.e. positive effects on focal organisms mediated by biogenic habitat formation) in shaping their biodiversity is unknown. Associations between macrofaunal hosts and epifauna were examined in 47 stations at the Mingulay Reef Complex (northeast Atlantic). In total, 101 (group level) and 340 (species level) unique types of facultative associations formed by 43 hosts and 39 epifaunal species were found. Molluscs and empty polychaete tubes had higher values for the type and number of host-epifaunal associations, the Shannon–Wiener (H) and Margalef (d) indices of the epifauna than the rest of the taxonomic groups (p < 0.05). Hosts’ body size, orientation, surface smoothness, and growth form explained a significant amount of variability (32.96%) in epifauna community composition. Epifaunal species richness (S), H and d were 27.4 (± 2.2%), 56.2 (± 2.8%) and 39.9 (± 2.3%) of the respective values for the total sessile communities living on coral framework. This is intriguing as coral framework is orders of magnitude larger than the size of macrofaunal hosts. It is suggested that bivalves, tunicates and empty polychaete tubes increase habitat heterogeneity and enhance biodiversity through “habitat cascades”, in a similar way that epiphytes do in tropical rainforests. Most macrofaunal habitat suppliers in the studied cold-water coral reef are calcified species and likely susceptible to ocean acidification. This indicates that the impacts of climate change on the total biodiversity, structure and health of cold-water coral reefs may potentially be more severe than previously thought.

Favourable inland wetland conditions increase apparent survival of migratory shorebirds in Australia

ABSTRACT Many migratory shorebird species using the East Asian–Australasian Flyway are declining rapidly. While the loss of staging habitats in East Asia is considered the primary cause, stressors to fitness often occur throughout the geographic range of declining species, and threats in the non-breeding grounds have been comparatively poorly studied. Three species of migratory shorebird, Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (C. acuminata) and Red-necked Stint (C. ruficollis), use Australia’s dynamic temporary wetland systems opportunistically, yet these large wetland systems have become increasingly degraded, with reduced frequency and extent of flooding. Here, we test whether variables related to wetland availability in Australia’s interior can explain annual variation in apparent survival, abundance or immature to adult ratios at three well-monitored coastal shorebird areas in southern Australia (total area > 1315 km2). We show that coastal annual bird abundance and ratios of immatures at the coast were higher when inland Australia was relatively hot and dry. Also, a small but significant amount of variation in annual apparent survival can be explained by annual variation in inland conditions, with higher survival rates in years when inland conditions were relatively wet and cool. For the endangered Curlew Sandpiper, the impacts of Australian environmental conditions may be exacerbating the impacts of conditions experienced in other parts of its range on fitness and survival. While the effects we document here are relatively weak, they do suggest that management of inland wetlands for these shorebirds may positively affect survival rates of these sharply declining species.

The Role of Schools in Early Adolescents’ Mental Health: Findings From the MYRIAD Study

ObjectiveRecent studies suggest mental health in youths is deteriorating. The current policy in the United Kingdom emphasizes the role of schools for mental health promotion and prevention, but little data exist on what aspects of schools influence mental health in pupils. This study explored school-level influences on the mental health of young people in a large school-based sample from the United Kingdom. MethodBaseline data from a large cluster randomized controlled trial collected between 2016 and 2018 from mainstream secondary schools selected to be representative in relation to their quality rating, size, deprivation, mixed or single-sex pupil population, and country were analyzed. Participants were pupils in their first or second year of secondary school. The study assessed whether school-level factors were associated with pupil mental health. ResultsThe study included 26,885 pupils (response rate = 90%; age range, 11‒14 years; 55% female) attending 85 schools in the United Kingdom. Schools accounted for 2.4% (95% CI: 2.0%‒2.8%; p < .0001) of the variation in psychopathology, 1.6% (95% CI: 1.2%‒2.1%; p < .0001) of depression, and 1.4% (95% CI: 1.0%‒1.7%; p < .0001) of well-being. Schools in urban locations, with a higher percentage of free school meals and of White British, were associated with poorer pupil mental health. A more positive school climate was associated with better mental health. ConclusionSchool-level variables, primarily related to contextual factors, characteristics of pupil population, and school climate, explain a small but significant amount of variability in mental health of young people. This information might be used to identify schools that are in need of more resources to support mental health of young people. Clinical trial registration informationMYRIAD: My Resilience in Adolescence, a Study Examining the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of a Mindfulness Training Programme in Schools Compared With Normal School Provision; https://www.isrctn.com/; 86619085.

