Study reveals how fatal school shootings disrupt local economies

Texas A&M University

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A new multi-university study co-authored by Texas A&M University’s Dr. Shrihari Sridhar and alumnus Dr. Muzeeb Shaik of Indiana University reveals that fatal school shootings have far-reaching consequences beyond the immediate tragedy, altering daily life and disrupting economies in affected communities for months.

The research, published in the Journal of Marketing Research, provides the first large-scale empirical evidence that fatal school shootings are linked to a measurable decline in consumer activity, especially in public spaces like grocery stores and restaurants. The study found that in the months following a fatal school shooting, grocery spending declines by 2% in affected counties — a reduction that persists for at least six months. There is also an 8% drop in spending at restaurants and bars, and a 3% drop in overall food and beverage retail.

“Our team’s research shows that fatal school shootings don’t just affect the families involved — they quietly but profoundly alter the rhythms of entire communities,” said Sridhar, senior associate dean at Mays Business School. “Even something as routine as grocery shopping declines for months, driven by a deep sense of unease.”

Controlled experiments to understand why these effects occurred revealed that anxiety about public safety, especially in shared spaces like grocery stores or restaurants, is the primary driver behind the decline in spending.

“One of the most sobering takeaways from our study is that anxiety disrupts economic life,” Sridhar said. “These tragic events create ripple effects that reach into everyday decisions, affecting not just mental health but also local businesses and social cohesion.”

The research team — which included members from Indiana University, the University of Notre Dame, University of California, Davis and Georgia Tech — analyzed household-level grocery spending data from 63 school shootings across the United States between 2012 and 2019, using NielsenIQ’s Homescan panel matched to school shooting records from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. The analysis compared households’ consumption patterns before and after a local school shooting to the same households’ behavior in the prior year. Additional analyses used retail foot traffic and transaction data from SafeGraph and Advan.

The findings show that anxiety following fatal school shootings manifests in fewer shopping trips, less time spent in stores, smaller grocery baskets and reduced public engagement overall.

The impact also varies by political leaning. In liberal-leaning counties, grocery spending dropped by 2.4%, compared to about 1.3% in conservative-leaning areas. This disparity is attributed to differing perceptions about gun violence: political psychology shows liberals are more likely than conservatives to attribute the cause of fatal school shootings to systemic causes, like gun laws and cultural access to firearms, while conservatives are more likely to view them as isolated incidents driven by individual pathology. The researchers said liberals reported higher levels of anxiety and stronger intentions to avoid public spaces following a school shooting.

The findings suggest that the fallout from school shootings extends far beyond the immediate victims, reshaping entire communities, and offer insight into how threats to perceived safety affect consumption.

Unlike natural disasters, which often prompt formal economic recovery efforts, mass shootings typically do not. The researchers say similar efforts may be warranted in communities affected by shootings. They said a community’s return to normalcy “requires more than just reopening doors; it requires trust-building and visible support.”

By Caitlin Clark, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications

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Journal

Journal of Marketing Research

DOI

10.1177/00222437251350150 

Article Title

How Fatal School Shootings Impact a Community’s Consumption

Article Publication Date

9-Jun-2025

New oil and gas fields incompatible with Paris climate goals

Opening new North Sea oil and gas fields is incompatible with achieving the Paris Climate Agreement goals of limiting warming to 1.5°C or holding warming to “well below 2°C” relative to preindustrial levels, finds a new report published by UCL acade

University College London

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Opening any new North Sea oil and gas fields is incompatible with achieving the Paris Climate Agreement goals of limiting warming to 1.5°C or holding warming to “well below 2°C” relative to preindustrial levels, finds a new report published by UCL academics.

Researchers behind the study, based at the UCL Energy Institute, UCL Department of Political Science and UCL Policy Lab, are now calling on the UK Government to stop licensing new oil and gas exploration, and refuse development consent for already-licensed fields.

On a practical level, this would mean an end to issuing new licences to explore for oil and gas. The researchers also urge the Government to decide against allowing the development of already-licenced North Sea oilfields. This includes the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw oilfields, whose previous approvals were deemed unlawful by a Scottish court in January this year.

Lead author, Greg Muttitt (UCL Energy Institute) said: “Climate impacts are already threatening people’s homes, our farming and our economy, so reducing emissions is now urgent. We’ve brought together the peer-reviewed scientific literature on oil and gas, which sends a clear message: there’s no room for new fields to be opened. When you’re in a hole, you have to stop digging.”

