Recent ucla_postprints items

Gene-Environment Interaction in Nonfamilial Corticobasal Syndrome in Monozygotic Twins With Differential Occupational Exposure

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Gene-Environment Interaction in Nonfamilial Corticobasal Syndrome in Monozygotic Twins With Differential Occupational Exposure

Immunotherapy-Related Cardiac Arrythmias: Incidence, Pathobiology, Risk Factors and Management

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose of ReviewImmunotherapies have revolutionized treatment strategies for cancer patients, improving the prognosis in many populations with advanced malignancies. Immune check point inhibitors (ICI) and Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy are being increasingly used. As the real-world use of immunotherapies increases and indications expand, an understanding of potential cardiovascular toxicities is required.Recent Findings Arrhythmias are among the top reasons for seeking cardiovascular care in immunotherapy treated patients. ICI and CART therapies have been associated with arrhythmias with wide range of estimates reported in randomized clinical trials and retrospective studies. The pathophysiology and risk factors behind ICI and CART therapies is unclear. Summary In this review, we summarize the incidence, mechanisms, risk factors, impact on patient outcomes and management of ICI and CAR-T cell therapy-associated arrhythmia complications.

Permissive Cardiotoxicity: An Evolving Paradigm

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Permissive cardiotoxicity is an evolving clinical practice pattern that balances the management of cancer treatment‐associated cardiotoxicities with the risk of interrupting lifesaving or life‐extending cancer treatments. This paradigm shift has been catalyzed by advancements in the diagnostic and therapeutic tools available to treating clinicians, as well as a recognition of the consequences of withholding or delaying cancer therapy. Permissive cardiotoxicity has become a central tenet in the practice of cardio‐oncologists; however, recognition and confidence in managing cardiotoxicity is also crucial for the general cardiologist and oncologist due to the growing population of patients with cancer. This review aims to (1) highlight the philosophy of permissive cardiotoxicity, (2) provide a framework for risk stratification of cardiovascular toxicities, (3) describe systems of care considerations for successful implementation of permissive cardiotoxicity, and (4) review the existing...

Longitudinal Outcomes in Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Associated Uveitis

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Longitudinal Outcomes in Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Associated Uveitis

Multilingual Hispanic Speech in California (MuHSiC): A Large-Scale Open-Access Spanish–English Bilingual Corpus

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Aims and Objectives / Purpose / Research Questions: This article introduces the Multilingual Hispanic Speech in California (MuHSiC) corpus. It addresses two primary questions: (a) how can a large-scale, open-access corpus be designed to capture the linguistic diversity of Spanish–English bilingualism in California, and (b) how can such a resource support reproducible research across linguistic subfields? Design / Methodology / Approach: MuHSiC was constructed as a sociolinguistically stratified spoken corpus based on systematically collected bilingual interviews. The project integrates high-fidelity audio recording, standardized transcription protocols, phoneme-level forced alignment, acoustic extraction, and structured metadata collection to produce a research-ready, publicly distributable dataset. Data and Analysis: The corpus comprises 600 recordings from bilingual speakers representing diverse social and regional backgrounds across California. Each recording is approximately...

Shifting Federal and State Policy Landscapes for Health Insurance Coverage of Noncitizen Immigrants: Where Are We 30 Years After PRWORA?

Fri, 9 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Since the 1996 passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), states have taken different approaches to noncitizen health coverage. California and Illinois used state funds to expand access, driven by policy innovation and advocacy coalitions, while Texas and Georgia maintained restrictive policies that reflected conservative politics and fiscal concerns. This study used the policy diffusion and policy context frameworks to analyze PRWORA's influence on state decisions about immigrant health coverage. By examining the policy trajectories of California, Illinois, Texas, and Georgia, the authors highlighted the growing fragmentation in immigrant health coverage. The study reviewed trends in health insurance and Medicaid enrollment among noncitizens from 2008 to 2023 using data from the American Community Survey and a RAND cost estimation tool. California and Illinois showed greater improvements in insurance coverage and Medicaid enrollment,...

Sampling Conformational Ensembles of Highly Dynamic Proteins via Generative Deep Learning

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Proteins are inherently dynamic, and their conformational ensembles play a crucial role in biological function. Large-scale motions may govern the protein structure-function relationship, and numerous transient but stable conformations of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) can play a crucial role in biological function. Investigating conformational ensembles to understand regulations and disease-related aggregations of IDPs is challenging, both experimentally and computationally. In this paper, we first introduce a deep learning-based model, termed Internal Coordinate Net (ICoN), which learns the physical principles of conformational changes from molecular dynamics simulation data. Second, we selected data points through interpolation in the learned latent space to rapidly identify novel synthetic conformations with sophisticated and large-scale side chains and backbone arrangements. Third, with the highly dynamic amyloid-β_1-42 (Aβ42) monomer, our deep learning...

Sir John Gurdon and the rise of molecular developmental biology

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

John B. Gurdon was one of the most beloved developmental biologists of our times, who enjoyed a long life completely immersed in science. Blessed with a very important discovery at age 25, he used his distinguished position for the common good of other biologists. John's life epitomizes the Golden Rule of Western Civilization – love your neighbor as yourself – to the great benefit of his field. As a graduate student, he demonstrated that somatic cells retained the complete gene repertoire to differentiate into all cell types. He developed the Xenopus oocyte as a living test tube for molecular biology. His microinjection studies provided the first vertebrate system to translate mRNA, transcribe DNA, and express cloned genes. He investigated the reprogramming of somatic nuclei to the gene expression pattern of oocytes for many decades. His discoveries were foundational to the use of stem cells for tissue therapies and were recognized with the 2012 Nobel prize for Medicine. He was...

Community-Engaged Respondent-Driven Sampling: The California Pacific Islander Well-Being and COVID-19 Economic Survey, 2024.

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Objectives. To describe how community engagement combined with respondent-driven sampling (RDS) enabled timely documentation of the mental health and socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 on California's Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) adult population. Methods. The California Pacific Islander Well-Being and COVID-19 Economic Survey (CAPIWAVES) was a collaboration between NHPI community-based organizations and academic researchers who sampled 929 NHPI adults in California from January to May 2024. The initial respondents were composed of a convenience sample of 58 CHamoru, Fijian, Marshallese, Native Hawaiian, Sāmoan, and Tongan respondents in Northern, Central, and Southern California, who referred up to 4 others. Results. Compared with the American Community Survey, CAPIWAVES RDS estimates differed. We reported initial data findings to NHPI community members in June 2024 in an online webinar. In April 2025, we released a report with the analyzed...

