bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Biomonitoring Fumonisin B1 and Zearalenone to improve public food safety for female cereal value chain workers in Ghana
Authors: Quartey N.K-A. , Kumi J. , Lutterodt H.E. , Ankar-Brewoo G.M. , Ampofo J. , Ellis W.O. , Ofosu I.W.
Published: February 2025

Monitoring biomarkers offers more reliable results, compared to typical mycotoxin exposure estimation approaches that employ their prevalence in food in combination with population food intake data. Free forms of fumonisins B1 and B2 (FB1+ FB2), and free zearalenone (ZEN) together with three of its enteric metabolites have been identified as fitting indicators for exposures to the parent mycotoxins. This study investigated the similarities in regional and age-related mycotoxin exposures among sampled females employed in the cereal value chain in Ghana. After obtaining ethical clearance to conduct the study, spot urine samples were collected from females in cereal growing communities in The Upper West, Northern, Ashanti and Greater Accra regions of Ghana. The collected bio-samples were processed appropriately and LC-MS/MS chromatographic methods used to determine the presence and levels of FB1, FB2, ZEN, α-ZEL, β-ZEL and ZEN-14, glucuronide. The results indicate that while probable daily intake of the mycotoxins decreased with age, being higher for the 10-19 age groups, exposures were higher in the 55+ age group, consistent with age-related accumulation. The creatinine adjusted mycotoxin levels also presented a snapshot of renal function across the four regions being generally homogenous for participants in the Ashanti region. Wide variations in creatinine concentrations were observed for the Upper West and Northern regions and the spread was heterogenous for Greater Accra. The insight into age-related mycotoxin exposures agrees with previous findings of significant links between FB1 exposures and adverse health outcomes. ZEN exposures were higher in the 10-19 age group suggesting the potential for younger age groups to face significant risks due to exposure to the mycotoxin. The findings from this biomonitoring exercise prompts heightened public health interventions, guided by strategies that will adequately address the age-related risk of mycotoxin exposures in different populations.
Robust Cancer Crowdfunding Predictions: Leveraging Large Language Models and Machine Learning for Success Analysis
Authors: Roy Abhishikta , Srivastava Vineet , Boggavarapu Lokesh , Bhaumik Runa , Chandrasekharan Ranganathan , Mensah Edward , Galvin John
Published: February 2025

Background

In the field of medical crowdfunding prediction, traditional statistical methods have long been the standard. Machine learning algorithms are popular because they can model complex relationships between variables, capture interactions, and provide more accurate predictions, even when input variables are highly correlated. Furthermore, previous research has largely overlooked the quantitative assessment of success levels and the selection of key predictors. To address these limitations, a novel approach is needed that leverages advanced machine learning techniques.

Objective

This study aimed to address these gaps by proposing a robust feature engineering approach that leverages the capabilities of large language models (LLMs). The goal was to extract the success determinants using a large language model for a cancer crowdfunding campaign. Furthermore, this study evaluated the performance of four machine learning algorithms in predicting campaign success and quantitatively assessed the level of success.

Method

We separately analyzed linguistic and social determinants of health features to understand how much each factor contributes to a crowdfunding campaign’s success. These features were generated using a large language model (GPT-4o). A random forest algorithm with a permutation technique was used to rank the features. We comparatively evaluated the prediction accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of four machine learning algorithms, random forest, gradient boosting, logistic, and elastic net, using a 10-fold cross-validation.

Results

Gradient Boosting consistently outperforms the other algorithms in terms of sensitivity (consistently around 0.786 to 0.798), indicating its superior ability to identify successful crowdfunding campaigns using linguistic and social determinants of health features. The permutation importance score reveals that for severe medical conditions, income loss, chemotherapy treatment, clear and effective communication, cognitive understanding, family involvement, empathy and social behaviors play an important role in the success of campaigns.

Conclusions

This study highlights the critical role of linguistic, social, demographic, and medical features in predicting the success of cancer crowdfunding campaigns, with risk communication and medical severity emerging as key predictors. The study also suggests the need for more nuanced and optimized models and improved income protection and healthcare policies to reduce reliance on crowdfunding for cancer treatment.
The Association Between IT-Profession-Specific Stressors and Mental Health Conditions Plus the Role of Mental Health Literacy in Help-Seeking
Authors: Garcia Colato Edlin , Liu Nianjun , Chow Angela , Sherwood-Laughlin Catherine , Macy Jonathan T.
Published: February 2025

Background

The Information Technology (IT) sector is growing and encompasses all professions, from leisure and recreation to hospitals and emergency response groups. IT professionals are experiencing increased threats (e.g., ransomware attacks), but little is known about the relationship between these IT-profession-specific stressors and the professionals’ mental health. This study aimed to 1) estimate the associations between IT-profession-specific stressors and anxiety, depression, and stress, and 2) examine the role of mental health literacy (MHL) as a mediator of the relationship between depression, anxiety, stress, and help-seeking.

