De novo chromosome-level genome of a semi-dwarf cultivar of Prunus persica identifies the aquaporin PpTIP2 as responsible for temperature-sensitive semi-dwarf trait and PpB3-1 for flower type and size.

Peach (Prunus persica) is one of the most important fruit crops globally, but its cultivation can be hindered by large tree size. 'Zhongyoutao 14' (CN14) is a temperature-sensitive semi-dwarf (TSSD) cultivar which might be useful as breeding stock. The genome of CN14 was sequenced and assembled de novo using single-molecule real-time sequencing and chromosome conformation capture assembly. A high-quality genome was assembled and annotated, with 228.82 Mb mapped to eight chromosomes. Eighty-six re-sequenced F1 individuals and 334 previously re-sequenced accessions were used to identify candidate genes controlling TSSD and flower type and size. An aquaporin tonoplast intrinsic protein (PpTIP2) was a strong candidate gene for control of TSSD. Sequence variations in the upstream regulatory region of PpTIP2 correlated with different transcriptional activity at different temperatures. PpB3-1, a candidate gene for flower type (SH) and flower size, contributed to petal development and promoted petal enlargement. The locus of another 12 agronomic traits was identified through genome-wide association study. Most of these loci exhibited consistent and precise association signals, except for flesh texture and flesh adhesion. A 6015-bp insertion in exon 3 and a 26-bp insertion upstream of PpMYB25 were associated with fruit hairless. Along with a 70.5-Kb gap at the F-M locus in CN14, another two new alleles were identified in peach accessions. Our findings will not only promote genomic research and agronomic breeding in peach but also provide a foundation for the peach pan-genome.

Changes in bee functional traits at community and intraspecific levels along an elevational gradient in a Mexical-type scrubland.

Understanding the causes of morphological variation of organisms along climatic gradients has been a central challenge in ecological research. We studied the variation of community weighted mean (CWM) and two functional diversity metrics (Rao-Q and functional richness) computed for five morphological traits of wild bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) related to thermal performance (namely body size, relative appendage length and hairiness), at community and interspecific levels, along an elevation gradient in a Mexical-type scrubland. At the community level we found a decreasing CWM of body size pattern with increasing elevation which is consistent with the species-energy theory (and contrary to Bergmann's rule). We also found an increase in the CWM of relative tibia length, which is contrary to Allen's rule. Additionally, we found an increase in the CWM of relative hair length towards high levels of elevation, which would be consistent with the hypothesis that hairiness plays an important role as thermal insulation. We found that functional diversity was larger at low elevations with respect to high elevation for body size and hair length, which could imply that highland communities were more sensitive towards environmental changes than lowland communities. Overall, at intraspecific level, most of species showed no pattern for any of the traits along the elevation gradient. Future research should provide further evidence on the possible behavioral or physiological mechanisms behind it.

Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome as a major cause of syndromic intellectual disability: A study of 33 French cases.

Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome (WSS) is a rare syndromic condition in which intellectual disability (ID) is associated with hypertrichosis cubiti, short stature, and characteristic facies. Following the identification of the causative gene (KMT2A) in 2012, only 31 cases of WSS have been described precisely in the literature. We report on 33 French individuals with a KMT2A mutation confirmed by targeted gene sequencing, high-throughput sequencing or exome sequencing. Patients' molecular and clinical features were recorded and compared with the literature data. On the molecular level, we found 29 novel mutations. We observed autosomal dominant transmission of WSS in 3 families and mosaicism in one family. Clinically, we observed a broad phenotypic spectrum with regard to ID (mild to severe), the facies (typical or not of WSS) and associated malformations (bone, cerebral, renal, cardiac and ophthalmological anomalies). Hypertrichosis cubiti that was supposed to be pathognomonic in the literature was found only in 61% of our cases. This is the largest series of WSS cases yet described to date. A majority of patients exhibited suggestive features, but others were less characteristic, only identified by molecular diagnosis. The prevalence of WSS was higher than expected in patients with ID, suggesting than KMT2A is a major gene in ID.

