Dynamic treeline and cryosphere response to pronounced mid-Holocene climatic variability in the US Rocky Mountains.

Climate-driven changes in high-elevation forest distribution and reductions in snow and ice cover have major implications for ecosystems and global water security. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the Rocky Mountains (United States), recent melting of a high-elevation (3,091 m asl) ice patch exposed a mature stand of whitebark pine () trees, located ~180 m in elevation above modern treeline, that date to the mid-Holocene (c. 5,950 to 5,440 cal y BP).

The 1831 CE mystery eruption identified as Zavaritskii caldera, Simushir Island (Kurils).

Polar ice cores and historical records evidence a large-magnitude volcanic eruption in 1831 CE. This event was estimated to have injected ~13 Tg of sulfur (S) into the stratosphere which produced various atmospheric optical phenomena and led to Northern Hemisphere climate cooling of ~1 °C. The source of this volcanic event remains enigmatic, though one hypothesis has linked it to a modest phreatomagmatic eruption of Ferdinandea in the Strait of Sicily, which may have emitted additional S through magma-crust interactions with evaporite rocks.

Pan-European atmospheric lead pollution, enhanced blood lead levels, and cognitive decline from Roman-era mining and smelting.

Ancient texts and archaeological evidence indicate substantial lead exposure during antiquity that potentially impacted human health. Although lead exposure routes were many and included the use of glazed tablewares, paints, cosmetics, and even intentional ingestion, the most significant for the nonelite, rural majority of the population may have been through background air pollution from mining and smelting of silver and lead ores that underpinned the Roman economy. Here, we determined potential health effects of this air pollution using Arctic ice core measurements of Roman-era lead pollution, atmospheric modeling, and modern epidemiology-based relationships between air concentrations, blood lead levels (BLLs), and cognitive decline.

An evaluation of a checklist in musculoskeletal radiographic image interpretation when using artificial intelligence.

Introduction: Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used increasingly in image interpretation tasks. Human reliance on technology and bias can cause decision errors. A checklist, used with the AI to mitigate against such biases, may optimise the use of AI technologies and promote good decision hygiene.

Riociguat in pulmonary arterial hypertension: Application of the 4-strata COMPERA 2.0 risk assessment tool in the PATENT studies.

Background: Risk stratification is an essential part of evaluating disease severity in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This study applied the 4-strata COMPERA 2.0 risk model to the Phase 3 PATENT-1/2 studies of riociguat.

A retrospective multi-site examination of chronic kidney disease using longitudinal laboratory results and metadata to identify clinical and financial risk.

Background: A retrospective observational study was conducted at 3 health care organizations to identify clinical gaps in care for patients with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease (CKD), and financial opportunity from U.S. risk adjustment payment systems.

Borates . aluminates: comparing the anion for lithium-ion batteries.

Lithium borate and aluminate salts bearing a hexafluoroisopropoxy ligand have been prepared and investigated for use in lithium-ion batteries and Cu‖Li cells. Lithium aluminate salts have poorer air tolerance but Li[Al(hfip)] resulted in superior battery cycling, with lower overpotentials for plating and stripping in Cu‖Li cells.

Radiographer Education and Learning in Artificial Intelligence (REAL-AI): A survey of radiographers, radiologists, and students' knowledge of and attitude to education on AI.

Introduction: In Autumn 2023, amendments to the Health and Care Professions Councils (HCPC) Standards of Proficiency for Radiographers were introduced requiring clinicians to demonstrate awareness of the principles of AI and deep learning technology, and its application to practice' (HCPC 2023; standard 12.25). With the rapid deployment of AI in departments, staff must be prepared to implement and utilise AI.

Calibration of Arctic ice core bromine enrichment records for past sea ice reconstructions.

Bromine in ice cores has been proposed as a qualitative sea ice proxy to produce sea ice reconstructions for the polar regions. Here we report the first statistical validation of this proxy with satellite sea ice observations by combining bromine enrichment (with respect to seawater, Br) records from three Greenlandic ice cores (SIGMA-A, NU and RECAP) with satellite sea ice imagery, over three decades. We find that during the 1984-2016 satellite-era, ice core Br values are significantly correlated with first-year sea ice formed in the Baffin Bay and Labrador Sea supporting that the gas-phase bromine enrichment processes, preferentially occurring over the sea ice surface, are the main driver for the Br signal in ice cores.

Phasing and climate forcing potential of the Millennium Eruption of Mt. Baekdu.

The Millennium Eruption of Mt. Baekdu, one of the largest volcanic eruptions in the Common Era, initiated in late 946. It remains uncertain whether its two main compositional phases, rhyolite and trachyte, were expelled in a single eruption or in two.

Microlens Hollow-Core Fiber Probes for Operando Raman Spectroscopy.

