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A more in-depth analysis of key scientific and non-scientific aspects of genetic ancestry inference in academia and industry is summarized based on the data from the 2008 ASHG Ancestry Testing. It concludes with recommendations for advancing the current debate and facilitating the development of scientifically based, ethically sound, and socially attentive guidelines concerning the use of these continually evolving technologies.

The ocean sustains ecosystems that are essential for human livelihood and habitability of the planet. The ocean holds an enormous amount of carbon, and serves as a critical source of nutrition for human societies worldwide. Climate variability and change impact marine biogeochemistry and ecosystems. Thus, having state-of-the-art simulations of the ocean, which include marine biogeochemistry and ecosystems, is critical for understanding the role of climate variability and change on the ocean biosphere. Here we present a novel global eddy-resolving (0.1° horizontal resolution) simulation of the ocean and sea ice, including ocean biogeochemistry, performed with the Community Earth System Model (CESM). The simulation is forced by the atmospheric dataset based on the Japanese Reanalysis (JRA-55) product over the 1958–2021 period. We present a novel configuration of the CESM marine ecosystem model in this simulation which includes two zooplankton classes: microzooplankton and mesozooplankton. This novel planktonic food web structure facilitates "offline" coupling with the Fisheries Size and Functional Type (FEISTY) model. FEISTY is a size- and trait-based model of fish functional types contributing to fisheries. We present an evaluation of the ocean biogeochemistry, marine ecosystem (including fish types), and sea ice in this high resolution simulation compared to available observations and a corresponding low resolution (nominal 1°) simulation. Our analysis offers insights into environmental controls on trophodynamics within the ocean. We find that this high resolution simulation provides a realistic reconstruction of nutrients, oxygen, sea ice, plankton and fish distributions over the global ocean. On global and large regional scales the high resolution simulation is comparable to the standard 1° simulation, but on smaller scales, explicitly resolving the mesoscale dynamics is shown to be important for accurately capturing trophodynamic structuring, especially in coastal ecosystems. We show that fine-scale ocean features leave imprints on ocean ecosystems, from plankton to fish, from the tropics to polar regions. This simulation also offers insights on ocean acidification over the past 64 years, as well as how large-scale climate variations may impact upper trophic levels. The data generated by the simulations are publicly available and will be a fruitful community resource for a large variety of oceanographic science questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Social network research offers a means of understanding the complex health care system. • The use of social network research in health care is increasing. • This paper outlines recommendations for network data collection in health services research. • Key ethical challenges of social network research in health care are around confidentiality of respondents. Social network research can help us understand intractable problems central to the challenges of today's health care system: silo-working, bottlenecks, gaps, poor communication, professional isolation, and other social processes with the propensity to compromise patient safety and quality care. In this paper, we discuss practical and ethical challenges to designing and collecting quality network data faced by health services researchers. The paper develops high-utility recommendations to address these challenges. Design decisions are discussed in light of the dynamism and complexity of health care and the need for more longitudinal, mixed-methods network studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • All 288 Schistosoma mansoni putative microsatellites were identified. • 27 of 52 published, simple, tri/tetramer microsatellites had ideal characteristics. • No physical characteristic predicted performance in a given parasite population. • 15–20 markers produced small standard deviations for population indices. • Diversity and differentiation were greater for a Kenyan sample than for a Brazilian sample. All Schistosoma mansoni tri- and tetranucleotide repeat microsatellites published as of December 2018 were identified. All 52 were evaluated for autosomal location, strength of amplification, scorability and behavior as single-copy loci by polyacrylamide and capillary gel electrophoresis. Of these, 27 were unique, autosomal, polymorphic, easily scored and single copy as assessed on pooled adult worm DNA from two different continental origins and adult worm clones. These microsatellites were distributed across all seven autosomal chromosomes. On laboratory strains their heterozygosity ranged from 0.22 to 0.77. Individual markers had 5–13 alleles, allelic richness of 2–10 and an effective allele number of 1.3–8.14. Those