Online yarn hairiness- Loop & protruding fibers dataset.

This paper introduces an online dataset focused on detecting hairiness in yarn, including loop and protruding fibers. The dataset is designed for use in assessing artificial intelligence algorithms. The dataset consists of 684 original images. Through augmentation, this number increases to 1644, with 11,037 annotations derived from videos featuring 56.4tex purple cotton yarn. The videos were captured during the winding and unwinding processes of the purple yarn coil. An image acquisition system capable of capturing high-resolution images while the yarn is in motion was used, reaching speeds of up to 4.2 m/s and producing images with a resolution of 1.6M pixels. This dataset containing 100m of purple cotton yarn images was recorded and is available for download in various formats, including, among others, YOLOv8, YOLOv5, YOLOv7, MT-YOLOv6, COCO JSON, YOLO Darknet, Pascal VOC XML, TFRecord, CreateML JSON. Within an interface developed for a designed mechatronic prototype, users can choose to gather images or videos of yarn. Various characteristics of the yarn, such us: diameter, linear mass, volume, twist orientation, twist step, number of cables, hairiness index, number of loose fibers, thin places, thick places, neps (mass parameters) and U, CV and sH (statistical parameters) can be obtained. Recently, this online yarn spinning dataset was employed to validate artificial neural network models for real-time detection of hairiness in yarns, including loop fibers and protruding fibers. The dataset presented, with its clear annotations and wide array of augmentation techniques, serves as a foundational resource for prospective studies in textile engineering, enabling progress in the analysis and comprehension of yarn analysis.

An analogical method for evaluating ring performance based on quality and production parameters.

This study was carried out to determine the best ring size for a certain yarn count. In a ring frame with three separate rings of varying sizes, 20s/1 kW yarn was created. The spinning method used the same ring speed, twist, ring traveller, and spacer but three distinct rings with diameters of 38 mm (Ring- A), 40 mm (Ring- B), and 42 mm (Ring- C). Then, under the same testing conditions, ten samples of each yarn were examined by Uster Evenness Tester (UT-6) and compared to determine the best one. The "Ring- C″ production yield was 0.22% and 1.34% greater than the "Ring- B″ and "Ring- A″ yields, respectively. Yarn breakage for "Ring- C″ was 47.78% and 200% greater than for "Ring- B″ and "Ring- A," respectively. Yarn unevenness for "Ring- C″ was found to be 4.15% and 4.14% higher than "Ring- B″ and "Ring- A," imperfection of yarn produced by "Ring- B″ was 18.54% and 3.47% lower than "Ring- C″ and "Ring- A," and tenacity of yarn produced by "Ring- B″ was 3.35% and 0.64% higher than "Ring- C″ and "Ring- A." "Ring- C″ yarn hairiness was 10.63% and 12.31% higher than "Ring- B″ and "Ring- A″ yarn hairiness, respectively. According to the study of the tested report, yarn generated from "Ring- B″ delivered optimized results in terms of both quality and output. Ring "Ring- B″ had a lower production loss than Ring "A" but a higher loss than Ring "C." Also, the hairiness of yarn made from "Ring- B″ was remarkably similar to yarn made from "Ring- A."

Functional Traits in Bees: the Role of Body Size and Hairs in the Pollination of a Passiflora Crop.

Pollination is a vitally important function in nature and becomes an ecosystem service because it influences the food and nutritional security for people. However, the contribution of different functional traits of insects for pollen transport of plants is still poorly known. We explore the relationship between pollinator insect functional traits and the transport of pollen of sweet granadilla (Passiflora ligularis Juss) in eight crops. We sampled flower-visiting insects of this crop and recorded 10 functional traits (five by direct measurements and five from the literature) that were related to the amount of pollen carried by each insect. Bees (Apidae) were not only the most abundant insects but also the ones that loaded the highest amounts of pollen. Within these, the most abundant species was the exotic common honeybee (Apis mellifera (Linnaeus)) making up almost half of the specimens collected; however, this bee carried less pollen grains than other native bees. Bombus hortulanus (Smith) was one of the large-bodied native bees that carried more sweet granadilla pollen, despite not being an abundant species in the community. Body size was the most important trait determining the transport of sweet granadilla pollen, while the traits related to body hairs were not significant for the body's pollen load. None of the functional traits evaluated was influenced by taxonomy at species-level. Our results suggest that large body sizes in bees are the most important traits in granadilla pollen transport, regardless of other changes in composition and structure of pollinating insect assemblages in the crop.

