Integrating probabilistic trees and causal networks for clinical and epidemiological data

Healthcare decision-making requires not only accurate predictions but also insights into how factors influence patient outcomes. While traditional machine learning (ML) models excel at predicting outcomes, such as identifying high-risk patients, they are limited in addressing “what if” questions about interventions. This study introduces the Probabilistic Causal Fusion (PCF) framework, which integrates Causal Bayesian Networks (CBNs) and Probability Trees (PTrees) to extend beyond predictions. PCF leverages causal relationships from CBNs to structure PTrees, enabling both the quantification of factor impacts and the simulation of hypothetical interventions. The framework is evaluated on three clinically diverse, real-world datasets, MIMIC-IV, Framingham Heart Study, and BRFSS (Diabetes), demonstrating consistent predictive performance comparable to conventional ML models, while offering enhanced interpretability and causal reasoning capabilities. In contrast to conventional approaches focused solely on prediction, PCF offers a unified framework for prediction, intervention modelling, and counterfactual analysis, forming a holistic toolkit for clinical decision support. To enhance interpretability, PCF incorporates sensitivity analysis and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP). Sensitivity analysis quantifies the influence of causal parameters on outcomes such as Length of Stay (LOS), Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), and Diabetes, while SHAP highlights the importance of individual features in predictive modelling. This dual-layered interpretability offers both macro-level insights into causal pathways and micro-level explanations for individual predictions. By combining causal reasoning with predictive modelling, PCF bridges the gap between clinical intuition and data-driven insights. Its ability to uncover relationships between modifiable factors and simulate hypothetical scenarios provides clinicians with a clearer understanding of causal pathways. This approach supports more informed, evidence-based decision-making, offering a robust framework for addressing complex questions in diverse healthcare settings

Emerging trends in polysaccharide-based smart PEGylated hydrogels for biomedical applications

Polysaccharide-based PEGylated hydrogels have emerged as multifunctional biomaterials that combine the favourable properties of polyethylene glycol (PEG), such as hydrophilicity, stability, and structural tunability with the biodegradability and biocompatibility of natural polysaccharides. This review presents recent progress in the synthesis and design of hybrid PEG–polysaccharide hydrogels, emphasizing structural modifications and crosslinking strategies involving biopolymers such as hyaluronic acid, alginate, chitosan, agarose, and carrageenan. These systems exhibit adjustable physicochemical properties and responsiveness to various stimuli, including temperature, light, pH, reactive oxygen species, glucose, and enzymatic activities. Such dynamic features enable precise control over drug and growth factor release and facilitate cell adhesion, proliferation, and tissue regeneration. The review also discusses the biomedical applications of these hydrogels in cancer therapy, wound healing, and tissue engineering. Furthermore, it highlights critical translational challenges related to biosafety, immunogenicity, large-scale production, and regulatory pathways, which still hinder clinical implementation. By integrating material design insights with translational perspectives, this work provides an updated overview of opportunities and limitations in advancing PEGylated polysaccharide hydrogels toward safe and effective biomedical use. Continued research on their stability, reproducibility, and functional performance is essential to unlock their full clinical potential.<br/

EP250207b is not a collapsar fast X-ray transient. Is it due to a binary compact object merger?

