Objective
This study evaluates how adjusting for parental height dimorphism influences height differences among parents and same‐sex offspring distinguished by parents' early backgrounds.
...Participants and methods
Regression analyses using data from independent groups of Taiwanese families, 56 with sons and 51 with daughters, evaluate how adjusting for parental height dimorphism influences same‐sex parent‐offspring height differences among families grouped by grandfathers' occupations into three status categories reflecting good to relatively poor early parental environments.
Results
Parental height dimorphism was statistically significantly associated with same‐sex parent‐offspring height differences (father–son: mean Δ = 3.88 cm, β = −71.47 ± 11.49 SE, t = −6.22, p ≤ .0005; mother–daughter: mean Δ = 4.15 cm, β = 80.46 ± 18.52 SE, t = 4.35, p ≤ .0005). Adjusted mean father–son differences increased significantly across grandfathers' occupation categories (Privileged, Δ = 0.60, Business, Δ = 4.06, Farming & Labor, Δ = 5.28; p = .011). Mother–daughter differences were substantial, from 3.33 cm to 5.06 cm, but did not differ significantly across occupational categories (p = .63).
Discussion
Adjustments here for variation in parent height dimorphism did not alter original interpretations that while female growth may be more canalized, it is similarly capable of responding to improvements in developmental contexts. Patterns of same‐sex parent‐offspring height differences across grandfathers' occupational categories remain best accounted for by Taiwan's rapidly expanding economy, substantial income equity and reductions in biases favoring sons over daughters. Adjustment for sub‐group variation in parental height dimorphism should be considered in similar studies in the future.
Abstract
We present the results of a joint analysis of Chandra X-ray and South Pole Telescope (SPT) Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) observations targeting the first sample of galaxy clusters at 0.3 <
z
< ...1.3, selected to be the progenitors of well-studied nearby clusters based on their expected accretion rate. We develop a new procedure in order to tackle the analysis challenge that is estimating the intracluster medium (ICM) properties of low-mass and high-redshift clusters with ∼150 X-ray counts. One of the dominant sources of uncertainty on the ICM density profile estimated with a standard X-ray analysis with such shallow X-ray data is due to the systematic uncertainty associated with the ICM temperature obtained through the analysis of the background-dominated X-ray spectrum. We show that we can decrease the uncertainty on the density profile by a factor varying between 2 and 8 with a joint deprojection of the X-ray surface brightness profile measured by Chandra and the SZ-integrated Compton parameter available in the SPT cluster catalog. We apply this technique to the whole sample of 67 clusters in order to track the evolution of the ICM core density during cluster growth. We confirm that the evolution of the gas density profile is well modeled by the combination of a fixed core and a self-similarly evolving non-cool-core profile. We show that the fraction of cool cores in this sample is remarkably stable with redshift although clusters have gained a factor of ∼4 in total mass over the past ∼9 Gyr.
The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a peer-led illness self-management intervention called Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP) by comparing it with usual care. The primary ...outcome was reduction of psychiatric symptoms, with secondary outcomes of increased hopefulness, and enhanced quality of life (QOL). A total of 519 adults with severe and persistent mental illness were recruited from outpatient community mental health settings in 6 Ohio communities and randomly assigned to the 8-week intervention or a wait-list control condition. Outcomes were assessed at end of treatment and at 6-month follow-up using an intent-to-treat mixed-effects random regression analysis. Compared to controls, at immediate postintervention and at 6-month follow-up, WRAP participants reported: (1) significantly greater reduction over time in Brief Symptom Inventory Global Symptom Severity and Positive Symptom Total, (2) significantly greater improvement over time in hopefulness as assessed by the Hope Scale total score and subscale for goal directed hopefulness, and (3) enhanced improvement over time in QOL as assessed by the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF environment subscale. These results indicate that peer-delivered mental illness self-management training reduces psychiatric symptoms, enhances participants' hopefulness, and improves their QOL over time. This confirms the importance of peer-led wellness management interventions, such as WRAP, as part of a group of evidence-based recovery-oriented services.
Treatment variation from observational data has been used to estimate patient-specific treatment effects. Causal Forest Algorithms (CFAs) developed for this task have unknown properties when ...treatment effect heterogeneity from unmeasured patient factors influences treatment choice - essential heterogeneity.
