We assessed the validity of serum total anti-nucleoprotein Immunoglobulin (N-antibodies) to identify SARS-CoV-2 (re)infections by estimating the persistence of N-antibody seropositivity and boosting following infection. From a prospective Dutch cohort study (VASCO), we included adult participants with ≥2 consecutive self-collected serum samples, 4–8 months apart, between May 2021–May 2023. Sample pairs were stratified by N-seropositivity of the first sample and by self-reported infection within the sampling interval. We calculated the proportions of participants with N-seroconversion and fold-increase (1.5, 2, 3, 4) of N-antibody concentration over time since infection and explored determinants. We included 67,632 sample pairs. Pairs with a seronegative first sample (70%) showed 89% N-seroconversion after reported infection and 11% when no infection was reported. In pairs with a seropositive first sample (30%), 82%–65% showed a 1.5- to 4-fold increase with a reported reinfection, and 19%–10% without a reported reinfection, respectively. After one year, 83% remained N-seropositive post-first infection and 93%–61% showed a 1.5-fold to 4-fold increase post-reinfection. Odds for seroconversion/fold increase were higher for symptomatic infections and Omicron infections. In the current era with limited antigen or PCR testing, N-serology can be validly used to detect SARS-CoV-2 (re)infections at least up to a year after infection, supporting the monitoring of COVID-19 burden and vaccine effectiveness.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have great potential to help address societal challenges that are both collective in nature and present at national or transnational scale. Pressing challenges in healthcare, finance, infrastructure and sustainability, for instance, might all be productively addressed by leveraging and amplifying AI for national-scale collective intelligence. The development and deployment of this kind of AI faces distinctive challenges, both technical and socio-technical. Here, a research strategy for mobilising inter-disciplinary research to address these challenges is detailed and some of the key issues that must be faced are outlined.

The Prof pegmatite is located NW of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada on Boulder Mountain. Due to the abundance of petalite, the pegmatite is classified as a petalite subtype Li-Cs-Ta pegmatite or a Group one pegmatite. The Prof pegmatite contains a suite of minerals indicative of a highly evolved pegmatite melt including petalite, elbaite, lepidolite and Nb–Ta oxides. Four textural zones are present: (1) border; (2) intermediate, including (2.1) graphic texture dominant and (2.2) overgrowth dominant, where diverse minerals form rims around one another; (3) central; and (4) quartz. The border zone has a similar mineralogy to the intermediate zone and is interpreted to represent a chilled margin. The intermediate zone has a feldspar, mica, garnet and dravite–schorl dominant composition. The central zone hosts an evolved pegmatite core, which contains the majority of the lithium mineralisation composed of petalite, elbaite and lepidolite. The tourmaline, Nb–Ta oxides and mica within the pegmatite record the geochemical evolution of the melt from more primitive Fe- and Mg-rich minerals to a Li-, Mn- and Nb-rich assemblage indicative of a highly evolved geochemical system. The various pegmatitic textures and extremely fractionated geochemical composition of the pegmatite indicate that the melt was undercooled and crystallised rapidly. Three phases of metasomatism are recognised in the Prof pegmatite: an albitisation event observed cutting primary orthoclase; followed by a transition to a Na–Li–F-rich event mostly containing secondary albite, trilithionite and elbaites; and a sericitisation event.

The Prof pegmatite has a similar mineralogy to known pegmatites at Mount Begbie, 15 km to the south, in particular the notable presence of the rare mineral qitianlingite, petalite, lepidolite and elbaite. Together, these pegmatite bodies form part of an extensive, poorly mapped pegmatite field. Additional work is required to assess the extent and nature of mineralisation within this field.

