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21,691 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures. Search the index →

WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record compiled from open scholarly databases; the abstract is shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed, otherwise a short excerpt under fair use. Classifications are automated and approximate.

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Multi-Agentic LLMs for Personalizing STEM Texts

Michael Vaccaro, Mikayla Friday, Arash E. Zaghi · 2025 · Applied Sciences

Multi-agent large language models promise flexible, modular architectures for delivering personalized educational content. Drawing on a pilot randomized controlled trial with middle school students (n = 23), we introduce a two-agent GPT-4 framework in which a Profiler agent infers learner-specific preferences and a Rewrite agent dynamically adapts science passages via an explicit message-passing protocol. We implement structured system and user prompts as inter-agent communication schemas to enable real-time content adaptation. The results of an ordinal logistic regression analysis hinted that

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics and Astronomy

Final Moments. III. Explosion Properties and Progenitor Constraints of CSM-interacting Type II Supernovae

W. V. Jacobson-Galán, Luc Dessart, Kyle W. Davis et al. · 2025 · The Astrophysical Journal

Abstract We present analysis of the plateau and late-time phase properties of a sample of 39 Type II supernovae (SNe II) that show narrow, transient, high-ionization emission lines (i.e., “IIn-like”) in their early-time spectra from interaction with confined, dense circumstellar material (CSM). Originally presented by W. V. Jacobson-Galán et al., this sample also includes multicolor light curves and spectra extending to late-time phases of 35 SNe with no evidence for IIn-like features at <2 days after first light. We measure photospheric phase light-curve properties for the distance-correct

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessImmunology and Microbiology

Endothelial STING and STAT1 mediate IFN-independent effects of IL-6 in an endotoxemia-induced model of shock

Nina Martino, Erin Sanders, Ramon Bossardi Ramos et al. · 2025 · Journal of Clinical Investigation

Severe systemic inflammatory reactions, including sepsis, often lead to shock, organ failure, and death, in part through an acute release of cytokines that promote vascular dysfunction. However, little is known about the vascular endothelial signaling pathways regulating the transcriptional profile in failing organs. Our work focused on signaling downstream of IL-6, due to its clinical importance as a biomarker for disease severity and predictor of mortality. Here, we show that loss of endothelial expression of the IL-6 pathway inhibitor SOCS3 promoted a type I IFN-like (IFNI-like) gene signat

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics and Astronomy

Unraveling the Relaxation Dynamics of Uracil: Insights from Time-Resolved X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Davide Faccialà, M. Bonanomi, Bruno Nunes Cabral Tenorio et al. · 2025 · Journal of the American Chemical Society

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide We report a study of the electronic and nuclear relaxation dynamics of the photoexcited RNA base uracil in the gas phase using time-resolved core-level photoelectron spectroscopy together with high-level calculations. The dynamics was investigated by trajectory surface hopping calculations, and the core ionization energies were calculated for geometries sampled from these. The molecule was excited by a UV laser and dynamics probed on the oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon sites by core electron spectroscopy. We find that the main de-excitation chann

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessEnvironmental Science

Kriging prior regression: A case for kriging-based spatial features with TabPFN in soil mapping

Jonas Schmidinger, Viacheslav Barkov, Sebastian Vogel et al. · 2025 · Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

Machine learning and geostatistics are two fundamentally different frameworks for the prediction and spatial mapping of soil properties. Geostatistics leverages the spatial structure of soil properties, whereas machine learning models capture the relationship between available environmental features and soil properties. We propose a hybrid framework that augments machine learning with spatial context through the engineering of ‘spatial lag’ features derived from ordinary kriging. We call this approach ‘kriging prior regression’ (KpR), as it reverses the logic of regression kriging by incorpera

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Artificial Intelligence in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Endoscopy

Sabrina Gloria Giulia Testoni, Guglielmo Albertini Petroni, Maria Laura Annunziata et al. · 2025 · Diagnostics

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), comprising Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract with still-elusive etiopathogeneses and an increasing prevalence worldwide. Despite the growing availability of more advanced therapies in the last two decades, there are still a number of unmet needs. For example, the achievement of mucosal healing has been widely demonstrated as a prognostic marker for better outcomes and a reduced risk of dysplasia and cancer; however, the accuracy of endoscopy is crucial for bo

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Does baseline severity interact with the effects of psychotherapy for depression? A meta-analytic review

