UC Berkeley

Aflatoxin contamination of staple food commodities is one of the most critical food safety threats in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, systematic surveillance data from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remain exceedingly scarce. In this study, we assessed the prevalence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), B2 (AFB2), G1 (AFG1), and G2 (AFG2) in 43 food samples comprising maize (Zea mays L.) raw grain (n = 18), cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) raw tuber (n = 11), and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) raw grain (n = 14), collected from two retail markets in Kinshasa, DRC. Analyses performed by reverse-phase HPLC coupled with fluorescence detection and Kobra® electrochemical post-column derivatization revealed the presence of aflatoxins in 41 of 43 samples, with AFB1 being the most prevalent aflatoxin (95.35%), followed by AFB2 (55.81%), AFG1 (44.19%), and AFG2 (34.88%). Total aflatoxin concentrations ranged from below the detection limit to 191.20 μg/kg, with a mean of 16.40 μg/kg. Most samples exceeded the EU AFB1 regulatory limit of 2 μg/kg and the EU total aflatoxin limit of 4 μg/kg. Temperature and relative humidity recorded across eight food storage depots at both retail markets ranged from 29.60 to 30.90 °C and 34.00 to 56.00%, respectively, and serve as indicative of the prevailing storage environment, which may contribute to Aspergillus proliferation and aflatoxin biosynthesis at retail markets in Kinshasa. Future work that combine dietary exposure assessment, quantitative risk modeling, and multi-mycotoxin profiling across Kinshasa and all provinces of the DRC is needed to fully characterize the public health burden and inform evidence-based intervention strategies.

People in the U.S. generally overestimate racial economic equality in contemporary society. A growing body of research suggests that the belief that the world is fair and just—i.e., belief in societal fairness—is a reliable predictor of the magnitude of these overestimates. The present work examined whether disrupting individuals' belief in the meritocratic opportunity structure in the U.S., via exposure to evidence of rising economic inequality, can subsequently reduce their tendency to overestimate contemporary racial economic equality. Across four studies (N = 4512), including one high-powered, pre-registered replication with a nationally representative sample, we found that reminding people of rising societal economic inequality, compared with control information, led them to generate more accurate estimates of the current state of racial income and wealth equality (Studies 1–4). Further, restoring individuals' faith in U.S. meritocracy by informing them that social mobility in the country is still possible, despite rising economic inequality, reduced the effect of rising inequality information on racial wealth gap perceptions (Studies 3 and 4). We discuss the implications of our findings for both theory and social policy.

Background: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) implemented 'fast-track' programmes, like conditional marketing authorisations (CMA), where the benefits of immediate drugs' availability outweigh the risks associated with incomplete evidence. However, payers in the European Union (EU) decide on medicines' coverage based on clinical benefits assessment, cost-effectiveness and/or budget impact. We investigated differences in the time-to-access of drugs approved via CMA vis-à-vis standard marketing authorisation (SMA) in Italy, Germany, and Spain. Methods: CMA-licenced drugs from 2006 to 2022 were retrieved and matched with comparable SMA drugs. Collected data were as follows: marketing authorisation details, drug characteristics, pivotal trials' characteristics and national reimbursement decision dates. Data sources included European Public Assessment Reports, and country-specific databases (Farmadati®, Lauer-Taxe®, BIFIMED). Results: CMA drugs take longer, in days, to reach reimbursement compared to SMA drugs both in Italy (CMA: median 523, mean 635, standard deviation (SD 364; SMA: median 455, mean 497, SD 242) and Spain (CMA: median 691, mean 779, SD 456; SMA: median 534, mean 568, SD 273). Cox regressions and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses corroborate these findings. Conclusions: The EMA's intent to accelerate access to promising medicines may be offset by longer timelines to secure national reimbursement in major EU nations.

Altermagnets are a class of magnets that exhibit non-relativistic spin splitting (NRSS) of electronic bands in the absence of net magnetization. Their potential to generate large spin polarization without spin-orbit coupling has created strong interest in probes that access the underlying order parameter directly. In this Perspective, we show that linear magneto-birefringence (LMB) provides a natural and broadly applicable route to detecting altermagnetic order. Building on the correspondence between the momentum-space structure of NRSS and the ferroic ordering of magnetic multipoles in real space, we demonstrate how d-wave and g-wave NRSS textures yield distinct LMB responses. We present a symmetry-based framework that identifies the optical geometries and field configurations required to isolate specific multipole components, enabling domain imaging and providing benchmarks for theoretical models of LMB.

