Special Collection Research Articles

Calibration of the Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS): Introduction to the special collection and summary of the performances.

Calibration of the Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS): Introduction to the special collection and summary of the performances.

A novel approach to assessing the joint effects of mercury and fish consumption on neurodevelopment in the New Bedford Cohort

Abstract Understanding health risks from methylmercury (MeHg) exposure is complicated by its link to fish consumption, which may confound or modify toxicities. One solution is to include fish intake and a biomarker of MeHg exposure in the same analytical model, but resulting estimates do not reflect the independent impact of accumulated MeHg or fish exposure. In fish-eating populations, this can be addressed by separating MeHg exposure into fish intake and average mercury content of the consumed fish. We assessed the joint association of prenatal MeHg exposure (maternal hair mercury level) and fish intake (among fish-eating mothers) with neurodevelopment in 361 children aged 8 years from the New Bedford Cohort (New Bedford, Massachusetts; born in 1993-1998). Neurodevelopmental assessments used standardized tests of IQ, language, memory, and attention. Covariate-adjusted regression assessed the association of maternal fish consumption, stratified by tertile of estimated average fish mercury level, with neurodevelopment. Associations between maternal fish intake and child outcomes were generally beneficial for those in the lowest average fish mercury tertile but detrimental in the highest average fish mercury tertile, where, for example, each serving of fish was associated with 1.3 fewer correct responses (95% CI, −2.2 to −0.4) on the Boston Naming Test. Standard analyses showed no outcome associations with hair mercury level or fish intake. This article is part of a Special Collection on Environmental Epidemiology.

Introduction to the special collection on public outreach in linguistics

Abstract This is the introduction to the special collection on public outreach in linguistics.

Identifying target populations to align with decision-makers' needs.

Randomized trials estimate the average treatment effect within individuals who are eligible, invited, and agree to enroll. However, decision-makers often require evidence that extends beyond the trial's enrolled population to inform policy or actions for their specific target population. Each decision-maker has distinct target populations, the composition of which may not often align with that of the trial population. As researchers, we should identify a decision-maker for whom we aim to generate evidence early in the research process. We can then specify a target population of their interest and determine if a policy or action can be informed using results from a trial alone, or if additional complementary real-world data and analysis are required. In this commentary, we outline 5 key groupings of decision-makers: policymakers, payers, purchasers, providers, and patients. We then specify relevant target populations for decision-makers interested in the effectiveness of beta-blockers after a myocardial infarction with preserved ejection fraction. Finally, we summarize the scenarios in which results from a randomized trial may or may not apply to these target populations and suggest relevant analytic approaches that can generate evidence to better align with a decision-maker's needs. This article is part of a Special Collection on Pharmacoepidemiology.

Three things we learned along the way: lessons for training in psychiatric epidemiology.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and its associated mortality, morbidity, and deep social and economic impacts, was a global traumatic stressor that challenged population mental health and our de facto mental health care system in unprecedented ways. Yet, in many respects, this crisis is not new. Psychiatric epidemiologists have recognized for decades the need and unmet need of people in distress and the limits of the public mental health services in the United States. We argue that psychiatric epidemiologists have a critical role to play as we endeavor to address population mental health and draw attention to 3 areas of consideration: elevating population-based solutions; engaging equitably with lived experience; and interrogating recovery. Psychiatric epidemiology has a long history of both responding to and shaping our understanding of the relationships among psychiatric disorders and society through evolving methods and training, and the current sociohistorical moment again suggests that shifts in our practice can strengthen our field and its impact. This article is part of a Special Collection on Mental Health.

