Forage Genetics International

Abstract Purpose African American breast cancer patients remain significantly underrepresented in clinical trials, despite experiencing more aggressive disease and disproportionately worse outcomes. While awareness of clinical trials has increased, there is still a gap between awareness and participation, especially due to limited access to personalized support and actionable next steps. BreastCancerTrials.org and Sisters Network® Inc. partnered to assess attitudes, knowledge, beliefs, and experiences related to clinical trials as part of a larger initiative to improve trial awareness and enrollment in African American women. Methods Sisters Network® Inc distributed a survey to over 100 African American breast cancer survivors affiliated with the organization to gather insights on their knowledge, experiences, and beliefs about clinical trials. As the largest national African American breast cancer survivorship organization with more than 30 chapters across the U.S., Sisters Network® Inc utilized its extensive network to reach a broad and diverse community of survivors. The survey asked about participants demographics, breast cancer details, and familiarity with clinical trials. It covered communication with healthcare providers, trial eligibility and experience, barriers to participation, challenges finding trial information, and interest in using clinical trial navigation for support. Results Preliminary findings show that more than 65% of respondents were familiar or somewhat familiar with clinical trials. When asked about participation, 44% said they would join a trial if their healthcare provider offered it as an option. Most participants lived in urban (51%) or suburban (46%) areas and were early-stage breast cancer survivors. Specifically, 14% were diagnosed at stage 0, 34% at stage 1, 46% at stages 2 or 3, and 3% had metastatic cancer. Regarding biomarker status, 34% reported being ER/PR positive, 21% had Triple Negative breast cancer, and 22% were unsure of their status. Thirty percent of respondents had discussed clinical trial participation with their healthcare team. Of those, 67% said the healthcare team initiated the conversation, while 16% reported bringing it up themselves. Key barriers to clinical trial participation included difficulty determining eligibility, challenges finding a trial, and limited understanding of how trials work. Despite these challenges, most respondents expressed interest in learning more. Over half indicated they would be interested in clinical trial navigation services, with 52% identified as having interest in receiving education and support from a clinical trial navigator. Conclusion This study further demonstrates the barriers that African American breast cancer patients experience, and the fact that they could benefit from culturally competent, personalized navigation. This survey was the first step in a broader effort to build trust and increase clinical trial knowledge, awareness, and participation among African American breast cancer patients through the development of customized, culturally responsive education programs and navigation support. BreastCancerTrials.org and Sisters Network® Inc. efforts to improve access and diversity in clinical trials will support broader initiatives within both organizations. Insights from this study will also help refine our enrollment strategies for the I-SPY clinical trials. Citation Format: S. Mayhew, S. Colen, L. Patel, S. Horton, K. E. Jackson, C. Allen, O. Akanni, J. LaCoursiere, T. Heather, E. Laura. Listening to the Community: Barriers and Beliefs About Clinical Trials Among Black Women with Breast Cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2025; 2025 Dec 9-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2026;32(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS4-09-01.

BackgroundLignin is an aromatic polymer deposited in secondary cell walls of higher plants to provide strength, rigidity, and hydrophobicity to vascular tissues. Due to its interconnections with cell wall polysaccharides, lignin plays important roles during plant growth and defense, but also has a negative impact on industrial processes aimed at obtaining monosaccharides from plant biomass. Engineering lignin offers a solution to this issue. For example, previous work showed that heterologous expression of a coliphage S-adenosylmethionine hydrolase (AdoMetase) was an effective approach to reduce lignin in the model plant Arabidopsis. The efficacy of this engineering strategy remains to be evaluated in bioenergy crops.ResultsWe studied the impact of expressing AdoMetase on lignin synthesis in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). Lignin content, monomer composition, and size, as well as biomass saccharification efficiency were determined in transgenic sorghum lines. The transcriptome and metabolome were analyzed in stems at three developmental stages. Plant growth and biomass composition was further evaluated under field conditions. Results evidenced that lignin was reduced by 18% in the best transgenic line, presumably due to reduced activity of the S-adenosylmethionine-dependent O-methyltransferases involved in lignin synthesis. The modified sorghum features altered lignin monomer composition and increased lignin molecular weights. The degree of methylation of glucuronic acid on xylan was reduced. These changes enabled a ~20% increase in glucose yield after biomass pretreatment and saccharification compared to wild type. RNA-seq and untargeted metabolomic analyses evidenced some pleiotropic effects associated with AdoMetase expression. The transgenic sorghum showed developmental delay and reduced biomass yields at harvest, especially under field growing conditions.ConclusionsThe expression of AdoMetase represents an effective lignin engineering approach in sorghum. However, considering that this strategy potentially impacts multiple S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferases, adequate promoters for fine-tuning AdoMetase expression will be needed to mitigate yield penalty.

