The density isobar of water: A comparative study of vdW-DF-cx and RPBE-D3.

Accurately modeling volume-dependent properties of water remains a challenge for density functional theory (DFT), with widely used functionals failing to reproduce key features of the water density isobar, including its shape, density, and temperature of the density maximum. Here, we compare the performance of the RPBE-D3 and vdW-DF-cx functionals using replica exchange molecular dynamics (MD) driven by machine-learned force fields. Our simulations reveal that vdW-DF-cx predicts the water density more accurately than RPBE-D3 and reproduces the isobar closely between 307 and 340 K.

Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 Dissemination in Wastewater and Virus Isolation in Cell Cultures: An Integrated Approach for Pathogen Detection and Surveillance.

Our study presents wastewater (WW) monitoring data, focusing on determining the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 in the collected samples. Additionally, a panel of different viruses has been tested in the WW samples. The untreated WW monitoring campaign took place over 1 year in Bucharest, with approximately 300 samples being collected twice a week at the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and an infectious diseases hospital.

Dynamic-Attentive Pooling Networks: A Hybrid Lightweight Deep Model for Lung Cancer Classification.

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. The diagnosis of this disease remains a challenge due to the subtle and ambiguous nature of early-stage symptoms and imaging findings. Deep learning approaches, specifically Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), have significantly advanced medical image analysis.

Radiomics-based prediction of HCC response to atezolizumab/bevacizumab.

Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment has evolved with the introduction of atezolizumab/bevacizumab, showing improved outcomes over sorafenib. However, the response varies among patients, particularly between viral and non-viral etiologies. The present study aimed to develop and evaluate multimodal prediction models combining quantitative imaging and clinical markers to predict the treatment response in patients with HCC.

ABCC1 promotes GSH-dependent iron transport and resistance to Fe(II) and Cu(II) chelators.

Therapy resistance is a major challenge in cancer treatment, with multidrug resistance (MDR) being a well-characterized phenomenon wherein cancer cells develop resistance not only to the administered drug but also to structurally diverse compounds. Metal chelators, including quinolines and thiosemicarbazones, have shown broad antitumor activity and potential in overcoming MDR by modulating metal metabolism. However, predicting whether chelators increase or decrease toxicity in MDR cells remains complex, especially as chelator-metal complexes may become substrates for ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, leading to resistance or hypersensitivity.

Politricks: Teaching political tricks and discernment through active and passive tools.

In an age of information overload, misinformation poses a growing threat to democracy. Inoculation theory suggests that exposing individuals to manipulation techniques can help build resistance to misinformation and improve their ability to discern such content over time. However, little research has directly compared the effectiveness of active learning tools, such as gamified interventions, to passive learning methods, like informational guides, for enhancing the detection of misinformation within important public issues, such as elections and climate change.

Early Thrombolysis and Outcomes in Central Retinal Artery Occlusion: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis.

Background: This individual participant data meta-analysis aimed to determine whether time to treatment influences the effect of intraarterial thrombolysis (IAT), intravenous thrombolysis, and conservative standard therapy on visual outcomes in nonarteritic central retinal artery occlusion.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, CENTRAL, and Embase up to June 2023 for studies reporting treatment modality and peri-treatment best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) for ≥5 participants, excluding patients with nonsevere vision loss (BCVA <1.0 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution [logMAR]) or treated after 24 hours of symptom onset.

The Effectiveness of an App-Based Fitness Program on Self-Perceived Physical Functioning in Older Adults: Randomized Waitlist-Controlled Trial.

Background: A decline in physical functioning can result in a loss of independence, particularly in older adults. Information and communications technologies supporting physical activity, such as fitness apps, are perceived as promising tools to increase activity levels. However, only little is known about fitness apps' impact on older people's abilities and skills to accomplish activities of daily living.

Ten simple rules for leading a many-author non-empirical paper.

Many-author non-empirical papers include recommendations or consensus statements, catalogs of ideas, roadmaps for future research, calls to action, or "how to" articles. These papers have great potential to change the conversation or address unmet needs within research communities. Large, diverse authorship teams can create valuable resources that no individual co-author could create independently.

Cognitive processes of ingroup favoritism across 20 countries: An eye-tracking investigation of culture, behavior, and cognition.

Whether and to what degree culture modifies cognition has been an area of research often limited by possibilities to gather relevant data across societies. In this project, we leverage webcam-based eye-tracking to study cultural variations of cognitive processes underlying in-group favoritism. Participants (n = 1850, k = 20) are assigned to an in-group based on a color perception task, complete a group reinforcement stage, and then make decisions to allocate points between themselves and random matched players in a repeated decomposed dictator game, facing either an in- or an out-group member.

Bridging gaps in dementia care across southeastern Europe: Regional challenges, cross-border innovation, and implementation barriers.

Dementia is a growing challenge in Southeastern and Western Europe, with aging trends projected to accelerate in the former region. The region is facing critical gaps in dementia care due to rural-urban disparities, workforce shortages, and limited access to specialized services. Widespread reliance on informal caregiving and underdeveloped diagnostic infrastructure delay early diagnosis and equitable access to the healthcare system.

Global recruitment patterns and placebo responses in clinical trials of rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: Placebo effects pose significant challenges in clinical trials for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Understanding how socioeconomic factors of recruiting countries influence placebo responses is crucial for improving clinical trial design and outcomes. Here, we investigated the impact of global recruitment patterns on placebo responses in randomised controlled trials of RA.

