Amaranthus species are problematic weeds in snap bean production systems. They reduce crop yields, and their stem fragments contaminate harvested pods. Knowledge of snap bean tolerance to different preemergence herbicides is limited; however, knowing this tolerance is essential for planning a reliable weed management system, breeding herbicide-tolerant cultivars, and registering herbicides for use on minor crops such as snap bean. Field trials were conducted in 2021 and 2022 to determine the tolerance of eight snap bean cultivars to preemergence herbicides with activity on Amaranthus species, including dimethenamid-P, flumioxazin, lactofen, metribuzin, saflufenacil, and sulfentrazone. Snap bean plant density (number of plants per square meter), plant biomass (grams per plant), and canopy biomass (grams per square meter) 21 d after treatment were used to assess crop tolerance to a range of herbicide rates. Linear mixed-effects regression models were fitted to quantify the relationships between preemergence herbicide rate and snap bean cultivar tolerance. Results indicated a high margin of crop safety with dimethenamid-P and lactofen for weed control in snap bean, and a low margin of crop safety with metribuzin and saflufenacil. Results indicated differential cultivar tolerance to flumioxazin and sulfentrazone, which could be driven by genetic variability among cultivars.

Accelerating COVID-19 Treatment Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) was initiated by the US government to rapidly develop and test vaccines and therapeutics against COVID-19 in 2020. The ACTIV Therapeutics-Clinical Working Group selected ACTIV trial teams and clinical networks to expeditiously develop and launch master protocols based on therapeutic targets and patient populations. The suite of clinical trials was designed to collectively inform therapeutic care for COVID-19 outpatient, inpatient, and intensive care populations globally. In this report, we highlight challenges, strategies, and solutions around clinical protocol development and regulatory approval to document our experience and propose plans for future similar healthcare emergencies.

This manuscript addresses a critical topic: navigating complexities of conducting clinical trials during a pandemic. Central to this discussion is engaging communities to ensure diverse participation. The manuscript elucidates deliberate strategies employed to recruit minority communities with poor social drivers of health for participation in COVID-19 trials. The paper adopts a descriptive approach, eschewing analysis of data-driven efficacy of these efforts, and instead provides a comprehensive account of strategies utilized. The Accelerate COVID-19 Treatment Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) public–private partnership launched early in the COVID-19 pandemic to develop clinical trials to advance SARS-CoV-2 treatments. In this paper, ACTIV investigators share challenges in conducting research during an evolving pandemic and approaches selected to engage communities when traditional strategies were infeasible. Lessons from this experience include importance of community representatives’ involvement early in study design and implementation and integration of well-developed public outreach and communication strategies with trial launch. Centralization and coordination of outreach will allow for efficient use of resources and the sharing of best practices. Insights gleaned from the ACTIV program, as outlined in this paper, shed light on effective strategies for involving communities in treatment trials amidst rapidly evolving public health emergencies. This underscores critical importance of community engagement initiatives well in advance of the pandemic.

A series of synthetic goethites containing varying amounts of Si and P dopants were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, electron diffraction, microbeam electron diffraction, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Very low level incorporation produced materials having structural and spectral properties similar to those of poorly crystalline synthetic or natural goethite. At higher incorporation levels, mixtures of noncrystalline materials were obtained which exhibited Mössbauer spectra typical of noncrystalline materials mixed with a superparamagnetic component. Microbeam electron diffraction indicated that these mixtures contained poorly crystalline goethite, poorly crystalline ferrihydrite, and a noncrystalline component. If the material was prepared with no aging of the alkaline Fe3+ solution before the addition of Na2HPO4 or Na2SiO3, materials were obtained containing little if any superparamagnetic component. If the alkaline Fe3+ solution was aged for 48 hr before the addition, goethite nuclei formed and apparently promoted the precipitation of a superparamagnetic phase. The Mössbauer-effect hyperfme parameters and the saturation internal-hyperfine field obtained at 4.2 K were typical of those of goethite; however, the Mössbauer spectra indicated that the ordering temperature, as reflected in the relaxation rate and/or the blocking temperature, decreased with increasing incorporation of Si and P. The complete loss of crystallinity indicates that Si and P did not substitute for Fe, but rather adsorbed on crystal-growth sites, thereby preventing uniform crystal growth.

