Simulated low-dose dark-field radiography for detection of COVID-19 pneumonia.

Background: Dark-field radiography has been proven to be a promising tool for the assessment of various lung diseases.

Purpose: To evaluate the potential of dose reduction in dark-field chest radiography for the detection of the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pneumonia.

Materials And Methods: Patients aged at least 18 years with a medically indicated chest computed tomography scan (CT scan) were screened for participation in a prospective study between October 2018 and December 2020.

Optimizing convolutional neural networks for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease detection in clinical computed tomography imaging.

We aim to optimize the binary detection of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) based on emphysema presence in the lung with convolutional neural networks (CNN) by exploring manually adjusted versus automated window-setting optimization (WSO) on computed tomography (CT) images. 7194 contrast-enhanced CT images (3597 with COPD; 3597 healthy controls) from 78 subjects were selected retrospectively (01.2018-12.

"1-800-Help-Me-With-Open-Science-Stuff": A Qualitative Examination of Open Science Practices in Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of communication sciences and disorders (CSD) assistant professors in the United States related to barriers and facilitators to engaging in open science practices and identify opportunities for improving open science training and support in the field.

Method: Thirty-five assistant professors (16 from very high research activity [R1] institutions, 19 from institutions with other Carnegie classifications) participated in one 1-hr virtual focus group conducted via Zoom recording technology. The researchers used a conventional content analysis approach to analyze the focus group data and develop categories from the discussions.

Dark-field radiography for the detection of bone microstructure changes in osteoporotic human lumbar spine specimens.

Background: Dark-field radiography imaging exploits the wave character of x-rays to measure small-angle scattering on material interfaces, providing structural information with low radiation exposure. We explored the potential of dark-field imaging of bone microstructure to improve the assessment of bone strength in osteoporosis.

Methods: We prospectively examined 14 osteoporotic/osteopenic and 21 non-osteoporotic/osteopenic human cadaveric vertebrae (L2-L4) with a clinical dark-field radiography system, micro-computed tomography (CT), and spectral CT.

Meditating on psychedelics. A randomized placebo-controlled study of DMT and harmine in a mindfulness retreat.

Background: In recent years, both meditation and psychedelics have attracted rapidly increasing scientific interest. While the current state of evidence suggests the promising potential of psychedelics, such as psilocybin, to enhance meditative training, it remains equivocal whether these effects are specifically bound to psilocybin or if other classical psychedelics might show synergistic effects with meditation practice. One particularly promising candidate is -dimethyltryptamine (DMT), an active ingredient of ayahuasca.