Liberation Medicine in Authoritarian Contexts: The Brutality of U.S. Mass Incarceration

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article engages Führer and Vorhölter’s (2025) reinvigoration of Nancy Scheper–Hughes’s utopian call for liberation medicine in their special issue of Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry. They offer a practical reconceptualization of liberation medicine as “concrete utopias” in the “medical undercommons”. Inspired by Scheper–Hughes’s humble call for “good-enough” ethnographic engagement in her documentation of a successful solidarity movement of single-mother agricultural laborers in Northeastern Brazil, I highlight ethnographically a (fragile) concrete utopian initiative: a peer-support program for inmates with psychosis spectrum conditions who are swept into the Los Angeles County Jail system’s overcrowded mental health units on a daily basis by routinized law enforcement sweeps of homeless individuals. Developed by former gang members (without mental illness) facing capital punishment charges, this remarkable initiative of solidarity, redemption, and anti-racism through radical...

Downstream of β-catenin: A positive feedback loop between Goosecoid and Nodals in Spemann’s organizer

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We report on the role of the homeobox gene goosecoid (gsc) within an epistatic pathway that mediates body axis formation in Xenopus. Embryos depleted of β-catenin form exclusively ventral structures and lack all traces of axial structures. Microinjection of gsc mRNA rescues an entire body axis with head and trunk-tail. This remarkable activity is shared with the homeobox gene siamois (sia) and growth factors of the Nodal family. Using a Gsc antisense morpholino, we showed that dorsalization by Xenopus nodal-related 6 mRNA has a strong requirement for Gsc in β-catenin depleted embryos. These experiments uncovered a positive feedback loop between Gsc and Nodal that is required downstream of β-catenin for the maintenance of dorsal and anterior tissues during gastrulation in endomesoderm. The Gsc-Xnr feedback loop leads to the expression of Spemann organizer genes that antagonize signals from ventral tissues. Similarly, rescue...

Signaling Components in Dorsal-Ventral Patterning and the Organizer in Xenopus

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Xenopus laevis gastrula is the organism of choice to discover the molecular mechanisms of dorsal-ventral (D-V) tissue differentiation. Making use of the rich heritage of experimental embryology bequeathed by the Spemann-Mangold 1924 dorsal organizer transplantation experiment, a morphogenetic gradient generated by a biochemical pathway of extracellular molecules was identified. This chapter discusses how saturating molecular screens isolated novel molecules from the Spemann organizer that are secreted BMP antagonists, such as Noggin, Follistatin, and Chordin. The head-inducer Cerberus is a Nodal inhibitor (and in addition inhibits Wnt and BMP). A large number of Wnt antagonists are also secreted by the dorsal organizer, such as Dickkopf, Frzb-1, Crescent, Angptl-4, Pkdcc, and Bighead. For every action on the dorsal side, there is a reaction on the ventral side that ensures a self-organizing system. In the ventral center BMP4/7 signaling is highest (while it is lowest at the...

Lysosomes are Required for Early Dorsal Signaling in the Xenopus Embryo

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT Lysosomes are the digestive center of the cell and play important roles in human disease, including cancer. Previous work has suggested that late endosomes, also known as multivesicular bodies (MVBs), and lysosomes are essential for canonical Wnt pathway signaling. Sequestration of Glycogen Synthase 3 (GSK3) and of β□catenin destruction complex components in MVBs is required for sustained canonical Wnt signaling. Little is known about the role of lysosomes during early development. In the Xenopus egg, a Wnt-like cytoplasmic determinant signal initiates formation of the body axis following a cortical rotation triggered by sperm entry. Here we report that cathepsin D was activated in lysosomes specifically on the dorsal marginal zone of the embryo at 64-cell stage, long before zygotic transcription starts. Expansion of the multivesicular body (MVB) compartment with low-dose Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) greatly potentiated the dorsalizing effects of the Wnt agonist Lithium...

How Political Events Become Demographic: Toward a Cumulative Demography of Conflict and Violence

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Political conflict and violence shape the core demographic processes of mortality, migration, and fertility, while also influencing union formation, health, and kinship networks. Existing studies have often asked whether conflict is positively or negatively associated with demographic outcomes, yet findings remain strikingly mixed. This reflects the heterogeneous nature of conflict and violence themselves, the institutional and social contexts in which they occur, and the multiple, interacting processes through which they influence demographic outcomes. To advance a cumulative research program for conflict demography, we identify three priorities. First, researchers should distinguish exposure to conflict and violence from the extent to which individuals are affected by them and take seriously the processes of meaning‐making through which conflict events acquire demographic significance. Second, researchers should identify a limited set of generalizable social mechanisms...

Discrete Autoregressive Switching Processes with Cumulative Shrinkage Priors for Graphical Modeling of Time Series Data

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We propose a flexible Bayesian approach for sparse Gaussian graphical modeling of multivariate time series. We account for temporal correlation in the data by assuming that observations are characterized by an underlying and unobserved hidden discrete autoregressive process. We assume multivariate Gaussian emission distributions and capture spatial dependencies by modeling the state-specific precision matrices via graphical horseshoe priors. We characterize the mixing probabilities of the hidden process via a cumulative shrinkage prior that accommodates zero-inflated parameters for non-active components, and further incorporate a sparsity-inducing Dirichlet prior to estimate the effective number of states from the data. For posterior inference, we develop a sampling procedure that allows estimation of the number of discrete autoregressive lags and the number of states, and that cleverly avoids having to deal with the changing dimensions of the parameter space. We thoroughly investigate...

Shortwave Infrared Fluorofluorophores for Multicolor In Vivo Imaging**

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Developing chemical tools to detect and influence biological processes is a cornerstone of chemical biology. Here we combine two tools which rely on orthogonality– perfluorocarbons and multiplexed shortwave infrared (SWIR) fluorescence imaging– to visualize nanoemulsions in real time in living mice. Drawing inspiration from fluorous and SWIR fluorophore development, we prepared two SWIR‐emissive, fluorous‐soluble chromenylium polymethine dyes. These are the most red‐shifted fluorous fluorophores– “fluorofluorophores”—to date. After characterizing the dyes, their utility was demonstrated by tracking perfluorocarbon nanoemulsion biodistribution in vivo . Using an excitation‐multiplexed approach to image two variables simultaneously, we gained insight into the importance of size and surfactant identity on biodistribution.