Pim Cuijpers, Mathias Harrer, Clara Miguel et al. · 2026 · Journal of Affective Disorders

It is not yet clear whether baseline severity is associated with the effects of psychotherapies. We examined baseline severity at the study level in a large sample of randomized controlled trials comparing psychotherapies against a control condition for the treatment of depression. We used an existing large database of randomized trials comparing psychotherapies for depression with control groups ( www.metapsy.org ). We converted baseline severity scores across different depression measures into a common metric. We ran bivariable and multivariable meta-regression analyses to examine the associ

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Targeted Hyaluronan Degradation Enhanced Tumor Growth Inhibition in Gastrointestinal Cancer Models

Fulai Zhou, Guangmao Mu, Honglei Bi et al. · 2025 · Cancers

Background. The dense hyaluronan (HA)-rich stroma in solid tumors can prevent effective tumor growth inhibition by hindering drug delivery and immune cell infiltration. However, the degradation of HA alone by systemic delivery of hyaluronidase has not shown significant improvement of tumor growth inhibition. Objectives/Methods. In this study, we targeted hyaluronan degradation by using antibody–enzyme (AbEn) molecules by fusing antibodies to a recombinant human hyaluronidase (HYAL). Results. The AbEn molecules were stable, retained both antigen-binding and enzymatic activities, and demonstrate

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

Safety and efficacy of adjunct dexamethasone in adults with herpes simplex virus encephalitis in the UK (DexEnceph): a multicentre, observer-blind, randomised, phase 3, controlled trial

Tom Solomon, Cory Hooper, Ava Easton et al. · 2026 · The Lancet Neurology

BACKGROUND: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) encephalitis is characterised by inflammation and swelling of the brain, resulting in death or severe neurocognitive sequelae. HSV encephalitis is treated with the antiviral aciclovir but still has substantial mortality and morbidity. Adjunct corticosteroids are sometimes used, but whether they improve the outcome is unclear. We aimed to establish the safety and efficacy of adjunct corticosteroids in HSV encephalitis. METHODS: In this multicentre, observer-blind, randomised, phase 3 trial, adults with HSV encephalitis admitted to 53 hospitals in the UK we

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessAgricultural and Biological Sciences

Agentic AI Framework to Automate Traditional Farming for Smart Agriculture

Muhammad Murad, Muhammad Ahmed, Nizam ul din et al. · 2026 · AgriEngineering

Artificial intelligence (AI) shows great promise for transforming the agriculture sector and can enable the development of many modern farming practices over conventional methods. Nowadays, AI agents and agentic AI have attained popularity due to their autonomous structure and working mechanism. This research work proposes an agentic AI framework that integrates multiple agents developed for farming land to promote climate-smart agriculture and support United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs). The developed structure has four agents: Agent A for monitoring soil properties, Agen

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Long‐term passive heat acclimation enhances maximal oxygen consumption via haematological and cardiac adaptation in endurance runners

Elliott J. Jenkins, Joseph A. Killick, Owain Zerilli et al. · 2025 · The Journal of Physiology

Abstract Long‐term heat acclimation has been shown to elevate haemoglobin mass (Hb mass ) and enhance maximal oxygen consumption (). To date, however, all evidence derives from exercise‐induced heat stress, making it unclear whether passive strategies, which allow athletes to maintain training intensities, can produce similar adaptations. Moreover, while heat‐induced increases in are often attributed to haematological changes, adaptation of other convective components of oxygen transport may underpin these improvements. To investigate whether 5 weeks of hot‐water immersion (HWI) would enhance

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessEngineering

Orthogonal phase modulation and Lissajous mode decoupling in light-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy for real-time multi-component gas sensing

Hanxu Ma, Shunda Qiao, Ying He et al. · 2026 · Reports on Progress in Physics

Abstract This paper proposed an optical detection mechanism that utilized orthogonal phase modulation (OPM) and Lissajous mode decoupling within a light-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy (LITES) sensor for the first time, enabling…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Training language models to be warm can reduce accuracy and increase sycophancy

Lujain Ibrahim, Franziska Sofia Hafner, Luc Rocher · 2026 · Nature

. Here we show how this can create a significant trade-off: optimizing language models for warmth can undermine their performance, especially when users express vulnerability. We conducted controlled experiments on five different language models, training them to produce warmer responses, then evaluating them on consequential tasks. Warm models showed substantially higher error rates (+10 to +30 percentage points) than their original counterparts, promoting conspiracy theories, providing inaccurate factual information and offering incorrect medical advice. They were also significantly more lik

