Search Results (3,523)

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are widely used in engineering prediction, but excessive input dimensionality can reduce both accuracy and efficiency. This study proposes a two-stage feature-reduction framework, Feature Importance Ranking and Redundancy Elimination (FIRRE), to optimize ANN inputs by removing weakly informative and redundant variables. In Stage 1, four complementary ranking methods, namely Pearson correlation, recursive feature elimination, random forest importance, and F-test scoring, are combined into an ensemble importance score. In Stage 2, highly collinear features (ρ > 0.95) are pruned while retaining the more informative variable in each pair. FIRRE is evaluated on 32 civil engineering datasets spanning materials, structural, and environmental applications, and benchmarked against Principal Component Analysis, variance-threshold filtering, random feature selection, and K-means clustering. Across the benchmark suite, FIRRE consistently achieves competitive or improved predictive performance while reducing input dimensionality by 40% on average and decreasing computation time by 10–60%. A dynamic modulus case study further demonstrates its practical value, improving R² from 0.926 to 0.966 while reducing inputs from 25 to 7. Overall, FIRRE provides a practical, robust framework for simplifying ANN inputs and improving efficiency in civil engineering prediction tasks. Full article

Common methods for detecting Drosophila suzukii (spotted-wing drosophila, SWD) in fruit, such as microscopy, physical extraction, and incubation, are time-consuming and may underrepresent egg and first instar larvae counts, the smallest life stages of SWD. To address these limitations, we evaluated a quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) protocol to detect and quantify SWD eggs using a linear model of the log-transformed ratio of eggs to sample volume (µL) in Tris buffer and fruit tissue. Compared to traditional approaches, this method reduces identification time from several weeks to approximately five hours. We observed a negative linear correlation between qPCR cycle threshold and egg concentration in both standard and fruit tissue samples, with similar model fits (R² = 0.7215 for field fruit tissue; R² = 0.874 for standard samples). This DNA-based protocol improves infestation detection speed and accuracy by enabling rapid, species-specific identification of D. suzukii in fruit tissue, addressing limitations of morphological identification of eggs and larvae. Further refinement for fruit tissue could enhance real-world applicability. Rapid detection may enable timely assessment of varietal resistance to SWD and support safer control strategies targeting early life stages, helping to prevent pest development and fruit degradation. Full article

Background/Objectives: Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) management is increasingly complex due to conflicting guideline-based risk classifications, ongoing Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) shortages, and emerging alternative therapies. Computational Histology Artificial Intelligence (CHAI) tests are clinically available, providing insights from tumor specimens including predicting BCG responsiveness and individualized recurrence and progression risks, which may support precision medicine. This technology features biomarkers purpose-built for clinically unmet needs and has practical advantages including a fast turnaround time and no need for consumption of tissue or other specimens. We assessed the impact of such tests on physicians’ decision-making in routine, real-world NMIBC management. Methods: Physicians at six centers ordered CHAI tests (Vesta Bladder) at their discretion during routine NMIBC care. Tumor specimens were processed by a CLIA/CAP-accredited laboratory (Valar Labs, Houston, TX, USA) where H&E-stained slides were analyzed with the CHAI assay to extract histomorphic features of the tumor and microenvironment, which were algorithmically assessed to generate biomarker test results. For each case from 24 June 2024 to 18 July 2025, ordering physicians were surveyed to assess pre- and post-test management plans and post-test result usefulness. Results: Among 105 high-grade NMIBC cases with complete survey results available, primary management changed in 67% (70/105). Changes included modality shifts (n = 7; three to radical cystectomy with high prognostic risk scores; four avoiding cystectomy with low scores) and intravesical agent change (n = 63). Surveillance was intensified in 7%, predominantly among those with ≥90th percentile risk scores. The therapeutic agent changed in 80% (40/50) of predictive biomarker-present (indicative of poor response to BCG) tumors vs. 48% (23/48) of biomarker-absent tumors. Conclusions: In two thirds of cases, CHAI biomarker results influenced clinical decision-making during routine care. BCG predictive biomarker results frequently guided intravesical agent selection. These results have implications for optimizing clinical outcomes, especially in the setting of ongoing BCG shortages. Prognostic risk stratification results guided treatment escalation vs. de-escalation, including surveillance intensification and surgical vs. bladder-sparing decisions. CHAI biomarkers are currently utilized in routine clinical care and informing precision NMIBC management. Full article

