Use of the 'double diamond' design framework to nurture creativity in life sciences research.

Designers' work processes are shaped by a four-phase 'discover, define, develop, and deliver' model that alternates between divergent and convergent thinking. We suggest consideration of this conceptual scaffold in 'design sprint' workshops for graduate students in the life sciences and in design to promote creativity, interdisciplinary collaboration, and knowledge cocreation.

Overcoming gender bias in STEM.

Despite prevalent diversity and inclusion programs in STEM, gender biases and stereotypes persist across educational and professional settings. Recognizing this enduring bias is crucial for achieving transformative change on gender equity and can help orient policy toward more effective strategies to address ongoing disparities.

Promoting sustainable smallholder farming via multistakeholder collaboration.

Transforming smallholder farms is critical to global food security and environmental sustainability. The science and technology backyard (STB) platform has proved to be a viable approach in China. However, STB has traditionally focused on empowering smallholder farmers by transferring knowledge, and wide-scale adoption of more sustainable practices and technologies remains a challenge. Here, we report on a long-term project focused on technology scale-up for smallholder farmers by expanding and upgrading the original STB platform (STB 2.0). We created a formalized and standardized process by which to engage and collaborate with farmers, including integrating their feedback via equal dialogues in the process of designing and promoting technologies. Based on 288 site-year of field trials in three regions in the North China Plain over 5 y, we find that technologies cocreated through this process were more easily accepted by farmers and increased their crop yields and nitrogen factor productivity by 7.2% and 28.1% in wheat production and by 11.4% and 27.0% in maize production, respectively. In promoting these technologies more broadly, we created a "one-stop" multistakeholder program involving local government agencies, enterprises, universities, and farmers. The program was shown to be much more effective than the traditional extension methods applied at the STB, yielding substantial environmental and economic benefits. Our study contributes an important case study for technology scale-up for smallholder agriculture. The STB 2.0 platform being explored emphasizes equal dialogue with farmers, multistakeholder collaboration, and long-term investment. These lessons may provide value for the global smallholder research and practitioners.

A global initiative on addressing bioinformatics' grand challenges.

The Bioinformatics Grand Challenges Consortium (BGCC) is a collaborative effort to address the most pressing challenges in bioinformatics. Initially focusing on education and training, the consortium successfully defined seven key grand challenges and is actively developing actionable solutions for these challenges. Building on this foundation, the BGCC plans to broaden its focus to include additional grand challenges in emerging areas.

Public perceptions of international genetic information sharing for biomedical research in China: a case study of the social media debate on the article "A Pangenome Reference of 36 Chinese Populations" published in Nature.

BACKGROUND: The international disclosure of Chinese human genetic data continues to be a contentious issue in China, generating public debates in both traditional and social media channels. Concerns have intensified after Chinese scientists' research on pangenome data was published in the prestigious journal Nature. METHODS: This study scrutinized microblogs posted on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media site, in the two months immediately following the publication (June 14, 2023-August 21, 2023). Content analysis was conducted to assess the nature of public responses, justifications for positive or negative attitudes, and the users' overall knowledge of how Chinese human genetic information is regulated and managed in China. RESULTS: Weibo users displayed contrasting attitudes towards the article's public disclose of pangenome research data, with 18% positive, 64% negative, and 18% neutral. Positive attitudes came primarily from verified government and media accounts, which praised the publication. In contrast, negative attitudes originated from individual users who were concerned about national security and health risks and often believed that the researchers have betrayed China. The benefits of data sharing highlighted in the commentaries included advancements in disease research and scientific progress. Approximately 16% of the microblogs indicated that Weibo users had misunderstood existing regulations and laws governing data sharing and stewardship. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the predominantly negative public attitudes toward scientific data sharing established by our study, we recommend enhanced outreach by scientists and scientific institutions to increase the public understanding of developments in genetic research, international data sharing, and associated regulations. Additionally, governmental agencies can alleviate public fears and concerns by being more transparent about their security reviews of international collaborative research involving Chinese human genetic data and its cross-border transfer.