Methods

Between February and May 2023, 388 IT professionals working in the US were surveyed online. Participants reported demographic characteristics, and their MHL, mental health symptoms, and help-seeking intentions were assessed with the following scales: MHL-in the workplace (MHL-W), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression-10 (CESD-10), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), and the mental help seeking intention scale (MHSIS).

Results

Respondents who had experienced ransomware attacks in the past year reported significantly higher symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Adapting to rapid changes in technology and business requirements was associated with higher levels of stress. MHL was found to partially mediate the relationship between depression and help-seeking, but not between anxiety or stress and help-seeking.

Conclusion

These findings provide insight into the workplace stressors that pose a greater psychological health risk for IT professionals. These results emphasize the important role of MHL in helping facilitate the connection between depressive symptoms and help-seeking.
Foundation time series models for forecasting and policy evaluation in infectious disease epidemics
Authors: Kalahasti Suprabhath , Faucher Benjamin , Wang Boxuan , Ascione Claudio , Carbajal Ricardo , Enault Maxime , Cassis Christophe Vincent , Launay Titouan , Guerrisi Caroline , Boëlle Pierre-Yves , Baldo Federico , Valdano Eugenio
Published: February 2025

Epidemic forecasting and policy evaluation rely on mathematical models to predict infectious disease trends and assess the impact of public health policies. Traditional models typically require extensive epidemiological data and may struggle in data-limited settings. Transformer-based, foundation AI models have demonstrated strong predictive capabilities in various time series applications. We investigated whether they can be the basis of a new epidemic modeling framework. We evaluated five foundation models - TabPFN-TS, TimeGPT, TimesFM, Lag-Llama, and Chronos - across diverse pathogens, diseases and locations, including influenza-like illness, RSV, chickenpox, dengue, COVID-19 and neonatal bronchiolitis. Models were tested for long-term forecasting (multi-season predictions), short-term forecasting (four-week-ahead predictions), and epidemic peak timing estimation. We also assessed their ability to generate counterfactual scenarios in policy evaluation, using COVID-19 restriction measures in Italy, RSV immunization in France, and synthetic epidemic data as validation. Foundation models demonstrated strong predictive accuracy, possibly outperforming traditional statistical and mechanistic models in data-limited contexts. They generated multi-season forecasts and short-term forecasts with good accuracy and stable uncertainty. They gave reliable peak timing estimates months before the actual peak. In policy evaluation, TabPFN-TS accurately estimated intervention effects, matching estimates from an independent epidemiological study. Our findings suggest that foundation models can complement existing approaches in epidemic modeling. Their ability to generate accurate forecasts and counterfactual analyses with minimal data input highlights their potential for real-time public health decision-making, particularly in emergent and resource-constrained settings. Further research should explore domain-specific adaptations to optimize performance for infectious disease modeling.
An inflatable ‘finger-lock’ for stabilizing nailfold capillary videos and modulating blood flow velocities
Authors: Forst Marcus L. , Rincon Gabriela , Levy Juliette H. , Cornfield David N , Quake Stephen R
Published: February 2025

High-resolution video capillaroscopy shows promise as a non-invasive method to directly observe blood cells as they flow through and interact with the microvas-culature. When imaging microvasculature in the nailfold, the inherent shaking of the fingers requires physical stabilization for image noise reduction. However, any external force applied to the fingers will affect the rate of blood flow. We designed an inflatable ‘finger-lock’ for nailfold capillaroscopy, which stabilizes the finger against a coverslip with constant pressure. Testing 72 participants, we demonstrated that increasing ‘finger-lock’ pressure improves video stability and decreases the velocity of capillary blood cells. This shows that capillary blood cell velocity measurements should monitor and control external pressure. Our work introduces a method to perturb local capillary blood flow and measure the microvascular response, enabling further studies investigating how person-specific factors (e.g. age, disease) impact vascular health.
The Multiomics Blueprint of Extreme Human Lifespan
Authors: Santos-Pujol Eloy , Noguera-Castells Aleix , Casado-Pelaez Marta , Garcia-Prieto Carlos A. , Vasallo Claudia , Campillo-Marcos Ignacio , Quero-Dotor Carlos , Crespo-Garcia Eva , Bueno-Costa Alberto , Setien Fernando , Ferrer Gerardo , Davalos Veronica , Mereu Elisabetta , Pluvinet Raquel , Arribas Carles , de la Torre Carolina , Villavicencio Francisco , Sumoy Lauro , Granada Isabel , Coles Natalie S. , Acha Pamela , Sole Francesc , Mallo Mar , Mata Caterina , Peregrina Sara , Gabaldon Toni , Lliros Marc , Pujolassos Meritxell , Carreras-Torres Robert , Lluansi Aleix , Garcia-Gil Librado Jesus , Aldeguer Xavier , Samino Sara , Torne Pol , Ribalta Josep , Guardiola Montse , Amigo Nuria , Yanes Oscar , Martinez Paula , Sanchez-Vazquez Raul , Blasco Maria A. , Oviedo Jose , Lemos Bernardo , Rius-Bonet Julia , Torrubiano Marta , Massip-Salcedo Marta , Khidir Kamal A. , Cao Thong Huy , Quinn Paulene A. , Jones Donald J. L. , Macip Salvador , Brigos-Barril Eva , Moldes Mauricio , Barteri Fabio , Muntane Gerard , Laayouni Hafid , Navarro Arcadi , Esteller Manel
Published: February 2025

