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Whereas principles of communicative efficiency and legal doctrine dictate that laws be comprehensible to the common world, empirical evidence suggests legal documents are largely incomprehensible to lawyers and laypeople alike. Here, a corpus analysis (n=59million words) first replicated and extended prior work revealing laws to contain strikingly higher rates of complex syntactic structures relative to six baseline genres of English.Next, two pre-registered text generation experiments (n=280) tested two leading hypotheses regarding how these complex structures enter into legal documents in the first place. In line with the \textit{magic spell hypothesis}, we found people tasked with writing official laws wrote in a more convoluted manner than when tasked with writing unofficial legal texts of equivalent conceptual complexity. Contrary to the \textit{copy-and-edit hypothesis}, we did not find evidence that people editing a legal document wrote in a more convoluted manner than when writing the same document from scratch.From a cognitive perspective, these results suggest law to be a rare exception to the general tendency in human language towards communicative efficiency. In particular, these findings indicate law's complexity to be derived from its performativity, whereby low-frequency structures may be inserted to signal law's authoritative, world-state-altering nature, at the cost of increased processing demands on readers. From a law and policy perspective, these results suggest that the tension between the ubiquity and impenetrability of the law is not an inherent one, and that laws can be simplified without a loss or distortion of communicative content.

Recently the principles of efficient communication have provided useful characterizations of semantic typology: the diversity of attested languages can be described by competing pressures for simplicity and informativeness. While this approach has achieved success in several semantic domains, the formalizations used to define complexity across domains vary. In this note, we list the conditions under which the two main approaches of defining complexity: channel rate and description length, unify and, thus, conclusions about near-optimal communicative efficiency generalize across formalizations. We illustrate this equivalence using simulations of communicative efficiency for Boolean concepts. We round out this note discussing the (un)importance of description languages and the limits on generalizing this equivalence for other behavioral targets for explanation.

Collocations, semi-productive lexical combinations with onefigurative and one literal word, are said to be a “pain in theneck” for researchers and L2 learners. The present study aims:(i) to conceptually replicate the processing costs incurred byL1 speakers when processing collocations using a larger andmore diverse set of items, (ii) to use literalness judgementsto test whether L1 speakers are aware of the semi-transparentmeaning of a collocation, and (iii) to test whether the presence of processing costs associated with collocations can be predicted from literalness judgements. If so, we propose that literalness judgements could be used as a diagnostic for reli-ably identifying collocations. We replicate the L1 processingcosts with a larger stimulus set and demonstrate that speakersare aware of the semi-transparent meaning of the collocation.We further show that L1 speaker judgements about the literal-ness of a word combination can be used to predict its status as a collocation.

Languages across the world organize semantic categories in many ways. Research in semantic typology and efficient communication has shown that languages tend to be shaped by pressures for communicative efficiency. It was recently proposed, in addition to this principle of efficiency, that the cross-linguistic prevalence of a system is explained by considering and formalizing the Typological Prevalence Hypothesis. This recent research found that the interaction between communicative and developmental pressures infers the prevalence of color-naming systems across the world better than phylogenetic relatedness alone. However, it is not yet clear whether the information-theoretic framework developed by the authors can explain the typological prevalence of non-perceptual categories. Therefore, we extend this model to kinship systems to test if this formalization of the Typological Prevalence Hypothesis can generalize to other semantic domains.

Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized cancer treatment, but they are associated with a range of immune-related adverse events (irAEs), and emerging evidence suggests significant sex differences in the incidence, type, and severity of these toxicities, suggesting an influential factor and understanding sex-related differences in irAEs as crucial for optimizing patient care and improving clinical outcomes. In MOUSEION-07 study, we aimed to assess the association between sex and treatment-related adverse events in cancer patients treated with immunotherapy through a large up-to-date meta-analysis of available clinical trials. The present systematic review and meta-analysis was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis. The protocol was registered with PROSPERO no. CRD42024549518. Sixteen studies encompassing a total of 4658 patients were included, and 2133 adverse effects were highlighted. The analysis observed a not statistically significant difference in terms of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) between males and females (Odds Ratio 1.19; CI 0.88–1.63) and revealed the presence of publication bias (β = −2.53; 95% CI = [−4.03; −1.04]; P = 0.006). Sex differences in immunotherapy-related adverse events are a significant factor in cancer treatment, necessitating a personalized approach to patient care. Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms driving these differences and to develop optimized strategies for monitoring and managing irAEs in both females and males.

Since retrofitting existing natural gas-fired (NGF) power plants is an essential strategy for enhancing their efficiency and controlling greenhouse gas emissions, this paper compares the carbon footprint of natural gas-fired power generation from an NGF power plant in Brazil (BR-NGF) with and without retrofitting. The former scenario entails retrofitting the BR-NGF power plant with combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) technology. In contrast, the latter involves continuing the BR-NGF power plant operation with open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) technology. Our analysis considers the BR-NGF power plant’s life cycle (construction, operation, and decommissioning) and the natural gas’ life cycle (natural gas extraction and processing, liquefaction, liquefied natural gas transportation, regasification, and combustion). Moreover, it is based on data from primary and secondary sources, mainly the Ecoinvent database and the ReCiPe 2016 method. For OCGT, the results showed that the BR-NGF power plant and the natural gas life cycles are responsible for 620.87 gCO2eq./kWh and 178.58 gCO2eq./kWh, respectively. For CCGT, these values are 450.04 gCO2eq./kWh and 129.30 gCO2eq./kWh. Our findings highlight the relevance of the natural gas’ life cycle, signaling additional opportunities for reducing the overall carbon footprint of natural gas-fired power generation.