For the report, the researchers analysed the latest scientific evidence and literature on the climate implications of new oil and gas extraction projects. The report draws on the authors' recent peer-reviewed research papers published in leading academic journals including Science and Nature, as well as hundreds of other peer-reviewed studies, reports and datasets.

They found that if the world burns all the oil and gas in existing fields, the resulting carbon dioxide emissions would warm the planet in excess of the 1.5°C limit established by the Paris Climate Agreement. Any new oil and gas fields would further exacerbate that excess.

The latest estimate of the world’s “committed emissions” – the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions created by burning the fossil fuels to be extracted from oil and gas fields that are currently operating or under development – would amount to 469 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide. This is approximately three times the amount of carbon dioxide needed to push the planet past 1.5°C of warming.

Researchers say the timing of the study is important because the UK Government is facing at least two significant decisions about new oil and gas fields in the North Sea. First, how to implement its policy of ending new exploration licensing. Second, whether to re-approve development of the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields.

In the UK, there’s typically a two-stage process for the full development of a new oil field. Companies first receive an award of a license that gives them the right to explore for oil and gas in an area. Upon the discovery of a field, the company can then apply for a development consent to begin to extract oil and gas from the field.

In the report, the UCL researchers recommend stopping all future licenses to explore, and not granting new development consents to fields that have been explored but not yet tapped.

Presently, there are two high profile fields that have been licensed and explored, but have not yet received development consents: The large Rosebank field west of the Shetland Islands and the smaller Jackdaw field east of Aberdeen. A court ruling in January set aside the previously-issued development consents for these fields, finding that the decisions to grant consent unlawfully failed to consider the climate impacts of consuming the fuels produced from these fields. This means that the Government has to make a fresh decision whether to award each consent, after taking into account the climate impacts of the greenhouse gas emissions that will result when the oil and gas is combusted.

Co-author Dr Fergus Green (UCL Political Science) said: “Our report lays out the evidential basis for rejecting new field development consents on climate grounds. More broadly, this is a real chance for the UK Government to show world leadership in an important aspect of climate action. The UK has long been recognised as an influential climate leader. Ending new licences and consents for oil and gas exploration and production would send a powerful signal to the rest of the world about the need to stop expanding fossil fuel production.”

Co-author Professor Steve Pye (UCL Energy Institute) said: “The planet has a limited remaining carbon budget and oil and gas production from existing fields is already likely to exceed this limit. It’s critical that that in order to meet climate goals under the Paris Agreement, no new oil and gas fields should be permitted. The UK has the opportunity to further demonstrate its role as a global climate leader by restricting new production while ensuring a just transition for the oil and gas sector in the UK.”

The researchers also highlighted that it is in the interest of the oil and gas sector to avoid investing in new fields. With the global energy system transitioning to clean energy options, new oil and gas fields run the risk of becoming “stranded assets,” investments that fail to achieve their expected commercial returns as the world turns away from fossil fuels.

* The Paris Climate Agreement signed by nearly 200 governments in 2015 includes a commitment to keep the rise in global temperatures "well below" 2°C compared to pre-industrial times, while striving to limit them to 1.5°C.

The 1.5°C target is important because even a small difference in temperature can significantly worsen the impacts of climate change. The 1.5°C target is seen as limiting the risks and costs associated with higher warming to a tolerable level.

 

Notes to Editors

For more information or to speak to the researchers involved, please contact Michael Lucibella, UCL Media Relations. T: +44 (0)75 3941 0389, E: m.lucibella@ucl.ac.uk

Greg Muttitt, Fergus Green and Steve Pye, ‘The Climate Implications of New Oil and Gas Fields in the UK – An overview of the evidence’ will be published on the UCL Policy Lab Website on Tuesday 10 June 2025, 00:01 UK time, Monday 9 June 19:01 EDT, and is under a strict embargo until this time.

Following publication, the report can be found at www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/our-reports

 

Additional material

• Honorary Research Fellow Greg Muttitt
• Dr Fergus Green's academic profile
• Dr Steve Pye’s academic profile
• UCL Energy Institute
• UCL Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources
• UCL Faculty of the Built Environment
• UCL Policy Lab
• UCL Department of Political Science 
• UCL Social & Historical Sciences

 

About UCL – London’s Global University

UCL is a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. Our powerful collective of individuals and institutions work together to explore new possibilities.

Since 1826, we have championed independent thought by attracting and nurturing the world's best minds. Our community of more than 50,000 students from 150 countries and over 16,000 staff pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems.

