National Research Foundation

To understand how lung pathology relates to symptoms, microbiology, and progression risk in tuberculosis and to advance diagnostic development, we determined the frequency at screening of tuberculosis-consistent lesions in asymptomatic individuals within 5 years of tuberculosis diagnosis using highly sensitive imaging ([18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose PET-CT) and compared with chest x-ray computer-aided detection (CAD). We enrolled a prospective longitudinal cohort in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa, of asymptomatic, HIV-uninfected contacts aged 18-65 years of patients with rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis, a tuberculosis high-risk group not eligible for chemoprophylaxis. Participants underwent baseline PET-CT, chest x-ray, phlebotomy, and intensive sputum collection, and were classified into four PET-CT lung categories: consistent with tuberculosis, inactive tuberculosis, other lesions, and normal. Chest x-ray was processed by three types of CAD software (CAD4TB [version 7.0], qXR [version 3.0.0], and Lunit [version 3.1.4.111]). Follow-up included symptom-agnostic tuberculosis screening (23-38 months) and provincial register review (≤74 months), and a subgroup had repeat PET-CT (5-15 months). Tuberculosis was defined as bacteriologically confirmed or clinically diagnosed. The primary outcome measures were hazard ratio (HR) for tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment by baseline PET-CT lung abnormality category with normal as the reference group, and diagnostic performance of chest x-ray CAD software using area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC). 250 asymptomatic adults were enrolled between March 3, 2015, and Oct 11, 2017, irrespective of tuberculosis history or previous infection, and followed up for 1107 person-years (median 4·7 years [IQR 4·0-5·1]). 18 (7%) participants were treated for tuberculosis (16 [89%] of 18 bacteriologically confirmed). Six of 18 participants were diagnosed at baseline (four requiring induced sputum culture) and 12 of 18 after a median of 32 months (IQR 12-35). By baseline PET-CT category, tuberculosis was diagnosed and treated in 12 (41%) of 29 participants with scans consistent with tuberculosis, two (7%) of 30 with scans consistent with inactive tuberculosis, two (2%) of 83 with scans showing other lesions, and two (2%) of 108 with scans showing normal lungs. Participants with baseline PET-CT scans consistent with tuberculosis had the highest risk of 5-year tuberculosis diagnosis (HR 28·54 [95% CI 6·37-127·81] compared with those with scans showing normal lungs, p<0·0001), with no significant risk for scans consistent with inactive tuberculosis (3·55 [0·50-25·21], p=0·21) or other lung lesions (1·30 [0·18-9·23], p=0·79). 11 (69%) of the 16 participants with bacteriologically confirmed tuberculosis were asymptomatic at bacteriological confirmation, and ten (91%) of 11 had baseline PET-CT scans consistent with tuberculosis. Using baseline PET-CT classification as reference, the AUC for chest x-ray CAD software ranged from 0·86 (95% CI 0·72-0·99) to 0·89 (0·75-1·00) for bacteriologically confirmed tuberculosis. Most adult asymptomatic contacts diagnosed with tuberculosis over 5 years had baseline radiographically evident disease, not radiographically negative incipient tuberculosis. Although PET-CT is not feasible for routine screening, it provides a highly sensitive reference benchmark for diagnostic development, with chest x-ray CAD performing comparatively well. South Africa Medical Research Council, US National Institutes of Health, Gates Foundation, Wellcome, UK Research and Innovation Medical Research Council, and Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

Women are particularly underrepresented as leading authors of papers in journals of the highest impact factor, with substantial consequences for their careers. While a large body of research has focused on the outcome and the process of peer review, fewer articles have explicitly focused on gendered submission behavior and the explanations for these differences. In our study of nearly 5000 active authors, we find that women are less likely to report having submitted papers to journals of the highest impact (e.g., Science, Nature, or PNAS) and to submit fewer manuscripts, on average, than men when they do submit. Women were more likely to indicate that they did not submit their papers (in general and their subsequently most cited papers) to high-impact journals because they were advised not to. In the aggregate, no statistically significant difference was observed between men and women in how they rated the quality of their work. Nevertheless, regardless of discipline, women were more likely than men to indicate that their 'work was not ground-breaking or sufficiently novel' as a rationale for not submitting to one of the listed prestigious journals. Men were more likely than women to indicate that the 'work would fit better in a more specialized journal'. We discuss the implications of these findings and interventions that can serve to mitigate the disparities caused by gendered differences in submission behavior.