Abstract Background Hemodynamic classification of pulmonary hypertension (PH) has important clinical implications. However, only a few echocardiographic variables have been used to hemodynamically classify PH in dogs. Objective To evaluate the echocardiographic pulmonary to left atrial ratio index (ePLAR) in dogs with PH. Animals Forty‐six dogs with intermediate to high probability of PH. Methods Cross‐sectional study. Variables were compared between dogs with precapillary PH [PrePH (n = 24)] vs postcapillary PH [PostPH (n = 22)], and with combined PH [CombPH (n = 14)] vs isolated PH [IsoPH (n = 8)] using the t‐, Mann‐Whitney, Pearson's Chi, or Fisher's exact test. The receiver operating characteristic curve and Youden index were used to identify the optimal ePLAR cutoff value to differentiate among the groups, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were used to determine the reliability of measurements. Results The mean (SD) ePLAR of the PrePH was higher than that of the PostPH group [0.36 (0.13) vs 0.26 (0.09), respectively; P = .005]. The median (interquartile range) ePLAR of the CombPH was higher than that of the IsoPH subgroup [0.29 (0.24‐0.38), vs 0.20 (0.16‐0.23), respectively; P = .001]. The best cutoff value of ePLAR for identifying IsoPH was

Background: Patient expectations, including both positive (placebo) and negative (nocebo) effects, influence treatment outcomes, yet their impact on acute repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is unclear. Methods: In this single-center retrospective chart review, 208 TRD patients completed the Stanford Expectation of Treatment Scale (SETS) before starting open-label rTMS treatment. Patients were offered two excitatory rTMS protocols (deep TMS or intermittent theta-burst stimulation), which stimulated the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. A minimum of 20 once daily treatments were provided, delivered over 4–6 weeks. Primary outcomes were 1) remission, measured by a post-treatment score of

The study explores the challenges encountered by Italian-speaking students with the learning of the German ditransitive construction. While prior research has extensively covered theoretical aspects of this construction, limited attention has been paid to its practical implications for foreign language learning.The study further elaborates on a related construction involving a similar semantics but realized with two accusative objects. Verbs which can fuse with this construction are e.g. lehren (‘to teach’), abfragen (‘to interrogate/to test’) or abhören (‘to test orally’). This related construction is often overlooked in language learning materials. The paper addresses this gap by combining empirical evidence from two pretests with Italian learners and a usage-based approach with corpus data, focusing on the verb lehren.The findings contribute to a better understanding and a more authentic description of the ditransitive construction. In a more theoretical perspective, the paper further discusses the relationship between the ditransitive and the double accusative construction in terms of ‘allostructions’, again with a focus on instantiations with the verb lehren. The insights gained with the study can help foster the learning of both constructions.

Abstract Trauma scientists have raised the alarm about the devastating consequences of the Ukraine war on mental health. We examined how higher education students—as indirect victims—coped with this conflict and how they emotionally reacted during 2022. We involved 2314 students from 16 countries through an online survey. A structural equation model indicated significant relations between war-related worry about military and macroeconomics domains and two coping strategies (opposition, support giving), in turn significantly linked with six emotions. The model was strongly invariant across gender, study field, and geographic area. The most frequent emotions were anger and anxiety, followed by two future-centred emotions (hopelessness and hope). Emotions were more frequent for females and students of the countries geographically close to the war region. Our findings call for evidence-based policy recommendations to be implemented by institutions to combat the negative short and long-term psychological sequelae of being witnesses of armed conflicts.

Collocations are semi-productive word combinations with one word used literally and one other figuratively, characterized by an arbitrary restriction on substitution (kill hope, #murder hope). They are notoriously difficult for L2 speakers to acquire, yet there is no processing model specific to collocations. The present study attempts to explain trends in L2 collocational processing as memory retrieval. Modifying MINERVA2, a frequency-based memory model, we simulate reaction times and compare them to data from 99 L1 and 230 L2 (L1 Portuguese) English speakers involving free combinations (eat cake, ‘comer bolos’), congruent (read minds, ‘ler mentes’) and incongruent collocations (kick habits, no equivalent translation in Portuguese), and nonsense baselines (#read cakes). Under the assumptions that the L2 lexicon develops conditioned on the L1 and that the L2 lexicon is sensitive to L1 frequencies, we report that MINERVA2 can predict processing trends in both L1 and L2 collocational processing.