Laser cladding of Stellite-6 with a coaxial nozzle via modeling and systematic experimental investigations

In this paper, an experimental and simulation analysis is undertaken on laser cladding of Stellite-6 on mild steel and HY80 substrates. A cladding system equipped with a coaxial powder nozzle was used to identify process parameters which would produce both favorable single-track and single-layer clads first on mild steel without the need to identify different process parameters on a per-track basis. Using the parameters from mild steel substrate cladding, a minimal amount of adjustment was shown to provide process parameters to clad Stellite-6 on HY80. Modeling of single-track clads of Stellite-6 on mild steel was performed to gain additional insight into the cladding process and was validated against two single-track conditions. It was shown that a significant amount of variability can exist in the clad geometry depending on the process parameters chosen; thus, the model provides an average portrayal of the process. Finally, based on parameter tuning during the process, cladding was found to be near-optimal when the laser beam diameter was approximately the same diameter as the powder waist diameter.

Genetic variability studies in fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) under Rayalaseema Region of Andhra Pradesh

In the present investigation, sixteen fennel varieties were evaluated at the Department of Plantation, Spices, Medicinal and Aromatic Crops at the College of Horticulture, Anantharajupeta, Dr. Y.S.R. Horticultural University, Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh during rabi season, 2019-20 for variability, heritability and genetic advancement in nineteen traits, such as plant height, number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, days to first flowering, days to 50 percent flowering, days to maturity, number of umbels per plant, number of umbellets per umbel, number of seeds per umbellet, number of seeds per umbel, fresh weight of umbel (g), dry weight of umbel (g), fresh weight of the plant at harvest (g), dry weight of the plant at harvest (g), seed yield per plant (g), seed yield per plot (g), seed yield per hectare (Kg/ha), harvest index (%) and test weight (g). The studies on variation showed that, there was a significant amount of variability in the material. Phenotypic coefficients of variants are of a degree greater than those of the genotypic coefficient of variation for test weight and days to maturity. The maximum PCV and GCV were observed for number of seeds per umbel (20.24 & 21.16 % respectively) and seed yield per plot (16.59 and 16.22%). High estimates of heritability were observed for number of seeds per umbel (99.20%) followed by seed yield per hectare (98.85%), seed yield per plot (96.50%), seed yield per plant (95.61%), number of umbels per plant (87.19%), number of umbellets per umbel (86.43%) and number of primary branches per plant (86.27%) and it was recorded medium for days to first flowering (57.19%) and days to fifty percent flowering (50.86%). High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percentage of mean for traits like number of seeds per umbel and seed yield per plant indicated that selection for improving these characters will be more effective as these characters are governed by additive gene action.

Genetic analysis of yield and its component traits in maize (Zea mays L.)

