Cross-species apical microinjected selenomethionine toxicity in embryo-larval fishes.

Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient that becomes toxic when exposures minimally exceed those that are physiologically required. Studies on Se contaminated aquatic environments have identified that embryo-larval fishes are at particular risk of Se toxicity, primarily due to maternal Se transfer to developing eggs during oogenesis. This study emulated these exposures in embryo-larval fathead minnow (FHM), rainbow trout (RBT), white sucker (WSu), and white sturgeon (WSt) using embryonic selenomethionine (SeMet) microinjections. Adverse Se-outcomes observed across these species included spinal and edematous deformities, total individuals deformed, and reduced survival. Spinal deformity was the most sensitive sublethal endpoint and developed at the lowest concentrations in WSt (10 % effects concentration (EC10) = 12.42 µg (total) Se/g dry weight (d.w.)) followed by WSu (EC10 = 14.49 µg Se/g d.w.) and FHM (EC10 = 18.10 µg Se/g d.w.). High mortality was observed in RBT, but SeMet influences were confounded by the species' innate sensitivity to the microinjections themselves. 5 % hazardous concentrations derived across exposure type data subsets were ∼49 % higher when derived from within-species maternal transfer exclusive data as opposed to all, or within-species microinjection exclusive, data. These results support the current exclusion of SeMet microinjections during regulatory guideline derivation and their inclusion when studying mechanistic Se toxicity across phylogenetically distant fishes.

Restoring Balance: a physical activity intervention for Native American cancer survivors and their familial support persons.

Introduction/Purpose: Exercise interventions among Native American cancer survivors are lacking, despite major cancer health disparities in survivorship. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a 12-week randomized controlled trial (RCT) of culturally tailored exercise on cancer risk biomarkers and quality of life among Native American cancer survivors and family members. Methods: Participants were randomized to immediate start versus 6-week waitlist control at two rural and two urban sites. Participants enrolled in a small feasibility pilot study (only cancer survivors evaluated, n=18; cohort 1) or larger efficacy pilot study where cancer survivors (n=38; cohort 2) and familial supporters (n=25; cohort 3) were evaluated concurrently. Resistance, aerobic, flexibility, and balance exercises were tailored by cultural experts representing ten tribes. Exercises was supervised on-site one day per week and continued in home-based settings two to five days per week. Fat mass, blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c, 6-min walk, sit-to-stand test, and quality of life (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Global Health short form and isolation subscale) were measured. Mixed effects models evaluated differences between RCT arms from baseline to 6 weeks, and 12-week intervention effects in combined arms. Results: There were no consistent differences at 6 weeks between randomized groups. Upon combining RCT arms, 6-min walk and sit-to-stand tests improved in all three cohorts by 12 weeks (both survivors and familial support persons, p<0.001); social isolation was reduced in all three cohorts (p≤0.05). Familial support persons additionally improved blood pressure and HbA1c (p≤0.05). Conclusion: Exercise improved cardiorespiratory fitness and physical function among Native American cancer survivors and familial supporters. A longer intervention may influence other important health outcomes among Native American survivors. Additional improvements demonstrated among Native American family members may have a meaningful impact on cancer prevention in this underserved population with shared heritable and environmental risks.

The Navajo Nation Healthy Diné Nation Act: Community Support of a 2% Tax on Unhealthy Foods.

