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Winter occurrence and spawning characteristics of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) in Jinhae Bay: An integrated survey using acoustic monitoring, gillnet sampling, and environmental DNA

This study investigated the adult density, timing of migration, and biological characteristics of Pacific herring ( Clupea pallasii ) entering Jinhae Bay, South Korea, in winter, a major spawning ground for the species. A wideband autonomous transceiver (WBAT) was deployed from November 2022 to March 2023, and standardized gillnet surveys and environmental DNA (eDNA) were conducted concurrently. WBAT monitoring showed that C. pallasii school signals appeared predominantly from mid-January to mid-February, coinciding with the period during which herring were highly dominant in gillnet catches. Assessment of female reproductive maturity indicated that most individuals were ripe or spent, confirming that this period represented the peak spawning season. eDNA concentrations exhibited a sharp peak in mid-January in both surface and bottom waters and then declined steadily thereafter. Taken together, these results indicate that entry into the spawning ground begins in late-December, peaks in mid-to-late January, and declines toward late-February. By integrating acoustic, catch, and eDNA datasets, this study provides a comprehensive assessment of the timing, density, and spawning ecology of C . pallasii , offering evidence-based guidance for future resource management and spawning-ground protection in Jinhae Bay.

Tracking the Complex Dynamics of Electron-Transfer-Mediated Decay in Real Space and Time

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Group Competition Strategy for Covalent Ligand Discovery

Single-item versus scale: Comparing respondent demographic, social, and health characteristics by measure of loneliness using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) data

Background Growing research and clinical attention to loneliness has led to a wide range of available measures; however, few studies directly compare different loneliness measures within the same population. Measures include single-item, direct questions and indirect, multi-item scales. This study compared responses and respondent characteristics between a direct single-item loneliness question and an indirect multi-item scale. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of population-based survey data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). The sample included baseline (2010−2015) and follow-up 1 respondents (2015−2018) from both the Tracking (computer-assisted telephone interviews) and Comprehensive (in-home assessment) cohorts (n = 43,235). Loneliness was assessed using a direct single-item question from the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) and the 3-item Loneliness Scale. We categorized loneliness using ordinal (not lonely, moderately lonely, severely lonely) and dichotomous (lonely/not lonely) classifications. Unweighted descriptive statistics were used to examine demographic, social, and health characteristics across measures and response categories. Results Among the 43,235 CLSA respondents, 14% (n = 5,848) were identified by both the single-item question and the scale as lonely, 67% (n = 28,998) were identified as not lonely by both, leaving 19% classified differently based on measure. Individuals identified as lonely respondents by both measures were more often older, women, less educated, and had lower income. Those classified as severely lonely on the single item but not lonely on the scale were older than other groups. In contrast, respondents who were moderately lonely on the single-item question tended to be married, report higher income, and have greater social contact. Conclusion The direct single-item question and the indirect multi-item scale provided comparable overall classifications of loneliness in our CLSA sample. However, respondent characteristics varied across the more granular response categories, highlighting the importance of measure selection depending on study aims.

Daily briefing: More than one-third of cancer cases are preventable

Process evaluation of a hybrid effectiveness-implementation, pragmatic, cluster randomised controlled trial (IMPULSE) to improve psychosocial treatment of patients with psychotic-spectrum disorders in Southeast Europe

Background The IMPULSE trial investigated the effectiveness and implementation of a digital psychosocial intervention (DIALOG+) for people with psychosis in five Southeast European countries. DIALOG+ significantly improved patients’ quality of life after four treatment sessions. The process evaluation reported here aimed to assess contextual influences on intervention delivery during the trial, to explain the trial findings and generate hypotheses about mechanisms of action by exploring acceptability from the perspectives of clinicians who delivered it and trial participants who received it, and fidelity (was the intervention delivered and received as planned?). Method A mixed-methods process evaluation was conducted in accordance with the published protocol, guided by theoretical frameworks and the Medical Research Council’s guidance for complex interventions. To explore the role of context, data were analysed about the participating services, policy documents, and from focus groups with key stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews with clinicians and patients were conducted to explore acceptability. Process data (format and content of sessions) were analysed to assess intervention fidelity. Data analysis included descriptive methods, framework and content analysis, and triangulation. Results Several attributes of context related to health services, including resource limitations, funding priorities, reliance on paper records and lack of community support, potentially negatively impacted DIALOG+ acceptability, fidelity and outcomes. Contextual enablers were also identified, including an appetite for change among key stakeholders that can help overcome contextual barriers. Acceptability of the psychosocial intervention was moderate to high and fidelity was high. Conclusions Intervention acceptability is likely to have played a key role in ensuring high fidelity, which in turn likely contributed to the intervention’s positive impact on patients’ quality of life. The high fidelity confirms that the IMPULSE trial findings provide a valid assessment of the intervention as designed. While the identified contextual barriers appear not to have impaired intervention fidelity, acceptability and outcomes, they could pose challenges to the long-term sustainability of the intervention. Trial registration Retrospectively registered on 29 March 2021, ISRCTN11913964