Traditional approaches for evaluating the impact of scientific research – mainly scholarship (i.e., publications, presentations) and grant funding – fail to capture the full extent of contributions that come from larger scientific initiatives. The Translational Science Benefits Model (TSBM) was developed to support more comprehensive evaluations of scientific endeavors, especially research designed to translate scientific discoveries into innovations in clinical or public health practice and policy-level changes. Here, we present the domains of the TSBM, including how it was expanded by researchers within the Implementation Science Centers in Cancer Control (ISC3) program supported by the National Cancer Institute. Next, we describe five studies supported by the Penn ISC3, each focused on testing implementation strategies informed by behavioral economics to reduce key practice gaps in the context of cancer care and identify how each study yields broader impacts consistent with TSBM domains. These indicators include Capacity Building, Methods Development (within the Implementation Field) and Rapid Cycle Approaches, implementing Software Technologies, and improving Health Care Delivery and Health Care Accessibility. The examples highlighted here can help guide other similar scientific initiatives to conceive and measure broader scientific impact to fully articulate the translation and effects of their work at the population level.

Accurately quantifying all the components of the surface energy balance (SEB) is a prerequisite for the reliable estimation of surface melt and the surface mass balance over ice and snow. This study quantifies the SEB closure by comparing the energy available for surface melt, determined from continuous measurements of radiative fluxes and turbulent heat fluxes, to the surface ablation measured on the Greenland ice sheet between 2003 and 2023. We find that the measured daily energy available for surface melt exceeds the observed surface melt by on average 18 ± 30 W m−2 for snow and 12 ± 54 W m−2 for ice conditions (mean ± SD), which corresponds to 46 and 10% of the average energy available for surface melt, respectively. When the surface is not melting, the daily SEB is on average closed within 5 W m−2. Based on the inter-comparison of different ablation sensors and radiometers installed on different stations, and on the evaluation of modelled turbulent heat fluxes, we conclude that measurement uncertainties prevent a better daily to sub-daily SEB closure. These results highlight the need and challenges in obtaining accurate long-term in situ SEB observations for the proper evaluation of climate models and for the validation of remote sensing products.

NASA’s all-sky survey mission, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is specifically engineered to detect exoplanets that transit bright stars. Thus far, TESS has successfully identified approximately 400 transiting exoplanets, in addition to roughly 6 000 candidate exoplanets pending confirmation. In this study, we present the results of our ongoing project, the Validation of Transiting Exoplanets using Statistical Tools (VaTEST). Our dedicated effort is focused on the confirmation and characterisation of new exoplanets through the application of statistical validation tools. Through a combination of ground-based telescope data, high-resolution imaging, and the utilisation of the statistical validation tool known as TRICERATOPS, we have successfully discovered eight potential super-Earths. These planets bear the designations: TOI-238b (1.61$^{+0.09} _{-0.10}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-771b (1.42$^{+0.11} _{-0.09}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-871b (1.66$^{+0.11} _{-0.11}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-1467b (1.83$^{+0.16} _{-0.15}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-1739b (1.69$^{+0.10} _{-0.08}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-2068b (1.82$^{+0.16} _{-0.15}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-4559b (1.42$^{+0.13} _{-0.11}$ R$_\oplus$), and TOI-5799b (1.62$^{+0.19} _{-0.13}$ R$_\oplus$). Among all these planets, six of them fall within the region known as ‘keystone planets’, which makes them particularly interesting for study. Based on the location of TOI-771b and TOI-4559b below the radius valley we characterised them as likely super-Earths, though radial velocity mass measurements for these planets will provide more details about their characterisation. It is noteworthy that planets within the size range investigated herein are absent from our own solar system, making their study crucial for gaining insights into the evolutionary stages between Earth and Neptune.

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) reviewed 109 cases of healthcare personnel (HCP) with laboratory-confirmed mpox to understand transmission risk in healthcare settings. Overall, 90% of HCP with mpox had nonoccupational exposure risk factors. One occupationally acquired case was associated with sharps injury while unroofing a patient’s lesion for diagnostic testing.