Nitrogen (N) management remains a primary challenge in organic grain systems, particularly in rotations where heavy N-consuming crops, such as corn and wheat, follow one another. Daikon radish (Raphanus sativus L.) is widely adopted for its ability to scavenge residual soil nitrate between cash crops; yet the subsequent availability of scavenged N to the following crop is inconsistent and often negligible. This 4-year field study (2014–2017) at the University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center evaluated whether planting daikon radish in polyculture with berseem clover, and either annual oats or winter rye could improve N retention and timed release compared to daikon radish monoculture. Three cover crop treatments were tested across three common organic management systems: no manure with no tillage, manure with tillage, and manure plus shallow tillage incorporation before cover crop seeding. Polycultures, especially those including winter rye, produced significantly more fall biomass (up to 6435 kg ha⁻¹) than daikon radish monoculture (573–1272 kg ha⁻¹). Manure incorporation consistently increased total and daikon radish biomass, as well as the percent living cover. Despite substantial biomass differences, mid-season and fall soil inorganic N, potentially mineralizable N, permanganate-oxidizable C, and enzyme activities showed few consistent treatment effects. Corn grain yield was highest following manure with tillage incorporation but was significantly reduced after the winter rye polyculture in all years, likely due to N immobilization and delayed corn planting caused by late rye termination under wet spring conditions. Results indicate that while polycultures with winter rye maximize biomass and soil cover, they do not reliably enhance N recycling to the subsequent organic corn crop and can reduce yield. Full article

Myeloid neoplasms (MNs) with germline predisposition represent a distinct, increasingly recognized category in the WHO classification, encompassing myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) arising in the context of an inherited genetic alteration or mutation. While often presenting at a younger age or with characteristic cytopenias with or without organ dysfunction, some can manifest in adulthood, highlighting the need for vigilance regardless of age or family history. Key predisposing genes include transcription factors (e.g., RUNX1, CEBPA) and genes involved in RNA splicing and telomere biology disorders. Identification of these germline mutations is critical as MNs with germline predisposition dictate specific therapeutic strategies—particularly for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)—and require genetic counseling and surveillance for at-risk relatives. Accurate diagnosis often requires non-hematopoietic germline DNA testing, which provides important biological insights into the development of different myeloid neoplasms and directs personalized patient care. Full article

The closure of rural maternity units in hospitals across the United States contributes to health inequities; however, little is known about the effects of reopening maternity services in this context. We conducted a mixed-methods study to characterize labor and delivery outcomes and patient experiences associated with the reopening of a rural Level 1 Maternity Care Center (MCC) at a critical access hospital. We compared clinical outcomes and distance to care for patients who gave birth at the rural MCC in the three years after its opening with outcomes from a similar low-risk and geographically located sample who gave birth at a large suburban academic medical center in the same hospital system in the three years before the MCC reopened. We also conducted in-depth interviews with patients who gave birth at the MCC. Labor and delivery outcomes were similar across both groups, with significantly more care provided by family physicians and midwives and lower neonatal intensive care unit use at the MCC. The opening of the MCC halved the distance patients traveled to give birth, and patients reported high rates of satisfaction. Rural maternity care centers can improve access to quality care closer to home using a resource-appropriate model. Full article

Sequential decision-making is critical for applications ranging from personalized recommendations to resource allocation. This study evaluates three decision policies—Greedy, Thompson Sampling (via Monte Carlo Dropout), and a zero-shot Large Language Model (LLM)-guided policy (Gemini-1.5-Pro)—within a contextual bandit framework. To address covariate shift and assess subpopulation performance, we utilize a Collective Conditional Diffusion Network (CCDN) where covariates are partitioned into $B=10$ homogeneous blocks. Evaluating these policies across a high-dimensional treatment space ($K=5$, resulting in $2^5=32$ actions), we tested performance in a simulated environment and three benchmark datasets: Boston Housing, Wine Quality, and Adult Income. Our results demonstrate that the Greedy strategy achieves the highest Model-Relative Optimal (MRO) coverage, reaching 1.00 in the Wine Quality and Adult Income datasets, though performance drops significantly to 0.05 in the Boston Housing environment. Thompson Sampling maintains competitive regret and, in the Boston Housing dataset, marginally outperforms Greedy in action selection precision. Conversely, the zero-shot LLM-guided policy consistently underperforms in numerical tabular settings, exhibiting the highest median regret and near-zero MRO coverage across most tasks. Furthermore, Wilcoxon tests reveal that differences in empirical outcomes between policies are often not statistically significant (ns), suggesting an optimization ceiling in zero-shot tabular settings. These findings indicate that while traditional model-driven policies are robust, LLM-guided approaches currently lack the numerical precision required for high-dimensional sequential decision-making without further calibration or hybrid integration. Full article