The indexed individual, from now on termed M116, was the world's oldest verified living person from January 17th 2023 until her passing on August 19th 2024, reaching the age of 117 years and 168 days (https://www.supercentenarian.com/records.html). She was a Caucasian woman born on March 4th 1907 in San Francisco, USA, from Spanish parents and settled in Spain since she was 8. Although centenarians are becoming more common in the demographics of human populations, the so-called supercentenarians (over 110 years old) are still a rarity. In Catalonia, the historic nation where M116 lived, the life-expectancy for women is 86 years, so she exceeded the average by more than 30 years (https://www.idescat.cat). In a similar manner to premature aging syndromes, such as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria and Werner syndrome, which can provide relevant clues about the mechanisms of aging, the study of supercentenarians might also shed light on the pathways involved in lifespan. To unfold the biological properties exhibited by such a remarkable human being, we developed a comprehensive multiomics analysis of her genomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, proteomic, microbiomic and epigenomic landscapes in different tissues, comparing the results with those observed in non-supercentenarian populations. The picture that emerges from our study shows that extremely advanced age and poor health are not intrinsically linked and that both processes can be distinguished and dissected at the molecular level.
Plasmodiumactin-like proteins are essential for DNA segregation during male gametogenesis and malaria transmission
Authors: Varshney Aastha , Pandey Eisha , Nirdosh  , Mishra Satish
Published: February 2025

Protozoan parasites of the genusPlasmodiumcause malaria and involve infection of multiple hosts and cell types during the life cycle. Producing sexually fit gametocytes is essential for transmitting thePlasmodiumparasite into an anopheline mosquito vector. After the uptake of malaria parasites, male gametocytes undergo three rounds of DNA replication to produce eight nucleated flagellar gametes. Here, we report that the actin-like proteins Alp5a and Alp5b are involved in DNA segregation during male gametogenesis. ThePlasmodium-specific paralogous genes Alp5a and Alp5b superimposed on human Arp2 and Arp3, localize to the nucleus, and interact with each other. Alp5a and Alp5b are dispensable for the development ofP. bergheiblood-stages individually but indispensable simultaneously. In agreement with genetic studies, the inhibitory activity of the Arp2/3 complex inhibitor inPlasmodiumsupports an essential role for this complex during the blood stage. Deletion of Alp5a or Alp5b did not affect actin nucleation, parasite growth, or gametocytemia in the blood. The knockout parasites successfully invaded the midgut and developed into oocysts, but their size was significantly reduced, and they failed to survive. Genetic crosses revealed defects in male gamete integrity. We found that the reduced oocyst development was due to impaired DNA segregation during male gametogenesis. This study provides molecular insight into the fundamental requirements of the Alps inPlasmodium, which are essential for malaria transmission.
Interactive electrical behaviour in mormyrid weakly electric fish: Jamming avoidance response or social interaction?
Authors: Weimar Nils , Maxeiner Moritz , Wong Emily M , Rick Ingolf P , Hocke Mathis , Landgraf Tim , von der Emde Gerhard
Published: February 2025

Weakly electric fish emit electric organ discharges (EODs) for both active electrolocation and electrocommunication. In African mormyrids, pulse-type EODs are produced at highly variable inter-discharge intervals (IDIs), forming sequences that can convey contextual and behavioural information to conspecifics. Neighbouring fish frequently engage in time-locked interactive behaviours, such as fixed-latency echo responses and EOD synchronisation. These behaviours have been proposed to function either as a jamming avoidance response (JAR), preventing simultaneous discharges and interference with electrolocation, or as a form of social signal. To test these hypotheses, we analysed interactions between pairs ofMormyrus rume proboscirostris, quantifying EOD synchronisations, echo events, and instances of jamming. Our results show that jamming is rare in this species. We found no correlation between jamming frequency and echoing behaviour, nor evidence that synchronisation and echo events are direct responses to recent jams. Instead, these interactive behaviours were associated with specific movement patterns and social contexts. Synchronisations were mainly initiated by stationary hovering individuals, while echo responses were more frequent in smaller fish actively following a social partner, suggesting a role in leader-follower dynamics. Pairs with more frequent echoing also exhibited reduced inter-individual distances, indicating that interactive electrical signalling promotes social cohesion. Rather than mitigating jamming, interactive electrical behaviours in mormyrids likely serve as communicative strategies to maintain group coherence or allocate social attention. These findings highlight the role of electrocommunication in structuring social interactions. Investigating the rules of these behaviours could eventually decipher which specific IDI patterns signal social intent and help to understand the underlying mechanisms of electrocommunication.