The Times and Sunday Times University of the Year 2024, we are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact.

We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research – championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors.  

For almost 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge.

We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today. We are UCL.

www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow @uclnews.bsky.social on Bluesky | Read news at www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ | Listen to UCL podcasts on SoundCloud | View images on Flickr | Find out what’s on at UCL Mind

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Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

The Climate Implications of New Oil and Gas Fields in the UK – An overview of the evidence

Article Publication Date

10-Jun-2025

 

KAIST introduces ‘Virtual Teaching Assistant’ that can answer even in the middle of the night – successful first deployment in classroom​

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

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image: 

Photo 1. (From left) PhD candidate Sunjun Kweon, Master's candidate Sooyohn Nam, PhD candidate Hyunseung Lim, Professor Hwajung Hong, Professor Yoonjae Choi

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Credit: KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI

“At first, I didn’t have high expectations for the Virtual Teaching Assistant (VTA), but it turned out to be extremely helpful—especially when I had sudden questions late at night, I could get immediate answers,” said Jiwon Yang, a Ph.D. student at KAIST. “I was also able to ask questions I would’ve hesitated to bring up with a human TA, which led me to ask even more and ultimately improved my understanding of the course.”

 

KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on June 5th that a joint research team led by Prof. Yoonjae Choi of the Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI and Prof. Hwajeong Hong of the Department of Industrial Design has successfully developed and deployed a Virtual Teaching Assistant (VTA) that provides personalized feedback to individual students even in large-scale classes.

 

This study marks one of the first large-scale, real-world deployments in Korea, where the VTA was introduced in the “Programming for Artificial Intelligence” course at the KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI, taken by 477 master’s and Ph.D. students during the Fall 2024 semester, to evaluate its effectiveness and practical applicability in an actual educational setting.

 

The AI teaching assistant developed in this study is a course-specialized agent, distinct from general-purpose tools like ChatGPT or conventional chatbots. The research team implemented a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture, which automatically vectorizes a large volume of course materials—including lecture slides, coding assignments, and video lectures—and uses them as the basis for answering students’ questions.

 

 

< Photo 2. Teaching Assistant demonstrating to the student how the Virtual Teaching Assistant works>

 

When a student asks a question, the system searches for the most relevant course materials in real time based on the context of the query, and then generates a response. This process is not merely a simple call to a large language model (LLM), but rather a material-grounded question answering system tailored to the course content—ensuring both high reliability and accuracy in learning support.

 

Sunjun Kweon, the first author of the study and head teaching assistant for the course, explained, “Previously, TAs were overwhelmed with repetitive and basic questions—such as concepts already covered in class or simple definitions—which made it difficult to focus on more meaningful inquiries.” He added, “After introducing the VTA, students began to reduce repeated questions and focus on more essential ones. As a result, the burden on TAs was significantly reduced, allowing us to concentrate on providing more advanced learning support.”

 

In fact, compared to the previous year’s course, the number of questions that required direct responses from human TAs decreased by approximately 40%.

 

 

< Photo 3. A student working with VTA. >

 

The VTA, which was operated over a 14-week period, was actively used by more than half of the enrolled students, with a total of 3,869 Q&A interactions recorded. Notably, students without a background in AI or with limited prior knowledge tended to use the VTA more frequently, indicating that the system provided practical support as a learning aid, especially for those who needed it most.

 

The analysis also showed that students tended to ask the VTA more frequently about theoretical concepts than they did with human TAs. This suggests that the AI teaching assistant created an environment where students felt free to ask questions without fear of judgment or discomfort, thereby encouraging more active engagement in the learning process.

 

According to surveys conducted before, during, and after the course, students reported increased trust, response relevance, and comfort with the VTA over time. In particular, students who had previously hesitated to ask human TAs questions showed higher levels of satisfaction when interacting with the AI teaching assistant.

 

 

 

< Figure 1. Internal structure of the AI Teaching Assistant (VTA) applied in this course. It follows a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) structure that builds a vector database from course materials (PDFs, recorded lectures, coding practice materials, etc.), searches for relevant documents based on student questions and conversation history, and then generates responses based on them. >

 

Professor Yoonjae Choi, the lead instructor of the course and principal investigator of the study, stated, “The significance of this research lies in demonstrating that AI technology can provide practical support to both students and instructors. We hope to see this technology expanded to a wider range of courses in the future.”