Languages vary in the way they categorize semantic domains. Incidentally certain semantic systems appear more often than others across the world. Recent research has shown that the attested variability can be explained as the result of languages being a plurality of optimal solutions to efficiency constraints. However, the question of the prevalence remains open. Assuming that languages are a form of culturally transmitted cognitive technology, the Typological Prevalence Hypothesis proposes that the prevalence of a linguistic system is explained by how cognitively natural it is to learn and use. We aim to formalize and test this hypothesis by proposing an information-theoretic measure of communicative and developmental naturalness applied to color typology. While controlling for phylogenetic relatedness, we find that both communicative and developmental naturalness are important predictors of typological prevalence.

The aim of this work is an intra- and interlinguistic reflection on the expressions relating to the semantic field of DISABILITY in the main Italian and German lexicographic resources as well as in the two laws regulating and guaranteeing the right to participation of disabled people and promoting their integration in Italy and Germany, respectively (the “Legge-quadro per l’assistenza, l’integrazione sociale e i diritti delle persone handicappate” of the 5th february 1992 n. 104 and the “Gesetz zur Stärkung der Teilhabe und Selbsbestimmung von Menschen mit Behinderungen”). First, the general and specialised Italian and German monolingual lexico­graphic resources will be taken into account in order to draw preliminary conclusions concern­ing the lexicographical landscape (Section 2). After a description of the theoretical framework, the use of these expressions in the two legislative texts will be analysed by means of corpus linguistic tools. In particular, the focus will be put on the most frequent and most typical lexemes of the two compiled corpora (LQH and BTHG) and a selection of those will be examined according to their collocational structures (Section 3). As a result, a general picture of terminology related to the sematic field of disability in both languages will be given and contrastive reflections, serving as a starting point for subsequent and broader analyses, will be formulated.

Introduction: Contact with pets within healthcare settings is considered worldwide an added value to assistance both in the case of animal-assisted interventions and also when pets are visiting hospitalized owners, due to the special emotional relationship between them and their pets. The goal of this work was to analyze local experiences on access of pets to healthcare facilities using a survey sent to doctors, veterinarians, and students in the region of Sardinia (Italy). Methods: The online survey consisted of 17 questions, with the objective to evaluate knowledge and interest of study participants on some aspects of human–animal interaction with particular reference to potential access of pets to hospitals facilities and nursing homes and to promote an initial social judgment in the medical and healthcare environment. A total of 2484 subjects were invited to participate to the survey through an email explaining the purpose of the study. Statistical analysis on the survey results was conducted by comparing the characteristics of respondents with their answers to animal-assisted-intervention-related questions. Results: Results showed that over 70% of the participants owned an animal; almost 80% of responses showed that survey participants were in favor of animal presence in hospitals; furthermore, the responses showed how the concept of One Health seems not only scarcely established, but also barely known. The large majority of respondents (over 80%) positively responded on questions around the role of animals as co-therapists. Conclusions: On the one hand, this study showed lack of knowledge on the concept of One Health, whose essence is too often unknown and, on the other hand, it confirmed that women may be more inclined to show empathy and sensitivity toward animals. Regarding the profession, students seem more concerned about the introduction of animals into hospitals than healthcare workers.

IntroductionThis study investigated the interaction with membrane mimetic systems (LUVs), bacterial membranes, the CD spectra, and the bactericidal activity of two designed trematocine mutants, named Trem-HK and Trem-HSK. Mutants were constructed from the scaffold of Trematocine (Trem), a natural 22-amino acid AMP from the Antarctic fish Trematomus bernacchii, aiming to increase their positive charge.MethodsThe selectivity of the designed AMPs towards bacterial membranes was improved compared to Trematocine, verified by their interaction with different LUVs and their membranolytic activity. Additionally, their α-helical conformation was not influenced by the amino acid substitutions. Our findings revealed a significant enhancement in antibacterial efficacy against ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacteriaceae family) pathogens for both Trem-HK and Trem-HSK.ResultsFirstly, we showed that the selectivity of the two new designed AMPs towards bacterial membranes was greatly improved compared to Trematocine, verifying their interaction with different LUVs and their membranolytic activity. We determined that their α-helical conformation was not influenced by the amino acid substitutions. We characterized the tested bacterial collection for resistance traits to different classes of antibiotics. The minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentration (MIC and MBC) values of the ESKAPE collection were reduced by up to 80% compared to Trematocine. The bactericidal concentrations of Trematocine mutants showed important membranolytic action, evident by scanning electron microscopy, on all tested species. We further evaluated the cytotoxicity and hemolytic activity of the mutants. At 2.5 μM concentration, both mutants demonstrated low cytotoxicity and hemolysis, indicating selectivity towards bacterial cells. However, these effects increased at higher concentrations.DiscussionAssessment of in vivo toxicity using the Galleria mellonella model revealed no adverse effects in larvae treated with both mutants, even at concentrations up to 20 times higher than the lowest MIC observed for Acinetobacter baumannii, suggesting a high potential safety profile for the mutants. This study highlights the significant improvement in antibacterial efficacy achieved by increasing the positive charge of Trem-HK and Trem-HSK. This improvement was reached at the cost of reduced biocompatibility. Further research is necessary to optimize the balance between efficacy and safety for these promising AMPs.