Highlights

Mormyrid fish frequently perform interactive signalling during electrocommunication.

Interactive electrical signalling is associated with specific locomotor behaviours.

Echo responses and signal synchronisations are not linked to jamming.

Signal synchronisations may support mutual assessment upon encounters.

Interactive signalling promotes social cohesion and leader-follower dynamics.
Transcription Factor Driven Gene Regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Authors: Ghosh Nimisha , Arancio Walter , Al Jabry Tariq , Al-Maskari Raya , Santoni Daniele
Published: February 2025

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) encompass a group of neurodevelopmental disorders in which an affected individual faces challenges in social interaction and communication, along with restricted and repetitive stereotypic behavioral patterns and interests. In this work, we have studied the differential gene regulation between patients and controls, mediated by Transcription Factors (TFs), of key genes involved in ASD. Nine and seven TFs have been identified as potential regulators of the set of syndromic and non-syndromic key high confident genes retrieved by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) database. We have also identified significant couples of Transcription Factor - Target Gene potentially associated with an altered regulation in ASD patients. Consistently, many identified couples are involved in processes associated with brain morphogenesis and development. In this regard, this biased regulation could be the target of some experimental design in order to 1) test this hypothesis and 2) try to target this altered regulation pattern in ASD samples. In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that the present work proposes an effective and reliable computational approach that could be applied to any disease with known key genes and available gene expression data.
Metabolic state modulates risky foraging behavior via multiple branches of the insulin/IGF-1-like pathway inC. elegans
Authors: Price Kaiden H. , Braco Jason T. , Sareen Preeti F. , Niesman Peter J. , Nitabach Michael N.
Published: February 2025

Foraging to acquire nutrients is an essential and sometimes risky behavior displayed by nearly all animals. Appropriately balancing foraging risks with nutrient requirements is pivotal for peak survival and reproduction, and metabolic state (i.e., how urgently the animal requires nutrients) is a strong modulator of risky foraging behavior. In this study, we asked what molecular signal allowsC. elegansto change its foraging behavior in response to changes in its metabolic state. We used an assay of risky foraging behavior, where wild type worms increase risky foraging behavior after food deprivation, to screen for candidate genes. We found that DAF-2, the singular receptor in theC. elegansinsulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) pathway, is necessary for worms to modulate risky foraging behavior in response to short-term food deprivation. Worms with mutations in genes upstream and downstream ofdaf-2in the IIS pathway also exhibited a reduction in the effect of food deprivation. While a canonical understanding of the IIS pathway would suggest that the FOXO transcription factor DAF-16 is the primary downstream IIS pathway target, we found that DAF-16 was not required for worms to exhibit food-deprivation-driven changes in foraging behavior. Furthermore, we determined that the calsyntenin ortholog CASY-1, which allows DAF-2c to traffic to axons, is required for food deprivation to modulate risky foraging behavior. These results both validate the IIS receptor as a pivotal regulator of risky foraging behavior and suggest a multi-pronged downstream pathway. Overall, these data enrich our understanding of how organisms transduce metabolic state information to make vital decisions about when to engage in risky foraging behaviors.

ARTICLE SUMMARY

C. eleganschanges its foraging behavior from a low-risk to a high-risk strategy when it is food deprived. Our paper demonstrates that the DAF-2 insulin/IGF-1-like receptor is an essential modulator for this behavior following food deprivation. Moreover, the regulation of risky foraging behavior is enacted by multiple downstream effectors of the insulin/IGF-1-like pathway, including a canonical pathway involving the FOXO transcription factor DAF-16 and a non-canonical pathway involving CASY-1, which can traffic an isoform of DAF-2 to axons.
Open-source Photobleacher for Fluorescent Imaging of Large Pigment-Rich Tissues
Authors: Murakami Tatsuya C. , Belenko Nick , Dennis Griffin , Wang Cuidong , Siantoputri Maria Esterlita , Maeda Yurie , Pressl Christina , Heintz Nathaniel
Published: February 2025

Fluorescent imaging enables visualization of the specific molecules of interest with high contrast, and the use of multiple fluorophores in a single tissue sample allows visualization of complex relationships between biological molecules, cell types, and anatomy. The utility of fluorescent imaging in human tissue has been limited by endogenous pigments that can block the light path or emit an autofluorescence, thereby interfering with the specific imaging of target molecules. Although photobleachers have been developed to quench endogenous pigments, the lack of customizability limits their utility for a broad range of applications. Here, we present a high luminous-intensity photobleacher that is based on rigorous simulations of illumination patterns using the laws of radiation, along with the framework to maximize bleaching efficiency. This open-source project is designed to help researchers customize and scale according to the tissue types and the research goals. The photobleacher is applicable to both thin tissue slices and large-volume cleared tissue samples to enable serial three-dimensional imaging of postmortem human brain using multiplexed antibody or oligonucleotide probes.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

