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White House rolls out AI funding — and signals a new era for US science

Cohort profile: Walking for harm reduction through street engagement (WHiSE 2.0)

Indigenous people using substances experience health disparities that are compounded by systemic inequities shaped by colonialism. The WHiSE 2.0 study aims to describe substance use patterns and harm reduction approaches among Indigenous people who use drugs in Thunder Bay, Sudbury, and Sault Ste Marie. A community-based research approach was used and guided by Indigenous leadership. Eligible study participants self-identified as Indigenous, lived in the study regions, and used substances within the last 3 months. Participants completed an interviewer-administered 1-hour questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were conducted to summarize participant demographic and cultural characteristics, impacts of colonization, substance use and health behaviours, and harm reduction knowledge, stratified by city. A total of 356 participants were enrolled: 173 in Thunder Bay, 101 in Sault Ste. Marie, and 82 in Sudbury. Most identified as First Nations with 93.1% in Thunder Bay, 76.8% in Sudbury, and 75.2% in Sault Ste. Marie. The percentage of participants across all sites with precarious sleeping situations was high, with 39.0% sleeping on the street, 28.3% staying in a shelter, and 23.3% couch surfing as well as 41.9% staying at a family or friend’s home. Across all sites, 43.3% of participants injected drugs, 31.5% ingested drugs, 92.1% smoked drugs, and 38.5% snorted or inhaled drugs. Importantly across all sites, 84.0% knew what harm reduction was, and 82.3% of respondents had ever had HIV screening test and 84.3% hepatitis C testing. Also, 71.3% of all participants engaged in ceremonies and 22.2% reported that cultural teachings affected their harm reduction practices. WHiSE 2.0 is the first prospective cohort study examining the harm reduction needs of Indigenous people using substances in northern Ontario. Through a culturally grounded, community-led study, urgent service gaps are highlighted and the importance of locally tailored harm reduction strategies rooted in Indigenous knowledge and leadership.

Association of cytomegalovirus infection with miR-155 and miR-31 and TGFBR2 expression in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Personalized gene therapy relieves severe epilepsy in two boys

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the acute effects of self-selected rest intervals on exercise performance maintenance, lactate levels, and heart rate

Background Rest interval duration is a key variable in exercise prescription, influencing both performance and physiological responses. Traditional training typically employs fixed rest intervals; however, this approach may not adequately reflect individual variability in recovery needs. Recently, self-selected rest intervals—based on individual perception—have gained attention as a potential strategy for more precise load regulation. Nevertheless, current evidence regarding their effects on exercise performance, heart rate, and blood lactate remains inconsistent. Methods This study followed PRISMA guidelines and conducted a systematic search of Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase from database inception to March 20, 2026. Acute experimental studies comparing self-selected and fixed rest intervals were included. A three-level random-effects meta-analysis was performed to account for dependency among multiple effect sizes. Subgroup analyses, meta-regression, and sensitivity analyses were conducted to explore potential moderators and assess robustness. Results Sixteen studies (k = 16) involving 281 participants were included. No significant overall difference was observed between self-selected and fixed rest intervals for exercise performance (g = 0.27, 95% CI [−0.14, 0.69], p = 0.29), with substantial between-study heterogeneity. After removing outliers, a small but significant effect favoring self-selected rest intervals was identified (g = 0.20, 95% CI [0.08, 0.33], p < 0.01). No significant differences were observed for heart rate (g = 0.002, p = 0.98) or blood lactate (g = −0.20, p = 0.36). Conclusion Self-selected and fixed rest intervals produce comparable effects on exercise performance and physiological responses. However, self-selected rest intervals may confer a small advantage in maintaining performance under specific conditions. These findings should be interpreted with caution due to sensitivity to outliers and study heterogeneity.

Energy efficient hybrid beamforming for millimeter wave massive MIMO wireless communication system

Author Correction: Feature-specific threat coding in lateral septum guides defensive action

Dynamic analysis of weak prisoner’s dilemma game considering conservative and aggressive cooperative strategy

The balancing of benefits is a critical pathway for maintaining cooperative relationships among selfish individuals within a group. Relevant research has confirmed that the ultimate outcomes of altruistic actions essentially revert to the level of self-interest. This study posits that individuals exhibit heterogeneous cooperative behaviors in social interactions due to differences in cognitive abilities and personality traits; accordingly, conservative cooperative strategy and aggressive cooperative strategy are introduced. Conservative cooperators are characterized by incurring additional identification costs when interacting strategically with other individuals, whereas aggressive cooperators demonstrate a higher level of resource investment to promote the emergence of cooperation. The results indicate that, in infinite well-mixed populations, reducing identification cost and increasing cooperative benefit can, to some extent, promote cooperation. In structured populations, especially under the random neighbor unconditional imitation rule, the relative advantages of the three strategies increase or decrease in a stage-dependent manner as the identification cost and aggressive cooperation cost vary. The research findings confirm that the presence of differentiated cooperative strategies effectively sustains group cooperation, providing new theoretical insights and model support for analyzing the mechanisms of cooperation evolution in real-world scenarios.