Association of MC4R rs17782313 Genotype With Energy Intake and Appetite: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

The melanocortin-4 receptor gene (MC4R) is associated with a higher risk of obesity by the presence of the C allele in rs17782313, but the mechanisms are not clear. The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to explore the association between the different genotypes of MC4R rs17782313 and energy intake and appetite. A literature search was conducted up to June 2023 in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Collaboration databases, following PRISMA guidelines. Inclusion criteria were studies in humans measuring energy intake, appetite, or satiety in all ages and physiological conditions. Studies dealing solely with body mass index were excluded. Twenty-one articles representing 48 560 participants were included in the meta-analysis. According to the NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) quality-assessment criteria, all case-control studies and 6 out of 17 cohort and cross-sectional studies were classified as "good," while the rest scored as "fair." Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated in a (CT+CC) vs TT dominant model, and both random-effects and fixed-effects models were used. A statistically significant association between the presence of the C allele and increased appetite was found (OR = 1.25; 95% CI: 1.01-1.49; P = .038) using the fixed-effects model, but the random-effects model proved nonsignificant. However, no association with energy intake was found. None of the variables considered (sample size, year of publication, sex, age group, type of population, origin, and quality) were identified as effect modifiers, and no publication biases were found after subgroup and meta-regression analyses. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review and meta-analysis that has analyzed the association between rs17782313 of MC4R and energy intake and appetite. Identifying people genetically predisposed to increased appetite may be of great interest, not only to prevent obesity in younger populations but also to avoid malnutrition in elderly persons. This paper is part of the Nutrition Reviews Special Collection on Precision Nutrition. PROSPERO registration no. CRD42023417916.

Causal analysis of air pollution mixtures: estimands, positivity, and extrapolation.

Causal inference for air pollution mixtures is an increasingly important issue with appreciable challenges. When the exposure is a multivariate mixture, there are many exposure contrasts that may be of nominal interest for causal effect estimation, but the complex joint mixture distribution often renders observed data extremely limited in their ability to inform estimates of many commonly defined causal effects. We use potential outcomes to (1) define causal effects of air pollution mixtures, (2) formalize the key assumption of mixture positivity required for estimation, and (3) offer diagnostic metrics for positivity violations in the mixture setting that allow researchers to assess the extent to which data can actually support estimation of mixture effects of interest. For settings where there is limited empirical support, we redefine causal estimands that apportion causal effects according to whether they can be directly informed by observed data versus rely entirely on model extrapolation, isolating key sources of information on the causal effect of an air pollution mixture. The ideas are deployed to assess the ability of a national US data set on the chemical components of ambient particulate matter air pollution to support estimation of a variety of causal mixture effects. This article is part of a Special Collection on Environmental Epidemiology.

Making Landscapes Negotiable: Q-methodology as a Boundary-Spanning and Empowering Diagnostic

Landscapes are conceptually fuzzy and rich, and subject to plural framings. They are places of inquiry and intervention for scientists and practitioners, but also concepts bound to peoples’ dynamic identities, knowledge systems, inspiration, and well-being. These varying interpretations change the way landscapes function and evolve. Developed in the 1930s, Q-methodology is increasingly recognized for being useful in documenting and interrogating environmental discourses. Yet its application in the context of how integrated landscape approaches better navigate land-use dilemmas is still in its infancy. Based on our experience and emerging literature, such as the papers in this special collection, this article discusses the value of Q-methodology in addressing landscape sustainability issues. Q-methodology helps unravel and communicate common and contradicting landscape imaginaries and narratives in translational and boundary-spanning ways, thus bridging actors’ different understandings of problems and solutions and revealing common or differentiated entry points for negotiating trade-offs between competing land uses. The methodology can be empowering for marginalized people by uncovering their views and aspirational values to decision-makers and policymakers. We argue that this potential can be further strengthened by using Q to identify counter-hegemonic discourses and alliances that combat injustices regarding whose knowledge and visions count. In this way, applying Q-methodology in integrated landscape approaches can become a key tool for transitioning toward just, inclusive, and sustainable landscapes.

Daily heat and mortality among people experiencing homelessness in 2 urban US counties, 2015-2022.