We recently reported on the radio-frequency attenuation length of cold polar ice at Summit Station, Greenland, based on bi-static radar measurements of radio-frequency bedrock echo strengths taken during the summer of 2021. Those data also allow studies of (a) the relative contributions of coherent (such as discrete internal conducting layers with sub-centimeter transverse scale) vs incoherent (e.g. bulk volumetric) scattering, (b) the magnitude of internal layer reflection coefficients, (c) limits on signal propagation velocity asymmetries (‘birefringence’) and (d) limits on signal dispersion in-ice over a bandwidth of ~100 MHz. We find that (1) attenuation lengths approach 1 km in our band, (2) after averaging 10 000 echo triggers, reflected signals observable over the thermal floor (to depths of ~1500 m) are consistent with being entirely coherent, (3) internal layer reflectivities are ≈–60$\to$–70 dB, (4) birefringent effects for vertically propagating signals are smaller by an order of magnitude relative to South Pole and (5) within our experimental limits, glacial ice is non-dispersive over the frequency band relevant for neutrino detection experiments.

Knowledge graphs have become a common approach for knowledge representation. Yet, the application of graph methodology is elusive due to the sheer number and complexity of knowledge sources. In addition, semantic incompatibilities hinder efforts to harmonize and integrate across these diverse sources. As part of The Biomedical Translator Consortium, we have developed a knowledge graph–based question-answering system designed to augment human reasoning and accelerate translational scientific discovery: the Translator system. We have applied the Translator system to answer biomedical questions in the context of a broad array of diseases and syndromes, including Fanconi anemia, primary ciliary dyskinesia, multiple sclerosis, and others. A variety of collaborative approaches have been used to research and develop the Translator system. One recent approach involved the establishment of a monthly “Question-of-the-Month (QotM) Challenge” series. Herein, we describe the structure of the QotM Challenge; the six challenges that have been conducted to date on drug-induced liver injury, cannabidiol toxicity, coronavirus infection, diabetes, psoriatic arthritis, and ATP1A3-related phenotypes; the scientific insights that have been gleaned during the challenges; and the technical issues that were identified over the course of the challenges and that can now be addressed to foster further development of the prototype Translator system. We close with a discussion on Large Language Models such as ChatGPT and highlight differences between those models and the Translator system.

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 identification of volatile pheromones attractive to and produced by many species within the family Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) has spurred development of synthetic pheromone lures that can be used to assess cerambycid populations and to monitor for invasive and rare species. We applied this method of trapping to examine cerambycid attraction to pheromone compounds and to initiate an analysis of the cerambycid communities within western Idaho, United States of America. A total of 8195 cerambycids, representing 67 species, 17 tribes, and 42 genera within six subfamilies of the Cerambycidae, were captured. Thirteen volatile pheromone lures were tested over three years, and a significant treatment effect was detected for nine cerambycid species. No significant differences were found among sites for species richness, diversity, or evenness. No significant differences were found among lures for species richness or diversity, but a significant difference was detected among lures for species evenness. We propose a method for designing a multicomponent lure, based on data from the target region, to maximise the number of species captured and to target specific cerambycid species within a targeted region.

When mainstream parties accommodate radical-right parties, do citizens grow more concerned about immigration? Based on a rich literature, we argue that challenger parties’ ability to affect mainstream party positions, particularly on immigration, is associated with greater public salience of immigration and voter positivity towards challengers exists. We use Comparative Manifesto Project and Comparative Study of Electoral Systems data in order to show that challenger issue entrepreneurship, and mainstream accommodation are associated with greater public concern for challenger issues. These factors do not result in greater public positivity towards challengers. Our findings thus support the argument that a mainstream party accommodative strategy might not be as beneficial for them as often expected by pundit and political scientists alike. This has implications for understanding the effect of indirect party strategies on public attitudes, since mainstream accommodation changes public concern regarding issues, which may bolster challengers’ positions, including radical-right parties.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization stressed the importance of daily clinical assessments of infected patients, yet current approaches frequently consider cross-sectional timepoints, cumulative summary measures, or time-to-event analyses. Statistical methods are available that make use of the rich information content of longitudinal assessments. We demonstrate the use of a multistate transition model to assess the dynamic nature of COVID-19-associated critical illness using daily evaluations of COVID-19 patients from 9 academic hospitals. We describe the accessibility and utility of methods that consider the clinical trajectory of critically ill COVID-19 patients.