A UK framework for the assessment and integration of different scientific evidence streams in chemical risk assessment.

Background: Few methods are available for transparently combining different evidence streams for chemical risk assessment to reach an integrated conclusion on the probability of causation. Hence, the UK Committees on Toxicity (COT) and on Carcinogenicity (COC) have reviewed current practice and developed guidance on how to achieve this in a transparent manner, using graphical visualisation.

Methods/approach: All lines of evidence, including toxicological, epidemiological, new approach methodologies, and mode of action should be considered, taking account of their strengths/weaknesses in their relative weighting towards a conclusion on the probability of causation.

Metagenomic Sequencing of Two Cultures Grown on Chemically Deconstructed Plastic Products.

We report the metagenome sequences of two microbial cultures that were grown with chemically deconstructed plastic products as their sole carbon source. These metagenomes will provide insights into the metabolic capabilities of cultures grown on deconstructed plastics and can serve as a starting point for the identification of novel plastic degradation mechanisms.

Theoretical Analyses of Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms on Multimodal Objectives.

Multiobjective evolutionary algorithms are successfully applied in many real-world multiobjective optimization problems. As for many other AI methods, the theoretical understanding of these algorithms is lagging far behind their success in practice. In particular, previous theory work considers mostly easy problems that are composed of unimodal objectives.

The Univariate Marginal Distribution Algorithm Copes Well with Deception and Epistasis.

In their recent work, Lehre and Nguyen (2019) show that the univariate marginal distribution algorithm (UMDA) needs time exponential in the parent populations size to optimize the DeceptiveLeadingBlocks (DLB) problem. They conclude from this result that univariate EDAs have difficulties with deception and epistasis. In this work, we show that this negative finding is caused by the choice of the parameters of the UMDA.

Evaluation of the prothrombotic potential of four-factor prothrombin complex concentrate (4F-PCC) in animal models.

Objectives: Acquired coagulopathy may be associated with bleeding risk. Approaches to restore haemostasis include administration of coagulation factor concentrates, but there are concerns regarding potential prothrombotic risk. The present study assessed the prothrombotic potential of four-factor prothrombin complex concentrate (4F-PCC) versus activated PCC (aPCC) and recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa), using three preclinical animal models.