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Valuing Mortality Risk Reductions and Health Improvements:A Life Expectancy Framework to Harmonize Policy Traditions
No full textMany public policies directly affect an individual's mortality risk. The value of longevity gains has traditionally been monetized through three different concepts: value per statistical life (VSL), value per statistical life year (VSLY), and willingness-to-pay for a quality-adjusted life year (WTP–QALY). By adopting gains in life expectancy as the unifying metric and combining it with preference-based information on health and longevity, we set out an approach that would generate three measures that are conceptually linked at the individual level. In particular, explicitly integrating preferences over health impacts would allow for the WTP–QALY to be estimated alongside the VSL and VSLY. We argue that our approach has advantages over the direct and modeling methods developed in the literature to date. In addition, we clarify how using the proposed framework could deliver values allowing for consistent decision-making across policy domains and government departments in ex ante regulatory assessment while simultaneously honoring the different empirical estimation practices across government departments
Conserved Molecular Responses to Arsenite Exposure in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>
No full textArsenic exposure is a pervasive global health threat strongly associated with increased risk of morbidities such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Despite extensive studies describing the dangers of arsenic exposure, the molecular initiating events that link arsenic to chronic disease onset and progression remain poorly defined. To address this knowledge gap, we combined time-resolved transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling of adult Drosophila melanogaster exposed to sodium (meta) arsenite (NaAsO₂). We uncovered coordinated, dose-dependent shifts in gene expression and metabolite abundance that activate canonical detoxification pathways and mirror arsenic-associated disease signatures in humans. Notably, flies rapidly upregulated heatshock and xenobiotic response gene networks, followed by biomarkers characteristic of diabetic states (elevated glucose, lactate, and methylglyoxal, for example). These findings reveal conserved molecular pathways that couple arsenic exposure to metabolic dysfunction and establish Drosophila as a powerful whole-organism model for identifying early biomarkers and mechanistic drivers of arsenic-induced disease phenotypes. </p
Locked tight (mostly):Histone ubiquitylation by PRC1 isn’t always required for H3K27me3-dependent gene silencing
Get PDFGamification design and engagement in preregistration nurse education:a scoping review protocol
Get PDFIntroduction: The complexity of modern healthcare has driven an increase in the complexity of the preregistration nursing curricula. Diverse learning needs in this population are best served by inclusion of diverse approaches to teaching. Gamification offers an approach to enhance motivation and engagement, allowing for sustained motivation to keep learning. However, current research concerning gamification within preregistration nursing is still limited, particularly surrounding underlying design and the impact this has on long-term engagement and motivation. The aim of this scoping review is to identify and map gamification design elements used in preregistration nursing education, using the Octalysis framework, and to evaluate how these designs influence student engagement and motivation. Methods and analysis: This scoping review will use the updated Joanna Briggs Institute Scoping Review Methodology and will be reported in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA - ScR). The search will be conducted using Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Education Resources Information Cente (ERIC), EBSCO, Web of Science Core Collection, PROquest, SCOPUS, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE) and PsycINFO. Grey literature, conference proceedings and relevant digital platforms will also be considered. Two reviewers will independently screen titles/abstracts and full texts. Data extraction will include gamification design elements, engagement and motivation outcomes and their alignment with the Octalysis framework. Synthesis and presentation of findings will be completed using the Patterns, Advances, Gaps, Evidence for practice, Research recommendations framework. The planned start for performing the scoping review is November 2025. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval is not required as this review will synthesise published and publicly available evidence. Findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publication, conference presentations and stakeholder engagement within higher education
Identifying the relative contributions of body size across life course to midlife and late-life cognitive function:a Bayesian analysis from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study
Get PDFObjectives The relative contributions of life-course obesity to midlife and late-life cognitive function have not been reported. We examined the association of life-course body size with cognitive function and identified the relative contribution of body size at each life stage. Design This was a study based on data from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study. Setting A community-based population in China. Participants 9,303 participants without a history of dementia or other serious mental disorders were included, with a mean age of 59.9 years (standard deviation = 6.0 years). Measurements Perceived childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, midlife, and current body size were assessed by Stunkard’s Figure Rating Scale (labelled 1–9, from very thin to very fat), and analysed as categorical or continuous variables. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and analysed as a continuous score. A Bayesian relevant life course exposure model was used to quantify the relative contributions of body size to cognitive function. Results After adjustment for confounders, each one-figure increase in body size was associated with lower MMSE scores. The βs (95% confidence intervals) were −1.121 (−1.200, −1.043), −1.077 (−1.161, −0.993), −0.795 (−0.871, −0.719), −0.450 (−0.520, −0.380), −0.253 (−0.318, −0.188) for childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, midlife and current status, respectively. The contributions of larger body size to poorer cognitive function varied across life stages, with childhood and adolescence accounting for 58.96% (95% credible interval (CrI) = 49.81%–68.07%) and 38.52% (95% CrI = 29.11%–47.82%) of the association, respectively. Conclusion Body size in childhood and adolescence mainly explained the negative association between life-course body size and cognitive function in midlife and late-life. This finding highlights the importance of early-life obesity prevention for maintaining cognitive function
An Impenetrable Temple:The Nature and Characteristics of Impurity in the Temple Scroll