The power of junior faculty mentoring committees.

Junior faculty mentoring committees have important roles in ensuring that faculty thrive and adjust to their new positions and institutions. Here, we describe the purpose, structure, and benefits of junior faculty mentoring committees, which can be a powerful tool for early-career academic investigators in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) fields. There is a paucity of information about what mentoring committees are, how to use them effectively, what areas they should evaluate, and how they can most successfully help junior faculty progress in their careers. This work offers guidance for both junior faculty mentees and mentoring committee members on how to best structure and utilize mentoring committees to promote junior faculty success. A better understanding of the intricacies of the mentoring committee will allow junior faculty members to self-advocate and will equip committee mentors with tools to ensure that junior faculty are successful in thriving in academia.

Trends in mortality in people with HIV from 1999 to 2020: a multi-cohort collaboration.

BACKGROUND: Mortality among people with HIV declined with the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy. We investigated trends over time in all-cause and cause-specific mortality in people with HIV from 1999-2020. METHODS: Data were collected from the D:A:D cohort from 1999 through January 2015 and RESPOND from October 2017 through 2020. Age-standardized all-cause and cause-specific mortality rates, classified using Coding Causes of Death in HIV (CoDe), were calculated. Poisson regression models were used to assess mortality trends over time. RESULTS: Among 55716 participants followed for a median of 6 years (IQR 3-11), 5263 participants died (crude mortality rate [MR] 13.7/1000 PYFU; 95%CI 13.4-14.1). Changing patterns of mortality were observed with AIDS as the most common cause of death between 1999- 2009 (n = 952, MR 4.2/1000 PYFU; 95%CI 4.0-4.5) and non-AIDS defining malignancy (NADM) from 2010 -2020 (n = 444, MR 2.8/1000 PYFU; 95%CI 2.5-3.1). In multivariable analysis, all-cause mortality declined over time (adjusted mortality rate ratio [aMRR] 0.97 per year; 95%CI 0.96, 0.98), mostly from 1999 through 2010 (aMRR 0.96 per year; 95%CI 0.95-0.97), and with no decline shown from 2011 through 2020 (aMRR 1·00 per year; 95%CI 0·96-1·05). Mortality due all known causes except NADM also declined over the entire follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Mortality among people with HIV in the D:A:D and/or RESPOND cohorts decreased between 1999 and 2009 and was stable over the period from 2010 through 2020. The decline in mortality rates was not fully explained by improvements in immunologic-virologic status or other risk factors.

Breaking down silos: The Gastroenterology Immunology Neuroscience (GIN) Discovery Program - a new model for research.

The Gastroenterology Immunology Neuroscience (GIN) Discovery Program represents a new model for research that overcomes the limitations imposed by traditional "research silos" in science. By uniting these three fields, the GIN Program aims to enhance the understanding and treatment of chronic conditions through a system-wide perspective focusing on the gut-immune-brain axis. Key initiatives include monthly interdisciplinary seminars, an annual symposium, and GINnovate, a commercialization and entrepreneurship event. Additionally, the program offers a seed grant competition for early and mid-career researchers, promoting advancements in gut-immune-brain axis research through the power of collaboration. The GIN Program in a short period of time has facilitated the formation of a vibrant community, captivating attention from both national and international institutions. This effort to break down barriers in research aims to inspire similar models that prioritize open communication, mutual respect and a commitment to impactful science.

Evidence for socially influenced and potentially actively coordinated cooperation by bumblebees.