Air pollution, particularly fine particulate matter (PM2.5), poses significant public health and environmental risks. This study explores the effectiveness of spatiotemporal graph neural networks (ST-GNNs) in forecasting PM2.5 concentrations by integrating remote-sensing hyperspectral indices with traditional meteorological and pollutant data. The model was evaluated using data from Switzerland and the Gauteng province in South Africa, with datasets spanning from January 2016 to December 2021. Key performance metrics, including root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), probability of detection (POD), critical success index (CSI), and false alarm rate (FAR), were employed to assess model accuracy. For Switzerland, the integration of spectral indices improved RMSE from 1.4660 to 1.4591, MAE from 1.1147 to 1.1053, CSI from 0.8345 to 0.8387, POD from 0.8961 to 0.8972, and reduced FAR from 0.0760 to 0.0719. In Gauteng, RMSE decreased from 6.3486 to 6.2319, MAE from 4.4891 to 4.4066, CSI from 0.9555 to 0.9560, and POD from 0.9699 to 0.9732, while FAR slightly increased from 0.0154 to 0.0181. Error analysis revealed that while the initial one-day ahead forecast without spectral indices had a marginally lower error, the dataset with spectral indices outperformed from the two-day ahead mark onwards. The error for Swiss monitoring stations stabilized over longer prediction lengths, indicating the robustness of the spectral indices for extended forecasts. The study faced limitations, including the exclusion of the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) height and K-index, lack of terrain data for South Africa, and significant missing data in remote sensing indices. Despite these challenges, the results demonstrate that ST-GNNs, enhanced with hyperspectral data, provide a more accurate and reliable tool for PM2.5 forecasting. Future work will focus on expanding the dataset to include additional regions and further refining the model by incorporating additional environmental variables. This approach holds promise for improving air quality management and mitigating health risks associated with air pollution.

ملخص يتجاوز التحليل التقاطعي النظر في المتغيرات الفردية، ليدرس التأثير التراكمي للتقاطع بين عوامل متعددة، مثل الجنس والعرق، أو الموقع الجغرافي والطبقة الاجتماعية. وتساعد المبادئ التوجيهية للتحليل التقاطعي في العلوم والتكنولوجيا ) GIST ( الباحثين ومحرري المجلات والوكالات الممولة على دمج التحليل التقاطعي بشكل منهجي في المجالات ذات الصلة بالعلوم والتكنولوجيا. تعمل هذه المبادئ التوجيهية كخريطة طريق للتحليل التقاطعي الكمي طوال عملية البحث من تحديد أولويات البحث الاستراتيجية وصياغة أسئلة البحث إلى جمع البيانات وتحليلها وتفسيرها. و نقدم هنا قائمة مرجعية لتسهيل امتثال المؤلفين ومحرري المجلات للمبادئ التوجيهية، كما نوصي بإضافة قائمة مراجعة GIST إلى "إرشادات للمؤلفين" في المجلات. والهدف هو إعادة تعيين الإعدادات الافتراضية للبحث؛ لتشمل التحليل التقاطعي، حيثما كان ذلك مناسبًا. إذ يؤدي التحليل التقاطعي إلى تحسين العلوم. فالدقة في البحث هي أفضل دليل لسياسات اجتماعية وبيئية فعالة، والتي بدورها تعزز العدالة والاستدامة العالمية.