We simulated eleven populations with identical treatment effect distributions based on patient factors. The populations varied in the extent that treatment effect heterogeneity influenced treatment choice. We used the generalized random forest application (CFA-GRF) to estimate patient-specific treatment effects for each population. Average differences between true and estimated effects for patient subsets were evaluated.
CFA-GRF performed well across the population when treatment effect heterogeneity did not influence treatment choice. Under essential heterogeneity, however, CFA-GRF yielded treatment effect estimates that reflected true treatment effects only for treated patients and were on average greater than true treatment effects for untreated patients.
Patient-specific estimates produced by CFAs are sensitive to why patients in real-world practice make different treatment choices. Researchers using CFAs should develop conceptual frameworks of treatment choice prior to estimation to guide estimate interpretation ex post.
Abstract
We analyze the cooling and feedback properties of 48 galaxy clusters at redshifts 0.4 <
z
< 1.3 selected from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) catalogs to evolve like the progenitors of ...massive and well-studied systems at
z
∼ 0. We estimate the radio power at the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) location of each cluster from an analysis of Australia Telescope Compact Array data. Assuming that the scaling relation between the radio power and active galactic nucleus (AGN) cavity power
P
cav
observed at low redshift does not evolve with redshift, we use these measurements in order to estimate the expected AGN cavity power in the core of each system. We estimate the X-ray luminosity within the cooling radius
L
cool
of each cluster from a joint analysis of the available Chandra X-ray and SPT Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) data. This allows us to characterize the redshift evolution of the
P
cav
/
L
cool
ratio. When combined with low-redshift results, these constraints enable investigations of the properties of the feedback–cooling cycle across 9 Gyr of cluster growth. We model the redshift evolution of this ratio measured for cool-core clusters by a log-normal distribution
Log
-
(
α
+
β
z
,
σ
2
)
and constrain the slope of the mean evolution to
β
= −0.05 ± 0.47. This analysis improves the constraints on the slope of this relation by a factor of two. We find no evidence of redshift evolution of the feedback–cooling equilibrium in these clusters, which suggests that the onset of radio-mode feedback took place at an early stage of cluster formation. High values of
P
cav
/
L
cool
are found at the BCG location of noncool-core clusters, which might suggest that the timescales of the AGN feedback cycle and the cool core–noncool core transition are different. This work demonstrates that the joint analysis of radio, SZ, and X-ray data solidifies the investigation of AGN feedback at high redshifts.
ABSTRACT
Expanding from previous work, we present weak-lensing (WL) measurements for a total sample of 30 distant (zmedian = 0.93) massive galaxy clusters from the South Pole Telescope ...Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SPT-SZ) Survey, measuring galaxy shapes in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys images. We remove cluster members and preferentially select z ≳ 1.4 background galaxies via V − I colour, employing deep photometry from VLT/FORS2 and Gemini-South/GMOS. We apply revised calibrations for the WL shape measurements and the source redshift distribution to estimate the cluster masses. In combination with earlier Magellan/Megacam results for lower-redshifts clusters, we infer refined constraints on the scaling relation between the SZ detection significance and the cluster mass, in particular regarding its redshift evolution. The mass scale inferred from the WL data is lower by a factor $0.76^{+0.10}_{-0.14}$ (at our pivot redshift z = 0.6) compared to what would be needed to reconcile a flat Planck νΛCDM cosmology (in which the sum of the neutrino masses is a free parameter) with the observed SPT-SZ cluster counts. In order to sensitively test the level of (dis-)agreement between SPT clusters and Planck, further expanded WL follow-up samples are needed.
We present a catalog of galaxy cluster candidates detected in 100 square degrees surveyed with the SPTpol receiver on the South Pole Telescope. The catalog contains 89 candidates detected with a ...signal-to-noise ratio greater than 4.6. The candidates are selected using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect at 95 and 150 GHz. Using both space- and ground-based optical and infrared telescopes, we have confirmed 81 candidates as galaxy clusters. We use these follow-up images and archival images to estimate photometric redshifts for 66 galaxy clusters and spectroscopic observations to obtain redshifts for 13 systems. An additional two galaxy clusters are confirmed using the overdensity of near-infrared galaxies only and are presented without redshifts. We find that 15 candidates (18% of the total sample) are at redshift z ≥ 1.0, with a maximum confirmed redshift of . We expect this catalog to contain every galaxy cluster with and z > 0.25 in the survey area. The mass threshold is approximately constant above z = 0.25, and the complete catalog has a median mass of approximately . Compared to previous SPT works, the increased depth of the millimeter-wave data (11.2 and 6.5 K-arcmin at 95 and 150 GHz, respectively) makes it possible to find more galaxy clusters at high redshift and lower mass.