This observational study used descriptive analysis to improve understanding of the relationship between fathers’ presence or absence, the occurrence of mothers’ feeding practices, and child eating behaviors at evening meals. Participants were 141 Mexican-origin families with children aged 8 to 10 years. We coded behavioral observations of video-recorded meals. Three parental feeding practices were established a priori : (1) pressure to eat, (2) restriction of amount of food, and (3) positive involvement in child’s meals. Additionally, we identified child eating behaviors and food eaten. Fewer mothers engaged in certain types of positive involvement in child’s meals when fathers were present at the meals, compared to when fathers were absent. Regarding child eating behaviors, when fathers were present, more children engaged in positive talk about food, compared to when fathers were absent. Additionally, when fathers were present, more children ate grains and fewer ate fruit, compared to when fathers were absent. Family mealtime with Mexican American children may provide an opportunity for fathers, alongside mothers, to communicate about and participate in children’s food consumption. Research on obesity in families should include a focus on fathers’ feeding practices, such as positive involvement in a child’s meals, that may complement mothers’ feeding practices.

Are chimpanzees able to inhibit anti-social behavior towards their friends? And how do they react when a friend acts anti-socially towards them? Past work has demonstrated that chimpanzees are selectively prosocial towards their friends: they groom them more, help them more, and share more food with them. However, the influence of friendship on anti-social behavior remains underexplored. Here, we use food theft as a test case to examine (1) the influence of friendship on anti-social behavior and (2) emotional responses to anti-social behavior. We assigned 26 chimpanzees to pairs of friends (friend condition) and non-friends (non-friend condition) based on 800 h of observations of naturally occurring interactions. The pairs then participated in a stealing task, in which one chimpanzee (the “thief”) could pull a tray with pieces of pineapple, on which the other was feeding (the “victim”). Friends and non-friends were matched on sex and dominance rank. We found that chimpanzees stole less from their friends. When theft did occur, chimpanzees tended to initially express more negative emotions in the friend condition than in the non-friend condition, but then attenuated this response with increasing trial number. Thieves, meanwhile, expressed more negative emotions in the non-friend condition, suggesting that they treated interactions with non-friends as more hostile. These results speak to the complex role of friendship in regulating anti-social behavior and emotional responses to it.

Access to information has been identified as a social determinant of health, influencing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that can shape health outcomes. Contraceptive information influences how individuals make decisions about accessing contraceptive care and method use, as well as broader reproductive health trajectories. The recent proliferation of contraceptive misinformation has led to increased research and media attention on this topic. Misinformation from all types of information sources must be understood and addressed by the sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice field to enable people to make informed, autonomous decisions about contraception based on high-quality, high-integrity evidence. This Research Practice Support aims to guide researchers interested in studying contraceptive misinformation. First, we define key terms related to the information environment and ecosystem, including misinformation, disinformation, and other related concepts. Then, we provide actionable recommendations for each stage of the research process for studies focused on contraceptive misinformation, including study design and ethical considerations, data sources and collection, and dissemination. Scholars are encouraged to consider these recommendations to maximize the impact of their research focused on contraceptive misinformation.

Critical research advancements require usable, reliable software products—including AI tooling—for high performance data and computing work. To improve AI systems we must understand scientists’ and engineers’ needs and define design best practices for building interfaces that facilitate collaboration between scientists and AI tools across ecosystems. Ensuring the long-term usability and utility of scientific software products and AI systems for communities protects critical investments, supports high quality research, and reduces end user challenges. This talk will present findings from our semi-structured interview study investigating how scientists and engineers use AI tools for their research work. We recruited from universities and national labs, seeking perspectives from multiple disciplines. Looking beyond common use of AI tools for coding tasks, we sought to understand the varied ways AI is or could be adopted in scientific settings. Our interviews investigated how users determine the utility of AI tools, the concerns they have about adoption, and expectations for agentic tooling in research infrastructures. In this talk, we discuss opportunities for AI tooling in science and engineering beyond coding support, providing a lens into the development work the US-RSE community may take on in the near future and the socio-technical circumstances driving it. Our results inform development priorities, strategies for issue mitigation, and long-term stewardship in scientific facilities and work. We anticipate our insights helping to improve the usability and stewardship of scientific software, especially for high performance data and computing work.