Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is prevalent globally, constituting 11.9% of cases in Mexico. Lymph node metastases are established prognostic indicators, with extracapsular lymph node extension (ENE) playing a crucial role in modifying prognosis. While ENE is associated with adverse factors, certain aspects, like lymph node conglomerates, are underexplored. Matted nodes, clusters of lymph nodes infiltrated by cancer cells, are recognized as an independent prognostic factor in other cancers. This study investigates the prognostic implications of lymph node conglomerates, particularly matted nodes, in colon cancer. Methods: A retrospective analy-sis of 502 colon cancer cases (2005–2018) identified 255 with lymph node metastasis. Cases were categorized into two groups: 1) lymph node metastasis alone (n=208), and 2) lymph node metas-tasis with matted nodes (n=47). A comparative survival analysis was performed. Results: Of the 255 patients, 38% had lymph node metastasis. Patients with matted nodes (18.4%) showed an association with higher pN stage and lymphovascular invasion. The 5-year survival rate for pa-tients with matted nodes was 47.7%, compared to 60% without; however, this association demonstrated only a statistical tendency. Multivariate analysis identified clinical stage and ad-juvant chemotherapy use as independent factors contributing to survival. Conclusion: This study underscores matted nodes as potential prognostic indicators in colon cancer, emphasizing their association with higher pN stage and reduced survival. Further research is essential for validat-ing these findings and integrating matted nodes into the broader context of colorectal cancer management.

Patient-derived tumor organoids (PDTOs) are a novel preclinical model of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for studying tumor biology and precision medicine, which recapitulates tumor morphology and gene expression profile. However, some issues such as low establishment rates, long-term production, and the loss of the immune microenvironment have hindered their widespread practical use. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of a recently introduced free-floating organoid production method to address these issues. The free-floating approach provided PDTO establishment success rate of over 90 % resulting in organoid formation within a short period of one week. These organoids retained the elements of the parental tumor morphology and contained stroma and immune cell populations, as confirmed by flow cytometry analysis. Importantly, we found that the cytokine and growth factor expression profiles of the free-floating organoids correlated with those of the original tumors in 58 % of cases, indicating the preservation of tumor-associated signaling pathways. Obtained organoids exhibited different responses to anticancer chemotherapeutics that might be a result of variable expression of drug resistance-associated genes. Considering the high establishment rate and short time of free-floating organoid production, this technique provides a valuable tool for a more accurate evaluation of therapeutic strategies and cancer biology studies.

Reactions of picolinamides with 1,3-propanesultone in methanol followed by the treatment with ketones led to a series of previously unknown chemical transformations, yielding first pyridinium salts (2a-f) with a protonated endocyclic nitrogen atom and then heterocyclic salts (3a-j) containing a 4-imidazoline ring. The structures of intermediate and final products were determined by IR and 1H, 13C NMR spectroscopy and X-ray study. The effects of the ketone and alcohol structures on the product yield were studied by quantum-chemical calculations. The stability of salts 3a-j towards hydrolysis and alcoholysis makes them excellent candidates for the search of new types of biologically active compounds.

Samples of ZrO2 ceramics with different concentrations of impurity titanium ions were synthesized by mixing powders of zirconium and titanium oxides in various mass ratios. The phase composition and surface morphology of the studied ceramics were determined by X-ray phase analysis and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that irradiation of samples with xenon ions (220 MeV) with fluences 1010 and 1012 ion/cm2 leads to a decrease in the intensity of the pulse cathodoluminescence band at 2.5 eV. It is shown that ion irradiation causes the appearance of a new peak of thermoluminescence at 450-650 K of a non-elementary form associated with radiation-induced traps of charge carriers. In contrast to electron irradiation, an increase in the fluence of ions leads to a decrease in the intensity of this peak. In contrast to electron irradiation, an increase in the fluence of ions leads to a decrease in the intensity of this peak. A complex nonmonotonic dependence of the cathode and thermoluminescence intensity on the dopant concentration was found, which may be due to the effects of concentration quenching and aggregation of defective centers.

