Debunk

The idea that plants would be efficient, frugal or optimised echoes the recurrent semantics of 'blueprint' and 'program' in molecular genetics. However, when analysing plants with quantitative approaches and systems thinking, we instead find that plants are the results of stochastic processes with many inefficiencies, incoherence or delays fuelling their robustness. If one had to highlight the main value of quantitative biology, this could be it: plants are robust systems because they are not efficient. Such systemic insights extend to the way we conduct plant research and opens plant science publication to a much broader framework...

Based on a study of U.S.-tagged items in a global database of fact-checked statements about the novel coronavirus throughout the first year of the pandemic, this article explores the nature of fact-checkers' "retroactive gatekeeping." This term is introduced here to describe the process of assessing the veracity of information after it has entered the public domain rather than before. Although an overwhelming majority of statements across 16 thematic categories were deemed false and debunked, often repeatedly, misinformation continued to circulate freely and widely...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

This study evaluates the performance of two major artificial intelligence-based tools (ChatGPT-4 and Google Bard) in debunking sleep-related myths. More in detail, the present research assessed 20 sleep misconceptions using a 5-point Likert scale for falseness and public health significance, comparing responses of artificial intelligence tools with expert opinions. The results indicated that Google Bard correctly identified 19 out of 20 statements as false (95.0% accuracy), not differing from ChatGPT-4 (85...

The growing demand for natural treatments has raised concerns among clinicians due to limited scientific evidence supporting their use. This review article addresses the issue by assisting dermatologists and general practitioners in recommending natural treatments for the following common nail disorders: nail brittleness, onychomycosis, periungual verrucae, paronychia, chloronychia, nail psoriasis, nail lichen planus, onychocryptosis, onycholysis, and congenital malalignment of the great toenail. One limitation is the scarcity of existing reviews on natural treatment options for nail disorders in the literature...

There is a critical need to understand vaccine decision-making in high-risk groups. This study explored flu vaccine acceptance among Jordanian parents of diabetic children. Employing a cross-sectional approach, 405 parents from multiple healthcare centers across Jordan were recruited through stratified sampling, ensuring a broad representation of socioeconomic backgrounds. A structured questionnaire, distributed both in-person and online, evaluated their knowledge, attitudes, and acceptance of the flu vaccine for their diabetic children...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Adequate sleep is essential for maintaining both individual and public health, positively affecting cognition and well-being, and reducing chronic disease risks. It also plays a significant role in driving the economy, public safety, and managing healthcare costs. Digital tools, including websites, sleep trackers, and apps, are key in promoting sleep health education. Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT offers accessible, personalized advice on sleep health but raises concerns about potential misinformation...

In today's world, where nutrition forms the cornerstone of human health, the potential harms of misinformation are concerning. Nutritional myths, whether originating from age-old superstitions, misinterpreted scientific findings, or commercial interests, can lead astray. In the digital age, the proliferation of such misleading information is alarmingly accelerated, thanks to the dominance of social media and search engines. Modern artificial intelligence tools, exemplified by ChatGPT, promise a potential revolution in dispelling these nutrition-related misconceptions...

OBJECTIVES: Research has extensively examined spousal caregiving in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it remains unclear how people with AD help spousal caregivers. We aimed to describe emotional and practical support that people with AD and their spouses provide to each other and test the role their empathy plays in these support experiences. METHODS: Seventy-two people with early-stage AD and their spousal caregivers independently reported empathy (personal distress, empathic concern, perspective taking) and the frequency and appraisal of support provision...

The prevalence of health myths is increasing with the rise of Internet use. Left unaddressed, online falsehoods can lead to harmful behaviours. In times of crisis, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the circulation of many myths is exacerbated, often to varying degrees among different cultures. Singapore is a multicultural hub in Asia with Western and Asian influences. Although several studies have examined health myths from a Western or Eastern perspective, little research has investigated online health falsehoods in a population that is culturally exposed to both...

We revisit the foundations of the Horsfall-Barratt (HB) scale, a widely cited and applied plant disease visual assessment tool introduced in 1945, a full 37 years prior to T. T. Hebert's 1982 critique that raised concerns regarding the scale's rationale, particularly its reliance on the Weber-Fechner law and visual perception assumptions. Although use of the HB scale and similar ordinal scales persists, comprehensive studies have revealed that direct visual estimation using percentage scales often proves more accurate and reliable...

BACKGROUND: On 11 March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a global health pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Vaccinating populations is paramount in changing the course of a pandemic. The rapid spread of (mis) and disinformation online from celebrities, politicians, and media influencers creates a corrosion of trust in public health interventions. METHODS: Given the importance of the spread of information during a public health crisis, the current study uses risk orders theory with a constructivist grounded theory approach to analyze an episode of a popular podcast available on YouTube, titled, 'Aaron Rodgers Tells Pat McAfee His Side of Vaccine Situation...

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have the potential to revolutionize online health information-seeking behavior by delivering up-to-date information on a wide range of health topics. They generate personalized responses to user queries through their ability to process extensive amounts of text, analyze trends, and generate natural language responses. Chatbots can manage infodemic by debunking online health misinformation on a large scale. Nevertheless, system accuracy remains technically challenging. Chatbots require training on diverse and representative datasets, security to protect against malicious actors, and updates to keep up-to-date on scientific progress...

Due to a legacy originating in the limited capability of early computers, the spectroscopic resolution used in Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and other systems has largely been implemented using only powers of two for more than 50 years. In this study, we investigate debunking the spectroscopic lore of, e.g., using only 2, 4, 8, or 16 cm-1 resolution and determine the optimal resolution in terms of both (i) a desired signal-to-noise ratio and (ii) efficient use of acquisition time. The study is facilitated by the availability of solids and liquids reference spectral data recorded at 2...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

In recent years, short-form social media videos have emerged as an important source of health-related advice. In this study, we investigate whether experts or ordinary users in such videos are more effective in debunking the common misperception that talking about suicide should be avoided. We also explore a new trend on TikTok and other platforms, in which users attempt to back up their arguments by displaying scientific articles in the background of their videos. To test the effect of source type (expert vs...

Fusarium poae is commonly detected in field surveys of Fusarium head blight (FHB) of cereal crops and can produce a range of trichothecene mycotoxins. Although experimentally validated reports of F. poae strains producing T-2/HT-2 trichothecenes are rare, F. poae is frequently generalized in the literature as a producer of T-2/HT-2 toxins due to a single study from 2004 in which T-2/HT-2 toxins were detected at low levels from six out of forty-nine F. poae strains examined. To validate/substantiate the observations reported from the 2004 study, the producing strains were acquired and phylogenetically confirmed to be correctly assigned as F...

BACKGROUND: The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic towards the end of 2019 triggered a relentless spread of online misinformation, which significantly impacted societal stability, public perception, and the effectiveness of measures to prevent and control the epidemic. Understanding the complex dynamics and characteristics that determine the duration of rumors is crucial for their effective management. In response to this urgent requirement, our study takes survival analysis method to analyze COVID-19 rumors comprehensively and rigorously...

Analytical equations like Richardson-Dushman's or Shockley's provided a general, if simplified conceptual background, which was widely accepted in conventional electronics and made a fundamental contribution to advances in the field. In the attempt to develop a (highly desirable, but so far missing) counterpart for molecular electronics, in this work, we deduce a general analytical formula for the tunneling current through molecular junctions mediated by a single level that is valid for any bias voltage and temperature...