The 2024 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Forensic Science Research and Development Symposium is intended to promote collaboration and enhance knowledge transfer of NIJ-funded research. The NIJ Forensic Science Research and Development Program funds both basic or applied research and development projects that will (1) increase the body of knowledge to guide and inform forensic science policy and practice or (2) result in the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods that have the potential for forensic application. The intent of this program is to direct the findings of basic scientific research; research and development in broader scientific fields applicable to forensic science; and ongoing forensic science research toward the development of highly discriminating, accurate, reliable, cost-effective, and rapid methods for the identification, analysis, and interpretation of physical evidence for criminal justice purposes.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c01160.].

Abstract BackgroundThe focus of triticale breeding in the southern Great Plains of the United States has been to increase forage yield for autumn–winter seasons when most other forage species are dormant. This study aims to estimate the trends of seasonal yield changes over time.MethodsYield trials had been conducted in a randomized complete block design for up to two decades. Seasonal yield changes over time were estimated using linear regression analysis.ResultsThe analysis revealed a significant positive relation between autumn forage yield (relative to common checks) and calendar years when the trials were conducted. The estimated improvement of autumn forage yield was about 1.9% per year on medium and heavy soil at Ardmore, Oklahoma, and about 5.4% per year on light soil at Burneyville, Oklahoma. However, winter forage yield change was minimal and the spring forage yield increase was negative, although this decline was not significant. Total forage yield improvements were about 0.6% and 0.7% per year at Ardmore and Burneyville, respectively. Similar results were also observed when years of cultivars' introduction were used instead.ConclusionsThe results indicate a significant gain in autumn forage yield, but a minor gain in the total forage yield due to the yield tradeoff between the autumn and spring seasons.

Throughout history, individuals have changed the world in significant ways, forging new paths; demonstrating remarkable capacity to inspire others to follow; and repeatedly showing independence, resilience, consistency, and commitment to principle. However, significant cultural change is rarely accomplished single-handedly; instead, it results from the complex and dynamic interaction of groups of individuals. To illustrate how leaders participate in cultural phenomena, I describe how a few individuals helped to establish the Cold War. In this analysis, I distinguish two types of cultural phenomena: metacontingencies, involving lineages of interlocking behavioral contingencies, and cultural cusps, involving complicated, unique, and nonreplicable interrelations between individuals and circumstances. I conclude that by analyzing leaders' actions and their results, we can appreciate that cultural and behavioral phenomena are different, and although cultural phenomena are inherently complex and in many cases do not lend themselves to replication, not only should the science of behavior account for them, cultural phenomena should also constitute a major area of behavior analysis study and application.

A large set of genome-wide markers and a high-throughput genotyping platform can facilitate the genetic dissection of complex traits and accelerate molecular breeding applications. Previously, we identified about 0.9 million SNP markers by sequencing transcriptomes of 27 diverse alfalfa genotypes. From this SNP set, we developed an Illumina Infinium array containing 9,277 SNPs. Using this array, we genotyped 280 diverse alfalfa genotypes and several genotypes from related species. About 81% (7,476) of the SNPs met the criteria for quality control and showed polymorphisms. The alfalfa SNP array also showed a high level of transferability for several closely related Medicago species. Principal component analysis and model-based clustering showed clear population structure corresponding to subspecies and ploidy levels. Within cultivated tetraploid alfalfa, genotypes from dormant and nondormant cultivars were largely assigned to different clusters; genotypes from semidormant cultivars were split between the groups. The extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD) across all genotypes rapidly decayed to 26 Kbp at r2 = 0.2, but the rate varied across ploidy levels and subspecies. A high level of consistency in LD was found between and within the two subpopulations of cultivated dormant and nondormant alfalfa suggesting that genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genomic selection (GS) could be conducted using alfalfa genotypes from throughout the fall dormancy spectrum. However, the relatively low LD levels would require a large number of markers to fully saturate the genome.