infected by Schistosoma mansoni carry many genetically distinct, sexually reproducing parasites, therefore, for an individual infection the complete allele frequency profile of their progeny consists of a pool of DNA from multiple diploid eggs. Using a set of 25 microsatellites, we calculated allele frequency profiles of eggs in fecal samples from people in two Brazilian communities separated by 6 km: Jenipapo (n = 80) and Volta do Rio (n = 38). There were no a priori characteristics that could predict the performance of markers in natural infections based on their performance with laboratory strains. Increasing marker number did not change accuracy for differentiation and diversity but did improve precision. Our data suggest that using a random set of 10–20 microsatellites appears to result in values that exhibit low standard deviations for diversity and differentiation indices. All identified microsatellites as well as PCR conditions, allele size, primer sequences and references for all tri- and tetramer microsatellites markers presented in this work are available at: https://sites.google.com/case.edu/cwru-and-fiocruz-wdrc/home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban trees often host greater insect pest abundance than trees in rural forests. This may be due, in part, to differences in tree diversity and canopy cover between these settings. Urban trees are often planted in isolation or monoculture, which favors pest accumulation. Gloomy scale, Melanaspis tenebricosa Comstock, is a pest of urban red maples (Acer rubrum L.) that is abundant where impervious surfaces dominate the local landscape. Increasing tree diversity and canopy cover around urban red maples may reduce gloomy scale abundance by supporting natural enemy communities. We investigated the effect that surrounding tree species richness and tree canopy cover had on gloomy scale abundance, natural enemy abundance, and biological control in red maple trees in Raleigh, NC, USA. We collected scales and natural enemies from red maples that spanned a gradient of tree species richness, canopy cover, and impervious surface values. We also measured gloomy scale parasitism and predation of sentinel prey in red maple canopies. Greater tree species richness and canopy cover were associated with lower gloomy scale density. Red maples in diverse settings also hosted fewer scales per natural enemy. Parasitoids were less common in maples in diverse settings, but generalist predator abundance was unaffected by tree diversity. Finally, tree species richness and canopy cover did not increase biological control of scales or sentinel prey. Our findings suggest that higher tree diversity and greater canopy cover may reduce gloomy scale density, but this is not entirely explained by the effects of natural enemies and biological control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insect guts harbor diverse microbial assemblages that can be influenced by multiple factors, including gut physiology and interactions by the host with its environment. The Asian longhorned beetle ( A. glabripennis ; Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) is an invasive tree–killing insect that harbors a diverse consortium of fungal and bacterial gut associates that provision nutrients and facilitate lignocellulose digestion. The physicochemical conditions of the A. glabripennis gut and how these conditions may influence the microbial composition across gut regions are unknown. In this study, we used microsensors to measure in situ oxygen concentrations, pH, and redox potential along the length of the A. glabripennis larval gut from two North American populations. We then analyzed and compared bacterial and fungal gut communities of A. glabripennis within individual hosts along the length of the gut using 16S and ITS1 amplicon sequencing. The A. glabripennis midgut lumen was relatively anoxic (<0.01 kPa) with a pH gradient from 5.5 to 9, moving anterior to posterior. Redox potential was higher in the anterior midgut relative to posterior regions. No differences in physicochemistry were measured between the two populations of the beetle, but the two populations harbored different communities of bacteria and fungi. However, microbial composition of the A. glabripennis gut microbiota did not differ among gut regions despite physicochemical differences. Unlike other insect systems that have distinct gut compartmentalization and corresponding microbial assemblages, the A. glabripennis gut lacks dramatic morphological modifications, which may explain why discrete microbial community structures were not found along the digestive system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Achieving adequate response rates from family members of critically ill patients can be challenging, especially when assessing psychological symptoms.Objectives: To identify factors associated with completion of surveys about psychological symptoms among family members of critically ill patients.Methods: Using data from a randomized trial of an intervention to improve communication between clinicians and families of critically ill patients, we examined patient-level and family-level predictors