Young Black women are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV. Notably, few sexual health interventions for Black girls have documented the process of utilizing ...stakeholder input from the Black community to culturally tailor content. We conducted formative work in Chicago to adapt a mother-daughter HIV/STI prevention intervention originally designed for Black adolescent girls aged 14-18 years to meet the needs of early adolescent girls aged 11-13 years. Our iterative process involved three phases: (i) soliciting feedback from an expert panel and community advisory board; (ii) conducting focus groups with experienced research participants; and (iii) theater testing a new curriculum in the target population. Key findings of this process indicate the importance of sophisticated community engagement strategies to shape research design and program implementation. Findings may be used to inform processes for future adaptation work, especially in sexual health programs for young Black girls and their mothers.
Recent advances in blood-based biomarkers offer the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer disease (AD), but additional research in diverse populations is critical. We ...assessed the profiles of blood-based AD biomarkers and their relationships to cognition and common medical comorbidities in a biracial cohort.
Participants were evaluated through the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville Alzheimer Disease Research Center and matched on age, sex, and cognitive status. Plasma AD biomarkers (β-amyloid peptide 1-42 Aβ
, plasma tau phosphorylated at position 181 p-tau
, glial fibrillary acidic protein GFAP, and neurofilament light) were measured using the Quanterix SiMoA HD-X analyzer. Cognition was assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination. Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to assess for differences in plasma biomarker levels by sex. Linear models tested for associations of self-reported race, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and vascular risk factors with plasma AD biomarker levels. Additional models assessed for interactions between race and plasma biomarkers in predicting cognition.
The sample comprised African American (AA; N = 267) and non-Hispanic White (NHW; N = 268) participants, including 69% female participants and age range 43-100 (median 80.2) years. Education was higher in NHW participants (median 16 vs 12 years,
< 0.001) while
ε4 positivity was higher in AA participants (43% vs 34%;
= 0.04). We observed no differences in plasma AD biomarker levels between AA and NHW participants. These results were unchanged after stratifying by cognitive status (unimpaired vs impaired). Although the p-tau
-cognition association seemed stronger in NHW participants while the Aβ
-cognition association seemed stronger in AA participants, these findings did not survive after excluding individuals with CKD. Female participants displayed higher GFAP (177.5 pg/mL vs 157.73 pg/mL;
= 0.002) and lower p-tau
(2.62 pg/mL vs 3.28 pg/mL;
= 0.001) levels than male participants. Diabetes was inversely associated with GFAP levels (β = -0.01;
< 0.001).
In a biracial community-based sample of adults, we observed that sex differences, CKD, and vascular risk factors, but not self-reported race, contributed to variation in plasma AD biomarkers. Although some prior studies have reported primary effects of race/ethnicity, our results reinforce the need to account for broad-based medical and social determinants of health (including sex, systemic comorbidities, and other factors) in effectively and equitably deploying plasma AD biomarkers in the general population.
Existing microarray genotype-calling algorithms adopt either SNP-by-SNP (SNP-wise) or sample-by-sample (sample-wise) approaches to calling. We have developed a novel genotype-calling algorithm for ...the Illumina platform, optiCall, that uses both SNP-wise and sample-wise calling to more accurately ascertain genotypes at rare, low-frequency and common variants.
Using data from 4537 individuals from the 1958 British Birth Cohort genotyped on the Immunochip, we estimate the proportion of SNPs lost to downstream analysis due to false quality control failures, and rare variants misclassified as monomorphic, is only 1.38% with optiCall, in comparison to 3.87, 7.85 and 4.09% for Illuminus, GenoSNP and GenCall, respectively. We show that optiCall accurately captures rare variants and can correctly account for SNPs where probe intensity clouds are shifted from their expected positions.
optiCall is implemented in C++ for use on UNIX operating systems and is available for download at http://www.sanger.ac.uk/resources/software/opticall/.
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