Balancing mitigation strategies for viral outbreaks.

Control and prevention strategies are indispensable tools for managing the spread of infectious diseases. This paper examined biological models for the post-vaccination stage of a viral outbreak that integrate two important mitigation tools: social distancing, aimed at reducing the disease transmission rate, and vaccination, which boosts the immune system. Five different scenarios of epidemic progression were considered: (ⅰ) the "no control" scenario, reflecting the natural evolution of a disease without any safety measures in place, (ⅱ) the "reconstructed" scenario, representing real-world data and interventions, (ⅲ) the "social distancing control" scenario covering a broad set of behavioral changes, (ⅳ) the "vaccine control" scenario demonstrating the impact of vaccination on epidemic spread, and (ⅴ) the "both controls concurrently" scenario incorporating social distancing and vaccine controls simultaneously.

Introducing the Next Era in Assessment.

In this introduction, the guest editors of the "Next Era in Assessment" special collection frame the invited papers by envisioning a next era in assessment of medical education, based on ideas developed during a summit that convened professional and educational leaders and scholars. The authors posit that the next era of assessment will focus unambiguously on serving patients and the health of society, reflect its sociocultural context, and support learners' longitudinal growth and development. As such, assessment will be characterized as transformational, development-oriented and socially accountable.

Comparative Analysis of Protist Communities in Oilsands Tailings Using Amplicon Sequencing and Metagenomics.

The Canadian province of Alberta contains substantial oilsands reservoirs, consisting of bitumen, clay and sand. Extracting oil involves separating bitumen from inorganic particles using hot water and chemical diluents, resulting in liquid tailings waste with ecotoxicologically significant compounds. Ongoing efforts aim to reclaim tailings-affected areas, with protist colonisation serving as one assessment method of reclamation progress.

Quantitative Analysis of Pseudogene-Associated Errors During Germline Variant Calling.

A pseudogene is a non-functional copy of a protein-coding gene. Processed pseudogenes, which are created by the reverse transcription of mRNA and subsequent integration of the resulting cDNA into the genome, being a major pseudogene class, represent a significant challenge in genome analysis due to their high sequence similarity to the parent genes and their frequent absence in the reference genome. This homology can lead to errors in variant identification, as sequences derived from processed pseudogenes can be incorrectly assigned to parental genes, complicating correct variant calling.

The Valence of Abstraction: A Paradox Revisited.

While abstraction is one of the best studied topics in psychology, there is little consensus on its relationship to valence and affect. Some studies have found that abstraction is associated with greater positivity, while other studies have led to the opposite conclusion. In this paper we suggest that a substantial part of this inconsistency can be attributed to the polysemy of the term abstraction.