The Tools of Autocracy Worldwide: Authoritarian Networks, the Façade of Democracy, and Neo-Repression

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This special double issue identifies the tools and conditions that allow (re)emerging autocrats to undermine democratic traditions and constrain civil rights across the world. In our introduction, we posit that identifying the tools of the established, emerging, and aspiring authoritarians in today’s world is vital, theoretically and practically. It allows us to identify common denominators across specific contexts to advance knowledge about the features and risks that authoritarian regimes pose today. It also permits us to reveal the inter-state and transnational expert networks through which autocrats share strategies, information, and resources to remain in power. Through a global and comparative lens, we thematically organize the articles’ key findings. The articles reveal a set of tools of authoritarianism that (re)emerging autocrats use to control media to manipulate public perceptions and delegitimize opponents and critics, seek to maintain the legitimacy of a democratic...

Maternal weight discrimination experiences and restrictive feeding practices are associated with child body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Research has established that experiencing weight discrimination is associated with myriad negative consequences, including disordered eating cognitions. However, it has not yet been tested whether a parent's experiences of weight discrimination affect their children's disordered eating cognitions. This paper seeks to establish a relationship between a mother's experiences with weight discrimination and her children's disordered eating cognitions. Using data from the NHLBI Growth and Health Study, we tested whether 193 mothers' weight stigma experiences are associated with their children's (N = 264) body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness, and whether maternal restricted feeding practices is a mechanism through which they are related. We found that maternal weight discrimination experiences are associated with both child body dissatisfaction and child drive for thinness through maternal restrictive feeding practices. In race-stratified models, these same patterns...

Association between body mass index and unilateral hypoglossal nerve stimulation efficacy depends on the pattern of pharyngeal collapse in obstructive sleep apnea

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Association between body mass index and unilateral hypoglossal nerve stimulation efficacy depends on the pattern of pharyngeal collapse in obstructive sleep apnea

Teaching critical cataloging: Thinking Professionals, revisited

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In a 1997 article on teaching critical cataloging published in Technical Services Quarterly, Hope Olson emphasizes the importance of critical thinking in cataloging work. Unlike most scholarship on critical cataloging, which focuses on remediating problematic subject headings from specific perspectives, Olson’s article is distinctive in its emphasis on teaching catalogers to think critically. This article presents a selective review of the literature on teaching critical cataloging since the publication of Olson’s work. It is the author’s contention that incorporating the principles of critical cataloging into cataloger training is fundamental to making inclusive description practices central to everyday cataloging work.

The 3D framework for clinical image-based teaching

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This AM Last Page provides educators with a framework they can use to engage learners with clinical images for diagnostic reasoning and examination teaching. An image-based teaching moment can deepen physical examination knowledge, augment visual intelligence, and promote self-directed learning.

Trinuclear Heptamethine Dyes for Shortwave Infrared In Vivo Imaging

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT The term polymethine dye (PMD) has been intimately connected to the dinuclear scaffold–two heterocycles linked together by a polymethine chain of varying length. Dinuclear PMDs have been a successful scaffold for noninvasive in vivo imaging in the biologically advantageous near infrared (NIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Trinuclear PMDs, resulting from the addition of a third heterocycle into the polymethine chain, possess the same photophysical properties that make dinuclear dyes excellent fluorescent probes, but have yet to be investigated for in vivo imaging. Herein, we expand upon the dinuclear and trinuclear heptamethine dye scaffolds by taking advantage of the increased reactivity of a cyclopentenyl linker and synthesizing flavylium‐ and chromenylium‐based SWIR‐emitting fluorophores. The trinuclear scaffold instills the fluorophores with increased steric bulk, leading to beneficial photophysical properties in micelles and...

Research Priorities for Robust Climate Assessments in the United States

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Scientific assessments play a critical role in synthesizing evidence to support evidence-based decision-making in many sectors and topics. For climate change, large-scale assessments like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA) reports help many different users—from national government to local governments, Indigenous Peoples and communities, the private sector, the social sector, and the scientific community itself—navigate the complex field of climate risks, impacts, and integrated solutions. While cocreation with users is essential to developing actionable assessments, this paper lays the groundwork for future processes by identifying many advancing and emerging areas of relevant knowledge ready for assessment or additional near-term research. Drawing on the expertise of many scholars who were formerly tasked with producing the Sixth NCA and authors of other national or subnational climate assessment reports,...

Research Priorities for Robust Climate Assessments in the United States

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Scientific assessments play a critical role in synthesizing evidence to support evidence‐based decision‐making in many sectors and topics. For climate change, large‐scale assessments like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United States (U.S.) National Climate Assessment (NCA) reports help many different users—from national government to local governments, Indigenous Peoples and communities, the private sector, the social sector, and the scientific community itself—navigate the complex field of climate risks, impacts, and integrated solutions. While co‐creation with users is essential to developing actionable assessments, this paper lays the groundwork for future processes by identifying many advancing and emerging areas of relevant knowledge ready for assessment or additional near‐term research. Drawing on the expertise of many scholars who were formerly tasked with producing the Sixth NCA and authors of other national or sub‐national climate...

Duration of effectiveness of tuberculosis preventive treatment across various tuberculosis burden settings: a systematic review and individual-participant meta-analysis

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Millions of individuals at risk of tuberculosis are given tuberculosis preventive treatment (TPT) annually. However, questions remain regarding the duration of protection from TPT and potential variability across populations and settings with disparate tuberculosis risk. We aimed to assess the effect of TPT on time to tuberculosis among close contacts of individuals with tuberculosis and with evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection across high-burden, medium-burden, and low-burden settings. METHODS: In this systematic review and individual-participant meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, BIOSIS, and Embase for cohort studies and randomised controlled trials published between Jan 1, 1998, and Aug 28, 2023. Studies were eligible if they included individuals (of any age) with household or close exposure to a person with microbiologically or clinically diagnosed tuberculosis (contacts); had at least 6 months of contact follow-up from baseline;...

Multiethnic and Multilingual Patients’ Perspectives on Hypertension Diagnosis, Education, Management, and Socioeconomic Factors Within the Safety Net

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BackgroundUnderstanding the clinical, self-management, and resource needs of low-income, multilingual, racially and ethnically diverse safety-net patients with hypertension can guide interventions to improve outcomes in under-resourced communities.ObjectiveExplore barriers and contributors to equitable hypertension care.DesignWe conducted semi-structured virtual focus groups during April 2022 to April 2023.ParticipantsLos Angeles safety-net patients with hypertension (or their caregivers) self-identifying as Latino, Black/African American, Filipino, Korean, and Chinese were eligible; these groups had the lowest blood pressure control rates within a large public safety-net healthcare system.ApproachWe analyzed transcripts using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsNine focus groups (43 hypertensive participants) across 5 racial/ethnic groups and 5 languages included three Latino (n = 13), two Black (n = 11), two Chinese (n = 12), one Filipino (n = 4), and one Korean (n = 3) groups....