Maize (Zea mays L.) a member of grass family, poaceae (gramineae) having 2n = 2x = 20 chromosomes is one of the most important cereal crops of India. Mexico and Central America are the origin place of this crop. It has more than thirty-two thousand genes in its genome and the size of genome is about 2.3 gigabase. The objective of this study was to evaluate seventy-seven maize genotypes in relation to heritability and genetic advance for fourteen quantitative traits. The estimates of heritability provide information regarding to possibility and extent to which improvement is possible through selection. In this experiment it was found that the mean sum of squares due to genotypes were highly significant for all the characters under study. Indicated that significant amount of variability was available in the genotypes for all the traits. Majority of the traits were found to exhibit moderate to high estimates of genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV), however some traits such as days to 50% tasseling, days to 50% silking, days to 75% dry husk, cob diameter and shelling% had low estimates of GCV and PCV. Highest estimate of GCV was reported for grain yield per plant (36.706) followed by kernels per cob (32.136) cob weight (31.066) and kernels per row (27.087) while the lowest estimate of GCV was reported for days to 75% dry husk (3.162). High estimates of heritability in broad sense (>61%) were reported for all the fourteen characters under study but among them nine traits such as grain yield per plant (75.452), kernels per cob (66.191), cob weight (63.952), kernels per row (55.639), cobs per plant (37.46), 100-kernel weight (27.718), cob length (27.529), kernel rows per cob (23.856) and plant height (20.957) had high estimates of genetic advance in percent of mean (>20%). High estimates of heritability coupled with high estimates of genetic advance are the indicative of additive gene effects in the inheritance of above-mentioned traits. Therefore, selection will be rewarding for the improvement of these traits.

Incumbency and Competitiveness in City Council Elections: How Accurate Are Voter Perceptions?

AbstractIncumbent city councillors have an almost insurmountable advantage in Canadian municipal elections. This article aims to improve our understanding of the municipal incumbency advantage by considering the ability of electors to correctly identify the two most competitive candidates in one's ward and the factors associated with being able to do so. Using survey data from the Canadian Municipal Election Study (CMES), we consider the case of the 2018 elections in Mississauga, a city with typically high rates of incumbent re-election. Survey respondents were asked to identify the two most competitive candidates in their local ward races. We find that comparatively few electors are able to recognize which challenger serves as the strongest threat to a sitting councillor, a finding that suggests that coordination problems may help to contribute to high rates of incumbent success. We identify several individual-level and ward-level correlates of correctly identifying the first-place and second-place finishers. We do note, however, that there is a significant amount of variation among the thousands of municipalities in Canada, so findings from this case should be tested in other settings, including larger or smaller cities where levels of information might be different.

Prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundDiabetes mellitus (DM) is a global health care problem that can impose a substantial economic burden. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common microvascular complication of DM that increases the potential for morbidity and disability due to ulceration and amputation. Though there is a significant amount of variation in the primary studies on DM regarding the prevalence of DPN in Africa. Hence, this study was aimed to estimate the overall prevalence of DPN in DM patients in Africa.MethodsPubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, African Journals OnLine, WHO African Library, and the Cochrane Review were systematically searched online to retrieve related articles. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines was followed. Heterogeneity across the included studies was evaluated by the inconsistency index (I2). Publication bias was examined by funnel plot and Egger’s regression test. The random-effect model was fitted to estimate the pooled prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy among patients in Africa. The meta-analysis was performed using the STATA™ Version 14 software.ResultsTwenty-three studies which includes 269,691 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The overall pooled prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy was 46% (95% CI:36.21–55.78%). Based on the subgroup analysis, the highest prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in DM patients was reported in West Africa at 49.4% (95% CI: 32.74, 66.06).ConclusionThis study revealed that the overall prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy is relatively high in Africa. Hence, DPN needs situation-based interventions and preventive strategies, which are specific to the country. Further meta-analysis is needed to identify associated factors for the occurrence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACUTE MOOD, SLEEP, AND SEX ON NEUROCOGNITIVE PERFORMANCE POST-CONCUSSION IN ADOLESCENTS

