Publications by authors named "Kevin Smith"

Public health policies can dramatically shape government responses to emerging public health crises. In cases where a response is inadequate, it's natural to seek improvements to these policies to achieve better results in future crises. However, while policies and outcomes are usually visible, the complex dynamics that link them are seldom obvious.

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Starting in early infancy, our perception and predictions are rooted in strong expectations about the behavior of everyday objects. These intuitive physics expectations have been demonstrated in numerous behavioral experiments, showing that even pre-verbal infants are surprised when something impossible happens (e.g.

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Gene set enrichment is a mainstay of functional genomics, but it relies on gene function databases that are incomplete. Here we evaluate five large language models (LLMs) for their ability to discover the common functions represented by a gene set, supported by molecular rationale and a self-confidence assessment. For curated gene sets from Gene Ontology, GPT-4 suggests functions similar to the curated name in 73% of cases, with higher self-confidence predicting higher similarity.

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Biomass gasification as a renewable energy technology has been a widely explored research and development area. The efficient and economic removal of harmful components, particularly tars, in raw syngas from the biomass gasifier is still a major challenge. In this study, a novel two-stage fluidized bed pilot-scale gasifier has been developed to enhance the steam-oxygen biomass gasification to generate low-tar syngas; while, a prototype hot syngas cleanup system has been designed, built and tested to further reduce the tar content and purify the syngas from the biomass gasifier for downstream applications.

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  • The study examines the link between the Child Opportunity Index (COI) and the management and outcomes of pediatric supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), focusing on ablation use over a 5.5-year period.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 306 SVT patients, finding that those with a low COI had significantly higher rates of hospital admissions compared to those with a high COI, but there was no difference in ablation utilization or outcomes across COI categories.
  • The results suggest that while social determinants, indicated by COI, may influence hospital resource use, they have a limited effect on treatment effectiveness for SVT patients.
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  • * A study evaluated 350 genotypes of naked barley across 13 environments, identifying various marker trait associations linked to resistance against several fungal diseases, including barley stripe rust and spot blotch.
  • * The research confirmed existing knowledge in the field and highlighted new potential sources for improving disease resistance in naked barley, revealing distinct patterns of resistance and susceptibility.
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We combined synchrotron-based near field infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy to image the properties of ferroelastic domain walls in SrSnO. Although frequency shifts at the walls are near the limit of our sensitivity, we can confirm semiconducting rather than metallic character and widths between 20 and 60 nm. The latter is significantly narrower than in other hybrid improper ferroelectrics like CaTiO.

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  • MnSiTe, a nodal-line semiconductor, has attracted attention for its unique properties, including a field-induced insulator-to-metal transition and colossal magnetoresistance, without relying on typical Jahn-Teller distortions or double-exchange mechanisms.
  • Researchers conducted infrared measurements to study the behavior of MnSiTe during magnetic ordering and the transition phases, finding that instead of a conventional metallic state, it exhibits weak conductivity with localized electron carriers.
  • Their results, explained through a percolation model, indicate electronic inhomogeneity and suggest new mechanisms like polaron formation and chiral orbital currents that could lead to novel materials with significant magnetoresistance.
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An individualized management program for patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) was created to reduce health care utilization and cost. The program was implemented to standardize the management of patients with SCD. SCD encounters from January 2010 to December 2020 were reviewed for analysis.

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Intracellular plant defense against pathogens is mediated by a class of disease resistance genes known as NB-LRRs or NLRs (R genes). Many of the diseases these genes protect against are more prevalent in regions of higher rainfall, which provide better growth conditions for the pathogens. As such, we expect a higher selective pressure for the maintenance and proliferation of R genes in plants adapted to wetter conditions.

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Screening mammography reduces breast cancer mortality, but studies analyzing interval cancers diagnosed after negative screens have shown that many cancers are missed. Supplemental screening using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can reduce the number of missed cancers. However, as qualified MRI staff are lacking, the equipment is expensive to purchase and cost-effectiveness for screening may not be convincing, the utilization of MRI is currently limited.