A synthetic octahedral-site-vacancy-free annite sample and its progressive oxidation, induced by heating in air, were studied by powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), Mössbauer spectroscopy, nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, gas chromatography (GC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and size-fraction separation methods. For a set heating time and as temperature is increased, the sample first evolves along an annite-oxyannite join, until all H is lost via the oxybiotite reaction (Fe2+ + OH− ⇌ Fe3+ + O2− + H↑). It then evolves along an oxyannite-ferrioxyannite join, where ideal ferrioxyannite, KFe3+8/3□1/3AlSi3O12, is defined as the product resulting from complete oxidation of ideal oxyannite, KFe3+2Fe2+AlSi3O12, via the vacancy mechanism (3 Fe2+ ⇌ 2 Fe3+ + [6]□ + Fe↑). A pillaring collapse transition is observed as a collapse of c near the point where ${\text{Fe}}^{2+}\text{/Fe}=\raisebox{1ex}{$1$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$3$}\right.$ and all OH groups are predicted and observed to be lost. Quantitative analyses of H, using NRA, GC, and Raman spectroscopy, corroborate this interpretation and, in combination with accurate ferric/ferrous ratios from Mössbauer spectroscopy and lattice parameter determinations, allow a clear distinction to be made between vacancy-free and vacancy-bearing annite. The amount of Fe in ancillary Fe oxide phases produced by the vacancy mechanism is measured by Mössbauer spectroscopy to be 11.3(5)% of total Fe, in agreement with both the theoretical prediction of 1/9 = 11.1% and the observed TGA weight gain. The initiation of Fe oxide formation near the point of completion of the oxybiotite reaction (${\text{Fe}}^{2+}\text{/Fe}=\raisebox{1ex}{$1$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$3$}\right.$) is corroborated by pXRD, TGA, Raman spectroscopy, and appearance of an Fe oxide hyperfine field sextet in the Mössbauer spectra. The region of Fe oxide formation is shown to coincide with a region of octahedral site vacancy formation, using a new Mössbauer spectral signature of vacancies that consists of a component at 2.2 mm/s in the [6]Fe3+ quadrupole splitting distribution (QSD). The crystal chemical behaviors of annite-oxyannite and of oxyannite-ferrioxyannite are best contrasted and compared to the behaviors of other layer-silicate series in terms of b vs. [D] (average octahedral cation to O bond length). This also leads to a diagnostic test for the presence of octahedral site vacancies in hydrothermally synthesized annite, based on a graph of b vs. Fe2+/Fe. The implications of the observed sequence of thermal oxidation reactions for the thermodynamic relevance of the oxybiotite and vacancy reactions in hydrothermal syntheses are examined and it is concluded that the oxybiotite reaction is the relevant reaction in the single-phase stability field of annite, at high hydrogen fugacity and using ideal starting cation stoichiometry. The vacancy reaction is only relevant in a multi-phase field, at lower hydrogen fugacity, that includes an Fe oxide equilibrium phase (magnetite) that can effectively compete for Fe, or when using non-ideal starting cation stoichiometries.

Vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) is effective at preventing vertical transmission. Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea are hyperendemic West African countries; yet, childhood vaccination coverage is suboptimal, and the determinants of incomplete vaccination are poorly understood. We analyzed national survey data (2018–2020) of children aged 4–35 months to assess complete HBV vaccination (receiving 3 doses of the pentavalent vaccine) and incomplete vaccination (receiving <3 doses). Statistical analysis was conducted using the complex sample command in SPSS (version 28). Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify determinants of incomplete immunization. Overall, 11,181 mothers were analyzed (4,846 from Sierra Leone, 2,788 from Liberia, and 3,547 from Guinea). Sierra Leone had the highest HBV childhood vaccination coverage (70.3%), followed by Liberia (64.6%) and Guinea (39.3%). Within countries, HBV vaccination coverage varied by socioeconomic characteristics and healthcare access. In multivariate regression analysis, factors that were significantly associated with incomplete vaccination in at least one country included sex of the child, Muslim mothers, lower household wealth index, <4 antenatal visits, home delivery, and distance to health facility vaccination (all p < 0.05). Understanding and addressing modifiable determinants of incomplete vaccination will be essential to help achieve the 2030 viral hepatitis elimination goals.