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessEngineering

Predicting unconfined compressive strength of geopolymer-stabilized clays using a sector fruit fly–based extreme learning machine

Mohamed Abdellatief, Mohamed Mortagi · 2026 · Scientific Reports

Accurate prediction of the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of geopolymer-stabilized clayey soil is critical for geotechnical engineering. Conventional regression algorithms and even advanced machine learning approaches such as artificial neural networks often struggle to fully capture the highly non-linear interactions among soil properties and geopolymer mix parameters while maintaining computational efficiency and interpretability on limited datasets. To address these challenges, this investigation proposes a novel hybrid predictive framework based on a sector fruit fly optimization al

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

Pembrolizumab and olaparib in homologous-recombination-deficient metastatic pancreatic cancer: the phase 2 POLAR trial

Wungki Park, Catherine O’Connor, Joanne F. Chou et al. · 2026 · Nature Medicine

Homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) arising from BRCA1or BRCA2 or PALB2 mutations confers sensitivity to platinum chemotherapy and PARP inhibition in pancreatic cancer (PC) and may enable prolonged disease control with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). The phase 2 POLAR trial evaluated maintenance pembrolizumab plus olaparib following platinum-based chemotherapy in biomarker-stratified metastatic PC. Sixty-three participants were enrolled into three cohorts: cohort A (BRCA1/BRCA2-mutated or PALB2-mutated HRD, n = 33), cohort B (non-core HRD, n = 15) and cohort C (platinum sensitive, HRD-

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics

Harnessing Hybrid Niosomes for Improved Oral Bioavailability of an Anticoagulant: Design, Optimization and In-Vivo Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics Evaluations

Remonda Raafat Ragheb, Rodayana Atef, Kareem Abdou et al. · 2026 · AAPS PharmSciTech

Abstract Venous thromboembolism (VTE) and pulmonary embolism (PE), remains a major global health burden, necessitating prolonged and reliable anticoagulant therapy. Although Apixaban (APX) is a cornerstone oral anticoagulant for VTE management, its therapeutic performance is limited by poor aqueous solubility and low oral bioavailability. To overcome these challenges, this study introduces a hybrid niosomal delivery system designed to enhance the absorption and systemic persistence of APX. The system was engineered by integrating hybrid of surfactants together with cholesterol to form a stable

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Microbiota-Gut-Kidney Axis and Targeted Therapeutic Strategies in Kidney Diseases

Zhenghao Sun, Qian Gong, Zi-lai Wang et al. · 2026 · International Journal of Biological Sciences

The gut microbiota, as a source of profound genetic and metabolic capacity, affects every aspect of human biology including health, development and aging, as well as disease. Studies have demonstrated the crosstalk between the gut…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Metabolic dysfunction and mitochondrial failure in Alzheimer's disease: integrating pathophysiology, clinical evidence and emerging interventions

Xiaohua Xiao, Xueqin Yan, Chunhua Liang et al. · 2026 · Frontiers in Neurology

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a gradual and irreversible decline in the brain's ability to function which is not only signified by amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles but also by and metabolic and mitochondrial changes that have a negative impact on the classical neuropathological hallmarks. It is becoming increasingly clear that the central roles in the process of synaptic dysfunction, neuronal death and cognitive decline are played by the brain's impaired glucose utilization, insulin resistance, lipid metabolism alterations, and energy homeostasis disruption. Mitochondrial dysfunc

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Nrf2-Activating Natural Compounds in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Targeting Oxidative Stress and Protein Aggregation

Lucia Chico, Erika Schirinzi, Linda Balestrini et al. · 2026 · International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are among the leading causes of disability and mortality worldwide and are characterized by multifactorial pathogenesis involving interconnected mechanisms, such as oxidative stress, protein misfolding and aggregation, neuroinflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Dysregulation of transcription factors, governing cellular defense responses, particularly nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a key regulator of antioxidant and proteostatic pathways, plays a critical role in neurodegenerative processes. Currently, available pharmacological treatm

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessEnvironmental Science

Advancing mechanical recycling of polypropylene: lessons from sorting, washing, and life cycle assessment

Moritz Mager, Lukas Zeilerbauer, Alexander Felgel-Farnholz et al. · 2026 · Waste Management