Disperse dyes, temperature and yarn parametre's effect on microfibre shedding of polyester spun yarn.

The yarn dyeing factories discharge liquid waste laden with a variety of hazardous substances, including microplastic fibre (MPFs), which are found in aquatic ecosystems. During dyeing, MPF shedding factors were determined in this study. Shedding factors were determined at six polyester yarn dyeing factories to assess MPF release for (1) dark and (2) light shading. Three dyeing processes were considered including normal, carrier and high temperature. Sawdust-based activated carbon was utilized to decolourize dye wastewater. Flocculation and clarification were done without a flotation process to obtain low-density MPF. A hot needle test was applied to visual identification under an optical microscope and quantification was done by filtering, weighting and count of the yarn. A maximum of 0.00399 % weight loss (wt.) was found for dark shade in the high-temperature dyeing process and 0.00392 % (light) was found in carrier dyeing to dye a coarser yarn. In contrast, 0.4562 mg L-1 fibre particles (≤ 0.225 mm) shedding in normal dyeing, for a light shade, was observed to a fine yarn where a minimum of 0.00138 % wt. was found. Shorter fibre length, higher denier, and courser yarn were associated with the greatest MPF discharge at high-temperature dyeing for a dark shade. The usual effluent treatment plant (ETP) of the textile industry can remove only 75.52 % MPFs of wastewater. Shedding of MPF during dyeing is remarkably higher than the domestic wash cycle of garments. Wastewater of textiles containing MPFs would appear as a regular and extensive initial source of MP emissions, which can damage the ecological system.

Invasive success of star weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) through alteration in structural and functional peculiarities.

Parthenium weed poses significant threats to cropping systems, socioeconomic structures, and native ecosystems. The pronounced impact is primarily attributed to its rapid and efficient invasion mechanism. Despite that the detrimental effects of Parthenium weed are widely acknowledged, an in-depth scientific comprehension of its invasion mechanism, particularly regarding modifications in structural and functional attributes under natural conditions, is still lacking. To bridge this knowledge gap and formulate effective strategies for alleviating the adverse consequences of Parthenium weed, a study was conducted in the more cultivated and densely populated areas of Punjab, Pakistan. This study was focused on fifteen distinct populations of the star weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) to investigate the factors contributing to its widespread distribution in diverse environmental conditions. The results revealed significant variations in growth performance, physiological traits, and internal structures among populations from different habitats. The populations from wastelands exhibited superior growth, with higher accumulation of soluble proteins (TSP) and chlorophyll content (Chl a&b, TChl, Car, and Chl a/b). These populations displayed increased root and stem area, storage parenchyma, vascular bundle area, metaxylem area, and phloem area. Significant leaf modifications included thicker leaves, sclarification around vascular bundles, and widened metaxylem vessels. Roadside populations possessed larger leaf area, enhanced antioxidant activity, increased thickness of leaves in terms of midrib and lamina, and a higher cortical proportion. Populations found in agricultural fields depicted enhanced shoot biomass production, higher levels of chlorophyll b, and an increased total chlorophyll/carotenoid ratio. Additionally, they exhibited increased phloem area in their roots, stems, and leaves, with a thick epidermis only in the stem. All these outcomes of the study revealed explicit structural and functional modifications among P. hysterophorus populations collected from different habitats. These variations were attributed to the environmental variability and could contribute to the widespread distribution of this species. Notably, these findings hold practical significance for agronomists and ecologists, offering valuable insights for the future management of Parthenium weed in novel environments and contributing to the stability of ecosystems.