Cooperation is common in animals, yet the specific mechanisms driving collaborative behaviour in different species remain unclear. We investigated the proximate mechanisms underlying the cooperative behaviour of bumblebees in two different tasks, where bees had to simultaneously push a block in an arena or a door at the end of a tunnel for access to reward. In both tasks, when their partner's entry into the arena/tunnel was delayed, bees took longer to first push the block/door compared with control bees that learned to push alone. In the tunnel task, just before gaining access to reward, bees were more likely to face towards their partner than expected by chance or compared with controls. These results show that bumblebees' cooperative behaviour is not simply a by-product of individual efforts but is socially influenced. We discuss how bees' turning behaviours, e.g. turning around before first reaching the door when their partner was delayed and turning back towards the door in response to seeing their partner heading towards the door, suggest the potential for active coordination. However, because these behaviours could also be interpreted as combined responses to social and secondary reinforcement cues, future studies are needed to help clarify whether bumblebees truly use active coordination.

On the Efficacy of Accuracy Prompts Across Partisan Lines: An Adversarial Collaboration.

The spread of misinformation is a pressing societal challenge. Prior work shows that shifting attention to accuracy increases the quality of people's news-sharing decisions. However, researchers disagree on whether accuracy-prompt interventions work for U.S. Republicans/conservatives and whether partisanship moderates the effect. In this preregistered adversarial collaboration, we tested this question using a multiverse meta-analysis (k = 21; N = 27,828). In all 70 models, accuracy prompts improved sharing discernment among Republicans/conservatives. We observed significant partisan moderation for single-headline "evaluation" treatments (a critical test for one research team) such that the effect was stronger among Democrats than Republicans. However, this moderation was not consistently robust across different operationalizations of ideology/partisanship, exclusion criteria, or treatment type. Overall, we observed significant partisan moderation in 50% of specifications (all of which were considered critical for the other team). We discuss the conditions under which moderation is observed and offer interpretations.

The Evolving Roles and Expectations of Inpatient Palliative Care Through COVID-19: a Systematic Review and Meta-synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Palliative care performed a central role in responding to the systemic suffering incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, few studies have elucidated the inpatient palliative care specialists' experiences and perceptions. OBJECTIVE: Systematically review and synthesize the evolving roles and expectations of inpatient palliative care specialists in response to COVID-19. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-synthesis informed by Thomas and Harden's framework and Pozzar et al.'s approach was conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PubMed were systematically searched for articles published between December 2019 and March 2023. We included all peer-reviewed qualitative and mixed-method literature studying the roles and expectations of inpatient palliative care specialists. A mixed-method appraisal tool was used for quality assessment. RESULTS: Of 3869 unique articles, 52 were included. Studies represented North American (n = 23), European (n = 16), South American (n = 4), Oceanic (n = 2), Asian (n = 2), West African (n = 1), Middle Eastern (n = 1), and inter-continental settings (n = 3). Most were reported in English (n = 50), conducted in 2020 (n = 28), and focused on the perspectives of inpatient palliative care clinicians (n = 28). Three descriptive themes captured the roles and expectations of inpatient palliative care specialists: shifting foundations, reorienting to relationships, and evolving identity. Two analytical themes were synthesized: palliative care propagates compassion through a healing presence, and palliative care enhances the systemic response to suffering through nimble leadership. CONCLUSION: Inpatient palliative care specialists responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by establishing their healing presence and leading with their adaptability. To develop institutionally tailored and collaborative responses to future pandemics, future studies are needed to understand how inpatient palliative care clinicians are recognized and valued within their institutions.

The societal impact of individual placement and support implementation on employment outcomes for young adults receiving temporary health-related welfare benefits: a difference-in-differences study.

BACKGROUND: Individual placement and support (IPS) is an evidence-based practice that helps individuals with mental illness gain and retain employment. IPS was implemented for young adults at a municipality level through a cross-sectoral collaboration between specialist mental healthcare, primary mental healthcare, and the government funded employment service (NAV). We investigated whether IPS implementation had a causal effect on employment outcomes for all young adults in receipt of a temporary health-related rehabilitation (work assessment allowance, WAA) welfare benefit, measured at the societal level compared to municipalities that did not implement IPS. METHOD: We used a difference in differences design to estimate the effects of IPS implementation on the outcome of workdays per year using longitudinal registry data. We estimate the average effect of being exposed to IPS implementation during four-years of implementation compared to ten control municipalities without IPS for all WAA recipients. RESULTS: We found a significant, positive, causal effect on societal level employment outcomes of 5.6 (p = 0.001, 95% CI 2.7-8.4) increased workdays per year per individual, equivalent to 12.7 years of increased work in the municipality where IPS was implemented compared to municipalities without IPS. Three years after initial exposure to IPS implementation individuals worked, on average, 10.5 more days per year equating to 23.8 years of increased work. CONCLUSIONS: Implementing IPS as a cross sectoral collaboration at a municipality level has a significant, positive, causal, societal impact on employment outcomes for all young adults in receipt of a temporary health-related rehabilitation welfare benefit.