We introduce a flexible microscale all-fiber-optic Raman probe which can be embedded into devices to enable operando in situ spectroscopy. The facile-constructed probe is composed of a nested antiresonant nodeless hollow-core fiber combined with an integrated high refractive index barium titanate microlens. Pump laser 785 nm excitation and near-infrared collection are independently characterized, demonstrating an excitation spot of full-width-half-maximum 1.

Reporting radiographers' interaction with Artificial Intelligence-How do different forms of AI feedback impact trust and decision switching?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been increasingly integrated into healthcare settings, including the radiology department to aid radiographic image interpretation, including reporting by radiographers. Trust has been cited as a barrier to effective clinical implementation of AI. Appropriating trust will be important in the future with AI to ensure the ethical use of these systems for the benefit of the patient, clinician and health services.

Impact of a digital training platform and tailored education on the chest image interpretation performance of healthcare professionals.

Introduction: With the use of expert consensus a digital training tool was developed which proved useful when teaching radiographers how to interpret chest images. The training tool included A) a search strategy and B) an educational video programme to communicate the search strategies using eye tracking technology.

Methods: A multi-reader multi-case study was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of a training tool and study day.

Improved biomass burning emissions from 1750 to 2010 using ice core records and inverse modeling.

Estimating fire emissions prior to the satellite era is challenging because observations are limited, leading to large uncertainties in the calculated aerosol climate forcing following the preindustrial era. This challenge further limits the ability of climate models to accurately project future climate change. Here, we reconstruct a gridded dataset of global biomass burning emissions from 1750 to 2010 using inverse analysis that leveraged a global array of 31 ice core records of black carbon deposition fluxes, two different historical emission inventories as a priori estimates, and emission-deposition sensitivities simulated by the atmospheric chemical transport model GEOS-Chem.

The Impact of Experience Versus Decision Aids on Patient Preference Toward Virtual Care.

Introduction: Virtual care utilization has increased in recent years bringing questions of how to best inform patients regarding their use. Decision aids (DAs) are tools created to assist patients in making informed decisions about their health care. This study seeks to determine whether a DA or previous experience could better educate and influence patient's preference on virtual care.

A scoping review of educational programmes on artificial intelligence (AI) available to medical imaging staff.

Introduction: Medical imaging is arguably the most technologically advanced field in healthcare, encompassing a range of technologies which continually evolve as computing power and human knowledge expand. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next frontier which medical imaging is pioneering. The rapid development and implementation of AI has the potential to revolutionise healthcare, however, to do so, staff must be competent and confident in its application, hence AI readiness is an important precursor to AI adoption.

An experimental machine learning study investigating the decision-making process of students and qualified radiographers when interpreting radiographic images.

AI is becoming more prevalent in healthcare and is predicted to be further integrated into workflows to ease the pressure on an already stretched service. The National Health Service in the UK has prioritised AI and Digital health as part of its Long-Term Plan. Few studies have examined the human interaction with such systems in healthcare, despite reports of biases being present with the use of AI in other technologically advanced fields, such as finance and aviation.

Hospitalization-related costs associated with oral agents targeting the prostacyclin pathway for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Aims: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare, progressive, and ultimately fatal form of the broader condition pulmonary hypertension. ESC/ERS guidelines recommend therapy targeting the prostacyclin pathway for patients not achieving low-risk mortality status. Currently, only oral selexipag (OS) and oral treprostinil (OT) have this mechanism of action and are available in the United States (US).

Do Orthopaedic Virtual Clinic Visits Demonstrate Cost and Time Efficiencies Compared With In-person Visits?

Background: There are numerous reasons for the increased use of telemedicine in orthopaedic surgery, one of which is the perception that virtual visits are more cost-effective than in-person visits. However, to our knowledge, no studies have compared the cost and time investment of virtual versus in-person visits using the time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) method. Unlike methods that estimate cost based on charges for services rendered, TDABC provides a more precise measurement of costs, which is essential for assessing cost-effective innovations and moving to value-based healthcare.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on chronic disease management and patient reported outcomes in patients with pulmonary hypertension: The Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry.

To better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the care of patients with pulmonary hypertension, we conducted a retrospective cohort study evaluating health insurance status, healthcare access, disease severity, and patient reported outcomes in this population. Using the Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry (PHAR), we defined and extracted a longitudinal cohort of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients from the PHAR's inception in 2015 until March 2022. We used generalized estimating equations to model the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient outcomes, adjusting for demographic confounders.

Divalent siRNAs are bioavailable in the lung and efficiently block SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The continuous evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants complicates efforts to combat the ongoing pandemic, underscoring the need for a dynamic platform for the rapid development of pan-viral variant therapeutics. Oligonucleotide therapeutics are enhancing the treatment of numerous diseases with unprecedented potency, duration of effect, and safety. Through the systematic screening of hundreds of oligonucleotide sequences, we identified fully chemically stabilized siRNAs and ASOs that target regions of the SARS-CoV-2 genome conserved in all variants of concern, including delta and omicron.