Morphological Structure and Distribution of Hairiness on Different Body Parts of Apis mellifera with an Implication on Pollination Biology and a Novel Method to Measure the Hair Length.

Bees play a very important role in pollination, especially western honey bees, which contribute upwards of billions of dollars concerning crop pollination. Hairiness plays an important role in pollination success by transporting pollen, and pollen intake, but there is a lack of detailed studies on the morphological mechanisms. The hairiness trait is barely discussed in pollinator trait analysis because of the lack of systematic techniques used to measure hairiness. This paper reports a novel method that is used to measure the hair length of different body parts of a western honey bee through a stereomicroscope equipped with live measurement module software. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to update the knowledge regarding the hair structure of a western honey bee. We explained different types of hairs, hair branches, and their distributions on different body parts, which are discussed in detail. A positive correlation was found between hair length and the number of branches on all body parts. Five types of branches were observed, and these branches vary with different body parts. Our study provides sufficient details about the hair morphology of the western honey bee and a new methodology for measuring hair length. This methodology will improve the knowledge about understanding the pollination efficiency of the western honey bee.

Population Genomics and Haplotype Analysis in Bread Wheat Identify a Gene Regulating Glume Pubescence.

Glume hairiness or pubescence is an important morphological trait with high heritability to distinguish/characterize wheat and is related to the resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Hg1 (formerly named Hg) on chromosome arm 1AS controlled glume hairiness in wheat. Its genetic analysis and mapping have been widely studied, yet more useful and accurate information for fine mapping of Hg1 and identification of its candidate gene is lacking. The cloning of this gene has not yet been reported for the large complex wheat genome. Here, we performed a GWAS between SNP markers and glume pubescence (Gp) in a wheat population with 352 lines and further demonstrated the gene expression and haplotype analysis approach for isolating the Hg1 gene. One gene, TraesCSU02G143200 (TaELD1-1A), encoding glycosyltransferase-like ELD1/KOBITO 1, was identified as the most promising candidate gene of Hg1. The gene annotation, expression pattern, function SNP variation, haplotype analysis, and co-expression analysis in floral organ (spike) development indicated that it is likely to be involved in the regulation of glume pubescence. Our study demonstrates the importance of high-quality reference genomes and annotation information, as well as bioinformatics analysis, for gene cloning in wheat.

Sustainable yarn production using leftover fabric from apparel industries.

A huge amount of waste was generated from the apparel industries. This study aims to develop the process of producing recycled yarn from apparel waste. The apparel leftover fabric was converted to fiber, and the fiber was mixed with virgin cotton in different ratios to produce sustainable 6/1 Ne rotor yarn. The produced yarn qualities viz. count strength product (CSP), elongation percentage, total quality index (TQI) and tenacity were decreased linearly, and opposite scenario observed for thick and thin places, neps, imperfection index (IPI) and hairiness (H) attributes with increasing the amount of waste addition with virgin cotton. The leftover fabric (LOF) can be utilized to develop a sustainable yarn and to zero waste management.

Study on population structure of kiwifruit and GWAS for hairiness character.