of the return of usable surveys at baseline, three months, and six months (n = 181, 171, and 155, respectively). Family-level predictors included baseline symptoms of psychological distress, decisional independence preference, and attachment style. We hypothesized that family with fewer symptoms of psychological distress, a preference for less decisional independence, and secure attachment style would be more likely to return questionnaires.Results: We identified several predictors of the return of usable questionnaires. Better self-assessed family member health status was associated with a higher likelihood and stronger agreement with a support-seeking attachment style with a lower likelihood, of obtaining usable baseline surveys. At three months, family-level predictors of return of usable surveys included having usable baseline surveys, status as the patient's legal next of kin, and stronger agreement with a secure attachment style. The only predictor of receipt of surveys at six months was the presence of usable surveys at three months.Conclusion: We identified several predictors of the receipt of surveys assessing psychological symptoms in family of critically ill patients, including family member health status and attachment style. Using these characteristics to inform follow-up mailings and reminders may enhance response rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolutionary advantages to the suppression of pain during a stressful event (stress-induced analgesia (SIA)) are obvious, yet the reasoning behind sex-differences in the expression of this pain reduction are not. The different ways in which males and females integrate physiological stress responses and descending pain inhibition are unclear. A potential supraspinal modulator of stress-induced analgesia is the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). This limbic brain region is involved in both the processing of stress and pain; the CeA is anatomically and molecularly linked to regions of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis and descending pain network. The CeA exhibits sex-based differences in response to stress and pain that may differentially induce SIA in males and females. Here, sex-based differences in behavioral and molecular indices of SIA were examined following noxious stimulation. Acute restraint stress in male and female mice was performed prior to intraplantar injections of formalin, a noxious inflammatory agent. Spontaneous pain-like behaviors were measured for 60 min following formalin injection and mechanical hypersensitivity was evaluated 120 and 180 min post-injection. Restraint stress altered formalin-induced spontaneous behaviors in male and female mice and formalin-induced mechanical hypersensitivity in male mice. To assess molecular indices of SIA, tissue samples from the CeA and blood samples were collected at the 180 min time point. Restraint stress prevented formalin-induced increases in extracellular signal regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) phosphorylation in the male CeA, but no changes associated with pERK2 were seen with formalin or restraint in females. Sex differences were also seen in plasma corticosterone concentrations 180 min post injection. These results demonstrate sex-based differences in behavioral, molecular, and hormonal indices of acute stress in mice that extend for 180 min after stress and noxious stimulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Racial and ethnic differences in end-of-life care may be attributable to both patient preferences and health-care disparities. Identifying factors that differentiate preferences from disparities may enhance end-of-life care for critically ill patients and their families.Objectives: To understand the association of minority race/ethnicity and education with family ratings of the quality of dying and death, taking into consideration possible markers of patient and family preferences for end-of-life care as mediators of this association.Methods: Data were obtained from 15 intensive care units participating in a cluster-randomized trial of a palliative care intervention. Family members of decedents completed self-report surveys evaluating quality of dying. We used regression analyses to identify associations between race/ethnicity, education, and quality of dying ratings. We then used path analyses to investigate whether advance directives and life-sustaining treatment acted as mediators between patient characteristics and ratings of quality of dying.Results: Family members returned 1290 surveys for 2850 decedents. Patient and family minority race/ethnicity were both associated with lower ratings of quality of dying. Presence of a living will and dying in the setting of full support mediated the relationship between patient race and family ratings; patient race exerted an indirect, rather than direct, effect on quality of dying. Family minority race had a direct effect on lower ratings of quality of dying. Neither patient nor family education was associated with quality of dying.Conclusion: Minority race/ethnicity was associated with lower family ratings of quality of dying. This association was