Optimized IoT clustering and assignment in semi-synchronous federated learning

Briefing Chat: Baby T. rex were killers from birth, suggest new fossils

Effect of midwifery students’ continuity of care program on women’s experiences of maternity care: A randomised controlled trial

Background Midwifery continuity of care (CoC) benefits women and families. Engaging midwifery students may help extend such care and improve access to quality maternity services. This study evaluated the impact of a student-led CoC on women’s maternity care experiences during childbirth in a middle-income country. No trials to date have assessed these effects. Methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial with low-risk pregnant women at 26–29 weeks of gestation, intending vaginal delivery. Participants were randomized to intervention (n = 45) or control (n = 48) groups through stratified block randomization with central allocation concealment. The intervention group received continuous care from final-year midwifery students, while both groups received usual care. Childbirth experiences were assessed 40−50 days postpartum using the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire (CEQ-2), while secondary outcomes were measured with the Experience of Maternity Care and Maternal Satisfaction scales. Results All recruited women were followed up, and baseline characteristics were comparable. In the intervention group, 12 women (27%) had caesarean sections compared to 18 women (38%) in the control group. Among women with experience of labour pain at the hospital (37 intervention, 35 control), the intervention group reported higher mean childbirth experience scores (3.3 vs. 2.3; adjusted mean difference [AMD] 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.8 to 1.3). The intervention group scored higher in maternity care experiences during pregnancy (AMD 15.7; 95% CI 13.3 to 18.2), labour and birth (35.6 vs. 23.0; AMD 12.6, 95% CI 7.9 to 17.4), and postnatal care (45.1 vs. 28.2, AMD 17.1; 95% CI 14.0 to 20.2). Maternal satisfaction was greater for normal (187 vs. 130; AMD 56, 95% CI 45–68) and caesarean (162 vs. 130, AMD 30, 95% CI 11–50) births among women in the intervention group. Conclusions Undergraduate midwifery students were able to provide CoC that improved women’s experiences of maternity care. These findings are promising for further research and practical implementation. Trial registration Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials, IRCT20100414003706N41, registered prospectively on 30 April 2022, https://trialsearch.who.int/Trial2.aspx?TrialID=IRCT20100414003706N4 1; https://irct.behdasht.gov.ir/trial/62761 .

Development and external validation of machine learning models for predicting mortality in patients with lung cancer: a multicenter retrospective cohort study

Bizarre CRISPR enzyme kills cancer cells by shredding their DNA

Awareness, perceptions, and clinical use of deep margin elevation in subgingival restorative cases: A cross-sectional multicentric study

Background Deep margin elevation (DME) has been introduced as a restorative approach to manage subgingival margins and facilitate adhesive procedures. Despite its clinical description in the literature, limited information is available regarding dentists’ awareness of the technique and their willingness to incorporate it into practice. Objective To assess awareness, perceptions and clinical use of DME for subgingival restorative cases among practicing dentists from selected regions. Methodology A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among dentists working in academic institutions, private practices, or combined settings across centers in the Middle East, the United States, Asia (India), Europe (UK) and practicing dentists in the fellows of the Academy of Dentistry International, stated as other regions. A 20-item closed-ended, self-administered questionnaire assessed awareness and clinical acceptance of DME. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test using SAS (SAS Institute, Cary, NC), with significance set at 0.05. Results Of 450 invited dentists, 349 completed the survey (response rate: 77.6%). Participants practiced in academic institutions (23%), private settings (39%), or combined academic–private environments (38%). Most respondents (77%) were familiar with DME, and 66% considered adhesive bonding to cervical or root dentin in deep margin situations to be predictable. However, when favorable clinical conditions were present, 75% reported preferring surgical crown lengthening. Reported routine use of DME for extensive subgingival proximal lesions in posterior teeth was limited. Conclusion Most respondents were aware of deep marginal elevation (DME) as a successful approach for improving tooth longevity and restoration success when managing deep subgingival margins, provided proper isolation is maintained during the procedure. Few clinicians had concerns regarding cervical marginal adaptation and restoration failure. However, the routine clinical use of DME varied among practitioners across different regions and practice settings. These findings indicate variability in clinicians’ perceptions and application of DME in restorative practice.