BACKGROUND: A total of 74,936 SNPs were employed to carry out population structure and genome-wide association studies and post-GWAS for hairiness character of the fifty-six samples including thirty-six Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, eighteen A. chinensis var. chinensis, and two A. polygama in the light of morphological observations. RESULTS: The percentage of heterozygous sites of A. chinensis var. deliciosa is higher than that of A. chinensis var. chinensis, which could be one of the reasons for A. chinensis var. deliciosa high disease resistance. Fifty-six samples were divided into two subgroups, in which the genetic distance, ranged from 0.17 to 0.99, according to their genetic divergence. Analysis of molecular variance shows that the frequency of genetic variations within the population is 83.53% and 16.47% between populations. Fst between the two populations is 0.14, and Nm is 1.60. Set at α ≤ 0.05, a total of 327 SNPs and 260 haplotypes were related to the hairiness character. A total of 246 proteins were annotated using GO and KEGG analyses, which indicated the membrane-related genes and stress-resistant metabolic pathways are related to the hairiness character of leaves, stems, and peels of kiwifruit. Protein interaction analysis showed that DNA-directed RNA polymerase was an important node protein that interacted with many proteins. CONCLUSIONS: The genetic basic in the fifty-six genotypes was rich. The results of clustering and morphological observations are not completely consistent, indicating the hairiness character play an important role in the classification of kiwifruit, in which two A. polygama were clustered together with those of A. chinensis var. chinensis. Phylogeny and haplotype analysis showed that the evolution of A. chinensis var. chinensis is later than that of A. chinensis var. deliciosa in A. chinesis. The loss of hairiness character on leaves, stems and peels of A. chinensis var. chinensis compare with A. chinensis var. deliciosa, which is also the result of its poor resistance.

Overlapping association signals in the genetics of hair-related phenotypes in humans and their relevance to predictive DNA analysis.

Genetic prediction of different hair phenotypes can help reconstruct the physical appearance of an individual whose biological sample is analyzed in criminal and identification cases. Up to date, forensic prediction models for hair colour, hair shape, hair loss and hair greying have been developed, but studies investigating predictability of hair thickness and density traits are missing. First data suggesting overlapping associations in various hair features have emerged in recent years, suggesting partially common genetic basis and molecular mechanisms, and this knowledge can be used for predictive purposes. Here we aim to broaden our understanding of the genetics underlying head, facial and body hair thickness and density traits and examine the association for a set of literature SNPs. We characterize the overlap in SNP association for various hair phenotypes, the extent of genetic interactions and the potential for genetic prediction. The study involved 999 samples from Poland, genotyped for 240 SNPs with targeted next-generation sequencing. Logistic regression methods were applied for association and prediction analyses while entropy-based approach was used for interaction testing. As a result, we refined known associations for monobrow and hairiness (PAX3, 5q13.2, TBX) and identified two novel association signals in IGFBP5 and VDR. Both genes were among top significant loci, showed broad association with different hair-related traits and were implicated in multiple interaction effects. Overall, for 14.7% of SNPs previously associated with head hair loss and/or hair shape, a positive signal of association was revealed with at least one hair feature studied in the current research. Overlap in association with at least two hair-related traits was demonstrated for 24 distinct loci. We showed that the associated SNPs explain ∼5-30% of the variation observed in particular hair traits and allow moderate accuracy of prediction. The highest accuracy was achieved for hairiness level prediction in females (AUC = 0.69 for the "none", 0.69 for the "low" and 0.76 for the "excessive" hairiness category) and monobrow (AUC = 0.69 for the "none", 0.62 for the "slight" and 0.70 for the "significant" monobrow category) with 33% of the variation in hairiness level in females explained by 7 SNPs and age, and 20% of the variation in monobrow captured by 7 SNPs and sex. Our study presents clear evidence of pleiotropy and epistasis in the genetics of hair traits. The acquired knowledge may have practical application in forensics, as well as in the cosmetic industry and anthropological research.

MATLAB Algorithms for Diameter Measurements of Textile Yarns and Fibers through Image Processing Techniques.

Textile yarns are the fundamental building blocks in the fabric industry. The measurement of the diameter of the yarn textile and fibers is crucial in textile engineering as the diameter size and distribution can affect the yarn's properties, and image processing can provide automatic techniques for faster and more accurate determination of the diameters. In this paper, facile and new methods to measure the yarn's diameter and its individual fibers diameter based on image processing algorithms that can be applied to microscopic digital images. Image preprocessing such as binarization and morphological operations on the yarn image were used to measure the diameter automatically and accurately compared to the manual measuring using ImageJ software. In addition to the image preprocessing, the circular Hough transform was used to measure the diameter of the individual fibers in a yarn's cross-section and count the number of fibers. The algorithms were built and deployed in a MATLAB (R2020b, The MathWorks, Inc., Natick, Massachusetts, United States) environment. The proposed methods showed a reliable, fast, and accurate measurement compared to other different image measuring softwares, such as ImageJ.