Open-source AI tool beats giant LLMs in literature reviews — and gets citations right

Cooperation of Carboxylate and Sulfonate Ligands in a High-Efficiency Ru Catalyst for Electrocatalytic Ammonia Oxidation

Short-term forecasting of Indonesia electricity generation using MATLAB based on NARX neural network

Electricity consumption, production, and supply based on fossil fuels have increased due to population growth, urbanization, and technological development, leading to environmental damage in countries like Indonesia. In response to this issue, electricity forecasting is essential. This study applies to a Nonlinear Autoregressive with Exogenous Input (NARX) neural network to forecast one year ahead of electricity generation using MATLAB. Two algorithms are used for comparison: Levenberg-Marquardt and Bayesian Regularization. The data is classified using a standard method of 70%−30% split, with 30 hidden layers and a standard delay of 2-time steps. The results show that both algorithms achieve an R² value above 0.9 and a Mean Absolute Percent Error (MAPE) of under 3%, with the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm demonstrating marginally superior performance. These results indicate that the model provides valuable insights for forecasting annual electricity generation in Indonesia over a short timeframe.

AI research deluge: why one conference is asking authors to rank their own papers

Electrochemical Control over Electron Density of InAs Quantum Dots

Corporate social responsibility and employee performance in China’s manufacturing sector: Exploring the roles of altruistic values and organizational identification

Background Few studies exploring the relationship between corporate social responsibility(CSR)and employee performance through Social Identity Theory (SIT) have specifically examined the boundary condition of altruistic values within China’s authoritarian cultural context. Objectives This study aims to examine the mechanism of CSR’s effect on employee performance in an authoritarian cultural setting, thereby advancing SIT and informing the enhancement of organizational management practices in China. Methods Using a combination of purposive and convenience sampling, a survey was administered to 432 employees from seven manufacturing firms in Sichuan Province in October 2024. All constructs, including perceived CSR, employee performance, organizational identification, and altruistic values, were assessed on 5-point Likert scales. Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses were then conducted to examine the hypothesized relationships. Results Descriptive statistics revealed that the manufacturing employees exhibited high perceived CSR, strong organizational identification, moderate in-role performance, high extra-role performance, and low altruistic values. Moreover, regression analysis confirmed that perceived CSR has strong effects on both in-role ( β  = 0.44, p < 0.01) and extra-role performance ( β  = 0.40, p < 0.01), and organizational identification ( β  = 0.39, p < 0.01). Organizational identification mediated for approximately 20% of the relationship between perceived CSR and both in-role and extra-role performance, and altruistic values served as a significant negative moderator ( β  = −0.10, p < 0.05) between perceived CSR and organizational identification. Conclusions SIT partially explains the effect of CSR on employee performance among Chinese manufacturing employees, revealing organizational identification as a mediator moderated by altruistic values. This insight offers Chinese managers a basis to enhance employee performance in the CSR initiatives process.