Phylodynamic analysis reveals disparate transmission dynamics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-complex lineages in Botswana

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Tuberculosis epidemics have traditionally been conceptualized as arising from a single uniform pathogen. However, Mycobacterium tuberculosis-complex (Mtbc), the pathogen causing tuberculosis in humans, encompasses multiple lineages exhibiting genetic and phenotypic diversity that may be responsible for heterogeneity in TB transmission. We analysed a population-based dataset of 1,354 Mtbc whole-genome sequences collected over four years in Botswana, a country with high HIV and tuberculosis burden. We identified Lineage 4 (L4) as the most prevalent (87.4%), followed by L1 (6.4%), L2 (5.3%), and L3 (0.9%). Within L4, multiple sublineages were identified, with L4.3.4 being the predominant sublineage. Phylodynamic analysis revealed L4.3.4 expanded steadily from late 1800s to early 2000s. Conversely, L1, L4.4, and L4.3.2 showed population trajectories closely aligned with the HIV epidemic. Meanwhile, L2 saw rapid expansion throughout most of the 20^th century but declined...

Air Quality during and after the 2025 Los Angeles, California Fires and the Utility of Potassium as a Fire Tracer

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Wildland–urban interface fires are becoming more frequent, and their impacts on adjacent urban centers are increasing. In January 2025, the Eaton and Palisades fires burned over 18,000 structures and 15,000 hectares of urban and wildlands and blanketed parts of Southern California, USA, in smoke and dust. Here, we combine hourly and multihour metals, particulate matter, and gas data from two sites with meteorological and fire spatial extent data and several statistical methods to understand the fire impacts on air quality. The primary receptor site, in Huntington Park, about 28 km from the Eaton fire, was intermittently directly downwind. The smoke increased airborne lead concentrations by up to 250 times its background, to about 0.2% of PM2.5 mass; arsenic, chlorine, bromine, and copper were also highly elevated. Concentrations of elements associated with resuspended soil began to rise when high winds started immediately prior to fire ignition and decayed once the winds...

The impact of diversification on task performance: Evidence from kidney transplant centers

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Research Summary Even when diversification is beneficial, entry into a new business can negatively affect the performance of the firm's existing business(es). We examine transplant centers that diversified from kidney transplants into liver transplants, focusing on how patient age can affect the costs associated with diversification. We find that diversification into liver transplants resulted in worsened quality performance in kidney transplants for younger patients, whose cases were less likely to be unexpectedly complex. For older patients, whose cases were more likely to have complications, the negative effect of diversification was offset. Our findings suggest that in health care the costs of diversification can be sensitive to patient characteristics, making focused organizations desirable when task complexity is low, while favoring diversified organizations for more complex tasks. Managerial Summary When firms diversify into new activities, the increased coordination...

Strategic responses to crisis

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Strategic responses to crisis

The Distinctive Domain of the Sharing Economy: Definitions, Value Creation, and Implications for Research

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract: The objective of this special issue is to expand our understanding of the sharing economy . To this end, we consider how the sharing economy can be demarcated and provide a definition that distinguishes the sharing economy from other forms of economic organization and resource orchestration. Specifically, the sharing economy entails multisided platforms that facilitate user access to – rather than ownership of – assets that are rivalrous in their use, and that are not owned by said platforms . Using this definition, we identify and show how the sharing economy creates and distributes economic value among participants and we summarize the six articles in the special issue. All in all, this introduction and the six studies clarify how the sharing economy and its three main constituencies – sharing platforms, asset providers, and users – reduce commercial...

Empirical inquiry without hypotheses: A question‐driven, phenomenon‐based approach to strategic management research

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Research Summary Many advances in strategic management have resulted from the application of formal deductive methods, based on tests of specific hypotheses derived from theory. Nonetheless, numerous important research topics involve phenomena that are novel and/or causally complex and so resist basic hypothetico‐deductive logic. As a result, many of the most important findings in strategy research have come from open‐ended studies of relevant phenomena. The special issue of the SMJ on “Question‐Driven and Phenomenon‐Based Empirical Strategy Research” presents innovative ideas for question‐driven research and expands the toolkit of research approaches. In this introduction we describe the twelve articles in the special issue, focusing on how they contribute to continued development of the question‐driven approach to research in strategic management. Managerial Summary One of the frustrations managers have with academic research is that it tends to be driven by questions...

Conundra and Progress: Research on Entry Order and Performance

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We raise four sets of issues relating to the definition and measurement of first mover advantage. We begin by posing questions about the basic definition of FMA and whether advantage should be measured in terms of profit, market share or business survival — which often yield conflicting results. We then probe the related question of duration — over what period of time must superior performance be sustained to constitute first mover advantage? Next we consider problems of identifying the starting date of a market and the basic question of how markets should be defined. Last, we consider a potentially important type of sample selection bias that has largely been overlooked. We conclude by assessing recent progress in entry order research.

Disruption Through Complements

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We expand the perspective on disruption by going beyond substitute products to consider the ways in which complements can impact the competitiveness of incumbents. Complementors represent a different kind of disruptive threat, one that is latent within the initial structure of value creation: complementors that disrupt are not new entrants but, rather, established actors that can shift their impact from positive to negative. With this perspective, we consider how ecosystem dynamics can clarify aspects of disruptive competition, and we use the dynamics of disruption to illuminate dimensions of competition in ecosystem settings. We elaborate three processes through which disruption through complements can occur: commoditization, adjacent entry, and value inversion. For each process we discuss specific examples, and we illustrate their interaction in the context of the automotive industry, which is fast evolving in response to technological change. In so doing, the paper fills a...

Terahertz quantum-cascade vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser with high-contrast grating output coupler

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We report a twofold increase in slope efficiency of a terahertz quantum-cascade vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser enabled by an all-dielectric high-contrast grating output coupler (OC). In contrast to a conventional metal-mesh OC on a quartz substrate, the dielectric grating eliminates losses associated with the metal. The device operates in pulsed and continuous-wave modes, with threshold current and maximum operating temperature comparable to those of the quartz-based OC. A circular beam pattern is maintained across the full tuning bandwidth.

Sildenafil Attenuates Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Pelvic Ganglia Neurons after Bilateral Cavernosal Nerve Damage

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Erectile dysfunction is a common complication for patients undergoing surgeries for prostate, bladder, and colorectal cancers, due to damage of the nerves associated with the major pelvic ganglia (MPG). Functional re-innervation of target organs depends on the capacity of the neurons to survive and switch towards a regenerative phenotype. PDE5 inhibitors (PDE5i) have been successfully used in promoting the recovery of erectile function after cavernosal nerve damage (BCNR) by up-regulating the expression of neurotrophic factors in MPG. However, little is known about the effects of PDE5i on markers of neuronal damage and oxidative stress after BCNR. This study aimed to investigate the changes in gene and protein expression profiles of inflammatory, anti-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress related-pathways in MPG neurons after BCNR and subsequent treatment with sildenafil. Our results showed that BCNR in Fisher-344 rats promoted up-regulation of cytokines (interleukin- 1...