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This paper critiques the restrictive criteria for germline genome editing recently proposed by Chin, Nguma, and Ahmad in this journal. While praising the authors for resisting fervent calls for an outright ban on clinical applications of the technology, this paper argues that their approach is nevertheless unduly restrictive, and may thus hinder technological progress. This response advocates for weighing potential benefits against risks without succumbing to excessive caution, proposing that ethical oversight combined with genetic scrutiny at the embryo stage post-editing can enable responsible use of the technology, ultimately reducing the burden of genetic diseases and enhancing human health, akin to how IVF transformed reproductive medicine despite strong initial opposition.

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Autoimmunity, allergy, and transplant rejection are a collection of chronic diseases that are currently incurable, drastically decrease patient quality of life, and consume considerable health care resources. Underlying each of these diseases is a dysregulated immune system that results in the mounting of an inflammatory response against self or an innocuous antigen. As a consequence, afflicted patients are required to adhere to lifelong regimens of multiple immunomodulatory drugs to control disease and reclaim agency.

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Background:  Studies have shown that documentation burden experienced by clinicians may lead to less direct patient care, increased errors, and job dissatisfaction. Implementing effective strategies within health care systems to mitigate documentation burden can result in improved clinician satisfaction and more time spent with patients. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding evidence-based interventions to reduce documentation burden.

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Transcriptomics is a powerful tool for unraveling the molecular effects of genetic variants and disease diagnosis. Prior studies have demonstrated that choice of genome build impacts variant interpretation and diagnostic yield for genomic analyses. To identify the extent genome build also impacts transcriptomics analyses, we studied the effect of the hg19, hg38, and CHM13 genome builds on expression quantification and outlier detection in 386 rare disease and familial control samples from both the Undiagnosed Diseases Network and Genomics Research to Elucidate the Genetics of Rare Disease Consortium.

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We combined synchrotron-based infrared absorbance and Raman scattering spectroscopies with diamond anvil cell techniques and a symmetry analysis to explore the properties of multiferroic (NH)FeCl·HO under extreme pressure-temperature conditions. Compression-induced splitting of the Fe-Cl stretching, Cl-Fe-Cl and Cl-Fe-O bending, and NH librational modes defines two structural phase transitions, and a group-subgroup analysis reveals space group sequences that vary depending upon proximity to the unexpectedly wide order-disorder transition. We bring these findings together with prior high-field work to develop the pressure-temperature-magnetic field phase diagram uncovering competing polar, chiral, and magnetic phases in this system.

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Multicomponent oxides are intriguing materials in heterogeneous catalysis, and the interface between various components often plays an essential role in oxidations. However, the underlying principles of how the hetero-interface affects the catalytic process remain largely unexplored. Here we report a unique structure design of MnCoO catalysts by chemical reduction, specifically for ethane oxidation.

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Recently, there has been growing interest in the concept of political anxiety. One important question that remains unanswered is whether political anxiety is just a symptom of general anxiety-that those reporting anxiety tied to politics are the same individuals who would already score highly on measures of general anxiety. Using survey data collected in 2023 ( = 436), we find that measures of political and generalized anxiety do not appear to be tapping into a single underlying construct.

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The synthesis of a new bis-BF tetrafluorobenzo-[α]-fused BOPYPY dye from 4,5,6,7-tetrafluoroisoindole and 2-hydrazinopyrazine is reported. The regioselectivity of nucleophilic substitution reactions at the periphery of the tetrafluorinated BOPYPY and its α-bromo derivative were investigated using N-, O-, S-, and C-based nucleophiles. Among the aromatic fluorine atoms, the F atom is consistently regioselectively substituted, except when the α-position contains a thiophenol group; in this case, F is substituted instead due to stabilizing π-π-stacking between the two aromatic groups.

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Regular exercise has many physical and brain health benefits, yet the molecular mechanisms mediating exercise effects across tissues remain poorly understood. Here we analyzed 400 high-quality DNA methylation, ATAC-seq, and RNA-seq datasets from eight tissues from control and endurance exercise-trained (EET) rats. Integration of baseline datasets mapped the gene location dependence of epigenetic control features and identified differing regulatory landscapes in each tissue.

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Nosocomial infections are relatively common in the NICU. These infections increase morbidity and mortality, particularly in the smallest and most fragile infants. The impact of these infections on long-term outcomes and health-care costs is devastating.

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