High and low daily ambient temperatures are associated with higher mortality in the general population. People experiencing homelessness (PEH) are thought to be particularly vulnerable, but there is almost no direct evidence available. We examined the temperature-mortality association among PEH in 2 populous, urban counties in hot-climate regions of the United States, focusing on heat effects. Study setting was Los Angeles County, CA, and Clark County, NV, which encompass the cities of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, respectively. Outcomes were 2015-2022 deaths among decedents categorized as homeless in county administrative records. We used quasi-Poisson distributed lag nonlinear models to estimate the association of mortality with daily temperatures and with 7-day lagged temperatures, adjusting for day of week, seasonality, and long-term trends. We estimated the minimum mortality temperature and fraction of mortality attributable to temperatures above and below minimum mortality temperature. The association between daily temperature and PEH mortality was skewed towards greater risk at higher temperatures, especially in Clark County. Temperature-attributable mortality equaled 50.1% of deaths in Clark County (95% CI, 29.0-62.8) and 7.0% in Los Angeles County (95% CI, 1.4-12.1). In both counties, most temperature-attributable deaths were attributable to heat rather than cold. In these hot-climate urban counties, our estimates of heat-attributable mortality among PEH were orders of magnitude greater than those reported in prior research on the general population. These results indicate that temperature vulnerability, particularly heat vulnerability, requires stronger public health and policy responses. This article is part of a Special Collection on Environmental Epidemiology.

Improving prevalence estimates of mental health and well-being indicators among sexual minority men: a propensity-weighting approach

Abstract The prevalence and relative disparities of mental health outcomes and well-being indicators are often inconsistent across studies of sexual minority men (SMM) due to selection biases in community-based surveys (nonprobability sample), as well as misclassification biases in population-based surveys where some SMM often conceal their sexual orientation identities. The present study estimated the prevalence of mental health related outcomes (depressive symptoms, mental health service use, anxiety) and well-being indicators (loneliness and self-rated mental health) among SMM, broken down by sexual orientation using the adjusted logistic propensity score (ALP) weighting. We applied the ALP to correct for selection biases in the 2019 Sex Now data (a community-based survey of SMMs in Canada) by reweighting it to the 2015-2018 Canadian Community Health Survey (a population survey from Statistics Canada). For all SMMs, the ALP-weighted prevalence of depressive symptoms was 15.96% (95% CI, 11.36%-23.83%), while for mental health service use, it was 32.13% (95% CI, 26.09%-41.20%). The ALP estimates lie in between the crude estimates from the two surveys. This method was successful in providing a more accurate estimate than relying on results from one survey alone. We recommend to the use of ALP on other minority populations under certain assumptions. This article is part of a Special Collection on Mental Health.

Associations between flood risk and US Census tract-level health outcomes.

Human-induced climate change has led to more frequent and severe flooding around the globe. We examined the association between flood risk and the prevalence of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, and poor mental health in the United States, while taking into account different levels of social vulnerability. We aggregated flood risk variables from First Street Foundation data by census tract and used principal component analysis to derive a set of 5 interpretable flood risk factors. The dependent variables were census-tract level disease prevalences generated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bayesian spatial conditional autoregressive models were fit on these data to quantify the relationship between flood risk and health outcomes under different stratifications of social vulnerability. We show that 3 flood risk principal components had small but significant associations with each of the health outcomes across the different stratifications of social vulnerability. Our analysis gives, to our knowledge, the first United States-wide estimates of the associated effects of flood risk on specific health outcomes. We also show that social vulnerability is an important moderator of the relationship between flood risk and health outcomes. Our approach can be extended to other ecological studies that examine the health impacts of climate hazards. This article is part of a Special Collection on Environmental Epidemiology.

Repositories transforming scholarly communication: an Insights special collection

Repositories transforming scholarly communication: an Insights special collection

Suicide deaths involving opioid poisoning in the United States, by sex, 1999-2021.

Suicide remains a leading cause of death in the United States, and recent data suggest suicide deaths involving opioids are increasing. Given unprecedented increases in drug-poisoning deaths, suicidality, and suicide deaths in recent years, an updated examination of the trends in suicide deaths involving opioids is warranted. In this descriptive epidemiologic analysis, we leverage final and provisional mortality data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's WONDER database to examine trends in suicide deaths involving opioid poisoning from 1999 to 2021 by biological sex. Results reveal complex changes over time: the number and age-adjusted rate of suicide deaths involving opioid poisoning among male and female residents tended to track together, and both increased through 2010, but then diverged, with the number and rate of suicide deaths involving opioid poisoning among female residents outpacing that of male residents. However, the number and rate of suicide deaths involving opioid poisoning among male residents then began to stabilize, while that of female residents declined, closing the sex-based gap. Across all years of data, the proportion of suicide deaths that involved opioid poisoning was consistently higher among female decedents (5.8%-11.0%) compared with male decedents (1.4%-2.8%). Findings have implications for improved suicide prevention and harm reduction efforts. This article is part of a Special Collection on Mental Health.