Fast X-ray transients (FXTs) are short-lived extragalactic X-ray sources. Recent progress through multiwavelength follow-up of Einstein Probe-discovered FXTs has shown that several are related to collapsars, which can also produce -ray bursts (GRBs). In this paper, we investigate the nature of the FXT EP250207b. The Very Large Telescope/Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer spectra of a nearby (15.9 kpc in projection) lenticular galaxy reveal no signs of recent star formation. If this galaxy is indeed the host, EP250207b lies at a redshift , implying a peak observed absolute magnitude for the optical counterpart of . At the time when supernovae (SNe) would peak, it is substantially fainter than all SN types. These results are inconsistent with a collapsar origin for EP250207b. The properties favour a binary compact object merger-driven origin. The X-ray, optical, and radio observations are compared with predictions of several types of extragalactic transients, including afterglow and kilonova models. The data can be fitted with a slightly off-axis viewing angle afterglow. However, the late-time ( d) optical/near-infrared counterpart is too bright for the afterglow and also for conventional kilonova models. This could be remedied if that late emission is due to a globular cluster or the core of a (tidally disrupted) dwarf galaxy. If confirmed, this would be the first case where the multiwavelength properties of an FXT are found to be consistent with a compact object merger origin, increasing the parallels between FXTs and GRBs. We finally discuss whether the source could originate in a higher redshift host galaxy

Rose Bengal as a multifunctional agent: from biomedical uses to catalysis and materials science

Since its discovery in 1882, Rose Bengal (RB) has evolved from a vibrant textile dye into a multifaceted scientific asset with a versatile molecular platform spanning medicine, catalysis, and materials science. Initially developed for fabric coloring, RB has now become essential for a wide array of advanced technologies because of its intricate photochemical and photophysical properties. This review traces the remarkable journey of RB, emphasizing its inherent anticancer and antibacterial properties and role as a photosensitizer (PS) in contemporary cancer treatments and infectious diseases through photodynamic therapy (PDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), and combination therapy, where it facilitates targeted therapies by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). The properties of RB are compared with FDA-approved and clinically explored photosensitizers currently available in the market. Promising results from RB clinical trials further underline its therapeutic potential. In addition to biomedical applications, RB contributes to enhanced drug delivery, catalysis, and microbiological applications while also demonstrating potential in sensing, solar energy conversion, and environmental remediation. Its established use in ophthalmology and emerging roles in neurodegenerative disease treatment reflect its expanding biomedical relevance. By exploring the mechanisms of action of RB and its integration into diverse systems, this review underscores its transformative potential across various disciplines, establishing RB as a pivotal agent in scientific and technological innovation.</p

Healthcare decarbonisation education for health profession students: a scoping review

Climate change is the greatest health threat of the 21st century, with healthcare contributing approximately 4–5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonising healthcare, the deliberate reduction of emissions across all healthcare activities, is essential to reduce the health sector’s environmental impact while maintaining equitable, high-quality care. Preparing future health professionals for sustainable, low-carbon practice is increasingly recognised as critical; however, education on healthcare decarbonisation remains inconsistent and weakly embedded in curricula. This scoping review mapped existing educational resources for pre-registration health profession students. Following the JBI methodology, six databases (Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and GreenFILE) were searched in April 2025 (updated in October 2025). Data were thematically analysed. In total, 32 studies met inclusion criteria, comprising 17 mixed-methods, 11 quantitative, and 4 qualitative designs. Most interventions were multimodal, addressing sustainability or climate change through simulation, digital, formal, or didactic methods. Knowledge and attitudes were the most frequently evaluated outcomes. Thematic analysis identified knowledge and awareness, attitudes and emotional responses, behavioural intent and action, identity formation through collaborative learning, and barriers to decarbonisation. Findings suggest that blended, interactive, and technology-enhanced education improves knowledge, attitudes, and identity, but sustained impact requires longitudinal, skills-based, and policy-aligned interventions to drive meaningful healthcare decarbonisation action