CONTEXT: The Healthy Diné Nation Act (HDNA) of 2014 included a 2% tax on foods of little-to-no-nutritious value ("junk foods") on the Navajo Nation. The law was the first ever in the United States and any Indigenous nation worldwide with a population at a high risk for common nutrition-related conditions. To date, research on community support for food tax legislation among Indigenous nations is entirely lacking. OBJECTIVE: To assess the extent of support for the HDNA and factors associated with support including sociodemographic variables, knowledge of the HDNA, nutrition intake, and pricing preferences. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: The Navajo Nation. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 234 Navajo Nation community members across 21 communities. OUTCOME MEASURES: The percentage of participants who were supportive of the HDNA. RESULTS: Participants were 97% Navajo, on average middle-aged, 67% reported an income below $25 000 annually, and 69.7% were female. Half of the respondents said they "support" (37.4%) or "strongly support" (13.0%) the tax, while another 35% of people said they were neutral or somewhat supportive; 15% did not support the tax. Participants with higher income ( P = .025) and education ( P = .026) and understanding of the legislation ( P < .001 for "very well" vs "not at all") had increased odds of greater support, as did people who believed that the HDNA would make Navajo people healthier (vs not, P < .001). Age, gender, language, and reported nutrition intake (healthy or unhealthy) were not associated with HDNA support, but participants willing to pay 5% or 12%-15% higher prices for fast food and soda had increased odds of greater support ( P values range from .023 to <.001). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of Navajo community members surveyed were moderately supportive of the Navajo Nation tax on unhealthy foods. Higher income and education and understanding of the law were associated with greater support, but nutrition intake was not.

Home health services for minorities in urban and rural areas with Alzheimer's and related dementia.

Timely access and continuum of care in older adults with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD) is critical. This is a retrospective study on Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with ADRD diagnosis discharged to home with home health care following an episode of acute hospitalization. Our sample included 262,525 patients. White patients in rural areas have significantly higher odds of delay (odds ratio [OR], 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.06). Black patients in urban areas (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.12-1.19) and Hispanic patients in urban areas also were more likely to have a delay (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.03-1.11). Black and Hispanic patients residing in urban areas had a higher likelihood of delay in home healthcare initiation following hospitalization compared to Whites residing in urban areas.

Examining the role of race and quality of home health agencies in delayed initiation of home health services for individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD).

INTRODUCTION: We examined differences in the timeliness of the initiation of home health care by race and the quality of home health agencies (HHA) among patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). METHODS: Medicare claims and home health assessment data were used for the study cohort: individuals aged ≥65 years with ADRD, and discharged from the hospital. Home health latency was defined as patients receiving home health care after 2 days following hospital discharge. RESULTS: Of 251,887 patients with ADRD, 57% received home health within 2 days following hospital discharge. Black patients were significantly more likely to experience home health latency (odds ratio [OR] = 1.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11-1.19) compared to White patients. Home health latency was significantly higher for Black patients in low-rating HHA (OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.22-1.37) compared to White patients in high-rating HHA. DISCUSSION: Black patients are more likely to experience a delay in home health care initiation than White patients.

Seasonal variability in body mass index change among children enrolled in the Pediatric Obesity Weight Evaluation Registry: A step in the right direction.

BACKGROUND: Research has shown children disproportionately gain excess weight over the summer months (vs. school months), with stronger effects for children with obesity. However, the question has not been investigated among children receiving care in paediatric weight management (PWM) programs. OBJECTIVE: To test for seasonal variability in weight change among youth with obesity in PWM care enrolled in the Pediatric Obesity Weight Evaluation Registry (POWER). METHOD: Longitudinal evaluation of a prospective cohort from 2014 to 2019 among youth in 31 PWM programs. Change in percentage of the 95th percentile for BMI (%BMIp95) was compared by quarter. RESULTS: Participants (N = 6816) were primarily ages 6-11 (48%), female (54%), 40% non-Hispanic White, 26% Hispanic and 17% Black, and 73% had severe obesity. Children were enrolled on average 424.9 ± 401.5 days. Participants reduced their %BMIp95 every season, but compared with Quarter 3 (July-September), reductions were significantly greater in Q1 (Jan-March, b = -0.27, 95%CI -0.46, -0.09), Q2 (April-June, b = -0.21, CI -0.40, -0.03), and Q4 (October-December, b = -0.44, CI -0.63, -0.26). CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: Across 31 clinics nationwide, children reduced their %BMIp95 every season, but reductions were significantly smaller during the summer quarter. While PWM successfully mitigated excess weight gain during every period, summer remains a high-priority time.

Formative Evaluation and Adaptation of a Navajo Cancer Survivor Physical Activity Intervention to Serve a Broader Native American Cancer Survivor Community.