Basketball Returns Home: The Diffusion and Translocation of Basketball to Scotland

The early history of basketball and its diffusion to Scotland is yet to be fully acknowledged and recorded. Two themes are addressed in this article: the spread of basketball worldwide and the process of its translocation to a new country; and whether it was voluntarily accepted or culturally imposed or both upon its new host. Some of the preliminary contributions to knowledge about the global diffusion of basketball during its infancy are added to and reimagined, with a specific focus regarding the arrival and infancy of basketball in Scotland. Based on a body of empirical evidence from the British Newspaper Archive alongside the Archive and Special Collection at Springfield College in conjunction with secondary sources which document the inception of basketball in Britain and Scotland, four potential entry points and groups who were responsible for translocating basketball to Scotland are examined. The four: Hampstead College graduates; Scottish-based Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) workers; Scottish sojourners; and Mormon Missionaries. In the process, other possibilities including Springfield graduates and James Naismith are disregarded. To start, the origins of basketball in the United States and its Scottish connections are outlined, before denoting the inception of basketball in the United Kingdom and Scotland.

Empirical Approaches to Portuguese Linguistics - New insights from studies in various areas of grammar

Over the last two decades, empirical methods have become increasingly prominent in linguistics. Even traditionally more introspective theoretical frameworks have begun to embrace empirical methods to test their hypotheses. This special collection unites works applying state of the art empirical methods to the study of Portuguese and its varieties, to highlight the applicability of these methods to Portuguese linguistics. In doing so, this collection aims to show the potential and the possible limitations of these methods. This special collection brings together contributions on different varieties of Portuguese from the subfields of phonology, morpho-syntax, syntax and semantics, using a variety of empirical methods: The methods range from classic corpus linguistics and sociolinguistic field methods to psycholinguistic experiments. The aim of this collection is to illustrate how these methods can be applied to the study of Portuguese in all linguistic subfields. By explicitly addressing how empirical methods contribute to furthering our understanding of Portuguese linguistics, we want to increase awareness for empirical methods and their applicability to the study of Portuguese, and ultimately encourage researchers to make greater use of them.

Nutrigenetic and Epigenetic Mechanisms of Maternal Nutrition-Induced Glucolipid Metabolism Changes in the Offspring.

Maternal nutrition during pregnancy regulates the offspring's metabolic homeostasis, including insulin sensitivity and the metabolism of glucose and lipids. The fetus undergoes a crucial period of plasticity in the uterus; metabolic changes in the fetus during pregnancy caused by maternal nutrition not only influence fetal growth and development but also have a long-term or even life-long impact for the offspring. Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs, play important roles in intergenerational and transgenerational effects. In this context, this narrative review comprehensively summarizes and analyzes the molecular mechanisms underlying how maternal nutrition, including a high-fat diet, polyunsaturated fatty acid diet, methyl donor nutrient supplementation, feed restriction, and protein restriction during pregnancy, impacts the genes involved in glucolipid metabolism in the liver, adipose tissue, hypothalamus, muscle, and oocytes of the offspring in terms of the epigenetic modifications. This will provide a foundation for the further exploration of nutrigenetic and epigenetic mechanisms for integrative mother-child nutrition and promotion of the offspring's health through the regulation of maternal nutrition during pregnancy. Note: This paper is part of the Nutrition Reviews Special Collection on Precision Nutrition.

Assessing mental health treatment receipt among Asian adults with limited English proficiency using an intersectional approach.