 

The research team has released the system’s source code on GitHub, enabling other educational institutions and researchers to develop their own customized learning support systems and apply them in real-world classroom settings.

 

 

< Figure 2. Initial screen of the AI Teaching Assistant (VTA) introduced in the "Programming for AI" course. It asks for student ID input along with simple guidelines, a mechanism to ensure that only registered students can use it, blocking indiscriminate external access and ensuring limited use based on students. >

 

The related paper, titled “A Large-Scale Real-World Evaluation of an LLM-Based Virtual Teaching Assistant,” was accepted on May 9, 2025, to the Industry Track of ACL 2025, one of the most prestigious international conferences in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP), recognizing the excellence of the research.

 

 

< Figure 3. Example conversation with the AI Teaching Assistant (VTA). When a student inputs a class-related question, the system internally searches for relevant class materials and then generates an answer based on them. In this way, VTA provides learning support by reflecting class content in context. >

 

This research was conducted with the support of the KAIST Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, the National Research Foundation of Korea, and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency.

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Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

A Large-Scale Real-World Evaluation of an LLM-Based Virtual Teaching Assistant

Photo 2. Teaching Assistant demonstrating to the student how the Virtual Teaching Assistant works





Photo 3. A student working with VTA.

Credit

KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI





Figure 1. Internal structure of the AI Teaching Assistant (VTA) applied in this course. It follows a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) structure that builds a vector database from course materials (PDFs, recorded lectures, coding practice materials, etc.), searches for relevant documents based on student questions and conversation history, and then generates responses based on them.

Figure 2. Initial screen of the AI Teaching Assistant (VTA) introduced in the "Programming for AI" course. It asks for student ID input along with simple guidelines, a mechanism to ensure that only registered students can use it, blocking indiscriminate external access and ensuring limited use based on students.




Figure 3. Example conversation with the AI Teaching Assistant (VTA). When a student inputs a class-related question, the system internally searches for relevant class materials and then generates an answer based on them. In this way, VTA provides learning support by reflecting class content in context.



Credit

Authors: Sunjun Kweon et al.

 

AMOC decline increases rainfall in parts of the Amazon rainforest

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

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New research led by IIASA reveals a surprising link between two major climate tipping elements: the Southern Amazon rainforest and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). While the study finds that a weakening AMOC may buffer dry season rainfall loss in the Amazon, it also highlights the urgent need to reduce emissions as broader climate risks continue to escalate.

The Southern Amazon rainforest, one of the Earth’s most vital ecosystems, faces intensifying threats from climate change and deforestation. Meanwhile, the AMOC – a system of ocean currents crucial for regulating global climate – is weakening. Both are considered climate tipping elements, which may undergo abrupt and potentially irreversible shifts in response to global warming, with potentially devastating consequences. A new study led by IIASA researcher Annika Högner in collaboration with colleagues from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Center for Critical Computational Studies (C3S) in Frankfurt, has now identified a link between them.

Published in Environmental Research Letters, the study is the first to identify a causal pathway from the AMOC to the Southern Amazon from reanalysis and observational data. A weakening AMOC leads to a cooling of North Atlantic Sea surface temperatures, and this causes increased rainfall in the Southern Amazon during the dry season. Using advanced causal analysis methods spanning 1982 to 2022, the researchers show that for every 1 million cubic meters per second of AMOC weakening, annual dry season rainfall in the Southern Amazon increases by roughly 4.8%.

“The dry season is the most vulnerable time for the Amazon rainforest,” explains Högner. “Our findings reveal that a weakening AMOC contributes to increased rainfall in the Southern Amazon during this time.”

According to the analysis, this previously unknown climate teleconnection may have offset up to 17% of the dry season rainfall decline in the Southern Amazon since 1982. While this sounds like good news, the authors urge caution. The Amazon is still receiving less rainfall, with dry seasons becoming longer and more intense – and although buffering this drying trend, further AMOC weakening would have severe adverse impacts across the globe.

“The Amazon is still drying,” notes study coauthor Nico Wunderling, a professor at C3S and scientist at PIK. “The stabilizing interaction we found from the AMOC onto the Southern Amazon competes with other effects like those arising from deforestation and increasing temperatures, which would cause continued Amazon drying that the interaction will not be able to compensate for long-term. To accurately estimate future risks, we need to understand these complex interactions. Our study adds an important piece to this puzzle.”

The authors emphasize that this discovery reinforces the importance of integrating tipping element interactions into climate risk assessments. It also underlines the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent pushing vulnerable systems past critical thresholds.