Skeletal muscle‐specific myostatin overexpression promotes muscle oxidative capacity and fatigue resistance in transgenic mice

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In addition to controlling muscle mass, myostatin may support oxidative metabolism and endurance. Loss of function through gene knockout or post-natal blockade generally lowers muscle oxidative capacity and increases fatigability. These observations imply that myostatin activation could promote a more oxidative and less fatigable muscle phenotype. Gain-of-function approaches that activate myostatin in vivo, however, are largely absent. To test whether myostatin promotes oxidative metabolism in muscle, we constructed transgenic (TG) mice with myostatin (Mstn) gene overexpression restricted to skeletal muscle by inserting an Mstn cDNA construct under the MCK promoter to drive muscle-specific expression of recombinant myostatin protein. On standard diet, TG had greater oxidative fibre expression, greater coupled maximal mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), and increased in situ muscle fatigue resistance. Untargeted metabolomics identified greater stored carbohydrate...

Muscle Derived Stem Cells Stimulate Muscle Myofiber Repair and Counteract Fat Infiltration in a Diabetic Mouse Model of Critical Limb Ischemia

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI) affects patients with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and obesity, with high risk of amputation and post-surgical mortality, and no effective medical treatment. Stem cell therapy, mainly with bone marrow mesenchymal, adipose derived, endothelial, hematopoietic, and umbilical cord stem cells, is promising in CLI mouse and rat models and is in clinical trials. Their general focus is on angiogenic repair, with no reports on the alleviation of necrosis, lipofibrosis, and myofiber regeneration in the ischemic muscle, or the use of Muscle Derived Stem Cells (MDSC) alone or in combination with pharmacological adjuvants, in the context of CLI in T2D. METHODS: Using a T2D mouse model of CLI induced by severe unilateral femoral artery ligation, we tested: a) the repair efficacy of MDSC implanted into the ischemic muscle and the effects of concurrent intraperitoneal administration of a nitric oxide generator, molsidomine; and b) whether MDSC may partially counteract...

Evaluation of the In Vitro Damage Caused by Lipid Factors on Stem Cells from a Female Rat Model of Type 2 Diabetes/Obesity and Stress Urinary Incontinence

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Human stem cell therapy for type 2 diabetes/obesity (T2D/O) complications is performedwith stem cell autografts, exposed to the noxious T2D/O milieu, often with suboptimal results.We showed in the Obese Zucker (OZ) rat model of T2D/O that when their muscle-derived stemcells (MDSC) were from long-term T2D/O male rats, their repair ecacy for erectile dysfunctionwas impaired and were imprinted with abnormal gene- and miR-global transcriptional signatures(GTS). The damage was reproduced in vitro by short-term exposure of normal MDSC to dyslipidemicserum, causing altered miR-GTS, fat infiltration, apoptosis, impaired scratch healing, and myostatinoverexpression. Similar in vitro alterations occurred with their normal counterparts (ZF4-SC) fromthe T2D/O rat model for female stress urinary incontinence, and with ZL4-SC from non-T2D/O leanfemale rats. In the current work we studied the in vitro eects of cholesterol and Na palmitate aslipid factors on ZF4-SC and ZL4-SC. A damage partially...

Determining crystal structures through crowdsourcing and coursework

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We show here that computer game players can build high-quality crystal structures. Introduction of a new feature into the computer game Foldit allows players to build and real-space refine structures into electron density maps. To assess the usefulness of this feature, we held a crystallographic model-building competition between trained crystallographers, undergraduate students, Foldit players and automatic model-building algorithms. After removal of disordered residues, a team of Foldit players achieved the most accurate structure. Analysing the target protein of the competition, YPL067C, uncovered a new family of histidine triad proteins apparently involved in the prevention of amyloid toxicity. From this study, we conclude that crystallographers can utilize crowdsourcing to interpret electron density information and to produce structure solutions of the highest quality.

Exploration, exploitation, and mode of market entry: acquisition versus internal development by Amazon and Alphabet

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Research on the tension between exploration and exploitation has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of firm growth via entry into new businesses. While there is consensus about the merits of balancing exploration and exploitation, there has been debate about the best means for achieving balance. In our prior analysis of firms’ choices between acquisition and internal development as entry modes, we found that the role of acquisitions tends to differ inside versus outside a firm’s primary business domain: firms use within-domain acquisitions largely for exploitation, while out-of-domain acquisitions support exploration. To examine these issues in greater depth, we focus here on the historical use of acquisition versus internal development by two major technology firms, Amazon and Alphabet. We show that the two firms have been remarkably different in their use of acquisitions versus internal development. Consistent with our prior analysis, Amazon has emphasized...

Correction: Corrigendum: Determining crystal structures through crowdsourcing and coursework

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Nature Communications 7: Article number:12549 (2016); Published 16 September 2016; Updated 25 October 2016 The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of a member of the University of Michigan students Consortium, Sam Lee, which was incorrectly given as Sam Lewe. This hasnow been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Annual Report on QLMC Scientific Products 2026

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Annual Report on QLMC Scientific Products 2026

Sunk Costs and Concentration in Homogeneous Product Industries

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Research by Pankaj Ghemawat and others in the 1980s focused on sunk cost commitments, which can support entry deterrence. Alternatively, sunk costs can create exit barriers, potentially increasing the number of firms in an industry. This study combines information on cost structure, production capacity, and sales for 31 chemical products to consider factors that determine the number of competitors in a homogeneous product industry. After controlling for market size and cost of entry, the number of producers increased with the ratio of sunk to variable costs. This is consistent with exit barriers, but not with entry deterrence. Excess entry was greater when plants were geographically dispersed, suggesting that fragmentation into submarkets facilitates firm survival when sunk costs are high.