The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS) will be held in Washington DC, USA, from Saturday, 26 August, 2023 to Friday, 1 September, 2023, inclusive. The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery will be the largest and most comprehensive scientific meeting dedicated to paediatric and congenital cardiac care ever held. At the time of the writing of this manuscript, The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery has 5,037 registered attendees (and rising) from 117 countries, a truly diverse and international faculty of over 925 individuals from 89 countries, over 2,000 individual abstracts and poster presenters from 101 countries, and a Best Abstract Competition featuring 153 oral abstracts from 34 countries. For information about the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, please visit the following website: [www.WCPCCS2023.org]. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the activities related to global health and advocacy that will occur at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

Acknowledging the need for urgent change, we wanted to take the opportunity to bring a common voice to the global community and issue the Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action on Addressing the Global Burden of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Diseases. A copy of this Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is provided in the Appendix of this manuscript. This Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is an initiative aimed at increasing awareness of the global burden, promoting the development of sustainable care systems, and improving access to high quality and equitable healthcare for children with heart disease as well as adults with congenital heart disease worldwide.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has been a leader in weed science research covering topics ranging from the development and use of integrated weed management (IWM) tactics to basic mechanistic studies, including biotic resistance of desirable plant communities and herbicide resistance. ARS weed scientists have worked in agricultural and natural ecosystems, including agronomic and horticultural crops, pastures, forests, wild lands, aquatic habitats, wetlands, and riparian areas. Through strong partnerships with academia, state agencies, private industry, and numerous federal programs, ARS weed scientists have made contributions to discoveries in the newest fields of robotics and genetics, as well as the traditional and fundamental subjects of weed–crop competition and physiology and integration of weed control tactics and practices. Weed science at ARS is often overshadowed by other research topics; thus, few are aware of the long history of ARS weed science and its important contributions. This review is the result of a symposium held at the Weed Science Society of America’s 62nd Annual Meeting in 2022 that included 10 separate presentations in a virtual Weed Science Webinar Series. The overarching themes of management tactics (IWM, biological control, and automation), basic mechanisms (competition, invasive plant genetics, and herbicide resistance), and ecosystem impacts (invasive plant spread, climate change, conservation, and restoration) represent core ARS weed science research that is dynamic and efficacious and has been a significant component of the agency’s national and international efforts. This review highlights current studies and future directions that exemplify the science and collaborative relationships both within and outside ARS. Given the constraints of weeds and invasive plants on all aspects of food, feed, and fiber systems, there is an acknowledged need to face new challenges, including agriculture and natural resources sustainability, economic resilience and reliability, and societal health and well-being.

Over the past 2 decades, several categorizations have been proposed for the abnormalities of the aortic root. These schemes have mostly been devoid of input from specialists of congenital cardiac disease. The aim of this review is to provide a classification, from the perspective of these specialists, based on an understanding of normal and abnormal morphogenesis and anatomy, with emphasis placed on the features of clinical and surgical relevance. We contend that the description of the congenitally malformed aortic root is simplified when approached in a fashion that recognizes the normal root to be made up of 3 leaflets, supported by their own sinuses, with the sinuses themselves separated by the interleaflet triangles. The malformed root, usually found in the setting of 3 sinuses, can also be found with 2 sinuses, and very rarely with 4 sinuses. This permits description of trisinuate, bisinuate, and quadrisinuate variants, respectively. This feature then provides the basis for classification of the anatomical and functional number of leaflets present. By offering standardized terms and definitions, we submit that our classification will be suitable for those working in all cardiac specialties, whether pediatric or adult. It is of equal value in the settings of acquired or congenital cardiac disease. Our recommendations will serve to amend and/or add to the existing International Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Code, along with the Eleventh iteration of the International Classification of Diseases provided by the World Health Organization.

We compared optimal antibiotic prescribing before and after implementing an interpretive β-lactamase microbiology comment for Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis in lower respiratory-tract infections. The postintervention group was associated with 5-fold increased odds of optimal de-escalation (adjusted odds ratio, 5.03; 95% confidence interval, 2.57–9.87).