Aromatic Cation−π Interaction-Driven Scalable Biomimetic Pockets Embedded Supramolecular Coassemblies for Controllable CO and CH ₄ Selectivity in CO ₂ Photoreduction

Beaked whale dive behavior and acoustic detection range off Louisiana using three-dimensional acoustic tracking

Understanding abundance and trends of beaked whales in the heavily industrialized Gulf of America (formerly Gulf of Mexico), is critical for management but challenging with visual-based distance-sampling due to their elusive surface behavior. Acoustic-based distance-sampling methods rely on accurate modeling of detection probability as a function of distance from a recorder, requiring population-specific diving and acoustic behavior parameters, which is currently lacking for Gulf populations. To address this, we used passive acoustic tracking with two 4-channel High-Frequency Acoustic Recording Packages (HARPs) deployed off Louisiana (~1100 m depth) in 2021. Echolocation clicks detected on both recorders were localized in 3D to characterize acoustic and diving behavior. These data informed a Monte Carlo cue-based simulation to estimate the probability of detection by a near-seafloor single-sensor HARP. A trial-based approach also estimated detection probability as a function of range to a single-channel sensor deployed at the site. Results show species-specific differences. Goose-beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ), were detected for longer periods during foraging dives (n = 24 dives, mean: 20.5 min; range: 7–42) compared with Blainville’s ( Mesoplodon densirostris , n = 2 dives, 13.6 min; 11–16) and Gervais’ ( Mesoplodon europaeus , n = 24 dives, 12.7 min; 7–19) beaked whales. Maximum dive depths also differed, with some goose-beaked whales foraging at or near the seafloor. Descent and ascent rates were similar within species but differed among them (1.34/1.40 m/s for goose-beaked and 1.15/1.19 m/s for Gervais’ beaked whales). Source level and broadband directivity index were estimated at 225 dB pp re 1 μPa-1m and 26 dB for goose-beaked whales, and 218 dB pp re 1 μPa-1m and 20 dB for Gervais’ beaked whales. Estimates were not possible for Blainville’s beaked whales due to limited data. In both the Monte Carlo simulation and trial-based approach, detection probability declined sharply with ranges, reflecting the highly directional beam of beaked whale echolocation clicks.

Innovative CAR-T therapy destroys cancer cells without dangerous side effects

Resonant Enhancement of Photolysis through Plasmon-Vibrational Coupling

Yucatan Miniswine Model of Atrial Fibrillation: Clinical Relevance

Introduction Persistent atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common chronic arrhythmia in adults in the United States and is associated with significant morbidity, including thromboembolic events, stroke, and heart failure. Despite available therapies such as catheter ablation and antiarrhythmic drugs, AFib remains incurable for many patients. Our study aims to develop a large-animal model of AFib in Yucatan miniswine to support investigation of new therapeutic approaches for this disease. Methods Yucatan miniswine were selected for their physiological similarity to humans and suitable size for long-term studies. Each animal was initially fitted with an external FitBark 2.0 collar to track activity as a surrogate for quality of life. Animals then underwent implantation of an atrial pacing lead in the right atrial appendage, a pacing generator, and an insertable cardiac monitor (ICM Reveal LINQ™) implanted subcutaneously along the left scapula. One week after the pacemaker implantation, animals underwent rapid atrial pacing to induce persistent AFib. All procedures were performed in accordance with relevant institutional and regulatory guidelines. Results Atrial fibrillation was successfully induced in 4 of 6 animals within 80.3 ± 22.3 days of initiating pacing with three animals going into persistent AFib and one animal going into paroxysmal AFib. The definition of persistent AFib was that animals remained in AFib for more than 14 days after pacing was discontinued. Paroxysmal AFib was defined as AFib lasting less than 14 days. Activity levels decreased following persistent AFib onset, indicating a decline in overall health and quality of life. Histopathological analyses showed significant increases in fibrosis and loss of atrial cardiomyocytes after persistent AFib was induced in swine. Several anatomical and technical challenges, particularly related to vascular access and cardiac dimensions, were overcome through customized surgical strategies, including jugular venous cut-downs, lateral cervical ICM implantation, long vascular sheaths, custom styluses, and perioperative antibiotic coverage. These innovations were critical to establishing a robust and reproducible persistent AFib model.