Plant nutrient content is spatially and temporally dynamic, exposing insect herbivores to substantial nutritional variability. Such variability can constrain insects to feeding on sub-optimal diets, but it can also allow them to regulate their intake towards an optimal nutrient balance. Nutrient regulation is important in pest management, as the nutritional state of insects may alter their susceptibility to insecticides. Diet macronutrient balance has been shown to significantly affect the susceptibility of Helicoverpa zea larvae to endotoxins produced by transgenic crops containing Bacillus thurigiensis (Bt) genes. However, this was demonstrated using a highly inbred laboratory strain, limiting extrapolation to field populations. Here, we test the impact of field-relevant macronutrient variability on the efficacy of two Bt toxins across three field populations to increase the relevance to resistance monitoring and management. While differences in susceptibility were limited across populations, dietary effects were highly population specific. The Bt toxin that was most affected by diet and the diet that supported optimal survival and performance varied across populations. These findings indicate that nutrition can strongly influence Bt susceptibility, but these effects are influenced by population-level differences. To accurately assess Bt susceptibility in the field, bioassay diets should be tailored to the nutritional ecology of local populations. Full article

Objective: The aim of this study was to systematically map evidence to inform best practices for sexual and reproductive healthcare delivered via telehealth (TeleSRH) in United States-based Title X-funded clinics. Methods: We searched three databases (2017–2025) for studies evaluating effectiveness, harms, patient and provider experiences, barriers/facilitators, and engagement strategies encompassing TeleSRH for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), contraceptive care/family planning (CC/FP), and sexual wellness, in countries with a human development index of ≥0.8. Results: From 5963 references and 436 articles, we included 142 eligible publications. TeleSRH use declined since the COVID-19 pandemic’s peak but remains higher than pre-pandemic. Evidence comes mostly from poor-quality studies. TeleSRH increases access and adherence to STI prevention (e.g., pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV). Tele-follow-up may safely facilitate HIV care continuity. For CC/FP, TeleSRH is comparable to in-person care for patient satisfaction and uptake; patients are less likely to select long-acting reversible contraception but post-initiation tele-follow-up may increase its continuation rates. Vasectomy completion rates may be similar between pre-procedural counseling via telehealth versus in-person. TeleSRH’s potential benefits might include reduced travel time, wait times, no-show rates, and clinic human resource burden (via tele-triaging) and increased preventative screening rates for STIs and non-communicable diseases, prescription refill rates, ability to receive confidential care in preferred settings, and rural/marginalized community outreach. Implementation challenges span technological and capital constraints, provider availability, staff capability building, restrictive policies, language incompatibility, and patient mistrust. Supplementing synchronous TeleSRH with asynchronous communication (e.g., mobile application) may improve continued patient engagement. Conclusions: Preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic TeleSRH can be effective, with high patient acceptability; however, effectiveness and adoption hinge on contextual factors outlined in this review. Full article

Although student evaluations of teaching (SET) in higher education have recently gained considerable interest, little is known about whether course level influences these evaluations. Accordingly, two datasets, obtained from a large public university in the U.S. Midwest, were analyzed to investigate whether course level makes a difference in SET. The first dataset included 25,306 evaluations across eight course levels collected using the SET questionnaire. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), followed by univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs), was conducted to test whether course level makes a difference in SET scores. To cross-validate the results and ensure generalizability, the same analyses were conducted using a second, smaller dataset (N = 444). MANOVA results revealed a statistically significant effect for course level on the combined SET dimensions across both campuses. All univariate ANOVAs were also significant across both campuses. Follow-up post hoc comparisons, with level 1 as the reference group, were statistically significant, especially for level 8. Overall, these results underscore the importance of accounting for course level when interpreting SET and encourage researchers to include key covariates (e.g., class size, discipline, instructor experience, and student composition) to identify the factors driving course-level differences. Full article

Maternal nutrition during gestation profoundly influences fetal growth, organogenesis, and long-term offspring performance through developmental programming. Among the molecular mechanisms responsive to maternal nutrient availability, one-carbon metabolism plays a central role by integrating folate, methionine, choline, and vitamin B₁₂ pathways that regulate methylation, nucleotide synthesis, and antioxidant defense. These processes link maternal nutritional status to epigenetic remodeling, cellular proliferation, and redox balance during fetal development. Mitochondria act as nutrient sensors that translate maternal metabolic cues into bioenergetic and oxidative signals, shaping tissue differentiation and metabolic flexibility. Variations in maternal diet have been associated with shifts in fetal amino acid, lipid, and energy metabolism, suggesting adaptive responses to constrained intrauterine environments. This review focuses on the molecular interplay between one-carbon metabolism, mitochondrial function, and metabolomic adaptation in developmental programming of ruminant livestock. Understanding these mechanisms offers opportunities to design precision nutritional strategies that enhance fetal growth, offspring productivity, and long-term resilience in livestock production systems. Full article

