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The human auditory system consists of both peripheral and central components, both of which play a role but contribute distinctly to overall auditory functioning and can be differentially impacted by pathophysiologic states. Hemispheric surgery (HS), a procedure used for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy, involves com- plete disconnection of the auditory cortex in the operative hemisphere, leaving hearing acuity (peripheral function) intact but having heavy implications for auditory processing (central function). The literature describing pre- and post-operative auditory processing abilities of individuals who have undergone HS is sparse, but the research available provides evidence that several central auditory processes including auditory spatial analysis and temporal processing may be impacted. De昀椀cits noted in standardized testing within the clinical or research environment have concrete functional impacts that may be currently under-appreciated and could lead to under-utilization of appropriate therapeutic strategies and accommodations. This review describes the pro昀椀le of central auditory processing abilities in patients who have undergone HS by synthesizing available literature and incorporating research in other clinical populations to help 昀椀ll critical gaps in our understanding of how cerebral disconnection impacts the central auditory system. 

Abstract Achieving food security is a critical challenge of the Anthropocene that may conflict with environmental and societal goals such as increased energy access. The “fuel versus food” debate coupled with climate mitigation efforts has given rise to next-generation biofuels. Findings of this systematic review indicate just over half of the studies (56% of 224 publications) reported a negative impact of bioenergy production on food security. However, no relationship was found between bioenergy feedstocks that are edible versus inedible and food security ( P value = 0.15). A strong relationship was found between bioenergy and type of food security parameter ( P value < 0.001), sociodemographic index of study location ( P value = 0.001), spatial scale ( P value < 0.001), and temporal scale ( P value = 0.017). Programs and policies focused on bioenergy and climate mitigation should monitor multiple food security parameters at various scales over the long term toward achieving diverse sustainability goals. 

The cardiac transcription factor (TF) gene NKX2-5 has been associated with electrocardiographic (EKG) traits through genome-wide association studies (GWASs), but the extent to which differential binding of NKX2-5 at common regulatory variants contributes to these traits has not yet been studied. We analyzed transcriptomic and epigenomic data from induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes from seven related individuals, and identified ~2,000 single-nucleotide variants associated with allele-specific effects (ASE-SNVs) on NKX2-5 binding. NKX2-5 ASE-SNVs were enriched for altered TF motifs, for heart-specific expression quantitative trait loci and for EKG GWAS signals. Using fine-mapping combined with epigenomic data from induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes, we prioritized candidate causal variants for EKG traits, many of which were NKX2-5 ASE-SNVs. Experimentally characterizing two NKX2-5 ASE-SNVs (rs3807989 and rs590041) showed that they modulate the expression of target genes via differential protein binding in cardiac cells, indicating that they are functional variants underlying EKG GWAS signals. Our results show that differential NKX2-5 binding at numerous regulatory variants across the genome contributes to EKG phenotypes.