Temperature drives microbial community shifts and methanogenic pathways in a carbon fiber fixed-bed reactor for anaerobic digestion

Pharmacokinetic model selection for infliximab based on inflammatory bowel disease phenotype and severity: Toward model-informed precision dosing

Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) differ in intestinal location and depth of involvement. Patients with UC who have or experienced a flare-up according to Truelove–Witts criteria (ACUS), as well as those with fistulizing Crohn’s disease (FIST), may represent difficult-to-treat populations. This study investigates the phenotype- and severity-driven selection of infliximab (IFX) population pharmacokinetic models to optimize predictive performance and support precision dosing in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care. A retrospective analysis was conducted at University Hospital Medical Centre “Zvezdara”. Twenty published IFX models were evaluated across five datasets (overall, ASUC, CD, FIST, UC), primarily using trough concentrations obtained via routine therapeutic drug monitoring. Predictive accuracy was assessed using median prediction error (MDPE) and median absolute prediction error (MAPE). Bayesian forecasts were evaluated using median individual prediction error (MDIPE) and its absolute value (MAIPE). Normalized prediction distribution errors (NPDE) and visual predictive check (VPC) were used for simulation-based diagnostics. Moreover, probability of probability of target-attainment (PTA%) per model and subgroup was calculated. No model met all predefined prediction-based performance criteria. In a priori analysis, the Matsuoka model showed the satisfactory overall performance, while the Xu model was most suitable for CD patients. In a posteriori analysis, the Ternant 2008 model had the well overall accuracy, with other models (Dreesen 2021 for ASUC, Matsuoka for CD, Brandse 2016 for UC) performing satisfactory in respective subgroups. Simulation NPDE diagnostics identified the Aubourg model as suitable for the overall dataset, while VPC results mainly supported the a priori analysis conclusions. These findings highlight the relevance of disease phenotype and severity in selecting IFX pharmacokinetic models. Rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach, tailoring model choice to patient subgroups enhances predictive performance. This supports a more individualized, model-informed precision dosing (MIPD) strategy for optimizing IFX dosing in IBD.

Training a continuous conditional diffusion-based model to simulate horizontal strike-slip ground motions for scenario seismic events

Multi-AGV task scheduling and dynamic map path planning based on task pre-allocation

Multi-AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) systems operating in complex warehouse environments equipped with movable containers encounter several challenges, including high system no-load rate, low task response efficiency, and imbalanced path utilization. To address these issues, we propose an integrated optimization approach for task scheduling and path planning. First, a task segmentation strategy is introduced to decompose complex tasks into long-distance transport and precision in-racking sub-tasks which are then allocated to heterogeneous AGV types for execution. Second, a task pre-allocation algorithm is designed to enable AGVs to participate in the subsequent task assignment prior to the completion of their current tasks, thereby reducing the system no-load rate. Third, a dynamic map path planning mechanism is developed, which incorporates a temporary path traffic control module and a localized Floyd update algorithm to achieve real-time path adjustment and effective path utilization optimization. Comparative experiments were conducted in a multi-zone warehouse simulation environment. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach can reduce the system no-load rate, mitigate path congestion, and enhance overall operational performance.

Optimization of on-street parking layout based on transport-energy integration

It takes a village: Community science informs tick encounter, pathogen, and exposure risk in North Carolina, USA

As tick-borne disease cases continue to increase over time, there is a growing need to understand the ecological and epidemiological factors that contribute to disease risk. North Carolina is currently experiencing a rise in cases, yet tick-borne research in the state remains limited. In this study, we developed a framework for a community science program in collaboration with 22 county public health agencies to recruit participants to submit incidentally encountered ticks. As part of kit submissions, participants also completed a form describing where and when they encountered the tick, as well as the behaviors that led to the encounters. Submitted ticks were tested for several putative bacterial pathogens, including Borrelia burgdorferi , Ehrlichia spp., and Rickettsia amblyommatis . We additionally assessed how advertising methodology and frequency by county health agencies influenced tick kit submissions and evaluated correlations between agency perceptions of project performance and submission rates. Over two years, we received 444 ticks across 319 unique submissions. While species distributions were largely consistent with prior observations, we report the first published instance of Amblyomma americanum within the mountainous region of NC, indicating a potential range expansion into cooler, higher-altitude areas. Relative risk modeling identified recreational activities as consistently associated with higher likelihood of tick kit submissions. Multiple advertising types appeared to influence the number of kits submitted; however, these results should be interpreted cautiously due to small sample sizes. Overall, our study demonstrates a successful collaboration with state and county health agencies to engage the community in tick-borne disease research. Future studies should build on this framework to further optimize participation.