Investigating the Kidney–Gut–Brain Axis in CKD: Uremic Toxins and Brain Microhemorrhages

Fri, 2 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Alterations of gut microbiota are common in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and contribute to increased uremic toxins including indoxyl sulfate (IS), p-cresyl sulfate (pCS) and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), which are linked to cerebrovascular disease risk. This study examined the kidney-gut-brain axis in CKD mice and in dialysis patients. Male and female mice with adenine-induced CKD were fed a high-amino-acid (HAA) diet to increase precursors of gut-derived uremic toxins. A subgroup of mice received antibiotics in drinking water to suppress gut microbiota and evaluate its role in toxin generation. Behavior tests, gut microbiome composition and brain histology for cerebral microhemorrhages were analyzed. CKD mice had higher serum levels of creatinine, cystatin C and gut-derived toxins, a 2.5-fold increase in brain microhemorrhages, and decreased locomotor activity. The HAA diet significantly increased serum TMAO but not IS and pCS, and all three toxins were reduced by antibiotic...

The Status of the Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra) in Central Asia: A Literature Review

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) is rare in Central Asia. Otter populations are small and fragmented and appear to be declining in most parts of the region. Diminishing freshwater resources, high human population density in river valleys, river pollution, and a weak focus on nature conservation, make the long-term survival of the species in the region highly threatened. Here, we review the available literature about the Eurasian otter from recent decades in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and far northwestern China. Central Asia can be considered a “white spot” in terms of otter research, with extremely limited available data suggesting a compelling need for further study and conservation measures.

The Status of the Central Asian Subspecies of the Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra seistanica) in Kazakhstan

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Central Asian subspecies of the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra subsp. seistanica) is among the most threatened otter taxa within its global range. In Kazakhstan, its status remains poorly documented despite legal protection. We assessed the current distribution and conservation status of the subspecies based on field surveys conducted in 2024–2026, complemented by historical data and verified reports. Surveys following standard IUCN Otter Specialist Group protocols were conducted primarily within the Ili River Basin. The results indicate that L. l. seistanica persists in Kazakhstan as a small population with a fragmented distribution. Contemporary records are concentrated within the Ili River system, including sections of the Chilik River, parts of the Ili River within Altyn-Emel National Park, and localized areas along the Kapchagay Reservoir. Outside the Ili Basin, presence was confirmed only in the Karatal River. Major threats include hydrological alteration, degradation of...

Enhancing Evidence Generation by Linking Randomized Clinical Trials to Real‐World Data: The INVESTED‐Medicare Linkage Study

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Real-world evidence (RWE) derived from real-world data (RWD) can complement randomized controlled trials (RCTs), yet the validity of RWD relative to RCT data remains insufficiently characterized. We obtained post hoc consent and linked individual participant data from the US-based INVESTED trial (2016-2019) with Medicare fee-for-service claims (2012-2020) to validate demographic factors, baseline characteristics (using 183-, 365-, and 730-day lookback periods) and outcomes, and to assess post-trial events. Among 5260 trial participants, 126 were enrolled and eligible for linkage. Among 115 participants with demographic information available from Medicare enrollment files, agreement between RCT- and RWD-based demographic factors was high: only one major age discrepancy, 100% agreement for sex, and an overall agreement of 0.89 for race. Participants with Medicare claims data (n = 65) were older and more likely to be White compared with the overall RCT population. For the 365-day...

The effectiveness of isoniazid preventive treatment among contacts of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: a systematic review and individual-participant meta-analysis

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

RATIONALE: Recent empirical research suggests that isoniazid may lead to a risk reduction of incident tuberculosis (TB) among close TB contacts of someone with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between isoniazid TB preventive treatment (TPT), compared to no treatment, upon incident TB in household contacts of MDR-TB cases using a large global consortium of TB contact tracing studies. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and individual-participant meta-analysis among observational studies of household contact tracing studies. Participants were included if they were exposed to someone with MDR-TB and were given either 6 months of isoniazid TPT or no TPT. Our primary outcome was incident TB in contacts exposed to TB. We derived adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) using mixed-effects, multivariable survival regression models with study-level random effects. The effectiveness of isoniazid TPT against incident TB was estimated through propensity...

The ENIGMA Consortium: large-scale collaborative analyses of neuroimaging and genetic data

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium is a collaborative network of researchers working together on a range of large-scale studies that integrate data from 70 institutions worldwide. Organized into Working Groups that tackle questions in neuroscience, genetics, and medicine, ENIGMA studies have analyzed neuroimaging data from over 12,826 subjects. In addition, data from 12,171 individuals were provided by the CHARGE consortium for replication of findings, in a total of 24,997 subjects. By meta-analyzing results from many sites, ENIGMA has detected factors that affect the brain that no individual site could detect on its own, and that require larger numbers of subjects than any individual neuroimaging study has currently collected. ENIGMA’s first project was a genome-wide association study identifying common variants in the genome associated with hippocampal volume or intracranial volume. Continuing work is exploring genetic associations...

Machine Learning-Driven Automated Culture Reveals Similar Performance of mTeSR+ and StemFlex in Human iP11N Pluripotent Stem Cells

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are powerful tools for disease modeling and therapeutic development, though their utility remains sensitive to operator-dependent variability and media formulation. Commercial stem cell media formulations, such as mTeSR+ and StemFlex, are designed to support robust pluripotent stem cell maintenance and improve reproducibility. While both are widely used, direct comparisons are limited. We evaluated mTeSR+ and StemFlex using the CellXpress.ai automated tissue culture platform in combination with IN Carta machine-learning-based image analysis to monitor and standardize feeding, passaging, and maintenance. Wild-type iP11N hiPSCs were cultured under standardized automated conditions with growth kinetics, immunocytochemical marker expression, and RT-qPCR assessment. Automated analysis revealed no significant differences in proliferation rates between the formulations; however, longitudinal image-based quantification identified statistically...

Developmental cascades of daily living skills matter for adult outcomes in autism.

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Daily living skills (DLS) predict adult success for autistic individuals. However, most research on DLS in autism relies on cross-sectional data and DLS summary scores, limiting understanding of how specific skills across development relate to adult outcomes. Using longitudinal data from autistic adults (n = 232, 19% female, 69% White) followed from early childhood into their early thirties (m_age = 32.6 years, SD = 7.58, range 19-35), this study used machine learning techniques to identify item-level DLS from ages 5 (n = 123), 9 (n = 152), 14 (n = 154), and 18 (n = 143) that predicted adult employment, residential status, social relationships, and well-being. DLS items demonstrated predictive utility for employment (age 9 model R² = .557) and social relationships (age 14 model ROC AUC = .839). Notably, DLS measured at age 5 explained a large proportion of variance in adult vocational outcomes (R²...

Coffin Commerce How a Funerary Materiality Formed Ancient Egypt

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This discussion will be centered on one ubiquitous and rather simple Egyptian object type – the wooden container for the human corpse.

