Newest Papers
Contrastive independent component analysis for salient patterns and dimensionality reduction
Kexin Wang, Aida Maraj, Anna Seigal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences·2025
<jats:p>In recent years, there has been growing interest in jointly analyzing a foreground dataset, representing an experimental group, and a background dataset, representing a control group. The goal of such contrastive investigations is to identify salient features in the experimental group relative to the control. Independent component analysis (ICA) is a powerful tool for learning independent patterns in a dataset. We generalize it to contrastive ICA (cICA). For this purpose, we devise a linear algebra–based tensor decomposition algorithm, which is more expressive but just as efficient and identifiable as other linear algebra–based algorithms. We establish the identifiability of cICA and demonstrate its performance in finding patterns and visualizing data, using synthetic, semisynthetic, and real-world datasets, comparing the approach to existing methods.</jats:p>
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View paper →Sexual Choking at University Students’ Most Recent Sexual Event: Consent, Wantedness, and Choking-Related Symptoms
Debby Herbenick, Tsung-chieh Fu, Ivanka Simić Stanojević, Owen Miller, Callie Patterson Perry, Heather Eastman-Mueller, Keisuke Kawata, Kristen Jozkowski
Sexuality Research and Social Policy·2025
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
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<jats:title>Introduction</jats:title>
<jats:p>Sexual choking is a form of neck compression that has become prevalent among young adults in the United States and internationally. We aimed to examine sexual choking in relation to event-level consent and consent cues, wantedness, safe words, safe gestures, and bodily responses to being choked.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Method</jats:title>
<jats:p>The analytic sample was comprised of 3780 randomly sampled students (1839 women, 1858 men, 84 transgender and gender nonbinary students) who completed a cross-sectional, confidential online survey in 2021 at a large public U.S. Midwestern university.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>We found that 18.3% of participants had been choked by a partner and 16.0% had choked a partner at their most recent sexual event. Most participants (92.7%) reported that being choked had been consensual and 69.0% had wanted to be choked “very much”; however, 50.2% of participants had not agreed upon safe words or gestures before initiating sex. More than one-third (38.1%) of those who had been choked reported using body language with no verbal communication to indicate consent. We also found that 7.2% of those choked at their most recent event reported alterations in consciousness.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>Sexual choking is prevalent and consequential to health. Although it is usually described as consensual, many students rely on nonverbal consent cues.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Social-Policy Implications</jats:title>
<jats:p>Findings have important implications for sexuality education and violence prevention programming on college campuses as well as in communities. Also, healthcare providers should consider providing anticipatory guidance about choking to adolescents and young adults, given the health risks associated with being “choked” during sex.</jats:p>
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View paper →Causal modelling of gene effects from regulators to programs to traits
Mineto Ota, Jeffrey P. Spence, Tony Zeng, Emma Dann, Nikhil Milind, Alexander Marson, Jonathan K. Pritchard
Nature·2025
No abstract available
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View paper →A blueprint for formalizing the regularity of cographic matroids in Lean4
Cameron Rampell
GitHub·2025
No abstract available
★ 5.0 (1)
View paper →Quantifying national responsibilities for climate change impacts
Fei Teng, Tianpeng Wang, Xunzhang Pan, Yann Robiou du Pont, Xiliang Zhang
2025
<title>Abstract</title>
<p>The extent to which damage caused by climate change can be attributed to a particular country or group of countries has become a central debate in climate justice. Thus far, historical emission levels have been used to discern responsibilities for climate change. However, this metric fails to attribute specific climate change damages to the responsible countries, and does not establish a causal link to the scale and distribution of impacts in space and time. To overcome this shortcoming, we quantify the marginal costs each country bears due to the emissions from all other countries. We do so through a country-to-country mapping transparently linking historical emission levels to estimates of costs incurred from climate change impacts, thereby establishing a quantitative basis of direct political relevance. For each country, we derive the net costs as the difference between costs incurred to other countries through its emissions, and those endured as a result of other countries’ emissions. We find that a group of high emitting countries incur net costs to other countries of US$43.7 trillion, increasing by roughly US$500 billion annually. The full implementation of current mitigation pledges would do little to reverse this trend, as costs accumulate over time, long after greenhouse gases are emitted. These findings highlight that the premise behind the current international climate finance framework—which is based on voluntary contributions—is profoundly unjust. We provide quantitative estimates that help underpin a more just framework.</p>