BACKGROUND: Although exercise has been shown to improve cancer survivorship in other communities, cancer exercise studies among Native American communities are rare. We sought to adapt a Navajo-tailored cancer exercise pilot program to serve a broader Native American cancer community. METHODS: Tribal experts representing 10 different Tribal Nations were engaged in small focus groups (n=2-4) to assess program materials for cultural appropriateness and adaptation to expand tribal inclusiveness. Facilitated by a trained Native American interviewer, focus groups were provided a primer survey and then reviewed intervention materials (protocols, incentives, logo, flyers, etc.). Consensus was reached by the research team on all program adaptations. RESULTS: The program name, Restoring Balance, layout, graphics, and symbols were considered culturally appropriate overall. Program exercises and biomarker measurements were viewed as valuable to health improvements in the community. Important color, linguistic, and logistic program modifications were recommended to improve cultural alignment. The order of incentive items was revised to highlight restoration and the logo rotated to align with the four corners of the earth, an important cultural element. Linguistic modifications primarily related to prior traumatic research experiences in Native American communities where data had been taken without adequate community benefit or permission. Program emphasis should be on nurturing, added value and giving. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: The methodology used for cultural expert review was successful in eliciting adaptations to expand the tribal inclusiveness of Restoring Balance. Culture, as well as historically traumatic research experiences, among Native American populations must be considered when adapting health promotion programming.

Enabling forecasts of environmental exposure to chemicals in European agriculture under global change.

European agricultural development in the 21st century will be affected by a host of global changes, including climate change, changes in agricultural technologies and practices, and a shift towards a circular economy. The type and quantity of chemicals used, emitted, and cycled through agricultural systems in Europe will change, driven by shifts in the use patterns of pesticides, veterinary pharmaceuticals, reclaimed wastewater used for irrigation, and biosolids. Climate change will also impact the chemical persistence, fate, and transport processes that dictate environmental exposure. Here, we review the literature to identify research that will enable scenario-based forecasting of environmental exposures to organic chemicals in European agriculture under global change. Enabling exposure forecasts requires understanding current and possible future 1.) emissions, 2.) persistence and transformation, and 3.) fate and transport of agricultural chemicals. We discuss current knowledge in these three areas, the impact global change drivers may have on them, and we identify knowledge and data gaps that must be overcome to enable predictive scenario-based forecasts of environmental exposure under global change. Key research gaps identified are: improved understanding of relationships between global change and chemical emissions in agricultural settings; better understanding of environment-microbe interactions in the context of chemical degradation under future conditions; and better methods for downscaling climate change-driven intense precipitation events for chemical fate and transport modelling. We introduce a set of narrative Agricultural Chemical Exposure (ACE) scenarios - augmenting the IPCC's Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) - as a framework for forecasting chemical exposure in European agriculture. The proposed ACE scenarios cover a plausible range of optimistic to pessimistic 21st century development pathways. Filling the knowledge and data gaps identified within this study and using the ACE scenario approach for chemical exposure forecasting will support stakeholder planning and regulatory intervention strategies to ensure European agricultural practices develop in a sustainable manner.

Comparative analysis of transcriptomic points-of-departure (tPODs) and apical responses in embryo-larval fathead minnows exposed to fluoxetine.

Current approaches in chemical hazard assessment face significant challenges because they rely on live animal testing, which is time-consuming, expensive, and ethically questionable. These concerns serve as an impetus to develop new approach methodologies (NAMs) that do not rely on live animal tests. This study explored a molecular benchmark dose (BMD) approach using a 7-day embryo-larval fathead minnow (FHM) assay to derive transcriptomic points-of-departure (tPODs) to predict apical BMDs of fluoxetine (FLX), a highly prescribed and potent selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor frequently detected in surface waters. Fertilized FHM embryos were exposed to graded concentrations of FLX (confirmed at < LOD, 0.19, 0.74, 3.38, 10.2, 47.5 µg/L) for 32 days. Subsets of fish were subjected to omics and locomotor analyses at 7 days post-fertilization (dpf) and to histological and biometric measurements at 32 dpf. Enrichment analyses of transcriptomics and proteomics data revealed significant perturbations in gene sets associated with serotonergic and axonal functions. BMD analysis resulted in tPOD values of 0.56 µg/L (median of the 20 most sensitive gene-level BMDs), 5.0 µg/L (tenth percentile of all gene-level BMDs), 7.51 µg/L (mode of the first peak of all gene-level BMDs), and 5.66 µg/L (pathway-level BMD). These tPODs were protective of locomotor and reduced body weight effects (LOEC of 10.2 µg/L) observed in this study and were reflective of chronic apical BMDs of FLX reported in the literature. Furthermore, the distribution of gene-level BMDs followed a bimodal pattern, revealing disruption of sensitive neurotoxic pathways at low concentrations and metabolic pathway perturbations at higher concentrations. This is one of the first studies to derive protective tPODs for FLX using a short-term embryo assay at a life stage not considered to be a live animal under current legislations.

