Background: Fetal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has been associated with reduced male fecundity, but with few studies considering chemical mixtures. Objectives: We assessed the association between fetal exposure to a mixture of EDCs and biomarkers of male fecundity in young adulthood. Materials and methods: The study population comprised 841 young adult males enrolled in the Fe

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to explore the lessons learned from implementing a procedure of resuscitation and stabilization with an intact umbilical cord for preterm and term infants requiring resuscitation or stabilization during emergency caesarean sections. Methods: Data were collected by two focus group discussions and one individual interview. Participants were members of imp

Introduction: Moral distress arises when healthcare workers face difficult decisions without adequate information and/or when patient care is compromised due to limited resources, communication issues, or altered work routines in exceptional circumstances. While moral distress in maternity and neonatal healthcare workers (MNHCWs) has been noted, its prevalence, intensity, and impact on well-being

BACKGROUND: A limited subset of patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) may develop intractable symptoms that ultimately require reversal to normal anatomy. Existing literature on this subject is characterized by small cohort sizes, substantial variation in surgical techniques, and limited follow-up durations. However, this study presents the largest single-center series to date, compr

In this article, I present a modified reliabilist theory of knowledge which purports to solve many of the problems currently facing standard reliabilism. With the help of a dispositionally construed reliabilist theory of knowledge and justification (DRK and DRJ), tentative responses to the following problems for reliabilism are offered: The New Evil Demon Problem, The Clairvoyance Problem, The Mr.

Resin adsorption is an effective technology for the fermentable sugar slurry detoxification in lignocellulosic biorefinery, but with the great limitation of the loss of resin capacity from inhibitor contamination and the extensive use of acid and base solutions for their regeneration. In this study, we developed a green and practical method with ultrasound assisting the depletion of poisoned resin

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) emerges from mutant KRAS-harboring but dormant low-grade pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN). To examine the role of oxidative stress, a putative PDAC risk factor, we established an organoid-based transformation system. Although the prototypic oxidant H2O2 induced organoid transformation, its effect was nonmutational and was mediated by the oxidant-

Background: In the PROSPECT-II study, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) was used to characterize atherosclerotic plaques in the coronary arteries. NIRS-derived lipid core burden index (LCBI) and IVUS-derived plaque burden (PB) were able to identify plaques strongly associated with adverse cardiovascular events. Aim: Our aim was to identify biomarkers associated

The macroscopic response governed by a statistical volume element, generated from 3D X-ray computer tomography images of paperboard, is explored. The statistical volume element, which consists of fibres and void, is derived from X-ray computer tomography images. Two filters for computing intensity fields and intensity gradients have been implemented and compared. Using an intensity threshold, the

Air quality apps are designed to observe air quality and inform publics about it, but also to elicit actions based on anticipated scenarios. As such, they may be seen as anticipatory technologies, cultivating environmental understandings and orienting users toward a specific future. This paper explores the anticipatory assemblages of these apps as well as users’ interactions with these apps and th

Brief Admission by self-referral (BA) is a crisis intervention for individuals with recurrent self-harm and suicidal ideation. While short-term effects are documented, long-term utilisation patterns remain unclear. This study examines BA usage over 4 years, identifies distinct utilisation profiles, and qualitatively explores participants' experiences with BA over time. Participants were 62 individ

Insect pest control, which is essential for food and crop production, typically relies on chemical insecticides. At Yngvi Bio, we repurpose bacterial contractile injection systems as biodegradable insecticides, offering ecological safety, target specificity and a scalable path to market.

People derive contrastive inferences when interpreting adjectives (e.g., inferring that 'the short pencil' is being contrasted with a longer one). However, classic eye-tracking studies revealed contrastive inferences with scalar and material adjectives, but not with color adjectives. This was explained as a difference in listeners' informativity expectations, since color adjectives are often used

Theoretical accounts of negative expressives such as damn have ascribed two main properties to this type of adjective, namely that they are typically speaker-oriented, and that they can be flexible with regard to their syntactic attachment. However, it is not clear what this means during online sentence processing. For example, is it effortful for comprehenders to derive the speaker's negative att

An underinformative sentence, such as Some cats are mammals, is trivially true with a semantic (some and perhaps all) reading of the quantifier and false with a pragmatic (some but not all) one, with the latter reliably resulting in longer response times than the former in a truth evaluation task (Bott & Noveck, 2004). Most analyses attribute these prolonged reaction times, or costs, to the st

Within Relevance Theory, it has been suggested that extended metaphors might be processed differently relative to single metaphoric uses. While single metaphors are hypothesized to be understood via the creation of an ad hoc concept, extended metaphors have been claimed to require a switch to a secondary processing mode, which gives greater prominence to the literal meaning. Initial experimental e

Irony is a heavily context-dependent pragmatic phenomenon. But what is it about context that facilitates or blocks irony comprehension? Based on the echoic account, we suggest that a context facilitates irony comprehension when it makes manifest a speaker's intentions and attitude, i.e., when a context makes it easy for participants to engage their mindreading abilities. In two pre-registered self

When a word is used metaphorically (for example "walrus" in the sentence "The president is a walrus"), some features of that word's meaning ("very fat," "slow-moving") are carried across to the metaphoric interpretation while other features ("has large tusks," "lives near the north pole") are not. What happens to these features that relate only to the literal meaning during processing of novel met

How do you control a superintelligent artificial being given the possibility that its goals or actions might conflict with human interests? Over the past few decades, this concern– the AGI control problem– has remained a central challenge for research in AI safety. This paper develops and defends two arguments that provide pro tanto support for the following policy for those who worry about the AG