The Layered Life of JE26204: the Construction and Reuse of the Coffins of Henuttawy

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In the Twenty-first Dynasty, ancient Egypt was facing a number of economic, political, and religious challenges and transformations. To compensate for a lack of imported resources and subsidized incomes, the Egyptian people were robbing and reusing the tombs of their predecessors. Royal coffins and mummies were collected by priests and placed in tomb caches, supposedly for their protection. In this article, the authors show how a detailed material analysis of the coffins in these caches can help reveal the social history of Egypt at this time. The coffins of Queen Henuttawy prove to be a combination of Eighteenth and Twenty-First Dynasty construction and decoration, and may provide insight into the actions of Third Intermediate Period priests. Following these pieces through to their modern excavation and display in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, it is evident that these objects continue to impact lives, acquiring additional layers of history and social significance.

Corrigendum to paper entitled “Seronegative patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome and non-pSS sicca test positive for anti-SSA/Ro52 and -Ro60 in saliva” [Published in: BBA – Mol. Basis Dis. Volume 1870, Issue 5, June 2024, 167168]

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The authors have regrettably found some errors in Table 1A and Table 1B. In Table 1A, the question mark should be replaced with 36. In Table 1B, 37 % should be replaced with 0 % (Focus score non-pSS sicca), 25 (68 %) should have been 11 (29%) (KCS non-pSS sicca) and (range) deleted. Table 1A. Demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients with pSS and non-pSS sicca and health control subjects in the Danish cohort 1 (DN1). [Table presented] Table 1B Demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients with pSS and non-pSS sicca and healthy control subjects in the Danish cohort 2 (DN2). [Table presented] Values are given in mean, SD, range, median, and in numbers of patients (%), N.A, not analyzed. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. Sincerely, Anne Marie Lynge Pedersen

Surviving New Kingdom Kings’ Coffins: Restoring the Art That Was

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines the material data preserved in king’s coffins used to bury and/or rebury five different kings, which represent the surviving material evidence we have of the art produced to manufacture divinized kingship during the New Kingdom: Seqenenre Taa, Kamose, Thutmose I/Panedjem I, Thutmose III, and Ramses II. All of them were removed from their original 17th and 18th Dynasty sepulchers, stripped of valuable materials, modified, and reused in later cache burials of the 20th, 21st, and 22nd Dynasties by 20th and 21st Dynasty High Priests of Amen, who used these recrafted coffins as a means of claiming their political and ideological legitimacy. Supported with detailed evidence of the five surviving king’s coffins as objects of social and political value and sometimes relying on the coffins recovered from Tutankhamun’s tomb for comparison, this article attempts to reconstruct some of the original material state of this art as a tool of power.

GENDER TRANSFORMATION IN DEATH: A Case Study of Coffins from Ramesside Period Egypt

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

GENDER TRANSFORMATION IN DEATH: A Case Study of Coffins from Ramesside Period Egypt

Introduction: What Art Does: Power and Performativity

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Art creates power1—for the commissioner, the depicted, as well as for the creator [...]

Coffins, Cartonnage, and Sarcophagi

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Coffins, Cartonnage, and Sarcophagi

Lessons learned from community and citizen science monitoring on the Elwha River restoration project

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Community and citizen science (CCS) projects – initiatives that involve public participation in scientific research – can both sustain and expand long-term monitoring of large dam removal projects. In this article, we discuss our perspectives on CCS associated with the Elwha River dam removals. We summarize how the public has been or could be involved in monitoring and distill lessons learned for other large dam removal projects. Much of the Elwha monitoring involved technical field work requiring training and incurring potential liability risks, guiding projects towards smaller-scale public involvement. Partnering with organizations that have capacity for volunteer management expanded CCS opportunities and provided logistical support to project managers committed to public engagement. We found that many projects engaged with students and/or with paid or unpaid interns; compensating participants in various ways can help to create reciprocal relationships that support long-term...

Microstructural evolution of nanotwinned copper in confined moderate-aspect-ratio through-silicon via geometries

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Nanotwinned copper exhibits exceptional mechanical and electrical properties, making it a promising interconnect material for advanced electronic packaging. However, its microstructural evolution under microscale geometric confinement remains insufficiently understood. In this work, the thermal annealing–induced grain evolution of nanotwinned copper “pillar” is investigated in moderate-aspect-ratio through-silicon vias. The results reveal that confined nanotwinned copper “pillar” exhibits strongly heterogeneous grain growth, characterized by long-term retention of columnar grains and a high density of coherent twin boundaries in the via interior, while grain coarsening is localized near geometrically constrained regions. In contrast, conventional copper undergoes more uniform and extensive grain growth. Complementary Monte Carlo simulations incorporating twin boundary energetics show that coherent twin boundaries reduce boundary mobility, delay microstructural stabilization, and...

How far can a commercial decision model's probabilities be trusted? A calibration audit of Jev against open and general-purpose classifiers

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Commercial "decision models" return a choice or a probability for a closed question about a passage of text, and they are marketed as calibrated judgments that software can act on directly. We audit one such system, TypeSafe's Jev 1.13.0, with 3,244 evaluations of 2,372 distinct texts from two public classification tasks, and compare it with two open zero-shot classifiers (one of them trained with examples from these tasks) and two small general-purpose language models. The top-label calibration of Jev's probabilities differs between tasks and question forms, so it has to be checked for each: the calibration error changes by 0.071 between two ways of posing the same question, the middle of the four-class scale is overconfident (stated 0.750, observed 0.612), and 71.6% of four-class answers sit at exactly 1.00, which leaves a threshold on the top-class probability 53 operating points. One fitted temperature removes most of the miscalibration where it exists, and split conformal...

Navigating Type 2 Diabetes Care: Asian American Perspectives on Self-Management Education and Support

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the determinants of diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) program engagement among Asian Americans with type 2 diabetes living in California.MethodsA qualitative descriptive study was conducted to explore DSMES experiences. Semistructured interviews with Filipino, Korean South Asian, Cambodian, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese Americans were conducted. Participants were recruited through outreach, referrals, and social media. All 12 interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data analysis used a rigorous, iterative approach, beginning with open coding to generate initial codes, developing a codebook, and proceeding to a second coding level and thematic analysis to interpret key patterns.ResultsAnalysis revealed 4 major themes and 10 subthemes organized using the ecological model. The major themes are (1) individual-level barriers and facilitators (microsystem), (2) cultural and social influences (mesosystem),...