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View paper →Sterilization and contraception increase lifespan across vertebrates
Michael Garratt, Malgorzata Lagisz, Johanna Staerk, Christine Neyt, Michael B. Stout, José V. V. Isola, Veronica B. Cowl, Nannette Driver-Ruiz, Ashley D. Franklin, Monica M. McDonald, David M. Powell, Susan L. Walker, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Dalia A. Conde, Jean-François Lemaître, Fernando Colchero, Shinichi Nakagawa
Nature·2025
No abstract available
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View paper →US sanctions Colombians involved in Sudan war but fails to mention UAE link
Middle East Eye·2025
Individuals and entities recruiting Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside RSF and train soldiers - including children - sanctioned by Treasury
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View paper →Heritage guardians: The ongoing quest to save Sudan’s history – Ayin network – شبكة عاين
Tom
3ayin.com·2025
In mid-November, Sudanese social media accounts decried yet another loss rarely documented by the media – a priceless Nubian artefact was allegedly stolen and sold on an e-commerce platform. The illicit sale of a granite statue of King Aspelta, a powerful Nubian ruler of the ancient Kush Kingdom, sparked widespread condemnation on Twitter accounts.
Blue Shield International, an organisation that seeks to protect cultural heritage sites, along with the Ayin investigation team, managed to defuse this painful rumour, confirming that the online listing was false. The object shown was, in fact, a well-known museum piece: the granite statue of King Aspelta, excavated from the Great Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal and dated to 600–580 BC. The statue remains safely housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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View paper →Historical change and spatial relation of cultural memory in Guangzhou from the perspective of heritage representation
Zhenjie Liao, Huiqian Yang
Scientific Reports·2025
Cultural memory fundamentally shapes urban collective identity, , yet it is seldom quantified at fine spatial scales. This study proposes the Heritage–Memory Symbiosis Loop (HMSL) as an analytical framework to examine Guangzhou, a historic trading hub in China with 446 state-listed heritage units. Each heritage unit is systematically classified within a “two representations–six memory-space” matrix, and a Cultural Memory Index (CMI) is computed and visualized as a spatialfield-energy surface. Subsequently, Kernel-density estimation, Moran’s I, and LISA analyses illuminate memory hotspots centered around the Yuexiu–Liwan core, while revealing the attenuation of spirituality-based memories in fringe districts undergoing gentrification. Field-energy gradients underpin the delineation of three protection zones: high-intensity “living museums” along dynastic trade routes, medium-intensity multipurpose belts, and low-intensity rural nodes. The CMI map constitutes the first point-level quantification of cultural memory for Guangzhou, elucidates the interplay between material and spiritual domains within the human–land system, and supplies a replicable methodology—including heritage inventory, memory zoning, and field-energy mapping— tailored for conservation strategies in rapidly urbanizing Asian cities.
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View paper →The Effect of Effortful Control and Intentional Self‐Regulation on Positive Mental Health in Adolescents: A Longitudinal Mediation Model
Mingyi Zhu, Hanmei Liu, Xi Wang, Jiantao Zhang, Xiaoyun Chai
Child: Care, Health and Development·2025
<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title>
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<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>Researchers and practitioners have long focused primarily on functional deficits or psychopathological symptoms in adolescent mental health. Few researchers have explored the positive dimensions of mental health and the associated antecedents. We aimed to examine the mechanisms by which two forms of self‐regulation (effortful control and intentional self‐regulation) jointly predicted positive mental health in adolescents through a longitudinal study.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
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This two‐wave longitudinal study, with a 6‐month interval between T1 and T2, surveyed 877 adolescents (
<jats:italic>M</jats:italic>
<jats:sub>age</jats:sub>
= 12.86 years, SD = 0.71 at T1; 48.12% boys) from two public middle schools in Hubei Province, China. Effortful control and intentional self‐regulation were measured at T1, and social connectedness and positive mental health at T2. Structural equation modelling with bootstrap analysis was employed to examine the direct and indirect effects of self‐regulation on positive mental health via social connectedness.