Introduction Intercropping has emerged as a promising strategy to enhance crop performance and resilience under conditions of abiotic stress. Medicago sativa and Hordeum marinum constitute a potentially complementary forage system for semi-arid regions, yet their integrated physiological and metabolic responses to combined water and nutrient limitations remain poorly characterized. This study evaluated whether intercropping could improve productivity, nutrient acquisition, and biochemical stress adaptation under drought and reduced fertilization. Methods A controlled greenhouse experiment was conducted to compare monocropping and intercropping systems of M. sativa and H. marinum under drought (40% field capacity) and three fertilization regimes (0%, 50%, and 100% of nutrient demand). Plants were harvested at three successive growth stages. Biomass production, mineral ion profiles (Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Cl⁻, NO₃⁻), and metabolite signatures: including carbohydrates, organic acids, and amino acids, were quantified to assess stress responses and resource-use efficiency. Results Biomass production was significantly influenced by cultivation system, fertilization level, and their interaction, with intercropping consistently enhancing productivity across all harvests. Ion profiling revealed distinct nutrient redistribution in intercropped plants, particularly in H. marinum , which accumulated higher Cl⁻ and NO₃⁻ in leaves and greater Ca²⁺ and Na⁺ in roots. Metabolomic analyses showed that intercropping under nutrient deficiency promoted the accumulation of stress-mitigating metabolites, including raffinose, fructose, sucrose, citric acid, succinic acid, oxalic acid, proline, GABA, and glutamine, reflecting improved osmotic regulation and energy metabolism. Discussion The integrative physiological and biochemical adjustments induced by intercropping resulted in enhanced nutrient uptake, stronger osmotic balance, and more efficient metabolic functioning under stress. These synergistic responses explain the superior biomass performance and resilience of both species under drought and low fertilization. Intercropping M. sativa with H. marinum thus represents a robust, low-input strategy for sustainable forage production in semi-arid environments.

The proposed Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC), with a center-of-mass energy of <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:msqrt> <a:mi>s</a:mi> </a:msqrt> <a:mo>≈</a:mo> <a:mn>1.3</a:mn> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mi>TeV</a:mi> </a:math> , provides a clean and sensitive environment to probe the top quark’s neutral current interactions with the <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:mi>Z</c:mi> </c:math> boson via <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <e:msup> <e:mi>e</e:mi> <e:mo>−</e:mo> </e:msup> <e:mi>p</e:mi> <e:mo stretchy="false">→</e:mo> <e:msup> <e:mi>e</e:mi> <e:mo>−</e:mo> </e:msup> <e:mi>t</e:mi> <e:mover accent="true"> <e:mi>t</e:mi> <e:mo stretchy="false">¯</e:mo> </e:mover> </e:math> . We investigate the precision with which the Standard Model (SM) <j:math xmlns:j="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <j:mi>t</j:mi> <j:mover accent="true"> <j:mi>t</j:mi> <j:mo stretchy="false">¯</j:mo> </j:mover> <j:mi>Z</j:mi> </j:math> couplings—the vector and axial-vector components ( <n:math xmlns:n="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <n:mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</n:mi> <n:msub> <n:mi>C</n:mi> <n:mrow> <n:mn>1</n:mn> <n:mi>V</n:mi> </n:mrow> </n:msub> <n:mo>,</n:mo> <n:mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</n:mi> <n:msub> <n:mi>C</n:mi> <n:mrow> <n:mn>1</n:mn> <n:mi>A</n:mi> </n:mrow> </n:msub> </n:math> ) can