Precision mentoring (PM): a proposed framework for increasing research capacity in health-related disciplines.

PROBLEM: Research productivity is expected of academic faculty, and mentoring can facilitate it. This paper presents a framework for using mentoring to develop researchers in health disciplines. APPROACH: We utilized recent literature reviews, and experience developing researchers at an emerging research institution within the Research Centers for Minority Institutions (RCMI) program, to propose a precision mentoring (PM) framework for research development. OUTCOMES: Although we cannot precisely determine how much improvement was due to the PM framework, over the 4 years of our program, the quality and quantity of pilot project proposals (PPP) has increased, the number of external proposals submitted and funded by PPP investigators has increased, and the number of faculty participating in our program has increased. Surveys distributed to our 2021-22 PPP applicants who did not receive funding (n = 5/6 or 86.7%) revealed that new investigators most frequently sought mentoring related to career guidance (e.g., institutional culture, pre-tenure survival strategies), grant proposal basics (e.g., working with funding agencies, reviewing aims, balancing priorities, and enhancing scientific rigor), and identifying funding opportunities. NEXT STEPS: We recommend shifting the mentoring paradigm such that: (a) mentees are pre-screened and re-screened for their current skill set and desired areas of growth; (b) mentoring occurs in teams vs. by individuals; (c) mentors are trained and rewarded, and (d) attention is paid to enhancing institutional culture.

Development of a Comprehensive Toxicity Pathway Model for 17α-Ethinylestradiol in Early Life Stage Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promelas).

There is increasing pressure to develop alternative ecotoxicological risk assessment approaches that do not rely on expensive, time-consuming, and ethically questionable live animal testing. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive early life stage toxicity pathway model for the exposure of fish to estrogenic chemicals that is rooted in mechanistic toxicology. Embryo-larval fathead minnows (FHM; Pimephales promelas) were exposed to graded concentrations of 17α-ethinylestradiol (water control, 0.01% DMSO, 4, 20, and 100 ng/L) for 32 days. Fish were assessed for transcriptomic and proteomic responses at 4 days post-hatch (dph), and for histological and apical end points at 28 dph. Molecular analyses revealed core responses that were indicative of observed apical outcomes, including biological processes resulting in overproduction of vitellogenin and impairment of visual development. Histological observations indicated accumulation of proteinaceous fluid in liver and kidney tissues, energy depletion, and delayed or suppressed gonad development. Additionally, fish in the 100 ng/L treatment group were smaller than controls. Integration of omics data improved the interpretation of perturbations in early life stage FHM, providing evidence of conservation of toxicity pathways across levels of biological organization. Overall, the mechanism-based embryo-larval FHM model showed promise as a replacement for standard adult live animal tests.

Seasonal Variability in Weight Gain Among American Indian, Black, White, and Hispanic Children: A 3.5-Year Study.