Photobleaching is an effective technique for quenching endogenous pigments, enabling multiplexed fluorescent imaging of pigment-rich tissues, such as postmortem human samples. While many photobleaching strategies have been proposed, there is no standard guidance on how to design and use a photobleacher. This study introduces a general strategy for designing an effective, scalable, and customizable photobleacher, and proposes a workflow for properly treating tissues with the photobleacher. The technique enables high-contrast molecular visualization in tissues of various sizes, including large volumetric cleared tissues. Our framework will accelerate the quantitative understanding of human molecular anatomy and is applicable to diverse biological fields, including medical diagnostics.
High-Precision Lighting for Plants: Laser Diodes Outperform LEDs in Photosynthesis and Plant Growth
Authors: Li Lie , Sugita Ryusei , Yamaguchi Kampei , Togawa Hiroyuki , Terashima Ichiro , Yamori Wataru
Published: February 2025

The optimization of plant productivity in indoor horticulture relies heavily on artificial light systems, which serve as the primary light source for plant growth. Although light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been extensively studied in recent decades, there is limited research on laser diodes (LDs). LDs offer several advantages such as adjustable light wavebands, remote illumination that minimizes heat accumulation near plants, and enhanced energy efficiency. This study investigated the impact of red LD light on plant photosynthesis and growth, exploring its potential applications in indoor horticulture. The research examined the gas exchange of tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacumL. cv. Wisconsin-38) under six red LED and LD light sources with varying spectral characteristics. Two specific light sources were selected for further study: LED 664 (emission peak at 664 nm, waveband of 625~678 nm) and LD 660 (emission peak at 660 nm, waveband of 657~664 nm) as they demonstrated the greatest gas exchange efficiency among the tested LED and LD light sources. These two light sources were then evaluated for their effects on photochemical efficiency, carbohydrate accumulation and plant growth. The present study showed that compared with LED 664, LD 660 significantly increased Y(II), qL, and starch accumulation in tobacco leaves. Additionally, after 12 d of continuous irradiation with LD 660, both tobacco and Arabidopsis plants exhibited increased photosynthetic capacity, and all three plant species showed increased shoot dry weights and leaf areas compared with those under LED 664. These findings suggest that LDs present significant advantages over LEDs for indoor plant production.
Efficient particle-conserving symmetric quantum circuits
Authors: Ayeni Babatunde M.
Published: February 2025

The variational quantum simulation technique on gate-based quantum processors can be made more efficient if symmetries of the Hamiltonian system of interest are factored into the design construction of the underlying parameterized quantum circuits (PQC) needed by the technique. In the first part of this work, we present an easy and practical approach that can be used to construct symmetric quantum circuits. The method we present can directly be adapted for any symmetry, though in the present work we focus explicitly on the examples of Z2, Z3, and particle number conservation. We show how to construct symmetric gates that respects the aforementioned symmetries. In the second part, we focus on numerical analysis of parameterized particle-conserving gates. In variational quantum simulation, for example, the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), the symmetric gates of the PQC are parameterized. Since there are often many possible inequivalent parametrizations, it is often not immediately obvious which gate parametrization would be most efficient in general for a wide range of Hamiltonians that respect the symmetry. We streamline our analysis to particle-conserving circuits and Hamiltonians. We numerically analyze the efficiency of different particle-conserving gate parametrizations by studying two examples, namely, a physics problem of learning the ground state of Heisenberg spin chains, and an artificial problem of learning the random arbitary states sampled within the particle number conserved subspace.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Scaling of pre-equilibrium dilepton production in QCD kinetic theory
Authors: Garcia-Montero Oscar , Plaschke Philip , Schlichting Sören
Published: February 2025

We use quantum chromodynamics (QCD) kinetic theory to compute dilepton production coming from the pre-equilibrium phase of the quark-gluon plasma created in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. We demonstrate that the dilepton spectrum exhibits a simple scaling in terms of the specific shear viscosity η/s and entropy density dS/dζ∼(Tτ1/3)∞3/2, which can be derived from dimensional analysis in the presence of a pre-equilibrium attractor. Based on this scaling we perform event-by-event calculations of in-medium dilepton production and determine the invariant mass range where the pre-equilibrium yield is the leading contribution.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Study of the exotic three-body
ND*K¯*
system
Authors: Zhai Qing-Yu , Molina Raquel , Oset Eulogio , Geng Li-Sheng
Published: February 2025

We have studied the ND*K¯* system in the framework of the fixed center approximation to the Faddeev equations, taking the exotic D*K¯* system as the cluster and allowing the N to interact with the components of the cluster. Previous studies have determined the existence of three states of spin 0, 1, 2 for the D*K¯* system, the one of spin 0 associated to the X0(2900) state observed by the LHCb Collaboration. From this perspective, we find five states with total spin 1/2,3/2,5/2, with bindings from 10 to 30 MeV and widths below 60 MeV, which could be well identified. We also discuss the decay channels of these states that should help in future experimental searches for these states.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Generalized HMC using Nambu mechanics for lattice QCD
Authors: Lundstrum Erik
Published: February 2025

