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\"National Geographic's Animal Jam, the online playground for kids to adopt and play with wildlife, is one of today's fastest-growing multiplayer games, with a millions of players worldwide! Now, Dynamite Entertainment is proud to welcome comic book fans of all ages to the fictional world of Jamaa, where zoological adventure awaits! In the graphic novel debut of Animal Jam, Clover Greenleaf, a cheery and curious rabbit, arrives in the colorful new habitat of Jamaa. During a celebration of her arrival, Clover accidentally stumbles across Graham the Monkey's scientific equipment ... and opens a portal to a fearsome new realm! Can the Alphas, the animal guardians of Jamaa, save the beleaguered bunny? And what other awesome adventures will Clover's creature friends embark on?\"--Back cover.

Towards 'super-Heisenberg' quantum metrology Quantum metrology uses entanglement and other quantum resources to improve precision measurement, resulting in sensitivity limited by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. But in theory, interactions among particles may allow scaling beyond this limit into 'super-Heisenberg' territory. Napolitano et al . prove experimentally that this can indeed occur in a nonlinear, non-destructive measurement of the magnetization of an atomic ensemble. The work shows that inter-particle interactions could be a useful resource for quantum metrology, although the relative performance of nonlinear versus linear measurements has yet to be explored more generally. Quantum metrology aims to use entanglement and other quantum resources to improve precision measurement, resulting in Heisenberg limited sensitivity. However, theory suggests that interactions among particles may allow scaling beyond this limit. This study proves experimentally that this can occur in a nonlinear, non-destructive measurement of the magnetization of an atomic ensemble. The work shows that interparticle interactions could be a useful resource for quantum metrology, although the relative performance of nonlinear versus linear measurements has yet to be explored more generally. Quantum metrology aims to use entanglement and other quantum resources to improve precision measurement 1 . An interferometer using N independent particles to measure a parameter can achieve at best the standard quantum limit of sensitivity, δ  ∝  N −1/2 . However, using N entangled particles and exotic states 2 , such an interferometer 3 can in principle achieve the Heisenberg limit, δ  ∝  N −1 . Recent theoretical work 4 , 5 , 6 has argued that interactions among particles may be a valuable resource for quantum metrology, allowing scaling beyond the Heisenberg limit. Specifically, a k -particle interaction will produce sensitivity δ  ∝  N − k with appropriate entangled states and δ  ∝  N −( k −1/2) even without entanglement 7 . Here we demonstrate ‘super-Heisenberg’ scaling of δ  ∝  N −3/2 in a nonlinear, non-destructive 8 , 9 measurement of the magnetization 10 , 11 of an atomic ensemble 12 . We use fast optical nonlinearities to generate a pairwise photon–photon interaction 13 (corresponding to k = 2) while preserving quantum-noise-limited performance 7 , 14 . We observe super-Heisenberg scaling over two orders of magnitude in N , limited at large numbers by higher-order nonlinear effects, in good agreement with theory 13 . For a measurement of limited duration, super-Heisenberg scaling allows the nonlinear measurement to overtake in sensitivity a comparable linear measurement with the same number of photons. In other situations, however, higher-order nonlinearities prevent this crossover from occurring, reflecting the subtle relationship between scaling and sensitivity in nonlinear systems. Our work shows that interparticle interactions can improve sensitivity in a quantum-limited measurement, and experimentally demonstrates a new resource for quantum metrology.

\"It's the meeting of the trinities, as the six aforementioned heroes must save DC's Dark Trinity--Red Hood, Artemis and Bizarro! As these three antiheroes are sacrificed into the depths of the Pandora Pits by Circe and Ra's al Ghul, will Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman be able to save their demonically possessed allies?\"-- Provided by publisher.

Higher viral loads in SARS-CoV-2 infections may be linked to more rapid spread of emerging variants of concern (VOC). Rapid detection and isolation of cases with highest viral loads, even in pre- or asymptomatic individuals, is essential for the mitigation of community outbreaks. In this study, we analyze Ct values from 1297 SARS-CoV-2 positive patient saliva samples collected at the Clemson University testing lab in upstate South Carolina. Samples were identified as positive using RT-qPCR, and clade information was determined via whole genome sequencing at nearby commercial labs. We also obtained patient-reported information on symptoms and exposures at the time of testing. The lowest Ct values were observed among those infected with Delta (median: 22.61, IQR: 16.72-28.51), followed by Alpha (23.93, 18.36-28.49), Gamma (24.74, 18.84-30.64), and the more historic clade 20G (25.21, 20.50-29.916). There was a statistically significant difference in Ct value between Delta and all other clades (all p.adj<0.01), as well as between Alpha and 20G (p.adj<0.05). Additionally, pre- or asymptomatic patients (n = 1093) showed the same statistical differences between Delta and all other clades (all p.adj<0.01); however, symptomatic patients (n = 167) did not show any significant differences between clades. Our weekly testing strategy ensures that cases are caught earlier in the infection cycle, often before symptoms are present, reducing this sample size in our population. COVID-19 variants Alpha and Delta have substantially higher viral loads in saliva compared to more historic clades. This trend is especially observed in individuals who are pre- or asymptomatic, which provides evidence supporting higher transmissibility and more rapid spread of emerging variants. Understanding the viral load of variants spreading within a community can inform public policy and clinical decision making.

Personality traits and social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills share the same behavioral referents, but whereas traits refer to a person’s typical or average performance, skills refer to their capacity or maximal performance. Given their shared behavioral foundations, an important question to address is whether personality traits and SEB skills independently predict important outcomes. In this study (N = 642), we examined whether subscales of the Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI), a measure of SEB skills, provided incremental validity in the prediction of the ACT composite score, an important academic outcome for American adolescents, over the Big Five personality traits. Consistent with our expectations, on average, SEB skills showed stronger associations with ACT achievement scores than personality traits. Moreover, SEB skills added incremental validity over and above personality traits in predicting ACT achievement scores. The findings reinforce the importance of conceptually distinguishing and measuring traits and skills.