INTRODUCTION: Several studies have reported that children gain more weight during the summer season. Despite high obesity rates, little research has included American Indian/Alaskan Native children, and few studies have been longitudinal. This observational study examines seasonal weight variability over 3.5 years among ethnically diverse children, including 2,184 American Indian/Alaskan Native children. METHODS: Children's height and weight were measured before and after the summer from 2012-2015 and analyzed in 2019-2020, including children with ≥2 consecutive measurements (N=7,890, mean age=8.4 [SD=2.8] years). Mixed-effects models tested whether the percentage of the 95th BMI percentile and BMI differed by season (summer versus the rest of the year) and ethnicity. RESULTS: American Indian/Alaskan Native (23.7%), Hispanic (19.8%), and Black (17.8%) children had significantly higher baseline obesity rates than White children (7.1%). The percentage of the 95th BMI percentile significantly increased during the summer compared with the percentage during the rest of the year, with the strongest effects for children who were obese (b=2.69, 95% CI=1.35, 4.03, p<0.001) or overweight (b=1.47, 95% CI=0.56, 2.35, p<0.01). In BMI units, summer BMI increase was 0.50 kg/m2 higher (obese model) and 0.27 kg/m2 higher (overweight) than that of the rest of the year. Seasonal effects were significantly less pronounced for American Indian/Alaskan Native children than for White children. CONCLUSIONS: Children gained significantly more weight during the summer season, with the strongest effects for children who were obese. American Indian/Alaskan Native children had less seasonal variability than White children, but higher overall obesity rates. These data underscore summer as a critical time for obesity prevention among children who are overweight/obese but suggest that seasonal patterns may vary for American Indian/Alaskan Native children.

Mentoring New and Early-Stage Investigators and Underrepresented Minority Faculty for Research Success in Health-Related Fields: An Integrative Literature Review (2010-2020).

Mentoring to develop research skills is an important strategy for facilitating faculty success. The purpose of this study was to conduct an integrative literature review to examine the barriers and facilitators to mentoring in health-related research, particularly for three categories: new investigators (NI), early-stage investigators (ESI) and underrepresented minority faculty (UMF). PsychINFO, CINAHL and PubMed were searched for papers published in English from 2010 to 2020, and 46 papers were reviewed. Most papers recommended having multiple mentors and many recommended assessing baseline research skills. Barriers and facilitators were both individual and institutional. Individual barriers mentioned most frequently were a lack of time and finding work-life balance. UMF mentioned barriers related to bias, discrimination and isolation. Institutional barriers included lack of mentors, lack of access to resources, and heavy teaching and service loads. UMF experienced institutional barriers such as devaluation of experience or expertise. Individual facilitators were subdivided and included writing and synthesis as technical skills, networking and collaborating as interpersonal skills, and accountability, leadership, time management, and resilience/grit as personal skills. Institutional facilitators included access to mentoring, professional development opportunities, and workload assigned to research. Advocacy for diversity and cultural humility were included as unique interpersonal and institutional facilitators for UMF. Several overlapping and unique barriers and facilitators to mentoring for research success for NI, ESI and UMF in the health-related disciplines are presented.

ECORISK2050: An Innovative Training Network for predicting the effects of global change on the emission, fate, effects, and risks of chemicals in aquatic ecosystems.

By 2050, the global population is predicted to reach nine billion, with almost three quarters living in cities. The road to 2050 will be marked by changes in land use, climate, and the management of water and food across the world. These global changes (GCs) will likely affect the emissions, transport, and fate of chemicals, and thus the exposure of the natural environment to chemicals. ECORISK2050 is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network that brings together an interdisciplinary consortium of academic, industry and governmental partners to deliver a new generation of scientists, with the skills required to study and manage the effects of GCs on chemical risks to the aquatic environment. The research and training goals are to: (1) assess how inputs and behaviour of chemicals from agriculture and urban environments are affected by different environmental conditions, and how different GC scenarios will drive changes in chemical risks to human and ecosystem health; (2) identify short-to-medium term adaptation and mitigation strategies, to abate unacceptable increases to risks, and (3) develop tools for use by industry and policymakers for the assessment and management of the impacts of GC-related drivers on chemical risks. This project will deliver the next generation of scientists, consultants, and industry and governmental decision-makers who have the knowledge and skillsets required to address the changing pressures associated with chemicals emitted by agricultural and urban activities, on aquatic systems on the path to 2050 and beyond.