We describe a generalization of the hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithm in which the molecular dynamics steps utilize Nambu generalized Hamiltonian dynamics. Nambu mechanics contains multiple Hamiltonian functions. Using one of these Hamiltonians in the Metropolis accept/reject step is enough to guarantee the correct target distribution. The other Hamiltonians can include arbitrary functions of the gauge field. We examine the simplest case with two Hamiltonians and choose the second to include nonlocal functions of the gauge field. In this way, the links are updated with instantaneous knowledge of far-separated link variables. This represents a promising method for reducing critical slowing down in lattice QCD simulations.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Note on Seiberg duality for
Nf<Nc
Authors: Armoni Adi , Stuardo Ricardo
Published: February 2025

We consider SQCD for Nf<Nc. We use a brane configuration in type IIA string theory to propose a Seiberg dual. The brane configuration that realizes the magnetic theory contains Nf branes and Nc−Nf antibranes, leading to an SU(Nc−Nf) gauge theory with Nf flavors. The potential between the branes triggers a RG flow, and we argue that the IR theory realizes the Affleck-Dine-Seiberg superpotential. We use both field theory arguments, in particular, anomaly matching, and a lift of the type IIA brane configuration to M theory, in order to support our proposal.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Predicting properties of quantum systems by regression on a quantum computer
Authors: Kardashin Andrey , Balkybek Yerassyl , Palyulin Vladimir V. , Antipin Konstantin
Published: February 2025

Quantum computers can be considered as a natural means for performing machine learning tasks for inherently quantum labeled data. Many quantum machine learning techniques have been developed for solving classification problems, such as distinguishing between phases of matter or quantum processes. Similarly, one can consider a more general problem of regression, when the aim is to predict continuous labels quantifying properties of quantum states, such as purity or entanglement. In this work, we propose a method for predicting such properties. The method is based on the notion of parametrized quantum circuits, and it seeks to find an observable the expectation of which gives the prediction of the property of interest with a low variance. We numerically test our approach in learning to predict (i) the parameter of a parametrized channel given its output state, (ii) entanglement of two-qubit states, and (iii) the parameter of a parametrized Hamiltonian given its ground state. The results show that the proposed method is able to find observables such that they provide highly accurate predictions of the considered properties, and in some cases even saturate the Cramer-Rao bound, which characterizes the prediction error. We also compare our method with the Bayesian approach, and find that the latter prefers to minimize the prediction variance, having therefore a larger bias.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Direct visualization of shock front induced nonlinear laser wakefield dynamics
Authors: Levine Eitan Y. , Wan Yang , Tata Sheroy , Raspopova Daria , Kroupp Eyal , Malka Victor
Published: February 2025

Laser-plasma acceleration is considered to be a promising candidate for compactly delivering high-energy high-quality electron beams. One of the most common methods for injecting plasma electrons into the wakefield structure is the shock front injection. Here we present the first direct visualization of the nonlinear laser wakefield dynamics resulting from a tilted shock front using the technique. Our observations reveal the occurrence of a split in the wakefield, with the formation of an on-axis laser-driven wakefield and an off-axis beam-driven wakefield just after the passage through the hydrodynamic shock. Using experimental and three-dimensional numerical evidence, we identify the mechanism of this newly observed phenomenon as an off-axis electron injection from the tilted shock, which amplified the betatron oscillations of the bunch until its breakup. These results propel our comprehension of the intricate and nonlinear laser-plasma dynamics within the widely employed shock-front injection scheme, providing crucial information for high-quality beam generation in real-time operations.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Confinement, Jamming, and Adhesion in Cancer Cells Dissociating from a Collectively Invading Strand
Authors: Wang Wei , Law Robert A. , Perez Ipiña Emiliano , Konstantopoulos Konstantinos , Camley Brian A.
Published: February 2025

When cells in a primary tumor work together to invade into nearby tissue, this can lead to cell dissociations—cancer cells breaking off from the invading front—leading to metastasis. What controls the dissociation of cells and whether they break off singly or in small groups? Can this be determined by cell-cell adhesion or chemotactic cues given to cells? We develop a physical model for this question, based on experiments that mimic aspects of cancer cell invasion using microfluidic devices with microchannels of different widths. Experimentally, most dissociation events (“ruptures”) involve single cells breaking off, but we observe some ruptures of large groups (∼20 cells) in wider channels. The rupture probability is nearly independent of channel width. We recapitulate the experimental results with a phase-field cell motility model by introducing three different cell states (follower, guided, and high-motility “leader” cells) based on their spatial position. These leader cells may explain why single-cell rupture is the universal most probable outcome. Our simulation results show that cell-channel adhesion is necessary for cells in narrow channels to invade, and strong cell-cell adhesion leads to fewer but larger ruptures. Chemotaxis also influences the rupture behavior: Strong chemotaxis strength leads to larger and faster ruptures. Finally, we study the relationship between biological jamming transitions and cell dissociations. Our results suggest unjamming is necessary but not sufficient to create ruptures.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Scalable Noise Characterization of Syndrome-Extraction Circuits with Averaged Circuit Eigenvalue Sampling
Authors: Hockings Evan T. , Doherty Andrew C. , Harper Robin
Published: February 2025