HairNet: a deep learning model to score leaf hairiness, a key phenotype for cotton fibre yield, value and insect resistance.

BACKGROUND: Leaf hairiness (pubescence) is an important plant phenotype which regulates leaf transpiration, affects sunlight penetration, and provides increased resistance or susceptibility against certain insects. Cotton accounts for 80% of global natural fibre production, and in this crop leaf hairiness also affects fibre yield and value. Currently, this key phenotype is measured visually which is slow, laborious and operator-biased. Here, we propose a simple, high-throughput and low-cost imaging method combined with a deep-learning model, HairNet, to classify leaf images with great accuracy. RESULTS: A dataset of [Formula: see text] 13,600 leaf images from 27 genotypes of Cotton was generated. Images were collected from leaves at two different positions in the canopy (leaf 3 & leaf 4), from genotypes grown in two consecutive years and in two growth environments (glasshouse & field). This dataset was used to build a 4-part deep learning model called HairNet. On the whole dataset, HairNet achieved accuracies of 89% per image and 95% per leaf. The impact of leaf selection, year and environment on HairNet accuracy was then investigated using subsets of the whole dataset. It was found that as long as examples of the year and environment tested were present in the training population, HairNet achieved very high accuracy per image (86-96%) and per leaf (90-99%). Leaf selection had no effect on HairNet accuracy, making it a robust model. CONCLUSIONS: HairNet classifies images of cotton leaves according to their hairiness with very high accuracy. The simple imaging methodology presented in this study and the high accuracy on a single image per leaf achieved by HairNet demonstrates that it is implementable at scale. We propose that HairNet replaces the current visual scoring of this trait. The HairNet code and dataset can be used as a baseline to measure this trait in other species or to score other microscopic but important phenotypes.

Hairiness Gene Regulated Multicellular, Non-Glandular Trichome Formation in Pepper Species.

Trichomes are unicellular or multicellular epidermal structures that play a defensive role against environmental stresses. Although unicellular trichomes have been extensively studied as a mechanistic model, the genes involved in multicellular trichome formation are not well understood. In this study, we first classified the trichome morphology structures in Capsicum species using 280 diverse peppers. We cloned a key gene (Hairiness) on chromosome 10, which mainly controlled the formation of multicellular non-glandular trichomes (types II, III, and V). Hairiness encodes a Cys2-His2 zinc-finger protein, and virus-induced gene silencing of the gene resulted in a hairless phenotype. Differential expression of Hairiness between the hairiness and hairless lines was due to variations in promoter sequences. Transgenic experiments verified the hypothesis that the promoter of Hairiness in the hairless line had extremely low activity causing a hairless phenotype. Hair controlled the formation of type I glandular trichomes in tomatoes, which was due to nucleotide differences. Taken together, our findings suggest that the regulation of multicellular trichome formation might have similar pathways, but the gene could perform slightly different functions in crops.

Fine Mapping of the Gene Controlling the Fruit Skin Hairiness of Prunus persica and Its Uses for MAS in Progenies.

The fruit skin pubescence of Prunus persica is an economically important characteristic and comprises the classification criteria. The mapping and identification of a complete linkage marker to the fruit skin trichome trait locus of peach fruit are critical for the molecular marker-assisted selection for peach/nectarine. In this study, the BC1 population was constructed from the parents "Zhongyou No. 4", the recurrent parent, and "Baihuashanbitao", the non-recurrent parent. Based on the 38 BC1 individuals' phenotypes and their genotyping using next-generation sequencing, the G (Glabrous skin) locus of the gene was first identified between 14.099 and 16.721 Mb on chromosome 5. Using other individuals of this population, the gene was fine-mapped in the range of 481 kb with SNP markers. Based on the resequencing data of other cultivars (lines), the candidate SNP in the gene Prupe.5G196400 was obtained. Subsequently, the SNP marker was designed and applied to natural and hybrid peach populations. Via genotyping analysis, we confirmed co-segregation between the peach/nectarine phenotype, which was used in the identification of peach or nectarine with 100% accuracy.