Get PDFStudies of purity in the Temple Scroll have highlighted the composition’s maximizing tendencies and observed its innovations vis-à-vis Pentateuchal texts. Less attention has been paid to the nature of impurity in the Temple Scroll, and how the concept of impurity and its characteristics influenced the laws and rites outlined in the composition. This article argues that impurity in the Temple Scroll is a static, sticky substance, which can only travel by means of its carriers. Consequently, the Temple Scroll’s concern is with keeping the ‘wrong’ people out of the Temple, rather than addressing the inevitable presence of impurity therein. I demonstrate this through analysis of the Temple Scroll’s Day of Atonement blood rite and aspects of its purity laws, before drawing attention to the defensive design of the Temple plan
Large language models for frontline healthcare support in low-resource settings
Get PDFLarge language models (LLMs) have demonstrated strong performance in medical contexts; however, existing benchmarks often fail to reflect the real-world complexity of low-resource health systems accurately. Here we develop a dataset of 5,609 clinical questions contributed by 101 community health workers across 4 Rwandan districts and compared responses generated by 5 LLMs (Gemini-2, GPT-4o, o3-mini, Deepseek R1 and Meditron-70B) with those from local clinicians. A subset of 524 question–answer pairs was evaluated using a rubric of 11 expert-rated metrics, scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Gemini-2 and GPT-4o were the best performers (achieving mean scores of 4.49 and 4.48 out of 5, respectively, across all 11 metrics). All LLMs significantly outperformed local clinicians (P < 0.001) across all metrics, with Gemini-2, for example, surpassing local general practitioners by an average of 0.83 points on every metric (range 0.38–1.10). Although performance degraded slightly when LLMs communicated in Kinyarwanda, the LLMs remained superior to clinicians and were over 500 times cheaper per response. These findings support the potential of LLMs to strengthen frontline care quality in low-resource, multilingual health systems
Pointing over gaze:how saliency, proximity, and context shape spatial attention to embodied cues
Get PDFRecent work suggests that the pointing hand on an outstretched arm is possibly a more powerful cue than the gaze-cue, suggesting these embodied social cues are not equal. The aim of this study is to investigate differences between gaze- and pointing-cue, looking specifically at saliency, spatial proximity, and trial context. A cartoon figure was used to present four types of cues: (1) a gaze-cue, (2) a peripheral pointing cue on an outstretched arm, (3) a central pointing cue presented over the torso of the body, and (4) a flower cue matched for low-level features to the peripheral pointing cue. Validity was non-predictive. To test the impact of trial context on the impact of the cues, different cue types were presented randomly within blocks (Experiment 1) or tested in separate blocks (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, gaze and gesture cues were intermixed within blocks, but the number of gaze-cue trials was balanced with the pointing cues, ensuring that the gaze-cue occurred equally often as the gesture cues. The results showed that the pointing cue was much more effective in directing attention than the gaze-cue, especially when cues could not be predicted (Experiment 1 and 3). Blocked conditions (Experiment 2) yielded more effective cue-effects compared to mixed conditions (Experiment 1) and even yielded reliable cue effects for stimuli without intuitive directional meaning (i.e., flower cue). Across all three experiments, the results showed that the impact of the pointing cue could not be explained by low-level salience or spatial proximity to the target. Trial context affected the effectiveness of the cues, suggesting that spatial cueing is shaped by expectations; however, the advantage of the pointing cue over the gaze cue emerged independently of trial context. Together, these results challenge the idea that embodied cues influence attention uniformly, revealing systematic variation in effectiveness, with the pointing cue especially robust
dynsight:An open Python platform for simulation and experimental trajectory data analysis
No full textThe study of complex many-body systems via analysis of the trajectories of the units that dynamically move and interact within them is a non-trivial task. The workflow for extracting meaningful information from the raw trajectory data is often composed of a series of interconnected steps, such as (i) identifying and tracking the constitutive objects/particles, resolving their trajectories (e.g., in experimental cases, where these are not automatically available as in typical molecular simulations); (ii) translating the trajectories into data that are easier to handle/analyze by using well-suited descriptors; and (iii) extracting meaningful information from such data. Each of these different tasks often requires non-negligible programming skills, the use of various types of representations or methods, and the availability/development of an interface between them. Despite the considerable potential that new tools contributed to each of these individual steps, their integration under a common framework would decrease the barrier to usage (especially by diverse communities of users), avoid fragmentation, and ultimately facilitate the development of new approaches in data analysis. To this end, here we introduce dynsight, an open Python platform that streamlines the extraction and analysis of time-series data from simulation or experimentally resolved trajectories.dynsight simplifies workflows, enhances accessibility, and facilitates time-series and trajectories data analysis, offering a useful tool for unraveling the dynamic complexity of a variety of systems (or signals) across different scales.dynsight is open source and can be easily installed using pip.</p
EP241217a:A Likely Type II GRB with an Achromatic Bump at z = 4.59
Get PDFEP241217a is an X-ray transient detected by the Einstein Probe lasting for about 100 s and without accompanying γ-ray detection. The optical spectroscopy reveals the redshift of EP241217a is 4.59. By combining the γ-ray upper limit provided by GECAM-C, there is a considerable possibility that EP241217a is a typical type II gamma-ray burst, but it is fainter than the detection threshold of any available γ-ray monitors (i.e., Eγ,iso ≲ 1053 erg). The X-ray light curve exhibits a plateau lasting for ∼5 × 104 s. However, the joint analysis with optical data suggests the presence of an achromatic bump peaking at ∼3 × 104 s after the trigger, indicating the actual duration of the X-ray plateau may be significantly shorter than it appears. To interpret the achromatic bump, we adopt the scenario of a mildly relativistic jet coasting in a wind-like medium and encountering a rapid density enhancement of the circumburst medium, which is likely induced by the interaction of the progenitor’s stellar wind and the interstellar medium. However, this model cannot fully explain observed data, and some issues do exist, e.g., the observed spectrum is harder than the model prediction. Consequently, we conclude that the scenario of a mildly relativistic jet coasting in the wind-like medium cannot explain all observed features of EP241217a. In addition, some alternative models commonly invoked to explain X-ray plateaus are discussed, but there are more or less issues when they were applied to EP241217a. Therefore, further theoretical modeling is encouraged to explore the origin of EP241217a
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