US Asian adults and people with limited English proficiency (LEP) confront mental health treatment receipt disparities. At the intersection of racial and language injustice, Asian adults with LEP may face even greater disparity, but studies have not assessed this through explicitly intersectional approaches. Using 2019 and 2020 National Survey of Drug Use and Health data, we computed disparities in mental health treatment among those with mental illness comparing: non-Hispanic (NH) Asian adults with LEP to NH White adults without LEP (joint disparity), NH Asian adults without LEP to NH White adults without LEP (referent race disparity), NH Asian adults with LEP to those without LEP (referent LEP disparity), and the joint disparity versus the sum of referent disparities (excess intersectional disparity). In age- and gender-adjusted analyses, excess intersectional disparity was 26.8% (95% CI, -29.8 to 83.4) of the joint disparity in 2019 and 63.0% (95% CI, 29.1-96.8) in 2020. The 2019 joint disparity was 1.37 (95% CI, 0.31-2.42) times that if the race-related disparity did not vary by LEP, and if LEP-related disparity did not vary by race; this figure was 2.70 (95% CI, 0.23-5.17) in 2020. These findings highlight the necessity of considering the intersection of race and LEP in addressing mental health treatment disparities. This article is part of a Special Collection on Mental Health.

Endometrial cancer survival in populations of African descent.

To examine whether the endometrial cancer (EC) survival disadvantage among Black populations is US-specific, a comparison between African-descent populations from different countries with a high development index is warranted. We analyzed 28 213 EC cases from cancer registries in Florida (2005-2018) and the French Caribbean islands of Martinique (2005-2018) and Guadeloupe (2008-2018) combined. Kaplan-Meier and all-cause Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare survival. Models were stratified by EC histology type and the main predictor examined was race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White [NHW] and no-Hispanic Black [NHB] women in the United States versus Black women residing in the Caribbean). For endometrioid and nonendometrioid EC, after adjusting for age, histology, stage at diagnosis, receipt of surgery, period of diagnosis, and poverty level, US NHB women and Caribbean Black women had a higher risk of death relative to US NHW women. There was no difference between US NHB and Caribbean Black women (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.07; 95% CI, 0.88-1.30) with endometrioid EC. However, Caribbean Black women with nonendometrioid carcinomas had a 40% higher risk of death (HR = 1.40; 95% CI, 1.13-1.74) than US NHB women. The low EC survival among US Black women extends to foreign populations of African descent. For the aggressive nonendometrioid ECs, survival among Caribbean Black women outside of the United States is considerably worse. This article is part of a Special Collection on Gynecological Cancers.

On the Rediscovery of Four Rare Species of Ferns from India

Ctenitis manipurensis (Bedd.) Ching, Lindsaea javanensis Bl., L. lucida Bl. and L. orbiculata var. commixta (Tagawa) Kram. have been rediscovered after a lapse of about one hundred years during special collection tours to Manipur in February 1978, 1984 and to Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya in May 1982.

Predicted 25-hydroxyvitamin D over the adult lifetime and the risk of ovarian cancer.

The evidence from previous studies of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and ovarian cancer risk is not conclusive. However, the 25(OH)D levels were generally only measured in late adulthood, which may not capture the etiologically relevant exposure periods. We investigated predicted 25(OH)D over the adult lifetime in relation to ovarian cancer risk in a population-based case-control study conducted from 2011 to 2016 in Montreal, Canada (n = 490 cases and 896 controls). Predicted 25(OH)D was computed using previously validated regression models. Unconditional multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% CIs for average predicted 25(OH)D over the adult lifetime and ovarian cancer risk. In addition, the relative importance of different periods of past 25(OH)D exposure was explored using a weighted cumulative exposure (WCE) model. For each 20-nmol/L increase in average predicted 25(OH)D over the adult lifetime, the aOR (95% CI) was 0.73 (0.55-0.96). In WCE analyses, the inverse association was strongest for exposures 5 to 20years and 35 to 55years prior to diagnosis, with aORs (95% CIs) of 0.82 (0.69-0.94) and 0.79 (0.66-1.02), respectively, for each 20-nmol/L increase in predicted 25(OH)D. These results support an inverse association between 25(OH)D levels in adulthood and ovarian cancer risk. This article is part of a Special Collection on Gynecological Cancers.