Synthetized Potato Starch-A New Eco Sizing Agent for Cotton Yarns.

The objective of this research was to verify the feasibility of the use of newly synthesized biopolymer materials for sizing cotton yarns based on the basic principles of chemical modification. Research included acid hydrolysis of potato starch up to controlled molar masses together with graft-polymerization and methacrylic acid onto hydrolyzed starch to improve hydrophilicity and solubility, to increase the capability of film forming, to increase adhesive potential and to avoid retrogradation phenomena. Research objectives were primarily focused on finding an appropriate, environmentally-friendly and productive sizing agent for cotton yarns via the analysis and systematization of a large number of synthesis methods in conjunction with the characterization and properties of graft-copolymers. The research results showed that potassium persulfate initiator was most efficient in grafting of methacrylic acid onto hydrolyzed starch, while azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBIN) initiator was most efficient in grafting of acrylic acid (AC). FTIR analysis confirmed that new and efficient products for sizing cotton yarns from synthetized potato starch were obtained. Research on rheological properties of copolymers shows a higher viscosity of grafted products indicating the good stability of potential starches. Ecological improvements have been established through high desizing degree as well as improvements in physical-mechanical properties of yarn, abrasion resistance and decrease in yarn surface hairiness were noticed. The use of new derivatives of potato starch, especially of hydrolyzed starch grafted with methacrylic acid (MAA), potassium persulfate (KPS) as initiator, was confirmed. Anova statistical analysis determined the influence of the entire sizing process on individual yarn parameters.

Prevalence and Motivation: Pubic Hair Grooming Among Men in the United States.

Pubic hair grooming is a growing phenomenon and is associated with body image and sexual activity. A nationally representative survey of noninstitutionalized adults aged 18 to 65 years residing in the United States was conducted. Differences in demographic and sexual characteristics between groomers and nongroomers were explored. Four thousand one hundred and ninety-eight men completed the survey. Of these men, 2,120 (50.5%) reported regular pubic hair grooming. The prevalence of grooming decreases with age, odds ratio = 0.95 (95% confidence interval [0.94, 0.96]), p < .001. Adjusting for sexual frequency and sexual orientation, grooming is associated with performing and receiving oral sex. The majority of men report grooming in preparation for sexual activity with a peak prevalence of 73% among men aged 25 to 34 years, followed by hygiene (61%) and routine care (44%). The majority of men who remove their pubic hair groom the hair above the penis (87%), followed by the scrotum (66%) and the penile shaft (57%). Overall, pubic hair grooming is common among men aged 18 to 65 years in the United States. Younger ages are associated with greater rates of pubic hair grooming. Many men groom for sex, in particular oral sex, as well as for routine care and hygiene.

Baldness and testicular cancer: the EPSAM case-control study.

The etiology of testicular cancer is largely unexplained. Research has mainly focused on prenatal exposures, especially to sex hormones, while less attention has been paid to exposures that may act also postnatally. As baldness has been previously associated with testicular cancer risk we focused on baldness and body hairiness, which are both associated with androgen activity. We used data of the Postnatal Exposures and Male Health (EPSAM) study, a case-control study on testicular cancer conducted in the Province of Turin, Italy, involving cases diagnosed between 1997 and 2008. Information was collected using mailed questionnaires. Analyses included 255 cases and 459 controls. We calculated ORs and 95% CIs to estimate testicular cancer risk among those who developed baldness and among those with body hairiness. We found an inverse association between testicular cancer and baldness (OR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.46-0.98) and body hairiness (OR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.53-1.16), although the latter had wider CIs. The inverse association between baldness and testicular cancer is consistent with the results from previous studies. These results suggest that androgens activity may influence testicular cancer risk.