Is subjective well-being independently associated with mortality? A 14-year prospective cohort study in a representative sample of 25 139 US men and women.

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether the inverse association of subjective well-being with mortality is independent of self-rated health and socioeconomic status in healthy adults. DESIGN: A population-based prospective cohort study based on an in-person interview. Cox regression was used to examine mortality hazards for happiness alone and for a standardised summary well-being measure that included happiness, life satisfaction and negative emotions. Using prespecified analyses, we first adjusted for age and then additionally adjusted for self-rated health and then race/ethnicity, marital status, smoking and socioeconomic status. SETTING: Probability sample of adult US residents interviewed in their homes in 2001. PARTICIPANTS: 25 139 adults free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: All-cause mortality 14 years after the baseline interview as assessed by probabilistic matching using the National Death Index. RESULTS: Age-adjusted unhappiness was associated with mortality (HR 1.27; 95% CI 1.11 to 1.45, p=0.001) but the association attenuated after adjusting for self-rated health (HR 1.01; 95% CI 0.88 to 1.16, p=0.85). A similar pattern was seen for the summary well-being measure in fully adjusted models (HR 1.00; 95% CI 0.99 to 1.00, p=0.30). In contrast, self-rated health was strongly associated with mortality. In the fully adjusted model with the summary well-being measure the hazards for good, very good and excellent self-rated health were 0.71 (95% CI 0.62 to 0.80, p<0.001), 0.63 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.71, p<0.001) and 0.45 (95% CI 0.39 to 0.51, p<0.001), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In this representative sample of US adults, the association between well-being and mortality was strongly attenuated by self-rated health and to a lesser extent socioeconomic status.

In ovo exposure of fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) to selenomethionine via maternal transfer and embryo microinjection: A comparative study.

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element of concern that is known to contaminate aquatic ecosystems as a consequence of releases from anthropogenic activities. Selenium is of particular toxicological concern for egg-laying vertebrates as they bioaccumulate Se through the diet and deposit excess Se to embryo-offspring via maternal transfer, a process which has been shown to result in significant teratogenic effects. The purpose of the present study was to determine and compare the in ovo effects of Se exposure on early development of a laboratory model fish species native to North American freshwater systems, the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), through two different exposure routes, maternal transfer and microinjection. For maternal transfer studies, fathead minnow breeding groups (3 females: 2 males) were exposed to diets containing Se-background levels (1.21 µg Se/g food, dry mass [dm]) or environmentally relevant concentrations of selenomethionine (SeMet; 3.88, 8.75 and 26.5 µg Se/g food dm) and bred for 28 days. Embryos were collected at different time points throughout the study to measure Se concentrations and to assess teratogenicity in embryos. While exposure to dietary Se did not negatively affect fecundity among treatment groups, the lowest treatment group (3.88 µg Se/g food dm) produced on average the most embryos per day, per female. The maternal transfer of excess Se occurred rapidly upon onset of exposure, reaching steady-state after approximately 14 days, and embryo Se concentrations increased in a dose-dependent manner. The greatest concentrations of maternally transferred Se significantly increased the total proportion of deformed embryo-larval fathead minnows but did not impact hatchability or survival. In a second study, fathead minnow embryos were injected with SeMet at concentrations of 0.00 (vehicle control), 9.73, 13.5 and 18.9 µg Se/g embryo dm. Microinjection of SeMet did not affect hatchability but significantly increased the proportion of deformed embryo-larval fish in a dose-dependent manner. There was a greater proportion of deformed fathead minnows at embryo Se concentrations of 18.9 µg Se/g embryo dm when exposed via microinjection versus maternal transfer at concentrations of 28.4 µg Se/g embryo dm. However, the findings suggest that both exposure routes induced analogous developmental toxicities in early life stage fish at Se concentrations between 9.73 and 13.5 µg Se/g embryo dm. Overall, this study demonstrated that microinjection has utility for studying the effects of Se in embryo-larval fish and is a promising method for the study of early life stage Se exposure in egg-laying vertebrates.

Predation risk induces age- and sex-specific morphological plastic responses in the fathead minnow Pimephales promelas.