Background:Both sleep disturbance and mood changes are common symptoms post-concussion (Sell & Rubeor, 2017). Studies have found these symptoms are correlated with poorer performance on neurocognitive testing (Kontos et al., 2012 and Kostyun et al., 2015). In addition, Brown et al., (2015) showed that females report more symptoms at both baseline and post-concussion compared to males on the Post-Concussion Scale and the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 2.Hypothesis/Purpose:The purpose of this study is to investigate how a patient’s sex, as well as self-reported acute mood and sleep symptoms are related to neurocognitive performance in individuals with concussion.Methods:Data were acquired through IRB-approved retrospective chart review. Composite scores from the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) computerized evaluation and self-reported symptom scores on the Post-Concussion Symptom Scale were gathered for 1619 adolescents age 12-18 (49.3% female) who presented to a large metropolitan outpatient clinic for treatment of concussion.Results:Females endorsed higher overall symptoms (x=19.52, SD 19.37, median 13.0 for females; x=12.88, SD 15.89, median 7.0 for males; Mann-Whitney U Test p<0.001). This same pattern emerged for the mood and sleep symptom clusters (female mood mean=2.92, SD 4.51; male mood mean=1.64, SD 3.34; female sleep mean=1.59, SD 2.0; male sleep mean=1.11, SD 1.84; both Independent Samples Mann-Whitney U Tests ps<0.001).There were significant but modest negative correlations between mood symptoms and performance on verbal memory (r=-0.174), visual memory (r=-0.213), and visual motor speed (r=-0.146) composites (all ps<0.01). There was positive correlation between reaction time composite and mood symptoms (r=0.191). There were significant but modest negative correlations between sleep symptoms and performance on verbal memory (r=-0.171), visual memory (r=-0.184), and visual motor speed (r=-0.161) composites (all ps<0.01). There was a positive correlation between reaction time composite and sleep symptoms (r=0.196, p<0.01).Conclusion:Consistent with prior research, adolescent females reported more symptoms post-concussion, including total symptom score, mood symptoms, and sleep symptoms. Adolescents presenting with more mood and sleep symptoms demonstrated poorer performance on neurocognitive testing. However, given the modest nature of the correlation, a significant amount of variation in test performance is not explained by symptom report. Results from this study underscore the importance of a multidimensional concussion assessment that includes both symptom report and cognitive testing when working with pediatric athletes. This study also reinforces the importance of understanding potential effects of sleep, mood, and sex on concussion.

Prevalence of Erectile Dysfunction in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus and Its Association with Body Mass Index and Glycated Hemoglobin in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background Mortality and morbidity in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are attributed to both microvascular and macrovascular complications. However, there is a significant amount of variation in the primary studies on DM regarding the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in Africa. Therefore, this study was aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of ED patients with DM and its association with body mass index (BMI) and glycated hemoglobin in Africa. Methods PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Scopus, PsycINFO, African Journals Online, and Google Scholar were searched for studies that looked at ED in DM patients. A funnel plot and Egger's regression test were used to determine publication bias. The I2 statistic was used to check heterogeneity between the studies. DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model was applied to estimate the pooled effect size. The subgroup and meta-regression analyses were conducted by country, sample size, and year of publication. Sensitivity analysis was deployed to see the effect of a single study on the overall estimation. STATA version 14 statistical software was used for the meta-analysis. Result A total of 13 studies with 3,501 study participants were included in this study. We estimated that the pooled prevalence of ED in patients with DM in Africa was 71.45% (95% CI: 60.22–82.69). Diabetic patients whose BMI was ≥30 kg/m2 were 1.26 times more likely to develop ED (AOR = 1.26; 95% CI: 0.73–2.16) and whose glycated hemoglobin was <7% were 7% less likely to develop ED (AOR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.5–5.9), although they were not significantly associated with ED. Conclusions The prevalence of ED in DM patients in Africa remains high. Therefore, situation-based interventions and country context-specific preventive strategies should be developed to reduce the prevalence of ED among patients with DM.

Predicting Trial-by-Trial Variation in Oculomotor Behavior Using Multivariate Electroencephalography Theta Phase

When we interact with our environment, there is often a significant amount of variations in our behavioral responses to incoming sensory input even when inputs are identical. Variations in sensory-motor behavior can be caused by several factors, including changes in cognitive status and intrinsic neural variations in the brain. The correct identification of neural sources of behavioral variations is important for understanding the underlying neural mechanisms of sensory-motor behavior and for practical applications (e.g., the development of a precise brain-computer interface). However, studies on humans that investigate the neural sources of the trial-by-trial variation of the sensory-motor behavior are scarce. In this study, we explored the neural correlates of behavioral variations in smooth pursuit eye movements. We collected electroencephalography (EEG) activity from 15 participants while they performed a smooth pursuit eye movement task, wherein they tracked randomly selected visual motion targets that moved radially from the center of the screen. We isolated neural components that are specific to the trial-by-trial variation of smooth pursuit latency, speed, and direction using a novel multivariate pattern-analysis technique. We found that the phase of the spatially distributed multivariate theta oscillation was correlated with the trial-by-trial variation of pursuit latency and direction. This suggests that the changing patterns of the theta phase across EEG sensors can predict upcoming behavioral variations.