be measured, along with possible new physics effects parametrized by higher-dimensional operators inducing weak electric and magnetic dipolelike interactions ( <r:math xmlns:r="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <r:msub> <r:mi>C</r:mi> <r:mrow> <r:mn>2</r:mn> <r:mi>V</r:mi> </r:mrow> </r:msub> <r:mo>,</r:mo> <r:msub> <r:mi>C</r:mi> <r:mrow> <r:mn>2</r:mn> <r:mi>A</r:mi> </r:mrow> </r:msub> </r:math> ). Focusing on the semileptonic decay channel, where either the top quark decays leptonically to a positively charged lepton ( <t:math xmlns:t="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <t:msup> <t:mo>ℓ</t:mo> <t:mo>+</t:mo> </t:msup> <t:mo>=</t:mo> <t:msup> <t:mi>e</t:mi> <t:mo>+</t:mo> </t:msup> <t:mo>,</t:mo> <t:msup> <t:mi>μ</t:mi> <t:mo>+</t:mo> </t:msup> </t:math> ) and the antitop hadronically, or vice versa, we utilize the azimuthal angle difference <v:math xmlns:v="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <v:mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</v:mi> <v:msub> <v:mi>ϕ</v:mi> <v:mrow> <v:msup> <v:mi>e</v:mi> <v:mo>−</v:mo> </v:msup> <v:msup> <v:mo>ℓ</v:mo> <v:mo>±</v:mo> </v:msup> </v:mrow> </v:msub> </v:math> between the scattered electron and the charged lepton <y:math xmlns:y="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <y:msup> <y:mo>ℓ</y:mo> <y:mo>±</y:mo> </y:msup> </y:math> as the key observable to derive projected constraints. Using a one-parameter multibin <ab:math xmlns:ab="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <ab:msup> <ab:mi>χ</ab:mi> <ab:mn>2</ab:mn> </ab:msup> </ab:math> analysis of the differential <cb:math xmlns:cb="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <cb:mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</cb:mi> <cb:msub> <cb:mi>ϕ</cb:mi> <cb:mrow> <cb:msup> <cb:mi>e</cb:mi> <cb:mo>−</cb:mo> </cb:msup> <cb:msup> <cb:mo>ℓ</cb:mo> <cb:mo>±</cb:mo> </cb:msup> </cb:mrow> </cb:msub> </cb:math> distribution, the constraints on <fb:math xmlns:fb="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <fb:mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</fb:mi> <fb:msub> <fb:mi>C</fb:mi> <fb:mrow> <fb:mn>1</fb:mn> <fb:mi>A</fb:mi> </fb:mrow> </fb:msub> </fb:math> improve from <ib:math xmlns:ib="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <ib:mi mathvariant="script">O</ib:mi> <ib:mo stretchy="false">(</ib:mo> <ib:msup> <ib:mn>10</ib:mn> <ib:mrow> <ib:mo>−</ib:mo> <ib:mn>1</ib:mn> </ib:mrow> </ib:msup> <ib:mo stretchy="false">)</ib:mo> </ib:math> at <nb:math xmlns:nb="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <nb:mn>50</nb:mn> <nb:mtext> </nb:mtext> <nb:mtext> </nb:mtext> <nb:msup> <nb:mi>fb</nb:mi> <nb:mrow> <nb:mo>−</nb:mo> <nb:mn>1</nb:mn> </nb:mrow> </nb:msup> </nb:math> to <pb:math xmlns:pb="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <pb:mi mathvariant="script">O</pb:mi> <pb:mo stretchy="false">(</pb:mo> <pb:msup> <pb:mn>10</pb:mn> <pb:mrow> <pb:mo>−</pb:mo> <pb:mn>2</pb:mn> </pb:mrow> </pb:msup> <pb:mo stretchy="false">)</pb:mo> </pb:math> at <ub:math xmlns:ub="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <ub:mn>1000</ub:mn> <ub:mtext> </ub:mtext> <ub:mtext> </ub:mtext> <ub:msup> <ub:mi>fb</ub:mi> <ub:mrow> <ub:mo>−</ub:mo> <ub:mn>1</ub:mn> </ub:mrow> </ub:msup> </ub:math> , while the improvement for <wb:math xmlns:wb="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <wb:mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</wb:mi> <wb:msub> <wb:mi>C</wb:mi> <wb:mrow> <wb:mn>1</wb:mn> <wb:mi>V</wb:mi> </wb:mrow> </wb:msub> </wb:math> remains within the same order of magnitude,