Although comprehending the significance of phenotypic plasticity for evolution is of major interest in biology, the pre-requirement for that, the understanding of variance in plasticity, is still in its infancy. Most researchers assess plastic traits at single developmental stages and pool results between sexes. Here, we study variation among sexes and developmental stages in inducible morphological defences, a well-known instance of plasticity. We raised fathead minnows, Pimephales promelas, under different levels of background predation risk (conspecific alarm cues or distilled water) in a split-clutch design and studied morphology in both juveniles and adults. In accordance with the theory that plasticity varies across ontogeny and sexes, geometric morphometry analyses revealed significant shape differences between treatments that varied across developmental stages and sexes. Alarm cue-exposed juveniles and adult males developed deeper heads, deeper bodies, longer dorsal fin bases, shorter caudal peduncles and shorter caudal fins. Adult alarm cue-exposed males additionally developed a larger relative eye size. These responses represent putative adaptive plasticity as they are linked to reduced predation risk. Perhaps most surprisingly, we found no evidence for inducible morphological defences in females. Understanding whether similar variation occurs in other taxa and their environments is crucial for modelling evolution.

Relationship of athletic and academic identity to concussion reporting intentions.

BACKGROUND: Understanding concussed athletes' motivations for reporting concussion symptoms is important for health care professionals who are charged with the care, management, and prevention of future injury. OBJECTIVES: To examine if athletic and academic identity predict concussion symptom reporting intentions above and beyond traditional socio-cognitive predictors. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using self-report measures during the 2016 collegiate football season. METHOD: In a sample of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I American football athletes (N = 205) we examined the relationship of athletic and academic identity with three indices of symptom reporting behavior: reporting during a game, reporting 24 h after a game, and reporting on behalf of a teammate. We used descriptive statistical analyses, correlations, and linear regression to examine hypotheses. RESULTS: Controlling for traditional predictors, athletic identity was associated with a lower likelihood to report symptoms during a game (ß = -0.22, t = -3.28, p < .001) or within 24 h (ß = -0.28, t = -4.12, p < .001). Academic identity was positively associated with reporting intentions during a game (ß = 0.12, t = 1.68, p < .05), 24 h later (ß = 0.13, t = 1.85, p < .05), and on behalf of a teammate (ß = 0.22, t = -3.36, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Athletic and academic identities offer additional insight into athletes' motivation for concussion symptom reporting intentions, above and beyond traditional socio-cognitive predictors. Discussion focuses on the benefit of incorporating these important self-identities into educational health interventions to improve their impact.

Only 1 in 10 Patients Told to Lose Weight Seek Help From a Health Professional: A Nationally Representative Sample.

PURPOSE: Receiving weight loss advice from a health-care provider has been associated with more weight loss efforts and greater odds of achieving weight loss. However, whether patients seek help from their provider or other health professional with weight loss after receiving advice from them to lose weight is largely unknown. DESIGN: Cross-sectional data from the 2011 to 2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). SAMPLE: A total of 3862 overweight/obese adults. MEASURES: Questionnaires asked whether participants received advice to lose weight, and whether they sought health professional's assistance with weight management. The NHANES 2011 to 2012 was the most recent year both questions were asked. ANALYSIS: Accounting for NHANES sampling and design, frequency distributions characterized demographics and proportions. Logistic regressions estimated odds of seeking weight loss help by demographics. RESULTS: Of 3682 overweight/obese adults, 1908 were told they were overweight or recommended to lose weight. Of 1908 people, 68% reported weight loss efforts, but only health 10.9% sought a health professional's help (dietician/nutritionist 4.7%, personal trainer 3.0%, doctor 2.8%). Females, people with health insurance and high health-care utilization had 1.5 to 3.5 times greater odds of seeking help; age, ethnicity, and income were not significantly associated with seeking help with weight management. CONCLUSION: In a nationally representative sample, only 10.9% of overweight/obese adults told to lose weight by a provider sought help from a health professional with weight loss. This underscores the opportunity for greater health professional involvement with weight management beyond giving recommendations.