The MITO-END3 trial compared carboplatin and paclitaxel (CP) with avelumab plus carboplatin and paclitaxel (CPA) as first-line treatment in endometrial cancer (EC) patients and demonstrated a significant interaction between avelumab response and mismatch repair status. To investigate prognostic/predictive biomarker, 29 MITO-END3-EC patients were evaluated at pretreatment (B1) and at the end of CP/CPA treatment (B2) for peripheral myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and Tregs. At B2, effector Tregs frequency was significantly higher in patients treated with CPA as compared to CP ( p  = 0.038). Both treatments (CP/CPA) induced significant decrease in peripheral M-MDSC (− 5.41%) in TCGA 2-MSI-high as compared to TCGA-category 4 tumors ( p  = 0.004). In accordance, both treatments induced M-MDSCs (+ 5.34%) in MSS patients as compared to MSI-high patients ( p  = 0.001). Moreover, in a subgroup of patients, primary tumors were highly infiltrated by M-MDSCs in MSS as compared to MSI-high ECs. A post hoc analysis displayed higher frequency of M-MDSCs ( p  = 0.020) and lower frequency of CD4+ ( p  < 0.005) at pretreatment in EC patients as compared to healthy donors. In conclusion, the peripheral evaluation of MDSCs and Tregs correlated with molecular features in EC treated with CP/CPA and may add insights in identifying EC patients responder to first-line chemo/chemo-immunotherapy. Graphical abstract

The role of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) to integrate, update or complement authoritative datasets released by governments has become increasingly important. This work analyses the contribution of OpenStreetMap (OSM), the most popular VGI project, as one of the input sources that the Military Geographic Institute (IGM), one of the Italian governmental mapping agencies, has used for producing the National Summary Database (DBSN). This database, which was recently released for 12 out of the 20 Italian regions, has a schema organised into a hierarchical structure composed of 10 layers, 30 themes and 93 classes, where each geospatial object carries information on the specific data source it was derived from. For each DBSN layer and theme, we first calculated the fraction of objects derived from OSM in all the Italian regions and related provinces. We found a heterogeneous picture with OSM contribution generally being limited, with the exception of few regions and layers/themes where the DBSN was almost exclusively derived from OSM. An in-depth comparison between the DBSN and OSM building datasets showed that OSM building completeness is varying across Italian regions and provinces, but in all regions there are buildings in OSM that are not included in the DBSN. The work shed light on the opportunities and obstacles for OSM to become a primary input source for the production of governmental datasets.

BackgroundAmong low-flow vascular malformations, venous malformations are relatively frequent. The pathological patterns vary in severity and are generally characterized by dilated vessels and low-flow blood that over time can organize into phleboliths. Sometimes small capillary and/or lymphatic vessels may be associated, micro- and/or macro-shunts may form alone or in different combinations, and finally adipose tissue may be interposed between the malformed vessels. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a crucial examination for confirming venous malformations because it can accurately identify different features of the lesions.ObjectiveThe aim of our study was to compare MRI and histopathological findings of venous malformations in children to assess the possibilities and limitations of MRI.Materials and methodsIn a retrospective study, two observers independently evaluated the contrast-enhanced MRI of 26 children with venous malformations. Several radiological parameters were considered and compared with histopathological findings. The agreement between the interobserver radiological evaluation and between histopathological and radiological diagnosis was verified using Cohen’s kappa.ResultsMRI interobserver agreement was excellent for micro-shunts and good for the remaining findings. The radiological-pathological agreement was perfect for the presence/absence of phleboliths and of macro-shunts and almost perfect for the presence of intralesional adipose tissue, lymphatic component, and micro-shunts.ConclusionMRI in venous malformations can detect the presence of phleboliths, adipose tissue, and lymphatic components with excellent accuracy and good to excellent interobserver agreement. Furthermore, MR angiography can detect micro-shunts in simple and combined venous malformations with substantial agreement with histopathological findings.

Purpose Lacosamide (LCM) is a third-generation anti-seizure medication (ASM) approved for focal onset epilepsy in patients aged ≥ 4.378 Previous studies have reported an efficacy of LCM as add-on treatment in brain tumor-related epilepsy (BTRE). To date, there are no studies in the literature focusing on lacosamide used in monotherapy to treat BTRE. In our retrospective study we investigated efficacy and tolerability of LCM in monotherapy in a multicenter national cohort of primary brain tumor patients. Methods We collected from 12 Italian Centers 132 patients with primary brain tumors who were treated with LCM in monotherapy. For each patient we evaluated seizure freedom at 3 and 6 months (primary endpoints), side effects and drop-out rate (secondary endpoints). Results Overall, LCM led to seizure freedom in 64.4% of patients at 3 months and 55% at 6 months. Patients who used two or more ASMs before LCM had a worse seizure control than patients in monotherapy with LCM as first choice. In 14 patients, we observed seizure control despite tumor progression on magnetic resonance (MRI). Multivariate analysis showed that gross-total resection at diagnosis was significantly associated with higher seizure freedom rate at 6 months. Side effects were mainly mild (grade 1–2 according to CTCAE classification) and drop-out rate was low (1.5%). Main side effects were dizziness and somnolence. Conclusions This is the first study showing a good efficacy and tolerability of LCM when used in monotherapy in BTRE. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm these preliminary data, investigating also quality of life and neurocognitive functions.