Conservation Humanities and Multispecies Justice

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article argues that biodiversity conservation is primarily a social and cultural issue and only secondarily a scientific one. It explains the proxy logic of narratives about endangered species, which typically serve as proxies for community identities and the changes communities have undergone through processes of modernization and colonization. Polar bears, whose endangerment is interpreted differently by North American and European audiences, on the one hand, and by Inuit communities, on the other, serve as an example of how endangered species narratives not only involve culture but also, more specifically, issues of multispecies justice. Conservation humanities needs to engage with the two central problems that multispecies justice has identified and grappled with: conflicts between the interests of disadvantaged human communities and nonhuman species and conflicts and trade-offs between the interests of different nonhuman species. The essay argues that adopting the framework...

National Mortality Databases to Assess Disease Burden in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases: A Valuable Resource But With Limitations

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Remaking the landscape of scientific expertise: The emergent research program of total automation in science

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines an emergent research program aimed at the complete automation of science, analyzing how various automation projects funded by DARPA and others are working to replicate traditionally human scientific competencies. Rather than directly attempting to create fully autonomous robot scientists, these projects break down complex scientific work into discrete, automatable “tasks.” While individual projects often preserve some role for human scientists, collectively they reveal a comprehensive blueprint for scientific automation. Through interviews with 26 DARPA contractors, program managers, and others involved in scientific automation, the authors demonstrate how automation efforts target three key domains of human scientific expertise: insight (hypothesis generation and pattern recognition), embodied knowledge (experimental procedures and techniques), and judgment (evaluation of scientific claims). Instead of simply trying to replicate human capabilities, these...

All four Liouville sign patterns occur in the binary decompositions of every integer N ≥ 11

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Let λ be the Liouville function. We prove that for every integer N ≥ 2 outside the set E = {2,3,4,5,6,9,10} and every (s,t) in {±1}^2 there are positive integers a, b with a+b = N, λ(a) = s and λ(b) = t, and that each N in E misses at least one of the four patterns. For this qualitative existence statement, we remove both the Generalised Riemann Hypothesis and the friability restriction from a theorem of Mangerel, and we settle the odd-total and positive-positive variants, raised by Mangerel, of a question of Shusterman whose even-total negative-negative case was settled recently in an anonymous repository. The main new ingredient is a rigidity statement at an odd prime p: if p has no representation a+b with λ(a) = λ(b) = ε, then a single one-sided exclusion, together with the dilation laws λ(2n) = λ(3n) = λ(5n) = −λ(n), already forces the odd completion of λ to be exactly multiplicative, which contradicts quadratic reciprocity. In addition, we give a short proof that every N...

Strategic design of methane observation networks to improve emission estimates: A case study in Africa

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract. Ground-based and satellite atmospheric observations are essential for reducing uncertainties in methane (CH4) emissions by atmospheric inversion, particularly in data-sparse regions such as Africa. However, adding new observation sites does not yield linear improvements of emission uncertainties because overlapping transport sensitivities reduces marginal information gain. Here we develop a Bayesian framework to strategically optimize CH4 observation network design for column retrievals from upward-looking Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometers (e.g., EM27/SUN), jointly identifying the optimal number of sites and their spatial configuration. The framework quantifies uncertainty reduction for grid-point (1°) total and sectoral emissions while accounting for transport redundancy, cloud screening, and observational errors. Using January and July as representative months, we find that uncertainty reduction increases rapidly during early network expansion but gradually...

The worst energy policy in the world

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Iran war could serve as a turning point in accelerating the global transition away from fossil fuels: Every additional day that oil and gas prices are high and future supplies are uncertain, wind and solar power-cheaper and more scalable than ever before-grow all the more appealing. But nearly half of the world's countries have adopted emergency subsidies that research shows will make this transition slower, more expensive, and less equitable.

Trends in Dermatopolymyositis Mortality, 1999–2022: A Nationwide Population‐Based Study, United States

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated trends in dermatopolymyositis (DPM) mortality relative to all-cause mortality in the United States from 1999 to 2022. METHODS: We used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's databases (Multiple Causes of Death for 1999-2020 and Provisional Mortality Statistics for 2021 and 2022) to obtain death counts for DPM and non-DPM (all causes other than DPM). We calculated age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) for both groups and computed the ratio of DPM-ASMR to non-DPM-ASMR for each of the 24 years. We performed joinpoint regression analysis to estimate annual percent change (APC) in DPM-ASMRs and non-DPM-ASMRs and in the DPM-ASMR to non-DPM-ASMR ratios overall and by sex, age, and race and ethnicity. RESULTS: There were 12,882 DPM and 63,549,485 non-DPM deaths during 1999-2022. Mortality decreased at a higher APC (-3.8% [95% confidence interval (CI) -4.3% to -3.4%]) for DPM than for non-DPM (-1.2% [95% CI -1.5% to -0.9%]) until the start of the COVID-19...

Lupus, a Leading Cause of Years of Potential Life Lost in Young Women: Implications for Public Health Priorities and Research Funding

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

OBJECTIVE: Premature mortality burden is an important component of disease burden and can help guide health care and research priorities. However, relying solely on mortality rates may underestimate lupus mortality burden because a substantial proportion of deaths occur at younger ages. Years of potential life lost (YPLL) captures premature mortality by applying a predefined age threshold. We estimated the YPLL from lupus in US women relative to leading causes of death and other autoimmune diseases. METHODS: Using the US population-based national Multiple Cause-of-Death database, we obtained death counts for 28 diseases, including lupus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 15 leading causes of death, and 12 additional autoimmune diseases. We calculated YPLL before age 75 years by summing 75 minus age at death for deaths occurring before age 75. Official cause-of-death rankings were obtained from the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS)....

Why just these four ways of coordinating, and how Homo sapiens got them

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why just these four ways of coordinating, and how Homo sapiens got them

SLE Among the Leading Causes of Years of Potential Life Lost in Young Women: Population-Based Study, 2000-2015

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

SLE Among the Leading Causes of Years of Potential Life Lost in Young Women: Population-Based Study, 2000-2015

Predictive value of early treatment response for long-term outcomes after seven years on low-dose atropine.

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To determine whether first-year response to low-dose atropine predicts long-term myopia control and may guide treatment escalation in myopic children. METHODS: A retrospective chart review (2012-2025) identified children treated with atropine 0.01%-0.05% at a single practice with ≥54 months of treatment. Children were excluded with insufficient follow-up (<54 months of treatment), comorbidities that might affect myopia progression or concurrent baseline optical myopia-control therapy. First-year response was modelled as the spherical equivalent refraction (SER) progression rate (diopters (D)/year, continuous, positive values indicating worsening myopia) and by responder status (defined as≤0.25D total progression at 12±3 months). The primary outcome was successful control maintaining≤0.25 D/year over follow-up. Key secondary outcomes were total SER progression and time-to-treatment escalation. Eye-level models accounted for correlation between fellow eyes and...

Osteitis fibrosa cystica