Characterizing the performance of noisy quantum circuits is central to the production of prototype quantum computers and can enable improved quantum error correction that exploits noise biases identified in a quantum device. We develop a scalable noise-characterization protocol suited to characterizing the syndrome-extraction circuits of quantum error-correcting codes, a key component of fault-tolerant architectures. Our protocol builds upon averaged circuit eigenvalue sampling (ACES), a framework for noise-characterization experiments that simultaneously estimates the Pauli-error probabilities of all gates in a Clifford circuit and captures averaged spatial correlations between gates implemented simultaneously in the layers of the circuit. By rigorously analyzing the performance of noise-characterization experiments in the ACES framework, we derive a figure of merit for their expected performance, allowing us to optimize their experimental design and improve the precision to which we estimate noise given fixed experimental resources. We demonstrate the scalability and performance of our protocol through circuit-level numerical simulations of the entire noise-characterization procedure for the syndrome-extraction circuit of a distance-25 surface code with over 1000 qubits. Our results indicate that detailed noise-characterization methods are scalable to near-term quantum devices.

Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Crystal structure, Hirshfeld surface, DFT, molecular docking of 1-[(6-tert-butyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-yl)methyl]-4,4-dimethylpiperidine-2,6-dione and cytotoxic effects on breast cancer (MDA-MB 231), human alveolar basal epithelial (A549) cell lines
Authors: Sunitha Kumari M. , Harish Kumar M. , Deevith D. V. , Devarajegowda H. C. , Palakshamurthy B. S.
Published: February 2025

The title compound, C21H25NO4, was synthesized by SN2 reaction of bromomethyl coumarin with 4,4-dimethylpiperidine-2,6-dione. The molecule crystalizes in the monoclinic system with space group C2/c. The coumarin unit is almost planar with a dihedral angle between the aromatic rings of 0.81 (2)° and an r.m.s deviation of 0.042 Å. The piperidine ring adopts a chair conformation with the two methyl groups, one methyl group occupying an axial position and the other an equatorial position, exhibiting maximum stability. In the crystal, C—H...O interactions lead to the formation of head-to-head dimers with an R
2
2(8)graph-set motif and R
2
1(9) and R
2
2(10) ring motifs along [001] and [100]. π–π interactions [centroid–centroid distances = 3.885 (2) and 3.744 (2) Å] are also observed. A Hirshfeld surface analysis was carried out, with the two-dimensional fingerprint plots indicating that the major contributions to the crystal packing are from H...H(57%), O...H(29.3%) and C...H(8.1%) interactions. The energy framework calculations reveal that dispersion energy (E
dis= −267.7 kJ mol−1) dominates the other energies. The molecular structure was optimized by density functional theory calculations using the B3LYP/6–311+G(d,p) basis set. The HOMO and LOMO orbitals were generated to determine the energy gap, which is 4.245 eV. Molecular docking studies were carried out for the title molecule as ligand and a protein as receptor giving binding affinities of −9.5 kcal mol−1 for PDB ID: 5HG8 and −8.2 kcal mol−1 for PDB ID:6 NLV. The compound was further subjected to biological studies against human cancer cell lines, namely cryopreserved triple negative human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MDA-MB-231cells) and adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells (A549 cells) giving IC50values of 11.57 and 9.34 µM, respectively. The cytotoxicity results showed a good safety profile against HEK293 cell lines.
Simulated clinical placements in health care education: a scoping review and evidence and gap map protocol
Authors: Pollock Danielle , Marley Charles , McBride Grace , Dias Mafalda , Kanukula Raju , Hasanoff Sabira , Price Carrie , Tieu Matthew , Montagu Adam , Munn Zachary , Davies Ellen
Published: February 2025

Objective:

This protocol details the methods for a scoping review that will examine the evidence on the design, implementation, delivery, and evaluation of simulated clinical placements.

Introduction:

Clinical placements allow health professions students to apply theoretical knowledge in clinical settings. For various economical, practical, and preferential reasons, some programs and institutions have trialed and established simulated clinical placements.

Inclusion criteria:

The review will include sources that have examined the design, implementation, delivery, and evaluation of simulated clinical placements in tertiary undergraduate and postgraduate education programs for health professions. Primary research studies, evidence syntheses, discussion articles, and commentaries will be included.

