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The ability to secure food for offspring and withstand the cost of reproduction favors high-quality mothers that overproduce the larger sex, typically sons, only if they will receive adequate food, as this should enhance these sons' fitness returns. However, high-quality daughters ensure that grandoffspring receive quality parental care and may possess greater reproductive value than their brothers, favoring daughters also from high-quality mothers. Using a mixed cross-fostering approach, we investigated effects of early rearing conditions, covariance between breeders and their genetic parents in parental quality, and primary offspring sex ratios in Carolina wrens. In this socially and genetically monogamous bird, sons grew larger than daughters, paternal food provisioning impacted the condition and recruitment of sons but not daughters, and females overproduced sons when paired with males that provisioned at a high rate, reflecting females' anticipation of the quality of the rearing environment. Components of reproductive potential, including total fecundity, were inherited matrilineally, and all else being equal, females in better condition produced larger-than-average clutches biased toward daughters, who eventually produced larger-than-average clutches themselves. Sex ratios therefore varied with components of parental investment but in opposing directions for matrilineally inherited and environmental effects, suggesting that multiple countervailing selective forces shape sex ratio variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to assess the cardiorespiratory safety of parenteral olanzapine and benzodiazepine combination treatment compared to parenteral droperidol or haloperidol and benzodiazepine combination treatment. This was a retrospective chart review conducted in adult emergency department patients who received intramuscular (IM) or intravenous (IV) droperidol, haloperidol, or olanzapine within one hour of IM or IV benzodiazepine. Patients were stratified into groups based on whether they received either olanzapine in combination with a benzodiazepine (n = 48) or droperidol or haloperidol in combination with a benzodiazepine (n = 48). Patients in each group had a decrease in their systolic blood pressure (SBP) after IM/IV olanzapine and IM/IV droperidol or haloperidol when used in combination with an IM/IV benzodiazepine ((Olanzapine + benzodiazepine (mmHg), median (IQR): Pre-SBP: 132 (117–151) vs. Post-SBP: 117 (99–131), p < 0.01) (Droperidol or haloperidol + benzodiazepine (mmHg), median (IQR): Pre-SBP: 138 (122–149) vs. Post-SBP: 106 (98–127), p < 0.01)). Both groups had similar percent SBP decreases post-combination treatment (Olanzapine + benzodiazepine (15.6 %) vs. Droperidol or haloperidol + benzodiazepine (15.2 %); p = 0.55). We did not observe any statistically significant between group differences for hypotension (Olanzapine + benzodiazepine: 1/48, 2.1 % vs. Droperidol or haloperidol + benzodiazepine: 3/48, 6.3 %; p = 0.62)), escalation in oxygen requirements (Olanzapine + benzodiazepine: 7/48, 14.6 %) vs. Droperidol or haloperidol + benzodiazepine: 5/48, 10.4 %; p = 0.76)), or intubation due to cardiorespiratory depression (Olanzapine + benzodiazepine: 0/0, 0 % vs. Droperidol or haloperidol + benzodiazepine: 0/0, 0 %; p = 1.00)). This study found decreases in SBP after administering parenteral olanzapine and parenteral droperidol or haloperidol in combination with a parenteral benzodiazepine. The percent change in SBP and the frequency of hypotensive episodes post-combination treatment were not different between groups. There were also no differences between groups in need of increased oxygen requirements post-combination treatment or need for intubation due to cardiorespiratory depression. This study suggests parenteral olanzapine in combination with a parenteral benzodiazepine may have comparable cardiorespiratory safety versus parenteral droperidol or haloperidol in combination with a parenteral benzodiazepine when treating agitation in the adult ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The study objective was to determine whether the clinical response of older adults with knee osteoarthritis and overweight or obesity to 18 months of diet and exercise (D + E) or attention control (C) interventions differed between participants from rural versus urban communities. Methods: Participants were 823 older adults (mean age, 64.6 years; 77% women) with knee osteoarthritis and overweight or obesity who resided in rural (n = 410) and urban (n = 413) counties in North Carolina. All were enrolled in the Weight Loss and Exercise for Communities with Arthritis in North Carolina clinical trial that randomly assigned participants to either 18 months of D + E or C interventions. General linear models were used to examine differences in clinical outcomes between rural and urban groups after adjusting for covariates. Results: The rural group had significant differences (P < 0.05) at baseline in clinical outcomes, education, comorbidities, medication use, and income compared with the urban dwellers. After adjusting for baseline differences, the group (rural or urban) by treatment (D + E or C) interactions for Western Ontario McMasters Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pain (rural: D + E – C = −0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] −1.31 to 0.06; urban: D + E − C= −0.29, 95% CI −0.99 to 0.41; P = 0.50) and WOMAC function (rural: D + E − C = −4.60, 95% CI −6.89 to −2.31; urban: D + E − C = −1.38, 95% CI −3.73 to 0.94; P = 0.054) indicated that the groups responded similarly to the interventions. Conclusion: Among participants with knee osteoarthritis and overweight or obesity, D + E compared to C led to similar pain outcomes in rural and urban dwellers that favored D + E. The possibility that there may be greater differential efficacy in functional outcomes among rural participants needs further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-factor models of narcissism (Agentic, Neurotic, and Antagonistic Narcissism) have gained widespread recognition in the field. The Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI) stands out as the most comprehensive and only tool to date that assesses all three narcissism domains. However, its validation in Chinese culture and forensic contexts remains largely unexplored. With community (N = 578) and offender (N = 726) samples from China, we examined 60-, 30-, and 15-item versions of the Chinese FFNI in terms of internal structure, external associates, and consistency across samples and versions. Our findings demonstrate acceptable internal consistencies and structural validity of each version of the Chinese FFNI, albeit with minor deviations in the Neurotic Narcissism factor. The FFNI demonstrated good cross-sample and cross-version consistency. These results suggest the utility of the FFNI in Chinese samples and suggest some comparability across community and offender groups. Public Significance Statement: This article translated and validated the Chinese Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory in community and offender samples. This study provides a comprehensive and valid inventory to assess the three-factor model of narcissism in Chinese culture and will promote the understanding of narcissism in Chinese culture and forensic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Sri Lanka, there is some evidence that the likelihood of breastfeeding initiation varies by exposure to Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative [BFHI]-compliant care and mode of birth. Globally, there is some evidence that exposure to mother-baby skin-to-skin contact (BFHI Step 4) is lower in caesarean section births. Therefore, we aimed to determine how breastfeeding initiation varies by mode of birth in Sri Lanka, and the extent to which women's exposure to BFHI practices explains any associations found. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with women with a live baby across four government hospitals in Sri Lanka. Quantitative data were collected through participant interviews and extraction from medical records. Associations between BFHI practices, breastfeeding initiation, mode of birth, and women's characteristics were assessed using binary logistic regression analysis applied in mediation and moderated mediation models. Results: Women who received care compliant with Steps 4 and 6 of BFHI, regardless of their mode of birth, were more likely to initiate breastfeeding within the first hour after birth. BFHI Step 4 partially and completely mediated the effect of planned caesarean section and emergency caesarean section, respectively, on breastfeeding initiation within one hour of birth. Further, exposure to BFHI Step 6 partially mediated the effect of emergency caesarean section on breastfeeding initiation within one hour of birth. Women's age, pre-pregnancy BMI, parity status, and ethnic group significantly influenced the relationship between planned or emergency caesarean section, exposure to Step 4 or Step 6 of BFHI, and breastfeeding initiation within one hour of birth. Specifically, being primiparous strengthened the likelihood that having a planned caesarean section decreased women's exposure to BFHI Step 4; and having a pre-pregnancy BMI of 23–27.49 kg/m2 weakened the likelihood that planned caesarean section decreased exposure to BFHI Step 4. Conclusions: Improving compliance with mother-baby skin-to-skin contact (BFHI Step 4) and no supplementation (BFHI Step 6) is critical for Sri Lankan health services to support all women to establish breastfeeding initiation within one hour of birth, as these practices attenuate the negative effect of caesarean section on breastfeeding initiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photonic design is a process of mathematical optimization of a desired objective (beam formation, mode conversion, etc.) subject to the constraint of Maxwell's equations. Finding the optimal design is challenging: Generically, these problems are highly nonconvex and finding global optima is NP hard. Here, we show that the associated optimization problem can be transformed to a sparse-matrix, quadratically constrained quadratic program (QCQP). Sparse QCQPs can be tackled with convex optimization techniques (such as semidefinite programming) that have thrived for identifying global bounds and high-performance designs in many areas of science and engineering but seemed inapplicable to the design problems of wave physics. We apply our formulation to prototypical photonic design problems, showing the possibility to compute fundamental limits for large-area metasurfaces, as well as the identification of designs approaching global optimality. Our approach appears directly extensible to any design problem whose governing dynamics are bilinear differential equations, as arise in structural optimization, fluid dynamics, and quantum control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]