Identification of the ecological preferences of Cyclotella comensis in mountain lakes of the northern European Alps

ABSTRACT Planktic diatom ecology in the mountain lakes of the northern European Alps has only been studied sparsely so far. To fill this knowledge gap, the driving parameters of planktic diatom assemblage composition in the euphotic zones of twenty lakes located between 955 and 2,060 m a.s.l. were assessed. The mean August water temperature, concentration of major ions, total phosphorous, and lake physical parameters explained significant amounts of variation within the diatom assemblages, as identified by redundancy analysis and consecutive backward selection. Cyclotella comensis was the most abundant taxon in these oligotrophic (<17 total phosphorus µg/L), phosphorous (P) limited, stratified study lakes, particularly when the calcium concentration was high (>35 mg/L). The results of generalized linear models and generalized additive models further revealed that August surface temperature, thermocline depth, and nitrate-N positively and significantly influenced C. comensis growth. These results shed light on the interplay between physical and chemical parameters as important drivers of C. comensis abundance in temperate mountain lakes. They may aid in the interpretation of past and the prediction of future climate-driven changes in planktic diatom composition in these lakes.

SHORT-TERM INTRAINDIVIDUAL DYNAMICS OF HEART RATE AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING IN OLDER ADULTS

Short-term intraindividual variability in cognition can provide insights into the underlying processes that cannot be captured by only examining mean levels (MacDonald et al., 2003). This variability is often dependent on a number of individual or contextual characteristics. Thus, modeling the heterogeneity of the within-person variance and including meaningful covariates to account for why individuals are more variable on some occasions than others is an alternate way to understand process. The present study utilized a 14-day intensive measurement design to examine the effects of fluctuations in daily heart rate on variability in cognitive performance. Fifty-five older adults (Mage = 70.1 years) completed daily cognitive tasks and measures of well-being, while also wearing an accelerometer to capture physical activity, sleep, and continuous heart rate. Data were examined with a mixed effects location scale model (Hedeker et al., 2008; Rast et al., 2012), which incorporates both an individual’s measured level (location) and their variability around that level (scale). Both the location and the scale are permitted to be random such that on any given occasion an individual may deviate from their typical level and they may also deviate from their typical amount of variability. In this way, the location scale model allows for the heterogeneity of the variance in cognition to be modeled and accounted for with other covariates. Results revealed that there were significant amounts of variability in daily heart rate and cognition across 14 days. The impact of heart rate variability on cognitive performance will be discussed.

Study of heterosis analysis in F1 population of bread wheat

The study was conducted to evaluate heterotic in bread wheat during crop season 2016-2017. Six parents of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were crossed in a half diallel design and their fifteen the first filial genration (F1s) were evaluated for heterosis for yield traits. The traits included: Days to 50% heading, Days to 75% maturity, Plant height (cm), Tillers plant-1, Peduncle length (cm), Spike length (cm), Spikelets spike-1, Grains spike-1, Grain weight spike-1 (g), Seed index (1000-grain weight, g) and Grain yield plant-1 (g). The analysis of variance due to genotypes, parents, hybrids and parents vs. hybrids were significant for all the characters which showed the presence of the significant amount of variability among parents, their hybrids and among parents vs. hybrids for all characters studied. Heterotic effects, the cross combinations such as WL-711 x Aas-2011 followed by Janbaz x Aas-2011 by expressing maximum desirable negative relative heterosis and heterobeltiosis were found advantageous for days to 50% heading and days to 75% maturity; Janbaz x Aas-2011 exhibited desirable negative heterosis for plant height; Sunco x Marvi-2000 followed by Sunco x Janbaz manifested desirable positive heterosis for tillers plant-1; Sunco x Janbaz for peduncle length, spike length and grain yield plant-1; Janbaz x Marvi-2000 for spikelets spike-1 and grains spike-1; Sunco x Pak-81 for grain weight spike-1 and seed index. The superiority of the above crosses over their better parents indicated their worth for hybrid crop development. Keywords: Bread wheat; Diallel; F1 hybrids; Heterobeltiosis; Relative heterosis http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2019.80119

