Feedback exercises boost discernment of misinformation for gamified inoculation interventions.

Gamification is a promising approach to reducing misinformation susceptibility. Previous research has found that "inoculation" games such as Bad News and Harmony Square help build cognitive resistance against misinformation. However, recent research has offered two important nuances: a potentially inadvertent impact of such games on people's evaluation of non-misinformation ("real news") and exponential decay over time if no memory-strengthening exercise is provided.

Meta-analysis and public policy: Reconciling the evidence on deworming.

The WHO recommends mass drug administration (MDA) for intestinal worm infections in areas with over 20% infection prevalence. Recent Cochrane meta-analyses endorse treatment of infected individuals but recommend against MDA. We conducted a theory-agnostic random-effects meta-analysis of the effect of multiple-dose MDA and a cost-effectiveness analysis.

Toolbox of individual-level interventions against online misinformation.

The spread of misinformation through media and social networks threatens many aspects of society, including public health and the state of democracies. One approach to mitigating the effect of misinformation focuses on individual-level interventions, equipping policymakers and the public with essential tools to curb the spread and influence of falsehoods. Here we introduce a toolbox of individual-level interventions for reducing harm from online misinformation.

The Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST): A psychometrically validated measure of news veracity discernment.

Interest in the psychology of misinformation has exploded in recent years. Despite ample research, to date there is no validated framework to measure misinformation susceptibility. Therefore, we introduce Verification done, a nuanced interpretation schema and assessment tool that simultaneously considers Veracity discernment, and its distinct, measurable abilities (real/fake news detection), and biases (distrust/naïvité-negative/positive judgment bias).

Let the algorithm speak: How to use neural networks for automatic item generation in psychological scale development.

Measurement is at the heart of scientific research. As many-perhaps most-psychological constructs cannot be directly observed, there is a steady demand for reliable self-report scales to assess latent constructs. However, scale development is a tedious process that requires researchers to produce good items in large quantities.

Development of an Injection Molding Process for Long Glass Fiber-Reinforced Phenolic Resins.

Glass fiber-reinforced phenolic resins are well suited to substitute aluminum die-cast materials. They meet the high thermomechanical and chemical demands that are typically found in combustion engine and electric drive train applications. An injection molding process development for further improving their mechanical properties by increasing the glass fiber length in the molded part was conducted.

UMGAP: the Unipept MetaGenomics Analysis Pipeline.

Background: Shotgun metagenomics yields ever richer and larger data volumes on the complex communities living in diverse environments. Extracting deep insights from the raw reads heavily depends on the availability of fast, accurate and user-friendly biodiversity analysis tools.

Results: Because environmental samples may contain strains and species that are not covered in reference databases and because protein sequences are more conserved than the genes encoding them, we explore the alternative route of taxonomic profiling based on protein coding regions translated from the shotgun metagenomics reads, instead of directly processing the DNA reads.

How Can Psychological Science Help Counter the Spread of Fake News?

In recent years, interest in the psychology of fake news has rapidly increased. We outline the various interventions within psychological science aimed at countering the spread of fake news and misinformation online, focusing primarily on corrective (debunking) and pre-emptive (prebunking) approaches. We also offer a research agenda of open questions within the field of psychological science that relate to how and why fake news spreads and how best to counter it: the longevity of intervention effectiveness; the role of sources and source credibility; whether the sharing of fake news is best explained by the motivated cognition or the inattention accounts; and the complexities of developing psychometrically validated instruments to measure how interventions affect susceptibility to fake news at the individual level.

Disentangling Item and Testing Effects in Inoculation Research on Online Misinformation: Solomon Revisited.

Online misinformation is a pervasive global problem. In response, psychologists have recently explored the theory of psychological inoculation: If people are preemptively exposed to a weakened version of a misinformation technique, they can build up cognitive resistance. This study addresses two unanswered methodological questions about a widely adopted online "fake news" inoculation game, .

Long-term effectiveness of inoculation against misinformation: Three longitudinal experiments.

This study investigates the long-term effectiveness of active psychological inoculation as a means to build resistance against misinformation. Using 3 longitudinal experiments (2 preregistered), we tested the effectiveness of Bad News, a real-world intervention in which participants develop resistance against misinformation through exposure to weakened doses of misinformation techniques. In 3 experiments ( = 151, = 194, = 170), participants played either Bad News (inoculation group) or Tetris (gamified control group) and rated the reliability of news headlines that either used a misinformation technique or not.

Demand for Information on Environmental Health Risk, Mode of Delivery, and Behavioral Change: Evidence from Sonargaon, Bangladesh.

Millions of villagers in Bangladesh are exposed to arsenic by drinking contaminated water from private wells. Testing for arsenic can encourage switching from unsafe wells to safer sources. This study describes results from a cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in 112 villages in Bangladesh to evaluate the effectiveness of different test selling schemes at inducing switching from unsafe wells.

In vitro mammalian cell mutation assays based on transgenic reporters: A report of the International Workshop on Genotoxicity Testing (IWGT).