Background: Excess adiposity induces low-grade inflammation, including increased C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Green tea contains epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), with anti-inflammatory potential. EGCG metabolism is influenced by individual variations in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genotypes. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of green tea extract (GTE) supplementation on circulating inflammatory cytokines among postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity and differing COMT genotypes. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of a random subset (N = 97) from the Minnesota Green Tea Trial (MGTT), a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial. The intervention was a high-dose GTE supplement (843 ± 44 mg EGCG/day) or placebo for 1 year. Serum CRP, TNF-α, and IL-6 were measured at 0, 6, and 12 months. Absolute changes in inflammatory cytokines from baseline to month 12 were evaluated using linear mixed-effects models adjusted for age, body mass index (BMI), smoking history, physical activity, and vitamin supplement use. Results: The changes from month 0 to month 12 were not statistically different between the groups for any of the inflammatory cytokines measured. The overall treatment effect was not statistically significant for CRP (p = 0.24), IL-6 (p = 0.59), TNF-α (p = 0.36), nor for the interaction between treatment group and time (all Ps > 0.40). There was no significant interaction between treatment group and COMT genotype for the stated markers. Conclusions: A high-dose GTE supplement consumed daily for one year did not significantly decrease inflammatory cytokines among postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity. The COMT genotype did not modify the effects of GTE supplementation on inflammatory cytokines. Future studies with a larger sample size among those at high risk of systemic inflammation are warranted. Full article

Species delimitation in Charipinae hyperparasitoids (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) is notoriously difficult due to their minute size and limited morphological variability. Traditional diagnostic characters sometimes show intraspecific variation, raising concerns about their reliability. Here, we applied an integrative taxonomic framework to evaluate species boundaries among six species of Alloxysta Förster and four species of Phaenoglyphis Förster. We combined a morphological dataset of 53 characters with data from three molecular markers (COI, ITS2, and 16S rRNA) and reconstructed phylogenies under maximum-likelihood criteria. Phylogenies consistently recovered morphologically defined taxa as well-supported clades, confirming the overall reliability of traditional characters (pronotal and propodeal carinae, radial cell shape, and flagellomere proportions). On the other hand, molecular evidence refined certain species limits and highlighted cases of potential cryptic variation. Our results demonstrate that morphology still provides a strong baseline for Charipinae taxonomy, but integration with molecular data yields more robust and stable classifications. This study underscores the value of multi-locus approaches for resolving taxonomic ambiguities and provides a framework for future ecological and evolutionary research on these hyperparasitoid wasps. Full article

Vaccination is a tool to control Lawsonia intracellularis (LI) in pigs. However, pigs may have co-infections that worsen clinical signs and lesions. The aim of this study was to characterize systemic and gut-mediated humoral and cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses in pigs vaccinated with a killed intramuscular LI vaccine and to analyze the impact of co-infection with Brachyspira hyodysenteriae (Bhyo) on the immune response. The study included eighty pigs and five study groups: V-CO (LI-vaccinated and co-infected with LI + Bhyo, n = 21), P-CO (placebo and co-infected with LI + Bhyo, n = 18), V-LI (LI-vaccinated and infected with LI, n = 21), P-LI (placebo and infected with LI, n = 12), and NC (negative control, placebo and non-challenged, n = 8). Parameters analyzed: fecal score and pathogen shedding), gross intestinal lesions, LI intestinal colonization (IHC), serum IgG, LI-specific IFN-γ production (ELISPOT), and immune cell subsets (flow cytometry) in blood, mesenteric lymph nodes, Peyer’s patches, and intestinal epithelium. LI vaccination significantly reduced LI fecal shedding, intestinal colonization, and macroscopic lesions—even under Bhyo co-infection. Vaccinated pigs had earlier and stronger serum IgG and IFN-γ responses. B cells seem to play an important role in the local immune response, and T regulatory cells apparently do not have a significant role in immunomodulation. This study contributes to a better understanding of LI immune response and can provide subtract for further research in the control of LI. Full article