Implementation of point of care HIV viral load monitoring for people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review on implementation research outcomes

Background Viral load monitoring has rapidly increased among people living with HIV(PLHIV) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), resulting in an increased laboratory workload. The use of innovative Point of Care (PoC) or near Point of Care (n)PoC HIV Viral Load (HIV VL) monitoring has enabled improved patient care, a reduction in laboratory workload, improved clinic retention and reduced turnaround time of results. However, implementation bottlenecks of such methods are uncertain, especially when PoC or (n)PoC is implemented in remote areas in low-volume clinics. Objectives The main aim of this study was to review implementation research outcomes of (n)PoC HIV VL monitoring for PLHIV in LMICs. Methods We qualitatively synthesised peer-reviewed papers to explore implementation research outcomes (IROs) of (n)PoC HIV VL monitoring. We identified studies published between January 2013 and June 2024. We used the IROs described by Proctor et al., which are acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, cost, feasibility, fidelity, penetration and sustainability. We searched using the following Mesh terms: Point of care testing, HIV, viral load, acceptability, patient acceptance of health care, adoption, facilities and services utilisation, appropriateness, cost, feasibility, fidelity, penetration, coverage, sustainability and continuity of patient care through PubMed, Cochrane and Scopus. The PRISMA diagram in the Fig 1 presents the selection process of included papers. Results Twenty studies reported implementation outcomes of PoC or (n)PoC HIV VL monitoring. Near PoC HIV VL monitoring using GeneXpert is considered acceptable to patients and healthcare providers. Point of care HIV VL monitoring using mPIMA was feasible as patients received the results the same day. From a health service provider’s perspective, PoC HIV VL monitoring was acceptable because it influenced patients to accept the illness and adhere to medication. Additionally, there was high testing coverage in routine PoC HIV VL monitoring centres. Fidelity was questionable in some settings due to (n)PoC HIV VL monitoring results not being delivered as intended. Additionally, we found in several studies that the (n)PoC costs are higher than standard of care test, USD 54.93 per test, at low testing volume clinics conducting 20VL tests per month compared to costs of USD 24.25 at high testing volume clinics conducting 100VL tests per month, while centralised testing costs USD 25.65 per test. However, costs are expected to be lower when (n)PoC HIV VL monitoring is scaled up and targeted for those at risk. Conclusion Implementation of PoC or (n)PoC testing for HIV viral load monitoring is acceptable and feasible and can reach a vast population. However, higher costs, limited fidelity, lower penetration and limited sustainability may hinder using (n)PoC testing in improving patient care and health outcomes. More knowledge and training should be implemented to overcome these challenges. Registration Number PROSPERO 2023 CRD42023394668

The ‘Double Helix’ model of quality monitoring: Risk mapping of quality management system during initial ISO 15189 Implementation in a medical laboratory

Objective Analyze and compare the characteristics of nonconformities (NCs), root causes, and corrective actions generated from internal assessments and ISO 15189 external assessments in a medical laboratory, identify high-risk points and evaluate the role and contribution of different assessments to the medical laboratory’s quality performance. Methods A total of 35 NCs from internal assessments and 67 NCs from external assessments were documented in a medical laboratory between 2021 and 2024. The NCs were categorized according to clause requirements, while root causes and corrective actions were classified based on their content. The recurrence rate of NCs, effectiveness of corrective actions and characteristics of recurring NCs were statistically analyzed. The flow relationships were shown by Sankey diagrams. The laboratory quality monitoring model was illustrated by a double-helix diagram. Results In internal assessments, the top three NC categories were Examination processes (n = 8, 22. 86%), Personnel management (n = 7, 20. 00%), Document and record control (n = 6, 17. 14%);in external assessments the top categories were were Examination processes (n = 19, 28. 36%), Document and record control (n = 10, 14. 93%), Others(Evaluation, Complaints, Information system, Risk Management)(n = 8, 11. 94%), Personnel management (n = 6, 8. 96%). Regarding root causes, the most frequent in internal assessments were Personnel Negligence (n = 14, 40. 00%), Training deficiencies (n = 11, 31. 43%);in external assessments, the tops were Training deficiencies (n = 27, 40. 30%), Document and Record Deficiencies(n = 15, 22. 39%). The The most frequently implemented corrective action across both assessment types was Personnel training(internal [n = 35, 47. 29%] and external [n = 67, 41. 36%]). The numbers of Managment NCs, Technical NCs, total NCs, and Corrective Actions in external assessments were significantly higher than in internal assessments. Conclusion The high-risk points primarily lie in Examination processes, Document/record and Personnel management during the initial implementation of the ISO 15189. External assessments help identify deviations, contributing to quality performance improvement. Internal assessments enable continuous monitoring of quality issue corrections, supporting the ongoing enhancement of the QMS. The ‘Double Helix’ Model of Quality Monitoring ensures the stability and accelerated advancement of the quality management system in the medical laboratory.