Isolated Ni Cations as the Active Centers for 1‑Butene Dimerization in Zeolites.

We have identified isolated Ni cations, ion-exchanged at the Al-pair sites, as the active centers for 1-butene dimerization under supercritical reaction conditions ( ≈ 433 K and ≈ 42.5 bar) on three different zeolite frameworks, viz., small-pore CHA, medium-pore MFI, and large-pore FAU.

Bridging artificial intelligence and biological sciences: a comprehensive review of large language models in bioinformatics.

Large language models (LLMs), representing a breakthrough advancement in artificial intelligence, have demonstrated substantial application value and development potential in bioinformatics research, particularly showing significant progress in the processing and analysis of complex biological data. This comprehensive review systematically examines the development and applications of LLMs in bioinformatics, with particular emphasis on their advancements in protein and nucleic acid structure prediction, omics analysis, drug design and screening, and biomedical literature mining. This work highlights the distinctive capabilities of LLMs in end-to-end learning and knowledge transfer paradigms.

Repeatability of corneal measurements from the Casia2 anterior segment tomographer in a cataractous population.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the repeatability of corneal power and thickness measures in a large patient cohort.

Methods: In this retrospective non-randomised cross sectional single-centre study we evaluated a dataset containing 900 Casia2 anterior segment tomography measurements from 300 eyes from 300 patients (3 repeat measurements each) taken prior to cataract surgery. Only complete measurements marked as 'Successful' and with a sequence of 3 measurements for each eye performed on the same day were considered.

Correction: The Open Anchoring Quest Dataset: Anchored Estimates from 96 Studies on Anchoring Effects.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.5334/jopd.67.

Forest loss and uncertain economic gains from industrial and garimpo mining in Brazilian municipalities.

Environmental and social risks in mining regions often juxtapose promises of local economic growth. Brazil, a major global mineral supplier and conservation leader, has pursued resource-led development despite mining's threat to its forests. Yet, the efficacy of this development strategy is uncertain.

Talking the Talk, or Walking the Walk? How Managerial Practices Relate to Nonprofit Organizations' Role as Schools of Democracy.

Nonprofit organizations are touted as "schools of democracy" that teach civic skills and values, but their increasing use of managerial practices from the business world may endanger this role. We examine the relationships between nonprofits' managerial practices, practices of organizational democracy, and endorsement of public participation. Using organizational-level survey data from the Viennese metropolitan area, we find that the extent to which nonprofits use managerial practices negatively relates to their degree of organizational democracy.

Effects of generative artificial intelligence on cognitive effort and task performance: study protocol for a randomized controlled experiment among college students.

Background: The advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has shown great potential to enhance productivity in many cognitive tasks. However, concerns are raised that the use of generative AI may erode human cognition due to over-reliance. Conversely, others argue that generative AI holds the promise to augment human cognition by automating menial tasks and offering insights that extend one's cognitive abilities.

Revising Model Reactions in Plasmonic Chemistry: From Nitrothiophenol Coupling to Alkoxyamine Homolysis.

The progress in plasmonic chemistry requires research on energy transfer, mechanisms, and materials discovery. In this pursuit, there are >3000 papers applying the azo coupling of 4-nitrothiophenol (PNTP) as a model reaction. Here, we challenge the status of this reaction as a model due to experimental evidence of thiol desorption during plasmon excitation using laser irradiation monitored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as an analytic technique.

Investigating the impact of tone hole geometry on the flow in wind instruments via particle image velocimetry.

An experimental study is conducted to investigate the effects of both the diameter and shape of wind instrument tone holes on the flow behaviour in an artificial, simplified scenario. Time-resolved particle image velocimetry is used to measure flow velocity over the entire length of a square recorder bore. Flow velocity measurements enable various approaches to analyse the flow under different tone hole configurations.

Heat, health, and habitats: analyzing the intersecting risks of climate and demographic shifts in Austrian districts.

The impact of hot weather on health outcomes of a population is mediated by a variety of factors, including its age profile and local green infrastructure. The combination of warming due to climate change and demographic aging suggests that heat-related health outcomes will deteriorate in the coming decades. Here, we measure the relationship between weekly all-cause mortality and heat days in Austrian districts using a panel data set covering [Formula: see text].

Global land cover maps do not reveal mining pressures to biodiversity.

Global land cover maps are key inputs into the biodiversity metrics used by the private sector to align their performance with conservation goals and targets. These maps utilize classification systems depicting combinations of 'natural' (vegetation, water bodies) and 'anthropogenic' (agriculture and built-up land) cover types, but often miss intensive pressures on biodiversity, such as mining. Here, we reveal that more than half (56-77%) the global land area disturbed by mining is classified by land cover maps as 'natural', suggesting metrics based on these maps likely overestimate the current state of biodiversity and underestimate opportunities to improve it.

Global Recruiting Patterns Affect Placebo Response Rates In Clinical Trials of Psoriatic Arthritis and Plaque Psoriasis.

Background: Placebo effects are a significant challenge in the conduct of clinical trials. We explored how global recruitment patterns influence the extent of placebo responses in randomized controlled trials of psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis.

Methods: We conducted an analysis of 51 trials (6,843 patients; 52±5.