Accurate Reporting of Concomitant Procedures Is Highly Variable in Studies Investigating Knee Cartilage Restoration.

Successful clinical outcomes following cartilage restoration procedures are highly dependent on addressing concomitant pathology. The purpose of this study was to document methods for evaluating concomitant procedures of the knee when performed with articular cartilage restoration techniques, and to review their reported findings in high-impact clinical orthopedic studies. We hypothesized that there are substantial inconsistencies in reporting clinical outcomes associated with concomitant procedures relative to outcomes related to isolated cartilage repair. A total of 133 clinical studies on articular cartilage repair of the knee were identified from 6 high-impact orthopedic journals between 2011 and 2017. Studies were included if they were primary research articles reporting clinical outcomes data following surgical treatment of articular cartilage lesions with a minimum sample size of 5 patients. Studies were excluded if they were review articles, meta-analyses, and articles reporting only nonclinical outcomes (e.g., imaging, histology). A full-text review was then used to evaluate details regarding study methodology and reporting on the following variables: primary cartilage repair procedure, and the utilization of concomitant procedures to address additional patient comorbidities, including malalignment, meniscus pathology, and ligamentous instability. Each study was additionally reviewed to document variation in clinical outcomes reporting in patients that had these comorbidities addressed at the time of surgery. All studies reported on the type of primary cartilage repair procedure, with autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) noted in 43% of studies, microfracture (MF) reported in 16.5%, osteochondral allograft (OCA) in 15%, and osteochondral autograft transplant (OAT) in 8.2%. Regarding concomitant pathology, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (24.8%) and meniscus repair (23.3%) were the most commonly addressed patient comorbidities. A total of 56 studies (42.1%) excluded patients with malalignment, meniscus injury, and ligamentous instability. For studies that addressed concomitant pathology, 72.7% reported clinical outcomes separately from the cohort treated with only cartilage repair. A total of 16.5% of studies neither excluded nor addressed concomitant pathologies. There was a significant amount of variation in the patient reported outcome scores used among the studies, with the majority of studies reporting International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcomes Score (KOOS) in 47.2% and 43.6% of articles, respectively. In this study on knee cartilage restoration, recognition and management of concomitant pathology is inadequately reported in approximately 28% of studies. Only 30% of articles reported adequate treatment of concomitant ailments while scoring their outcomes using one of a potential 18 different scoring systems. These findings highlight the need for more standardized methods to be applied in future research with regard to inclusion, exclusion, and scoring concomitant pathologies with regard to treatment of cartilage defects in the knee.

Line × Tester Analysis for Morphological and Fruit Biochemical Traits in Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Using Wild Relatives as Testers

Wild relatives of eggplant are commonly exploited for eggplant improvement, but the genetic improvement relies on the information of the genetic basis of inheritance of traits. In this study, two eggplant lines, one with oriental and another with occidental cytoplasm, were crossed with four testers representing three wild species, namely, Solanum insanum, S.anguivi, and S. lichtensteinii. The Line × Tester cross produced a total of eight interspecific hybrids. Parents and their hybrids were evaluated for 3 biochemical, 12 morphological, and 8 Tomato Analyzer-based descriptors. A significant amount of variation was noticed for all 23 traits studied. The higher values for the specific combining ability (SCA) component were determined as compared to the general combining ability (GCA) component. The testers were more significant for most of the traits than the cultivated varieties. Positive heterosis was determined for the 12 characteristics and negative heterosis for the 11 attributes. Overall, S.anguivi, and S. lichtensteinii were better for the biochemical traits’ improvement, whereas S. insanum was a better tester for the morphological traits.