Chemistry in Ukraine.

In this special issue, we highlight recent advances in chemical research by scientists in Ukraine, as well as by their compatriots and collaborators outside the country. Besides spotlighting their contributions, we see our task in fostering global partnerships and multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary collaborations, including much-needed co-funded projects and initiatives. The three decades of the renewed Ukraine independence have seen rather limited integration of Ukrainian (chemical) science into global research communities.[1] At the same time, the recent surge of collaborative science initiatives between European Union (EU) and Ukraine echoes the unfolding steps towards Ukraine's full research participation to the Horizon Europe Program. This recently implemented step opens enormous possibilities for Ukrainian researchers to apply for diverse EU research grants. Moreover, a number of journal special issues and collections were launched to highlight Ukrainian chemistry (i. e., by Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds[2] and ChemistrySelect[3] ). Other scientific initiatives include 'European Chemistry School for Ukrainians'[4] and 'Kharkiv Chemical Seminar'[5] as voluntary projects aimed at engaging Ukrainian scientists into European and international chemical research.

Recognising the importance and impact of Imaging Scientists: Global guidelines for establishing career paths within core facilities.

In the dynamic landscape of scientific research, imaging core facilities are vital hubs propelling collaboration and innovation at the technology development and dissemination frontier. Here, we present a collaborative effort led by Global BioImaging (GBI), introducing international recommendations geared towards elevating the careers of Imaging Scientists in core facilities. Despite the critical role of Imaging Scientists in modern research ecosystems, challenges persist in recognising their value, aligning performance metrics and providing avenues for career progression and job security. The challenges encompass a mismatch between classic academic career paths and service-oriented roles, resulting in a lack of understanding regarding the value and impact of Imaging Scientists and core facilities and how to evaluate them properly. They further include challenges around sustainability, dedicated training opportunities and the recruitment and retention of talent. Structured across these interrelated sections, the recommendations within this publication aim to propose globally applicable solutions to navigate these challenges. These recommendations apply equally to colleagues working in other core facilities and research institutions through which access to technologies is facilitated and supported. This publication emphasises the pivotal role of Imaging Scientists in advancing research programs and presents a blueprint for fostering their career progression within institutions all around the world.

Malaria elimination and the need for intensive inter-country cooperation. a critical evaluation of regional technical co-operation in Southern Africa.

BACKGROUND: Malaria elimination requires closely co-ordinated action between neighbouring countries. In Southern Africa several countries have reduced malaria to low levels, but the goal of elimination has eluded them thus far. The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Malaria Elimination Eight (E8) initiative was established in 2009 between Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to coordinate malaria interventions aiming to eliminate malaria by 2030. Cross-border coordination is important in malaria elimination settings as it strengthens surveillance, joint planning and implementation, knowledge exchange and optimal use of resources. This paper describes how this collaboration is realized in practice, its achievements and challenges, and its significance for malaria elimination prospects. METHODS: The ministers of health of the E8 countries oversee an intergovernmental technical committee supported by specialist working groups consisting of technical personnel from member countries and partner institutions. These technical working groups are responsible for malaria elimination initiatives in key focus areas such as surveillance, vector control, diagnosis, case management, behaviour change and applied research. The technical working groups have initiated and guided several collaborative projects which lay essential groundwork for malaria elimination. RESULTS: The E8 collaboration has yielded achievements in the following key areas. (1) Establishment and evaluation of malaria border health posts to improve malaria services in border areas and reduce malaria among resident and, mobile and migrant populations. (2) The development of a regional malaria microscopy slide bank providing materials for diagnostic training and proficiency testing. (3) A facility for regional external competency assessment and training of malaria microscopy trainers in collaboration with the World Health Organization. (4) Entomology fellowships that improved capacity in entomological surveillance; an indoor residual spraying (IRS) training of trainers' scheme to enhance the quality of this core intervention in the region. (5) Capacity development for regional malaria parasite genomic surveillance. (6) A mechanism for early detection of malaria outbreak through near real time reporting and a quarterly bulletins of malaria incidence in border districts. CONCLUSIONS: The E8 technical working groups system embodies inter-country collaboration of malaria control and elimination activities. It facilitates sustained interaction between countries through a regional approach. The groundwork for elimination has been laid, but the challenge will be to maintain funding for collaboration at this level whilst reducing reliance on international donors and to build capacities necessary to prepare for malaria elimination.

