Comparing transcervical balloon with osmotic dilators for cervical preparation prior to procedural abortion: A noninferiority randomized trial.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare cervical preparation with transcervical balloon to osmotic dilators for second-trimester procedural abortions.

Study Design: We performed an unblinded, randomized, noninferiority trial of people undergoing second-trimester procedural abortion at 18 + 0 to 23 + 6 weeks' gestation. We randomized participants to either overnight osmotic dilators (Dilapan-S) or transcervical balloon (Foley).

Implications and Optimization of Domain Structures in IV-VI High-Entropy Thermoelectric Materials.

High-entropy semiconductors are now an important class of materials widely investigated for thermoelectric applications. Understanding the impact of chemical and structural heterogeneity on transport properties in these compositionally complex systems is essential for thermoelectric design. In this work, we uncover the polar domain structures in the high-entropy PbGeSnSeTe system and assess their impact on thermoelectric properties.

Nanotube Structure of AsPSSe ( = 0, 1).

Single-wall nanotubes of isostructural AsPSSe ( = 0, 1) are grown from solid-state reaction of stoichiometric amounts of the elements. The structure of AsPS was determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and refined in space group . The infinite, single-walled AsPS nanotubes have an outer diameter of ≈1.

Can phone surveys be representative in low- and middle-income countries? An application to Myanmar.

For decades, in-person data collection has been the standard modality for nationally and sub-nationally representative socio-economic survey data in low- and middle-income countries. As the COVID-19 pandemic rendered in-person surveys impossible and unethical, the urgent need for rapid monitoring necessitated researchers and statistical agencies to turn to phone surveys. However, apart from pandemic-related factors, a variety of other reasons can render large segments of a population inaccessible for in-person surveys, including political instability, climatic shocks, and remoteness.