Female fertility is a complex trait with age-specific changes in spontaneous dizygotic (DZ) twinning and fertility. To elucidate factors regulating female fertility and infertility, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on mothers of spontaneous DZ twins (MoDZT) versus controls (3273 cases, 24,009 controls). This is a follow-up study to the Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) component of that previously reported (Mbarek et al., 2016), with a sample size almost twice that of the entire discovery sample meta-analysed in the previous article (and five times the ANZ contribution to that), resulting from newly available additional genotyping and representing a significant increase in power. We compare analyses with and without male controls and show unequivocally that it is better to include male controls who have been screened for recent family history, than to use only female controls. Results from the SNP based GWAS identified four genomewide significant signals, including one novel region, ZFPM1 (Zinc Finger Protein, FOG Family Member 1), on chromosome 16. Previous signals near FSHB (Follicle Stimulating Hormone beta subunit) and SMAD3 (SMAD Family Member 3) were also replicated (Mbarek et al., 2016). We also ran the GWAS with a dominance model that identified a further locus ADRB2 on chr 5. These results have been contributed to the International Twinning Genetics Consortium for inclusion in the next GWAS meta-analysis (Mbarek et al., in press).

In both population-based and clinical cohorts, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have reported associations between a range of non-specific markers of immune activation (e.g., pro-inflammatory cytokines) or chronic inflammation (e.g., C-reactive protein [CRP]) and depressive and other mood disorders (Dowlati et al. 2010; Hickie et al. 2018; Khandaker et al. 2017; Orsolini et al. 2022; Valkanova et al. 2013). The clinico-pathological significance, and directional relationships, of these associations tended to be downplayed as the systemic levels of these inflammatory markers were not in the ranges typical of active infective, inflammatory or significant autoimmune diseases.

Newcastle disease (ND) is a notifiable disease affecting chickens and other avian species caused by virulent strains of Avian paramyxovirus type 1 (APMV-1). While outbreaks of ND can have devastating consequences, avirulent strains of APMV-1 generally cause subclinical infections or mild disease. However, viruses can cause different levels of disease in different species and virulence can evolve following cross-species transmission events. This report describes the detection of three cases of avirulent APMV-1 infection in Great Britain (GB). Case 1 emerged from the ‘testing to exclude’ scheme in chickens in Shropshire while cases 2 and 3 were made directly from notifiable avian disease investigations in chicken broilers in Herefordshire and on premises in Wiltshire containing ducks and mixed species, respectively). Class II/genotype I.1.1 APMV-1 from case 1 shared 99.94% identity to the Queensland V4 strain of APMV-1. Class II/genotype II APMV-1 was detected from case 2 while the class II/genotype I.2 virus from case 3 aligned closely with strains isolated from Anseriformes. Exclusion of ND through rapid detection of avirulent APMV-1 is important where clinical signs caused by avirulent or virulent APMV-1s could be ambiguous. Understanding the diversity of APMV-1s circulating in GB is critical to understanding disease threat from these adaptable viruses.

Laboratory-based case confirmation is an integral part of measles surveillance programmes; however, logistical constraints can delay response. Use of RDTs during initial patient contact could enhance surveillance by real-time case confirmation and accelerating public health response. Here, we evaluate performance of a novel measles IgM RDT and assess accuracy of visual interpretation using a representative collection of 125 sera from the Brazilian measles surveillance programme. RDT results were interpreted visually by a panel of six independent observers, the consensus of three observers and by relative reflectance measurements using an ESEQuant Reader. Compared to the Siemens anti-measles IgM EIA, sensitivity and specificity of the RDT were 94.9% (74/78, 87.4–98.6%) and 95.7% (45/47, 85.5-99.5%) for consensus visual results, and 93.6% (73/78, 85.7–97.9%) and 95.7% (45/47, 85.5-99.5%), for ESEQuant measurement, respectively. Observer agreement, determined by comparison between individuals and visual consensus results, and between individuals and ESEQuant measurements, achieved average kappa scores of 0.97 and 0.93 respectively. The RDT has the sensitivity and specificity required of a field-based test for measles diagnosis, and high kappa scores indicate this can be accomplished accurately by visual interpretation alone. Detailed studies are needed to establish its role within the global measles control programme.