Optimizing competence in the service of collaboration.

In order to efficiently divide labor with others, it is important to understand what our collaborators can do (i.e., their competence). However, competence is not static-people get better at particular jobs the more often they perform them. This plasticity of competence creates a challenge for collaboration: For example, is it better to assign tasks to whoever is most competent now, or to the person who can be trained most efficiently "on-the-job"? We conducted four experiments (N=396) that examine how people make decisions about whom to train (Experiments 1 and 3) and whom to recruit (Experiments 2 and 4) to a collaborative task, based on the simulated collaborators' starting expertise, the training opportunities available, and the goal of the task. We found that participants' decisions were best captured by a planning model that attempts to maximize the returns from collaboration while minimizing the costs of hiring and training individual collaborators. This planning model outperformed alternative models that based these decisions on the agents' current competence, or on how much agents stood to improve in a single training step, without considering whether this training would enable agents to succeed at the task in the long run. Our findings suggest that people do not recruit and train collaborators based solely on their current competence, nor solely on the opportunities for their collaborators to improve. Instead, people use an intuitive theory of competence to balance the costs of hiring and training others against the benefits to the collaboration.

Transplant nephropathology: Wherefrom, wherein, and whereto.

Renal pathology is a relatively recent entry in nephrology. While diseases of the kidney are old, their study began in the 19th century with the report of Richard Bright of the lesions of end-stage kidney disease. Its easy diagnosis from albuminuria soon elevated Bright's nephritis into a leading cause of death. The transformative events in the care of these cases were renal replacement therapy that converted a fatal into a chronic disease, and kidney biopsy that allowed study of the course and pathogenesis of kidney disease. Apart from its fundamental contributions to clinical nephrology, biopsy of renal allografts became an integral component of the evaluation and care of kidney transplant recipients. The Banff transplant pathology conferences launched in 1991 led to developing the classification of allograft pathology into an essential element in the evaluation, treatment, and care of allograft recipients with spirit of discovery. That success came at the cost of increasing complexity leading to the recent realization that it may need the refinement of its consensus-based system into a more evidence-based system with graded statements that are easily accessible to the other disciplines involved in the care of transplanted patients. Collaboration with other medical disciplines, allowing public comment on meeting reports, and incorporation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) are important elements of a successful future. The increased pace of innovation brought about by AI will likely allow us to solve the organ shortage soon and require new classifications for xenotransplantation pathology, tissue engineering pathology, and bioartificial organ pathology.

Health professionals involved in diabetic foot and their tasks in a country without podiatrists: From a Japanese Nationwide Survey.