Guidelines for producing integrated ²¹⁰Pb and ¹⁴C age-models

Accurate reconstructions of past environmental changes are crucial in paleoecological research and require reliable chronologies of sedimentary archives. Establishing robust age-models and obtaining the most appropriate proxies for analysis is a complex scientific endeavor, requiring extensive resources and collaboration among specialists, including radiochronologists. Radiometric dating methods, such as 210Pb and radiocarbon (14C), are frequently employed to establish chronologies in aquatic sedimentary deposits and peat bogs. In this study, we review key aspects of sampling, analysis, and the principles underlying 210Pb and 14C age-models, focusing on methods for developing robust joint chronologies for paleoenvironmental research. Drawing largely from the authors' experiences and group discussions during and after a scientific workshop in 2022, we discuss important considerations for site selection, sampling strategies, and radiometric dating to construct integrated 210Pb −14C age-models. Using expert consensus, this group – called Paleostats – aims to provide a set of best practices for other geochronologists with this methods paper. Among our conclusions, we emphasize the importance of accounting for site-specific factors such as prior information on sedimentation rates to establish appropriate sampling and analytical strategies. The use of appropriate coring devices can minimize disturbance to sediments and ensure the core surface remains intact and preserved until sectioning. Where excess 210Pb (210Pbex) is expected, sectioning at intervals of ≤1 cm provides an adequate sampling resolution for 210Pb dating. Exceptions are possible, allowing for ∼2–3 cm sections in areas with confirmed high sedimentation rates (e.g., &gt; 1 cm yr−1). Recovering deeper core sections for 14C dating with sufficient overlap allows for accounting errors in depth estimates made in the field. Special attention is advised during time intervals where validation proxies, such as the human-made radionuclides 137Cs or post-bomb 14C, are expected, and to determine the depth of secular equilibrium between 210Pb and 226Ra. Radiocarbon analyses are commonly performed by accelerator mass spectrometry, and age models are constructed mainly using Bayesian statistics with Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques (e.g., Bacon). A Bayesian approach (Plum) is now available for producing 210Pb age-models, which infers the 210Pbex flux, eliminates the need for selecting an equilibrium depth, and allows dating cores with incomplete 210Pbex inventory. Plum offers improved chronologies by integrating raw 210Pb and 14C data, and these age-models can be enriched with other dating methodologies, such as identifying tephras and other well-recorded historical events. Harmonized reporting would contribute to making radiometric age-models reproducible, which would benefit from an international effort. Using 210Pb and 14C to produce integrated age-models may yield better insights into the interplay between natural and recent anthropogenic forcings on ecosystems. This can enhance our understanding of environmental processes and their impacts on climate change, ultimately supporting science-based assessments and decisions.</p

Eco-Feminist co-housing: a design approach

The concept of ecofeminism identifies the key characteristics of patriarchal, capitalist, gender norms in order to promote socio-ecological change, intersectional gender justice, and a democratic distribution of care work. When this concept is applied to housing policy and planning, it has the potential to dismantle hegemonic gender boundaries and human environmental domination. Ecofeminist co-housing is rare, so we propose an in-depth analysis of two UK examples to investigate their ability to address overlapping intersectional crises of care, climate, and housing.</p

A limpet's eye view of post‐glacial isostasy: fixed biological indicators provide new sea‐level index points for the Mid‐Holocene relative highstand in eastern Northern Ireland

Empirical data for Holocene relative sea level (RSL) changes around the coast of north-eastern Ireland are sparse. Fixed biological indicators (FBIs), in the form of bioerosional marks made by limpets (Patella) and endolithic traces of other intertidal/subtidal organisms, are preserved significantly above present mid-tide level on a limestone cliff at Portmuck, in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. The limpet marks indicate a mid-tide level (MTL) for the Mid-Holocene relative highstand (MHRH) at +7.8±0.55 m relative to MTL today. This is &gt;3 m higher than previous empirical data for the region but is consistent with recent glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models. Shells of intertidal molluscs (Patella, Littorina and Nucella) recovered from fissures below the limpet marks show a significant spread of 14C ages, with the oldest a close match for the date of the MHRH but others as much as 2750 years younger. They indicate that RSL fell no more than ~2.5 m in that time from a highstand at ~6.3 cal. ka BP, a pattern comparable to that seen in southern Scotland but 1.5–2 ka later. This chronological offset is consistent with models that predict shoreline diachroneity in moving away from the centre of isostatic uplift in southern Scotland.<br/