European legislation, particularly the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), is rapidly increasing the demand for high-quality recycled polypropylene (PP) in packaging applications. Achieving such qualities through mechanical recycling remains challenging due to the heterogeneity of post-consumer waste, while the role of intensified washing in the overall decontamination remains debated. This study evaluates the influence of additional sorting and washing intensity on material properties, product performance, and environmental impacts in mechanical recycling of Dutch post-consumer r

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Distinct microbial mediators link diet to inflammation in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis

L E Mayorga, Arnau Noguera Segura, Laura Campderros et al. · 2026 · Gut

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) arises from complex interactions among diet, host and gut microbiome. Although diet influences intestinal inflammation, the microbial and metabolic pathways involved, and their differences…

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

Combined intravenous bolus amino acid supplementation and mobilization on early muscle loss in critically ill adults: A randomized controlled trial

Lizl Veldsman, GA Richards, D. G. Nel et al. · 2025 · Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition

BACKGROUND: Muscle wasting is a hallmark of critical illness. We evaluated the effect of amino acid supplementation and mobilization on early muscle loss in critically ill patients. METHODS: We conducted a randomized parallel-group trial…

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

Evaluating a Mobile Digital Therapeutic for Vasomotor and Behavioral Health Symptoms Among Women in Midlife: Randomized Controlled Trial

Jennifer Duffecy, Arfa Rehman, Scott Gorman et al. · 2025 · JMIR mhealth and uhealth

Unlabelled: Background: Perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms affect many women's well-being and quality of life. Digital technologies, especially smartphones, allow self-management interventions for menopausal symptoms, but they are understudied., Objective: We evaluated whether a novel digital care app, Caria, effectively reduced vasomotor and behavioral health symptoms of menopause., Methods: We enrolled 149 women for a 6-week randomized controlled trial (app treatment: n=112; web-based educational control: n=37). Enrolled participants had problematic vasomotor symptoms and at least one el

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

In-depth comparison of commercial Trichoderma-based products: integrative approaches to quantitative analysis, taxonomy and efficacy

Tomasz Kulik, Paulina Staniszewska, Patryk Wiśniewski et al. · 2025 · Frontiers in Microbiology

Products derived from Trichoderma fungi, primarily marketed as biofungicides and biofertilizers, are widely utilized to promote sustainable and regenerative farming practices. In this study, we characterized Trichoderma -based products currently available in both international and local (the Polish) markets. We estimated the number of viable cells in these products, which is a key factor boosting their efficacy. We found substantial differences in the number of colony-forming units (CFUs) among various products, with all products exhibiting fewer CFUs than claimed. The degree of this inconsist

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

HDL Function Versus Small Dense LDL: Cardiovascular Benefits and Implications

Claudiu Stoicescu, Cristina Văcărescu, Dragoș Cozma · 2025 · Journal of Clinical Medicine

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) and small dense low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL) represent two critical yet contrasting components in lipid metabolism and cardiovascular risk modulation. While HDL has traditionally been viewed as cardioprotective due to its role in reverse cholesterol transport and anti-inflammatory effects, emerging evidence emphasizes that HDL functionality-rather than concentration alone-is pivotal in atheroprotection. Conversely, sdLDL particles are increasingly recognized as highly atherogenic due to their enhanced arterial penetration, oxidative susceptibility, and prolong

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMaterials Science

Tritium production and processing systems for ST-E1

Emrah Yıldırım, J. Naish, J. Trueba et al. · 2026 · Nuclear Fusion

Abstract An integrated tritium fuel-cycle architecture has been developed for ST-E1, a low-aspect-ratio, high-power fusion power plant. The approach couples a helium-cooled liquid-lithium breeder blanket with a dedicated circulation loop providing tritium extraction, heat removal, and inventory control within a unified system boundary. Downstream of the blanket, the tritium processing system comprises of extraction, purification, isotope separation, and storage subsystems sized to accommodate the plant’s dynamic tritium production and consumption rates. Inventory modelling is used to assess ca

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Five‐Year Outcomes and Disease Trajectories in Moderate‐to‐Severe Ulcerative Colitis: A Korean Multicenter Inception Cohort

Byong Duk Ye, Hyo Jong Kim, Dongil Park et al. · 2026 · Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The incidence of ulcerative colitis (UC) has been increasing in Asia. Comprehensive data on the long-term course of moderate-to-severe UC remain scarce. This study investigated the clinical outcomes and factors…

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