“Interactions between climate tipping elements are not just theoretical – they are happening now,” says Högner. “Even though some tipping element interactions are stabilizing, the majority are not – rather the opposite. We cannot count on the Earth system to continue absorbing the damage we cause. The only reliable way forward is to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit warming.”

Reference
Högner, A., Di Capua, G., Donges, J.F., Donner, R.V., Feulner, G., and Wunderling, N. (2025). Causal pathway from AMOC to Southern Amazon rainforest indicates stabilising interaction between two climate tipping elements. Environmental Research Letters DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/addb62

 

About IIASA:
The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. www.iiasa.ac.at

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Journal

Environmental Research Letters

DOI

10.1088/1748-9326/addb62 

Article Title

Causal pathway from AMOC to Southern Amazon rainforest indicates stabilising interaction between two climate tipping elements

Article Publication Date

9-Jun-2025

 

Rutgers Health research identifies new trigger accelerating antibiotic resistance

Rutgers University

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Antibiotics are supposed to wipe out bacteria, yet the drugs can sometimes hand microbes an unexpected advantage.

A new study from Rutgers Health shows that ciprofloxacin, a staple treatment for urinary tract infections, throws Escherichia coli (E. coli) into an energy crisis that saves many cells from death and speeds the evolution of full‑blown resistance.

“Antibiotics can actually change bacterial metabolism,” said Barry Li, a student at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School pursuing a dual doctoral degree for physician–scientists and the first author of the paper published in Nature Communications. “We wanted to see what those changes do to the bugs’ chances of survival.”

Li and senior author Jason Yang focused on adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecular fuel that powers cells. When ATP levels crash, cells experience “bioenergetic stress.” To mimic that stress, the team engineered E. coli with genetic drains that constantly burned ATP or its cousin nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH). Then, they pitted both the engineered strains and normal bacteria against ciprofloxacin.

The results surprised the researchers. The drug and the genetic drains each slashed ATP, but rather than slowing down, the bacteria revved up. Respiration soared, and the cells spewed extra reactive‑oxygen molecules that can damage DNA. That frenzy produced two troubling outcomes.

First, more of the bacteria cells survived.

In time‑kill tests, ten times as many stressed cells weathered a lethal ciprofloxacin dose compared with unstressed controls. These hardy stragglers, called persister cells, lie low until the drug is gone and then rebound to launch a new infection.

People have long blamed sluggish metabolism for persister cell formation.

“People expected a slower metabolism to cause less killing,” Li said. “We saw the opposite. The cells ramp up metabolism to refill their energy tanks and that turns on stress responses that slow the killing.”

Follow‑up experiments traced the protection to the stringent response, a bacterial alarm system that reprograms the cell under stress.

Second, stressed cells mutated faster to evolve antibiotic resistance.

While persisters keep infections smoldering, genetic resistance can render a drug useless outright. The Rutgers group cycled E. coli through escalating ciprofloxacin doses and found that stressed cells reached the resistance threshold four rounds sooner than normal cells. DNA sequencing and classic mutation tests pointed to oxidative damage and error‑prone repair as the culprits.

“The changes in metabolism are making antibiotics work less well and helping bacteria evolve resistance,” said Yang, an assistant professor at the medical school and Chancellor Scholar of microbiology, biochemistry & molecular genetics.

Preliminary measurements show that gentamicin and ampicillin also drain ATP in addition to ciprofloxacin. The stress effect may span very different pathogens, including the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is highly sensitive to ATP shocks.

If so, the discovery casts new light on a global threat. Antibiotic resistance already contributes to 1.27 million deaths a year. Strategies that ignore the metabolic fallout of treatment may be missing a key lever.

The findings suggest several changes for antibiotic development and use.

First, screen candidate antibiotics for unintended energy‑drain side effects. Second, pair existing drugs with anti‑evolution boosters that block the stress pathways or mop up the extra oxygen radicals. Third, reconsider the instinct to blast infections with the highest possible dose. Earlier studies and the new data both hint that extreme concentrations can trigger the very stress that protects bacteria.

“Bacteria turn our attack into a training camp,” Yang said. “If we can cut the power to that camp, we can keep our antibiotics working longer.”

Li and Yang are planning on testing compounds that soothe bioenergetic stress in the hope of turning the microbial energy crisis back into an Achilles’ heel rather than a shield.

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-60302-6. 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

Bioenergetic stress potentiates antimicrobial resistance and persistence

Article Publication Date

9-Jun-2025