This paper documents trends over the last two decades in retirement behavior and retirement income choices of participants in TIAA, a large and mature defined contribution plan. From 2000 and 2018, the average age at which TIAA participants stopped contributing to their accounts, which is a lower bound on their retirement age, rose by 1.2 years for female and 2.0 years for male participants. There is considerable variation in the elapsed time between the time of the last contribution to and the first income draw from plan accounts. Only 40% of participants take an initial income payment within 48 months of their last contribution. Later retirement and lags between retirement and the first retirement income payout led to a growing fraction of participants reaching the required minimum distribution (RMD) age before starting income draws. Between 2000 and 2018, the fraction of first-time income recipients who took no income until their RMD rose from 10% to 52%, while the fraction of these recipients who selected a life-contingent annuitized payout stream declined from 61% to 18%. Among those who began receiving income before age 70, annuitization rates were significantly higher than among those who did so at older ages. Aggregating across all income-receiving beneficiaries at TIAA, not just new income recipients, the proportion with a life annuity as part of their payout strategy fell from 52% in 2008 to 31% in 2018. By comparison, the proportion of all income recipients taking an RMD payment rose from 16% to 29%. About one-fifth of retirees received more than one type of income; the most common pairing was an RMD and a life annuity. In the later years of our sample, the RMD was becoming the de facto default distribution option for newly retired TIAA participants.

Community engagement (CE) is critical for advancing health equity and a key approach for promoting inclusive clinical and translational science. However, it requires a workforce trained to effectively design, implement, and evaluate health promotion and improvement strategies through meaningful collaboration with community members. This paper presents an approach for designing CE curricula for research, education, clinical care, and public health learners. A general pedagogical framework is presented to support curriculum development with the inclusion of community members as facilitators or faculty. The overall goal of the curriculum is envisioned as enabling learners to effectively demonstrate the principles of CE in working with community members on issues of concern to communities to promote health and well-being. We highlight transformations needed for the commonly used critical service-learning model and the importance of faculty well-versed in CE. Courses may include didactics and practicums with well-defined objectives and evaluation components. Because of the importance of building and maintaining relationships in CE, a preparatory phase is recommended prior to experiential learning, which should be guided and designed to include debriefing and reflective learning. Depending on the scope of the course, evaluation should include community perspectives on the experience.

A method for three-dimensional reconstruction of objects from defocused images collected at multiple illumination directions in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy is presented. The method effectively corrects for the Ewald sphere curvature by taking into account the in-particle propagation of the electron beam. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of accurately reconstructing biological molecules or nanoparticles from high-resolution defocused images under conditions achievable in single-particle electron cryo-microscopy or electron tomography with realistic radiation doses, non-trivial aberrations, multiple scattering, and other experimentally relevant factors. The physics of the method is based on the well-known Diffraction Tomography formalism, but with the phase-retrieval step modified to include a conjugation of the phase (i.e., multiplication of the phase by a negative constant). At each illumination direction, numerically backpropagating the beam with the conjugated phase produces maximum contrast at the location of individual atoms in the molecule or nanoparticle. The resultant algorithm, Conjugated Holographic Reconstruction, can potentially be incorporated into established software tools for single-particle analysis, such as, for example, RELION or FREALIGN, in place of the conventional contrast transfer function correction procedure, in order to account for the Ewald sphere curvature and improve the spatial resolution of the three-dimensional reconstruction.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization stressed the importance of daily clinical assessments of infected patients, yet current approaches frequently consider cross-sectional timepoints, cumulative summary measures, or time-to-event analyses. Statistical methods are available that make use of the rich information content of longitudinal assessments. We demonstrate the use of a multistate transition model to assess the dynamic nature of COVID-19-associated critical illness using daily evaluations of COVID-19 patients from 9 academic hospitals. We describe the accessibility and utility of methods that consider the clinical trajectory of critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Protected areas have numerous roles (such as biodiversity preservation, the development of scientific research and the sustainable use of natural resources), but they are under threat from political and economic forces. The 837 000-ha Serra do Divisor National Park (SDNP) in the south-western Brazilian Amazon combines the conservation of natural resources and the maintenance of the productive activities of c. 400 resident families. The Brazilian and Peruvian governments have proposed a road linking Acre (Brazil) to Ucayali (Peru) that would bisect the SDNP. Another threat to the SDNP is a bill proposing its downgrading to an ‘environmental protection area’. This study aims to map the land cover of the SDNP and its surroundings from 1988 to 2018 and to analyse the dynamics of land-use change. Analysis of Landsat satellite images with supervised classification using the MaxVer algorithm show that, during the 30-year period, pasture showed the highest absolute land-cover gain, with 1986 ha in the interior and 7661 ha along the periphery of the SDNP. Only 1% of the park’s primary forest was lost by 2018, but the proposed road and potential downgrading may result in accelerated deforestation and forest degradation in the near future.

