Breaking Free: The Genomics of Allopolyploidy-Facilitated Niche Expansion in White Clover.

The merging of distinct genomes, allopolyploidization, is a widespread phenomenon in plants. It generates adaptive potential through increased genetic diversity, but examples demonstrating its exploitation remain scarce. White clover (Trifolium repens) is a ubiquitous temperate allotetraploid forage crop derived from two European diploid progenitors confined to extreme coastal or alpine habitats. We sequenced and assembled the genomes and transcriptomes of this species complex to gain insight into the genesis of white clover and the consequences of allopolyploidization. Based on these data, we estimate that white clover originated ∼15,000 to 28,000 years ago during the last glaciation when alpine and coastal progenitors were likely colocated in glacial refugia. We found evidence of progenitor diversity carryover through multiple hybridization events and show that the progenitor subgenomes have retained integrity and gene expression activity as they traveled within white clover from their original confined habitats to a global presence. At the transcriptional level, we observed remarkably stable subgenome expression ratios across tissues. Among the few genes that show tissue-specific switching between homeologous gene copies, we found flavonoid biosynthesis genes strongly overrepresented, suggesting an adaptive role of some allopolyploidy-associated transcriptional changes. Our results highlight white clover as an example of allopolyploidy-facilitated niche expansion, where two progenitor genomes, adapted and confined to disparate and highly specialized habitats, expanded to a ubiquitous global presence after glaciation-associated allopolyploidization.

Role of public-private partnerships in tackling the tobacco and obesity epidemics.

In response to the illness and death caused by preventable chronic diseases, the US Department of Health and Human Services created Communities Putting Prevention to Work to support community efforts in tackling tobacco use and obesity through policy, systems, and environmental change. As part of this program, 10 national nonprofit organizations with prevention expertise were funded and matched with specific community objectives. Most tobacco and obesity-related matched objectives were successfully accomplished by communities. Public-private partnerships should be considered when addressing chronic disease prevention.

Building an evidence base to inform interventions for pregnant and parenting adolescents: a call for rigorous evaluation.

Adolescent parents and their children are at increased risk for adverse short- and long-term health and social outcomes. Effective interventions are needed to support these young families. We studied the evidence base and found a dearth of rigorously evaluated programs. Strategies from successful interventions are needed to inform both intervention design and policies affecting these adolescents. The lack of rigorous evaluations may be attributable to inadequate emphasis on and sufficient funding for evaluation, as well as to challenges encountered by program evaluators working with this population. More rigorous program evaluations are urgently needed to provide scientifically sound guidance for programming and policy decisions. Evaluation lessons learned have implications for other vulnerable populations.

The adolescent family life program: a multisite evaluation of federally funded projects serving pregnant and parenting adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the effectiveness of care demonstration projects supported by the Title XX Adolescent Family Life (AFL) program, which serves pregnant and parenting adolescents in an effort to mitigate the risks associated with adolescent childbearing. METHODS: This cross-site evaluation involved 12 projects and 1038 adolescents who received either enhanced services funded by the AFL program or usual care. We examined the effects of enhanced services on health, educational, and child care outcomes approximately 6 months to 2 years after intake and explored moderation of program effects by time since intake and project characteristics associated with outcomes. RESULTS: The odds of using long-acting reversible contraception (odds ratio [OR] = 1.58) and receiving regular child care (OR = 1.50) in the past month were higher in the intervention group than in the comparison group. Odds of a repeat pregnancy were lower (OR = 0.39) among intervention group adolescents than among comparison group adolescents within 12 months of intake. Several project characteristics were associated with adolescent health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: These projects show promise in improving effective contraceptive use, increasing routine child care, and yielding short-term decreases in repeat pregnancy.

The use of reconsent in a national evaluation of adolescent reproductive health programs.

PURPOSE: Reconsent involves asking research participants to reaffirm their consent for study participation when there have been significant changes in the study's procedures, risks, or benefits. We described the reconsent process, identified the reconsent rate, and examined the comparability of youths enrolled via consent and reconsent in a national evaluation of adolescent reproductive health programs. METHODS: Evaluation participants from five abstinence education projects (N = 2,176) and nine projects serving pregnant or parenting adolescents (N = 878) provided either parent or youth consent or reconsent to participate in the national evaluation. Participants completed surveys that included demographic characteristics; sexual intentions, norms and behaviors; and pregnancy history. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine associations between consent status, demographic characteristics, and risk indicators. RESULTS: The reconsent rates in the abstinence education and pregnant or parenting samples were 45% and 58%, respectively. Participant's age was positively associated with reconsent. Hispanic adolescents (and, for abstinence education, other racial/ethnic minorities) were underrepresented among youth with reconsent. Among abstinence education study participants, risk indicators were not associated with consent status. Among pregnant or parenting teens, those who had experienced repeat pregnancy were less likely than those who had experienced only one pregnancy to have been enrolled via reconsent. CONCLUSIONS: Reconsent can bolster sample size but may introduce bias by missing some racial/ethnic and age-groups. Among high-risk adolescents, reconsent may also yield a sample that differs from consented samples on risk characteristics, necessitating statistical adjustments when analyzing data.