Methods:

The review will be conducted according to the JBI guidance for scoping reviews and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The following electronic databases will be searched: PubMed (NCBI), Embase (Elsevier), CINAHL Plus with Full Text (EBSCOhost), and PsycINFO (EBSCOhost). Forward and backward citation searching of the included evidence sources will be conducted using SpiderCite. At least 2 reviewers will assess sources for eligibility at title and abstract, and full-text screening stage, and extract data from included sources. Data will be analyzed using qualitative content analysis and frequencies and will be presented as a narrative summary. Data will also be presented in an evidence and gap map, and as tables and other visual summaries.
In situ field emission study of TiN-coated ZnO nanowires
Authors: Li Xinran , Song Guichen , Zhang Guofu , Ou Zhuoran , Zhang Zhipeng , Deng Shaozhi , Xu Ningsheng , Chen Jun
Published: February 2025

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire field emitters have significant applications in vacuum microelectronic devices. In this work, field emission properties of titanium nitride (TiN)-coated ZnO nanowires were investigated in situ using nanoprobe technique. The TiN layer was deposited on the ZnO nanowires by direct-current magnetron sputtering. Statistical analysis of the results from in situ field emission measurement on individual nanowire shows that the turn-on voltage (corresponding to emission current of 0.1 nA) was higher after TiN coating when measured at a fixed anode-to-cathode distance. The maximum current was further measured, and higher maximum emission current was obtained from the TiN-coated ZnO nanowires. The higher turn-on field was explained by the smaller penetration length in the ZnO nanowire after coating, and the increased maximum current was attributed to the increased electrical and thermal conductance after TiN coating.
Effects of ozone on physical and electrical properties of In–Ga–Zn–O film by thermal atomic layer deposition
Authors: Shen Yongqing , Duan Xinlv , Xiang Jinjuan , Jiao Zhengying , Chai Liguo , Ma Xueli , Chen Yuting , Geng Di , Wang Guilei , Zhao Chao
Published: February 2025

Lately, In–Ga–Zn–O (IGZO) have been widely studied as channel materials due to their advantages of low off current and high mobility. For reducing the oxidation of the surface of the source/drain electrode in top-gate devices, in this work, the effects of ozone pulse time, including unsaturated thermal atomic layer deposition (TALD) reaction, on the physical and electrical properties of In2O3, IZO, and IGZO films were investigated. The results show that the electrical properties of the In2O3, IZO and IGZO films can be improved by shortening the ozone pulse time during the TALD process. After shortening the ozone pulse time, the mean sheet resistance of IGZO films, with cyclic ratios of In2O3:Ga2O3:ZnO to be 1:1:1, decreases from 4.5 × 104 to 2.7 × 104 Ω/sq. In addition, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show that despite the unsaturated growth, the content of C impurity does not increase, and the proportion of oxygen vacancies is almost the same (12.71%–12.88%) in IGZO films. Furthermore, an IGZO-based vertical channel-all-around thin-film transistor (TFT) device demonstrates a higher on-state current of 35 μA and a lower contact resistance of 6.2 × 104 Ω μm after the reduction of the ozone pulse time. These results suggest that complete saturation may not be necessary for the atomic layer deposition process of IGZO films, challenging conventional perception and offering a novel approach to improve IGZO TFT performance.
Within-host modeling of primaquine-induced hemolysis in hemizygote glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient healthy volunteers
Authors: Watson James A. , Mehdipour Parinaz , Moss Robert , Jittamala Podjanee , Zaloumis Sophie , Price David J. , Dini Saber , Hanboonkunupakarn Borimas , Leungsinsiri Pawanrat , Poovorawan Kittiyod , Chotivanich Kesinee , Bancone Germana , Commons Robert J. , Day Nicholas P. J. , Pukrittayakamee Sasithon , Taylor Walter R. J. , White Nicholas J. , Simpson Julie A.
Published: February 2025

Primaquine is the only widely available drug to prevent relapses of
Plasmodium vivax
malaria. Primaquine is underused because of concerns over oxidant hemolysis in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. A pharmacometric trial showed that ascending-dose radical cure primaquine regimens causing ‘slow burn’ hemolysis were safe in G6PD-deficient Thai and Burmese male volunteers. We developed and calibrated a within-host model of primaquine hemolysis in G6PD deficiency, using detailed serial hemoglobin and reticulocyte count data from 23 hemizygote deficient volunteers given ascending-dose primaquine (1,523 individual measurements over 656 unique time points). We estimate that primaquine doses of ~0.75 mg base/kg reduce the circulating lifespan of deficient erythrocytes by ~30 days in individuals with common Southeast Asian
G6PD
variants. We predict that 5 mg/kg primaquine total dose can be administered safely to G6PD-deficient individuals over 14 days with expected hemoglobin drops of 18 to 43% (2.7 to 6.5 g/dL drop from a baseline of 15 g/dL).

CLINICAL TRIALS

This study is registered with the Thai Clinical Trials Registry (TCTR) as
TCTR20170830002
a

nd
TCTR20220317004

.