mediated by factors that may be markers of patient and family preferences (living will, death in the setting of full support); family member minority race/ethnicity was directly associated with lower ratings of quality of dying. Our findings generate hypothesized pathways that require future evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an analysis connecting labor market earnings to college major choices, we find statistically significant relationships between changes in wages by occupation and subsequent changes in college majors completed in related fields of college study between 1982 and 2012. College majors (defined at a detailed level) are most strongly related to wages observed three years earlier, when students were college freshmen. The responses to wages vary depending on the extent to which there is a strong mapping of majors into particular occupations. We also find that women, blacks, Hispanics, and students with low test scores are less likely to respond to wage changes. These findings have implications for policy interventions designed to align students’ major choices with labor market demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We assessed predation on EAB larvae by bark-foraging bird species. [•] Birds foraged selectively on EAB-infested ash trees relative to non-ash trees. [•] Bark-foraging predation rates averaged ∼37% and were as high as 85%. [•] Foraging birds may use canopy decline as a cue for predation intensity. [•] By using a Bayesian strategy bark-foragers may impact EAB densities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We report the first simultaneous measurements of surface water pCO2, biological oxygen saturation (ΔO2/Ar) and dimethylsulfide (DMS) concentrations in polynya waters and the sea ice zone of the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. Across our survey region, we observed large spatial variability in surface water gas concentrations, tied to strong gradients in hydrography and phytoplankton biomass. Variability in sea surface temperature and salinity was attributed to the interacting effects of surface ocean circulation and heat fluxes, sea ice melt and the upwelling of relatively warm, saline and nutrient-rich modified circumpolar deep water. Phytoplankton biomass ranged from <1μgL−1 to ∼40μgL−1 chlorophyll a (Chl a), with the highest values observed in regions of shallow mixed layer depths. Phytoplankton assemblages were dominated by the colonial haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica at most sampling stations, with lesser abundances of diatoms found throughout the polynya and sea ice zone. Cryptophytes were abundant at a few stations along the continental shelf break. Across the open polynya waters and sea ice zone, ΔO2/Ar ranged from ∼−40% to 40% (mean 8.6%), pCO2 ranged from 80 to 530μatm (mean 250μatm) and DMS concentrations varied from <1nM to ∼350nM. Strong gradients in gas concentrations were observed over short (i.e. <10km) spatial scales. The distribution of pCO2 and ΔO2/Ar across our survey transects reflected the balance between deep water entrainment and net community production, with a significant imprint of air–sea exchange. Chl a concentrations were significantly correlated to both pCO2 and ΔO2/Ar, and the slope of the ΔO2/Ar vs. pCO2 relationship was consistent with photosynthetic stoichiometry (∼1.25molO2 evolved per mol DIC removed). DMS and Chl a concentrations were also correlated in surface waters, but the spatial distribution of DMS was often uncoupled from pCO2 and ΔO2/Ar, likely due to complex microbial cycling processes. Sea surface temperature and salinity were related to surface gas concentrations through their effects on mixed layer depth and as tracers of upwelling. During the time of our cruise, the Amundsen Sea acted as an overall net sink for CO2 (mean sea–air flux=−15.9mmolm−2 d−1) and a DMS source (mean sea–air flux=23.1μmolm−2 d−1). Sea–air CO2 and DMS fluxes were more than 2-fold higher in open polynya waters relative to the overall cruise means. Simple calculations suggest that the Amundsen Sea contributes ∼5% of total Southern Ocean CO2 fluxes, and ∼1% of DMS fluxes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper estimates changes in the effects of educational attainment and college quality on three cohorts of students observed during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Consistent with most of the prior literature, I find that educational attainment and college quality raise earnings, and the magnitudes of these effects have increased over time. The new contributions of this paper are the following: (1) changes in these effects are disaggregated by sex, race, and parent''s SES, and include estimates of effects on earnings, labor force participation, family formation, and civic participation; (2) evidence of larger increases in the effects of education on earnings and labor force participation for men, Blacks, and Hispanics; (3) declining effects of educational attainment on voter registration; and (4) increasing effects of college quality on delaying marriage and childbearing, particularly for males. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]