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BackgroundChildren with an intellectual disability (ID) are 3-4 times more likely to present with behaviors that challenge and mental health problems than typically developing children. Parenting and the quality of parent-child relationships are risk factors for these families. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated difficulties, leading to an increase in child mental health problems and behaviors that challenge, a deterioration in parental mental health, and further strain on family relationships. Remote family interventions could be an effective solution for both families and specialist mental health services. Video interaction guidance (VIG) has shown promise for improving child mental health. However, it is unclear whether it is widely acceptable to families and feasible to implement across specialist child mental health services. ObjectiveThis randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the feasibility of delivering VIG as a remote intervention for parents of children aged 6-12 years with ID who have been referred to specialist mental health services. MethodsThe study will be undertaken across 5-7 National Health Service specialist mental health services in England, involving 50 participants randomly allocated on a 1:1 basis to either the intervention group (receiving remote VIG) or the treatment-as-usual (TAU) group. The intervention group will engage in 3-5 cycles of VIG delivered remotely over 12 weeks. The primary feasibility outcomes include the recruitment rate, retention at 6-month follow-up, and VIG cycle completion rate. The secondary outcomes will assess the acceptability of VIG and the feasibility of remote implementation, including fidelity to the intervention protocol. Data will be gathered through online surveys and telephone interviews at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Feasibility outcomes will be summarized using descriptive statistics, while thematic analysis will be applied to qualitative data from semistructured interviews with participants, VIG practitioners, and service managers. An embedded process evaluation will explore barriers and facilitators to engagement with VIG, and a parallel health economics evaluation will assess the feasibility of capturing service use data and intervention costs. ResultsThe trial was open to recruitment between December 2022 and March 2024. The first results should be available in 2025. ConclusionsThe study is the first randomized evaluation of VIG as offered to parents of children with ID who have been referred to specialist mental health settings. The outcomes from this feasibility trial will inform the decision to proceed with a definitive trial, using a traffic light system to evaluate recruitment, retention, and VIG completion rates alongside qualitative insights and economic evaluations. Trial RegistrationISRCTN Registry ISRCTN13171328; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN13171328 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/54619

In maize, prolificacy, the number of ears per plant, is a trait of interest to maize breeders for breeding high grain-yielding cultivars or specialty corn, as well as being a model trait for decoding the molecular mechanism of maize evolution. Its genetic basis remains largely unknown. We identified a stable quantitative trait locus, qEN7, for ear number on chromosome 7 in both F2 and F2:3 populations derived from a single cross between the nonprolific inbred line Mo17 and the prolific inbred line LAN404 derived from the landrace PI217404. qEN7 explained 10.7%–11.9% of phenotypic variation, and the LAN404 allele at this locus was associated with an increase of around one ear per plant. qEN7 was confined by fine-mapping to a 0.56-Mb region containing eight annotated genes. Analysis of selection, gene expression patterns in various maize tissues, and sequence polymorphisms between the two parental lines suggested that Zm00001d020683, which encodes a putative INDETERMINATE DOMAIN (IDD) transcription factor, is the most likely candidate gene underlying qEN7. Zm00001d020683 is expressed mainly in the vegetative meristem, immature ears, and internodes and has undergone selection during maize improvement. The identification of qEN7 and the prediction of its candidate gene sheds some light on the evolution of maize ear number and provides a novel resource for breeding of multi-ear maize cultivars.

As an important part of the boundary conditions on both sides of the high-speed railway track–bridge system, the seismic response of the subgrade structure is different from that of the bridge structure. This difference has become increasingly significant with the widespread adoption of continuous welded rail technology in bridge construction. Therefore, investigating the seismic response of the bridge system, with a specific focus on the longitudinal constraint effects of the subsequent subgrade track structure, is of paramount importance. Utilizing finite element software, two distinct bridge models are developed: one incorporating the subsequent subgrade track structure and another excluding it. Through nonlinear time history analysis under varying seismic intensities, it is demonstrated that the longitudinal constraint of the subsequent subgrade track structure mitigates the longitudinal displacements and internal forces in critical components of the high-speed railway track–bridge system. Concurrently, acknowledging the heightened complexity and cost associated with post-earthquake repairs of the bridge structure compared to subgrade structure, this study uses a risk transfer connecting beam device. This device can redirect seismic damage from bridge structure to subgrade structure, thereby potentially reducing post-seismic repair expenses for the bridge.

