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Caenorhabditis elegans are free-living nematodes with a relatively short life cycle and a wealth of genomic information across multiple databases. Uridine diphosphate-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) are a family of enzymes involved in Phase II modification of xenobiotics in C. elegans , which is the addition of a sizeable water-soluble molecule to a xenobiotic to allow for its excretion out of a cell. Little is known about the variation in UGTs across wild isolates and how that might affect their innate immune response. We analyzed the diversity in ugt genes across C. elegans isolates from different geographical locations from the Caenorhabditis elegans Natural Diversity Resource (CaeNDR) database. This was accomplished using whole genome data and data identifying genome regions as hyper-divergent for each isotype. We implemented three steps to identify ugt genes and make inferences based on their variation. First, we created a catalog of UGTs in the N2 reference strain and used them to create a phylogenetic tree that depicts the relationships between the UGT protein sequences. We then quantified ugt variation using the strains from the CaeNDR database and used their data to remove hyper-divergent ugt genes. The third step was to catalog the occurrence of minor allele frequency (MAF) > 0.05 for all the ugts to compare how that aligned with genes classified as hyper-divergent by CaeNDR. Of the 67 ugt genes analyzed, 18 were hyper-divergent. This research will help improve our understanding of ugt variation in C. elegans ., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest present., (Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.)

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to examine the construct validity of an adapted modified Diet Quality Index ( a DQI) as a measure of the healthfulness of food-related toy sets for young children (3-8 years). A standardized online search was used to identify toy sets ( n  = 50) from 10 retailers. An a DQI score ( a DQI score, range 0-50) was determined for each toy set, mean (standard deviation) = 28.7 (6.1). Regression analyses demonstrated a positive association between a DQI score and percentage of dairy, refined grains, protein, vegetables, and fruit and inverse association with percentage of desserts, sugar-sweetened beverages, and total number of servings. Sets contained more protein and fewer fruits than recommended. The a DQI score demonstrates construct validity to objectively assess the healthfulness of food-related toy sets. There is opportunity for toy manufacturers to make changes to improve the healthfulness in toy sets for young children, and future research can explore the impact of food-related toy sets on nutrition behaviors.

Background: Screening facilitates the early identification of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and prevalence estimation of FASD for timely prevention, diagnostic, and management planning. However, little is known about FASD screening tools., Aims: The aims of this systematic review are to identify FASD screening tools and examine their performance characteristics., Methods: Four electronic databases were searched for eligible studies that examined individuals with FASD or prenatal alcohol exposure and reported the sensitivity and specificity of FASD screening tools. The quality of the studies was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Studies-2 tool., Results: Sixteen studies were identified, comprising five fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and seven FASD screening tools. They varied in screening approach and performance characteristics and were linked to four different diagnostic criteria. FAS screening tools performed well in the identification of individuals at risk of FAS while the performance of FASD screening tools varied in the identification of individuals at risk of FASD., Conclusion and Implications: Results highlight the vast differences in the screening approaches performance characteristics, and diagnostic criteria linked to FASD screening tools. More research is needed to identify biomarkers unique to FASD to guide the development of accurate FASD screening tools., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)