Vaccination coverage for infants with CHD is unknown, yet these patients are at high risk for morbidity and mortality associated with vaccine-preventable illnesses. We determined vaccination rates for this population and identified predictors of undervaccination. We prospectively enrolled infants with CHD born between 1 January, 2012 and 31 December, 2015, seen in a single-centre cardiology clinic between 15 February, 2016 and 28 February, 2017. We assessed vaccination during the first year of life. Subjects who by age 1 year received all routine immunisations recommended during the first 6 months of life were considered fully vaccinated. We also evaluated influenza vaccination during subjects’ first eligible influenza season. We obtained immunisation histories from primary care providers and collected demographic and clinical data via a parent survey and chart review. We used multivariable logistic regression to identify predictors of undervaccination. Among 260 subjects, only 60% were fully vaccinated. Vaccination rates were lowest for influenza (64.6%), rotavirus (71.1%), and Haemophilus influenzae type b (79.3%). Cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass during the first year of life was associated with undervaccination (51.5% versus 76.4% fully vaccinated, adjusted odds ratio 2.1 [95% confidence interval 1.1–3.9]). Other predictors of undervaccination were out-of-state primary care (adjusted odds ratio 2.7 [1.5–4.9]), multiple comorbidities (≥2 versus 0–1, adjusted odds ratio 2.0 [1.1–3.6]), and hospitalisation for >25% of the first year of life (>25% versus ≤25%, adjusted odds ratio 2.1 [1.1–3.9]). Targeted quality improvement initiatives focused on improving vaccination coverage for these infants, especially surrounding cardiac surgery, are needed.

The end-Cretaceous (K/Pg) mass extinction event is the most recent and well-understood of the “big five” and triggered establishment of modern terrestrial ecosystem structure. Despite the depth of research into this event, our knowledge of upper Maastrichtian terrestrial deposits globally relies primarily on assemblage-level data limited to a few well-sampled formations in North America, the Hell Creek and Lance Formations. These assemblages disproportionally affect our interpretations of this important interval. Multiple investigations have quantified diversity patterns within these assemblages, but the potential effect of formation-level size-dependent taphonomic biases and their implications on extinction dynamics remains unexplored. Here, the relationship between taphonomy and body size of the Hell Creek Formation and Lance Formation dinosaurs and mammals are quantitatively analyzed. Small-bodied dinosaur taxa (<70 kg) are consistently less complete, unlikely to be articulated, and delayed in their description relative to their large-bodied counterparts. Family-level abundance (particularly skeletons) is strongly tied to body mass, and the relative abundance of juveniles of large-bodied taxa similarly is underrepresented. Mammals show similar but nonsignificant trends. The results are remarkably similar to those from the Campanian-aged Dinosaur Park Formation, suggesting a widespread strong taphonomic bias against the preservation of small taxa, which will result in their seemingly depauperate diversity within the assemblage. This taphonomically skewed view of diversity and abundance of small-bodied taxa amid our best late Maastrichtian samples has significant implications for understanding speciation and extinction dynamics (e.g., size-dependent extinction selectivity) across the K/Pg boundary.

A chloroacetamide herbicide by application timing factorial experiment was conducted in 2017 and 2018 in Mississippi to investigate chloroacetamide use in a dicamba-based Palmer amaranth management program in cotton production. Herbicides used were S-metolachlor or acetochlor, and application timings were preemergence, preemergence followed by (fb) early postemergence, preemergence fb late postemergence, early postemergence alone, late postemergence alone, and early postemergence fb late postemergence. Dicamba was included in all preemergence applications, and dicamba plus glyphosate was included with all postemergence applications. Differences in cotton and weed response due to chloroacetamide type were minimal, and cotton injury at 14 d after late postemergence application was less than 10% for all application timings. Late-season weed control was reduced up to 30% and 53% if chloroacetamide application occurred preemergence or late postemergence only, respectively. Late-season weed densities were minimized if multiple applications were used instead of a single application. Cotton height was reduced by up to 23% if a single application was made late postemergence relative to other application timings. Chloroacetamide application at any timing except preemergence alone minimized late-season weed biomass. Yield was maximized by any treatment involving multiple applications or early postemergence alone, whereas applications preemergence or late postemergence alone resulted in up to 56% and 27% yield losses, respectively. While no yield loss was reported by delaying the first of sequential applications until early postemergence, forgoing a preemergence application is not advisable given the multiple factors that may delay timely postemergence applications such as inclement weather.

We present the data and initial results from the first pilot survey of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU), observed at 944 MHz with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. The survey covers $270 \,\mathrm{deg}^2$ of an area covered by the Dark Energy Survey, reaching a depth of 25–30 $\mu\mathrm{Jy\ beam}^{-1}$ rms at a spatial resolution of $\sim$ 11–18 arcsec, resulting in a catalogue of $\sim$ 220 000 sources, of which $\sim$ 180 000 are single-component sources. Here we present the catalogue of single-component sources, together with (where available) optical and infrared cross-identifications, classifications, and redshifts. This survey explores a new region of parameter space compared to previous surveys. Specifically, the EMU Pilot Survey has a high density of sources, and also a high sensitivity to low surface brightness emission. These properties result in the detection of types of sources that were rarely seen in or absent from previous surveys. We present some of these new results here.