With the deployment and commercialization of the fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication networks, the access nodes and data volume of wireless networks are showing massive and explosive growth. In this paper, we firstly review the research progress on the energy-efficient and spectrum-efficient wireless transmission, from the perspectives of both latency and energy consumption. We then provide several solutions to high-efficiency wireless transmission for the 5G wireless networks. Finally, we give some discussions about the future road for the design of energy-efficient and spectrum-efficient wireless transmission, which provides some theoretical reference for the system design of wireless networks and Internet of Things (IoT) networks.

With the deployment and commercialization of the fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication network, the access nodes and data volume of wireless network show a massive and blowout growth trend. Taking beyond 5G (B5G) edge intelligent network as the research object, based on the deep integration of storage / computing and communication, this paper focuses on the theory and key technology of system intelligent transmission, so as to effectively support the related applications of B5G edge intelligent network in the future. This paper analyzes the research status of data storage, studies the real field distributed storage computing system, and designs the corresponding flashback shift code and error correction scheme with low storage space overhead.

Selection of kernel number per ear has improved maize yield, but the genetic base is unclear. Here, the authors reveal that a serine/threonine protein kinase KNR6 is a positive regulator of the trait and show in vitro evidences that KNR6 may function through phosphorylating an Arf GTPase-activating protein.

Abstract Background Plant architecture is a critical factor that affects planting density and, consequently, grain yield in maize. The genes or loci that determine organ size are the key regulators of plant architecture. Thus, understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms of organ size will inform the use of a molecular manipulation approach to improve maize plant architecture and grain yield. Results A total of 18 unique quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified for 11 agronomic traits in the F2 and F2:3 segregating populations derived from a cross between a double haploid line with a small plant architecture (MT03-1) and an inbred line with a large plant architecture (LEE-12). Subsequently, we showed that one QTL, qLW10, for multiple agronomic traits that relate to plant organ size reflects allelic variation in ZmCSLD1, which encodes a cellulose synthase-like D protein. ZmCSLD1 was localized to the trans-Golgi and was highly expressed in the rapidly growing regions. The loss of ZmCSLD1 function decreased cell division, which resulted in smaller organs with fewer cell numbers and, in turn, pleiotropic effects on multiple agronomic traits. In addition, intragenic complementation was investigated for two Zmcsld1 alleles with nonsynonymous SNPs in different functional domains, and the mechanism of this complementation was determined to be through homodimeric interactions. Conclusions Through positional cloning by using two populations and allelism tests, qLW10 for organ size was resolved to be a cellulose synthase-like D family gene, ZmCSLD1. ZmCSLD1 has pleiotropic effects on multiple agronomic traits that alter plant organ size by changing the process of cell division. These findings provide new insight into the regulatory mechanism that underlies plant organ development.

Aims and method This survey of 66 specialist mental health services aimed to provide an up-to-date description of pathways of care and interventions available to children with an intellectual disability referred for behaviours that challenge or with suspected mental health problems. Results Overall, 24% of services made contact with a family at referral stage, whereas 29% contacted families at least once during the waiting list phase. Only two in ten services offered any therapeutic input during the referral or waiting list stages. During the active caseload phase, services offered mostly psychoeducation (52–59%), followed by applied behaviour analytic approaches for behaviours that challenge (52%) and cognitive–behavioural therapy (41%). Thirty-six per cent of services had not offered any packaged or named intervention in the past 12 months. Clinical implications With increasing waiting times for specialist mental health support, services need to consider increasing the amount of contact and therapeutic input on offer throughout all stages of a child's journey with the service.