Although there are no podiatrists in 85% of countries worldwide, how diabetic foot is managed in those countries is still unknown. We sought to identify the health professionals involved in diabetic foot and their tasks in Japan, where no podiatrists exist. This cross-sectional study used the Japanese Nationwide Survey on Foot Ulcer Management dataset, consisting of 249 medical doctors and 680 allied health professionals. The types of health professionals involved in the diabetic foot were identified, and the tasks performed by each professional were compared within subgroups (medical doctors and allied health professionals). We found that the primary medical doctors involved in diabetic foot care in Japan were plastic surgeons (33.5%), dermatologists (21%), cardiovascular/vascular surgeons (15.2%), and cardiologists (12.1%). Nurses were the main allied health professionals (80%), and the rest consisted of prosthetists/orthotists (7.6%), physical/occupational therapists (5.9%), and clinical engineering technologists (3.6%). Medical doctors performed tasks related to their specialties significantly more than others (p < 0.001); however, they also engaged in tasks outside of their specialty, such as plastic surgeons performing preventive foot care (72%). Among allied health professionals, clinical engineering technologists performed more vascular assessments (p < 0.001), and half were engaged in wound management, preventive foot care, and self-foot care education. In conclusion, the type and proportion of health professionals in our study differed from those in countries with podiatrists, and many performed tasks outside their specialties. This is the first nationwide cross-sectional study of diabetic foot care in a country without podiatrists and is unique in examining multiple specialists/professionals in one study.

Measuring leaf and root functional traits uncovers multidimensionality of plant responses to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

PREMISE: While many studies have measured the aboveground responses of plants to mycorrhizal fungi at a single time point, little is known about how plants respond belowground or across time to mycorrhizal symbiosis. By measuring belowground responses and growth over time in many plant species, we create a more complete picture of how mycorrhizal fungi benefit their hosts. METHODS: We grew 26 prairie plant species with and without mycorrhizal fungi and measured 14 functional traits to assess above- and belowground tissue quality and quantity responses and changes in resource allocation. We used function-valued trait (FVT) modeling to characterize changes in species growth rate when colonized. RESULTS: While aboveground biomass responses were positive, the response of traits belowground were much more variable. Changes in aboveground biomass accounted for 60.8% of the variation in mycorrhizal responses, supporting the use of aboveground biomass response as the primary response trait. Responses belowground were not associated with aboveground responses and accounted for 18.3% of the variation. Growth responses over time were highly variable across species. Interestingly, none of the measured responses were phylogenetically conserved. CONCLUSIONS: Mycorrhizal fungi increase plant growth in most scenarios, but the effects of these fungi belowground and across time are more complicated. This study highlights how differences in plant allocation priorities might affect how they utilize the benefits from mycorrhizal fungi. Identifying and characterizing these differences is a key step to understanding the effects of mycorrhizal mutualisms on whole plant physiology.

When "more for others, less for self" leads to co-benefits: A tri-MRI dyad-hyperscanning study.

Unselfishness is admired, especially when collaborations between groups of various scales are urgently needed. However, its neural mechanisms remain elusive. In a tri-MRI dyad-hyperscanning experiment involving 26 groups, each containing 4 participants as two rotating pairs in a coordination game, we sought to achieve reciprocity, or "winning in turn by the two interacting players," as the precursor to unselfishness. Due to its critical role in social processing, the right temporal-parietal junction (rTPJ) was the seed for both time domain (connectivity) and frequency domain (i.e., coherence) analyses. For the former, negative connectivity between the rTPJ and the mentalizing network areas (e.g., the right inferior parietal lobule, rIPL) was identified, and such connectivity was further negatively correlated with the individual's final gain, supporting our task design that "rewarded" the reciprocal participants. For the latter, cerebral coherences of the rTPJs emerged between the interacting pairs (i.e., within-group interacting pairs), and the coupling between the rTPJ and the right superior temporal gyrus (rSTG) between the players who were not interacting with each other (i.e., within-group noninteracting pairs). These coherences reinforce the hypotheses that the rTPJ-rTPJ coupling tracks the collaboration processes and the rTPJ-rSTG coupling for the emergence of decontextualized shared meaning. Our results underpin two social roles (inferring others' behavior and interpreting social outcomes) subserved by the rTPJ-related network and highlight its interaction with other-self/other-concerning brain areas in reaching co-benefits among unselfish players.