Dissecting the Regulation of Human Hematopoiesis at Single-Cell and Single-Variant Resolution

Hematopoiesis is a well-characterized paradigm of cellular differentiation that is highly regulated to ensure balanced proportions of mature blood cells. However, many aspects of this process remain poorly understood in humans. For example, there is extensive variation in commonly measured blood cell traits, which can manifest as diseases at extreme ends of the spectrum, yet the vast majority of genetic loci responsible for driving these differences are currently unknown. Here, we integrate fine-mapped population genetics with high-resolution chromatin landscapes to gain novel insights into regulatory mechanisms critical for human blood cell production and disease.First, we conducted a genome-wide association study in 115,000 individuals from the UK Biobank, measuring the effects of genetic variation on 16 blood traits spanning 7 hematopoietic lineages (erythroid, platelet, lymphocyte, monocyte, neutrophil, eosinophil, basophil). Within each region of association (n = 2,056), we performed Bayesian fine-mapping on all common variants to resolve the most likely causal hits.Going further, we were interested in whether genetic variants predominantly act in terminal cell states or less differentiated progenitors. To this end, we overlapped fine-mapped variants with chromatin accessibility profiles (ATAC-seq) of 18 primary hematopoietic populations sorted from healthy donors. Across all lineages, 21% of regulatory variants were restricted to accessible chromatin (AC) peaks in terminal progenitors. Interestingly, 59% of variants fell in AC regions of one or more upstream progenitor states, suggesting that a significant amount of variation in blood traits stems from regulatory signaling in earlier stages of hematopoiesis.Motivated by this finding, we hypothesized that different branches of hematopoiesis (e.g., monocyte and red blood cell count) could be co-regulated by pleiotropic variants acting in common progenitor populations. Therefore, we investigated variants associated with 2 or more of the 7 blood cell types for which phenotypes were available. Remarkably, across 172 such variants, there was an average of 60% more open chromatin in progenitors than terminal cell types (mean 4.01 vs. 2.44 counts per million; p = 0.025). Examining the directional effects of these variants on distinct lineages, we discovered that 91% of pleiotropic variants exhibited a tune mechanism by changing the levels of different blood cells in the same direction. One such example was rs17758695 located in intron 1 of BCL2, an anti-apoptotic protein known to regulate cell death similarly across multiple hematopoietic cell types. In contrast, the remaining 9% of pleiotropic variants favored one lineage at the expense of others (switch mechanism), including novel variants near key myeloid-determining transcription factors CEBPA and MYC (rs78744187 and rs562240450). Together, these results suggest that pleiotropic variants 1) preferentially act in common progenitor rather than terminal cell types, and 2) predominantly tune multiple traits in the same direction, but may favor one at the expense of others when influencing lineage commitment.Finally, given the enrichment of fine-mapped variants in common progenitor states, we set out to determine whether classically defined hematopoietic populations could be divided into lineage-biased subpopulations based on differential genetic regulation of blood traits. To do so, we measured the enrichment of fine-mapped variants in the chromatin landscapes of 2,034 single cells isolated from 8 hematopoietic progenitor populations. Strikingly, we discovered significant heterogeneity within the common myeloid progenitor (CMP) population, in which one subset of cells exhibited greater open-chromatin enrichment for myeloid trait variants and relevant transcription factor (TF) binding (CEBPA, IRF8), whereas the other subset showed enrichment for erythroid trait variants and TFs (GATA1, KLF1).By integrating genetic fine-mapping with chromatin data, we identified hundreds of causal variants regulating 16 blood traits, characterized novel mechanisms of pleiotropic effects, and discovered cell states enriched for blood trait regulation. These findings provide new insights into the importance of genetic regulation in progenitor cell states and will contribute to knowledge of how these processes go awry in diseases of blood cell production. DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.