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<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>The baseline model demonstrated that both effortful control and intentional self‐regulation significantly predicted positive mental health. Subsequent mediation analysis indicated that social connectedness mediated these relationships, with significant indirect effects for both effortful control and intentional self‐regulation, accounting for 48.31% and 30.92% of the total effects, respectively. Notably, the direct effects of self‐regulation on positive mental health became nonsignificant after incorporating social connectedness into the model.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>The findings underscore the joint contributions of effortful control and intentional self‐regulation to adolescents' positive mental health, with social connectedness serving as a partial mediator. Interventions aimed at enhancing self‐regulation and strengthening social connections within key developmental contexts may effectively promote holistic mental health in adolescents.</jats:p>
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View paper →Electrophysiological classification of human layer 2–3 pyramidal neurons reveals subtype-specific synaptic interactions
Henrike Planert, Franz Xaver Mittermaier, Sabine Grosser, Pawel Fidzinski, Ulf Christoph Schneider, Helena Radbruch, Julia Onken, Martin Holtkamp, Dietmar Schmitz, Henrik Alle, Imre Vida, Jörg Rolf Paul Geiger, Yangfan Peng
Nature Neuroscience·2025
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>Understanding the functional principles of the human brain requires deep insight into its neuronal and network physiology. In superficial layers of temporal cortex, molecular and morphological subtypes of glutamatergic excitatory pyramidal neurons have been described, but subtyping based on electrophysiological parameters has not been performed. The extent to which pyramidal neuron subtypes contribute to the specialization of physiological interactions by forming synaptic subnetworks remains unclear. Here we performed whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of more than 1,400 layer 2–3 (L2–3) pyramidal neurons and 1,400 identified monosynaptic connections in acute slices of human temporal cortex. We extract principles of neuronal and synaptic physiology along with anatomy and functional synaptic connectivity. We also show robust classification of pyramidal neurons into four electrophysiological subtypes, corroborated by differences in morphology and decipher subtype-specific synaptic interactions. Principles of microcircuit organization are found to be conserved at the individual level. Such a fine network structure suggests that the functional diversity of pyramidal neurons translates into differential computations within the L2–3 microcircuit of the human cortex.</jats:p>
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View paper →Gene-drive-capable mosquitoes suppress patient-derived malaria in Tanzania
Tibebu Habtewold, Dickson Wilson Lwetoijera, Astrid Hoermann, Rajabu Mashauri, Fatuma Matwewe, Rehema Mwanga, Prisca Kweyamba, Gilbert Maganga, Beatrice Philip Magani, Rachel Mtama, Moze Ally Mahonje, Mgeni Mohamed Tambwe, Felista Tarimo, Pratima R. Chennuri, Julia A. Cai, Giuseppe Del Corsano, Paolo Capriotti, Peter Sasse, Jason Moore, Douglas Hudson, Alphaxard Manjurano, Brian Tarimo, Dina Vlachou, Sarah Moore, Nikolai Windbichler, George K. Christophides
Nature·2025
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
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Gene drive technology presents a transformative approach to combatting malaria by introducing genetic modifications into wild mosquito populations to reduce their vectorial capacity. Although effective modifications have been developed, these efforts have been confined to laboratories in the global north. We previously demonstrated that modifying
<jats:italic>Anopheles gambiae</jats:italic>
to express two exogenous antimicrobial peptides inhibits the sporogonic development of laboratory-cultured
<jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum</jats:italic>
, with models predicting substantial contributions to malaria elimination in Africa when integrated with gene drive
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. However, the effectiveness of this modification against genetically diverse, naturally circulating parasite isolates remained unknown. To address this critical gap, we adapted our technology for an African context by establishing infrastructural and research capacity in Tanzania, enabling the engineering of local
<jats:italic>A. gambiae</jats:italic>
under containment. Here we report the generation of a transgenic strain equipped with non-autonomous gene drive capabilities that robustly inhibits genetically diverse
<jats:italic>P. falciparum</jats:italic>
isolates obtained from naturally infected children. These genetic modifications were efficiently inherited by progeny when supplemented with Cas9 endonuclease provided by another locally engineered strain. Our work brings gene drive technology a critical step closer to application, providing a locally tailored and powerful tool for malaria eradication through the targeted dissemination of beneficial genetic traits in wild mosquito populations.
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