Chemical safety evaluations require assessment of genetic toxicity. Transgenic rodent (TGR) assays permit enumeration of mutations in chromosomally-integrated targets contained in shuttle vectors. In order to improve in vitro mutagenicity assessment, and to substantially reduce animal use, in vitro assays using transgenic reporters have been developed.

Performance of the in vitro transgene mutation assay in MutaMouse FE1 cells: Evaluation of nine misleading ("False") positive chemicals.

The screening of chemicals for the protection of human health and the environment requires the assessment of genetic toxicity. However, existing, internationally-accepted in vitro mammalian genotoxicity tests have been criticized for their low specificity (i.e.

Mutagenicity of smoke condensates from Canadian cigarettes with different design features.

There is currently limited knowledge regarding the impact of different cigarette designs on the toxicological properties of cigarette smoke condensate (CSC). This study used the Salmonella Mutagenicity Assay to examine the mutagenic activity of mainstream CSCs from 11 commercial Canadian cigarette brands with different design features or tobacco blend. The brands were selected to include design features that are common for cigarettes sold in the Canadian market, as well as cigarettes with alternate filters (charcoal or MicroBlue™), the super slim design, and cigarettes containing mixed blends of different tobacco types.

A global toxicogenomic analysis investigating the mechanistic differences between tobacco and marijuana smoke condensates in vitro.

Like tobacco smoking, habitual marijuana smoking causes numerous adverse pulmonary effects. However, the mechanisms of action involved, especially as compared to tobacco smoke, are still unclear. To uncover putative modes of action, this study employed a toxicogenomics approach to compare the toxicological pathways perturbed following exposure to marijuana and tobacco smoke condensate in vitro.

Genetic toxicology and toxicogenomic analysis of three cigarette smoke condensates in vitro reveals few differences among full-flavor, blonde, and light products.

Cigarette smoking leads to various detrimental health outcomes. Tobacco companies produce different brands of cigarettes that are marketed as reduced harm tobacco products. Early examples included "light" cigarettes, which differ from regular cigarettes due to filter ventilation and/or differences in chemical constituents.

INNO-LiPA HBV genotyping is highly consistent with direct sequencing and sensitive in detecting B/C mixed genotype infection in Chinese chronic hepatitis B patients and asymptomatic HBV carriers.

Background: Different HBV genotypes have effect on the progression and outcome of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and on the response to antiviral therapy. Accurate and sensitive genotyping methods are needed in clinical practice.

Methods: In this multicenter retrospective study, 504 HBV DNA positive serum or plasma samples of CHB patients or asymptomatic carriers were genotyped by INNO-LiPA HBV genotyping and direct sequencing.

The genotoxicity of mainstream and sidestream marijuana and tobacco smoke condensates.

While the prevalence of tobacco use has decreased in Canada over the past decade, that of marijuana use has increased, particularly among youth. However, the risks of adverse health effects from marijuana smoke exposure, specifically as compared to tobacco, are currently not well understood. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relative ability of matched marijuana and tobacco condensates to induce (geno)toxic responses in three in vitro test systems.

Mutagenic and carcinogenic hazards of settled house dust. II: Salmonella mutagenicity.

Settled house dust (SHD) is a complex mixture that contains numerous chemical contaminants. Very little is known about the hazards of SHD as compared to other complex matrices such as air and soil. In this study, the mutagenic hazards associated with the extracts of sieved dust from 52 homes were examined using the Salmonella Mutagenicity Test.

Mutagenic and carcinogenic hazards of settled house dust. I: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon content and excess lifetime cancer risk from preschool exposure.

Settled house dust (SHD) may be a significant source of children's indoor exposure to hazardous substances including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In this study, organic extracts of sieved vacuum cleaner dust from 51 homes were examined for the presence of 13 PAHs via GC/MS. PAHs were found in all samples with levels of total PAHs ranging between 1.

A comparison of mainstream and sidestream marijuana and tobacco cigarette smoke produced under two machine smoking conditions.

The chemical composition of tobacco smoke has been extensively examined, and the presence of known and suspected carcinogens in such smoke has contributed to the link between tobacco smoking and adverse health effects. The consumption of marijuana through smoking remains a reality and, among youth, seems to be increasing. There have been only limited examinations of marijuana smoke, including for cannabinoid content and for tar generation.

The mutagenic hazards of settled house dust: a review.

Given the large proportion of time people spend indoors, the potential health risks posed by chemical contaminants in the indoor environment are of concern. Research suggests that settled house dust (SHD) may be a significant source for indoor exposure to hazardous substances including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Here, we summarize the literature on the mutagenic hazards of SHD and the presence of PAHs in dust.

Characterization of a new HLA-B39 allele, B*3913, in a Brazilian Caucasian.

A panel of samples, previously typed by serology, was retyped using a line probe assay. One sample from a Brazilian Caucasian individual was serologically typed as B52/B39, but showed an aberrant HLA-B pattern on the diagnostic strip and was typed as B*52012/B*39new. Further analysis by allele-specific amplification and subsequent sequencing of exons 2 and 3 revealed a G(B*3908)-to-T nucleotide substitution at position 467 (codon 156) resulting in an Arg (B*3908)-to-Leu substitution.