The severe respiratory distress syndrome (SRDS) has been a significant clinical issue in modern respiratory medicine. Its role in COVID-19 pandemic is not well defined. Outside-the-hospital SRDS is usually community-acquired septic pneumonia; however, in-hospitals incidences are complicated by co-infections. While SRDS is genetically selected in European and African origins, these are not clear in Middle East, particularly in COVID-19 backgrounds. There is a severe paucity in high quality data on correlations between COVID-19, ARDS, co-infectome, and patient demographics. We have conducted a comprehensive investigation on 298 patients for associations of SRDS, coinfections, and patient demographics on COVID-19 patients’ outcomes. Of these, 9.4% (n=28) had SRDS, and the rest (90.6%) had not. 54% of those with SRDS died while 84% survived; SRDS fatality was highly significant (Chi-square test P-value = 0.00000246). Irrespective of gender, the age of patients was significantly associated with SRDS (72.9 +/-8.9) compared to those without it (56.2 +/-15.1). However, there was no significant difference neither in the age of admitted patients before COVID-19 (58.5 +/-15.3) and during COVID-19 (57.2 +/-15.5) nor in the gender and COVID-19 fatality (Fisher Exact test 2-sided 1.000, 1-sided .546) ruling out that SRDS age-specificity were selected by virus susceptibility. A 100% of SRDS patients without bacterial co-infections survived while only 25% of those with co- infectome did not; this association was highly significant (P value= 0.00041). Co-infections alone without underlying SRDS was also associated with high fatality among patients (P value= 0.00000000076). Almost all COVID-19 patients without co-infectome (99.2%) survived while 28% of those with bacterial co-infection died. The major bacterial pathogens that potentially predisposed to SRDS, were Acinetobacter baumannii, and Escherichia coli either alone or in a mixed infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae were predominant species identified during SRDS attack. Thus, Gram-negative co-infectome potentially induced fatal SRDS aggravating COVID-19 outcome. These findings have significant clinical implications in specific differential diagnosis of SRDS syndromes for subsequent empiric therapy and patient management strategies. Future vertical investigation for similar mechanisms of cytokine-induced SRDS by Gram negative pathogens is imperative since hypervirulent strains are rapidly circulating in the region. The study is limited by a single center study confined to Ha’il hospitals; large scale investigation in major national hospitals would gain more insights.

Background: diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a serious complication of diabetes mellitus and a common cause for end stage renal disease. Autophagy has a defensive role against kidney damage caused by hyperglycemia. The mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived exosomes are currently considered as a new promising therapy in chronic renal injury. However, the renal protective mechanism of exosomes on DN has not been completely understood. We examined the potential role of MSCs derived exosomes in enhancement of autophagy activity and its effect on DN. In our study we used five groups of rats; control, DN, DN treated with exosomes, DN treated with 3-methyladenine (3-MA) and chloroquine (inhibitors of autophagy) and DN treated with 3-methyladenine (3-MA) and chloroquine and exosomes groups. We assessed renal functions, morphology and fibrosis. Moreover, autophagy markers; mTOR, Beclin-1, light chain-3 (LC3-II), and LC3-II/LC3-I ratio were detected. Additionally, electron microscopy was used for detection of autophagosomes. Results: Exosomes markedly improved the renal functions and showed histological restoration of renal tissues with significant increase in LC3 and Beclin-1 besides the significant decrease in mTOR and fibrotic markers expression in renal tissue. All previous effects were partially abolished by the autophagy inhibitor, chloroquine and 3-MA. Conclusions: we conclude that autophagy induction by exosomes could attenuate DN in a rat model of streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus.

In order to foster a more sustainable and eco-friendly trajectory for the construction industry, while concurrently mitigating environmental pollution and energy inefficiency, it is imperative to cultivate an environmentally conscious building and urban environment. Under the background of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, green building evaluation system (GBRS) has become a research hotspot in the field of green building. This paper systematically summarizes the current research progress based on GBRS, focuses on the current weight and indicators setting, analyzes it with Cite Space software, and puts forward its future development direction. The results show that the weight setting method of green building evaluation system is determined by multidimensional and multi-method. From the perspective of environment, society and economy, the scope of indicators setting is expanding. The green building evaluation system will play a guiding role in green building design, and the evaluation process will continue to be optimized and developed in the direction of intelligence and automation.

Emerging evidence suggests that the human vermiform appendix is not a vestigial organ, but rather an immunological organ of biological relevance. It is hypothesised that the appendix acts as a bacterial ‘safe house’ for commensal gut bacteria and facilitates re-inoculation of the colon after disruption through the release of biofilms. To date, no studies have attempted to explore this potential mechanistic function of the appendix. We conducted a pre-post intervention study in adults (n=59) exploring reestablishment of the gut microbiota in those with and without an appendix after colonic disruption via bowel preparation and colonoscopy. Gut microbiota composition was measured one week before and one month after bowel preparation and colonoscopy using 16S rRNA sequencing. We observed between group differences in gut microbiota composition between those with (n=45) and without (n=13) an appendix at baseline. These differences were no longer evident one-month post-procedure, suggesting that this procedure may have ‘reset’ any potential appendix-related differences between groups. Both groups experienced reductions in gut microbiota richness and shifts in beta diversity post-procedure, with greater changes in those without an appendix, and there were five bacterial genera whose re-establishment post-procedure appeared to be moderated by appendicectomy status. This small experimental study provides preliminary evidence of a potential differential reestablishment of the gut microbiota after disruption in those with and without an appendix, warranting further investigation into the potential role of the appendix as a microbial safe house.

This study examines the impact of natural resource exploitation, renewable energy consumption, economic growth, biocapacity, and information and communication technologies (ICT) on the ecological footprint of BRICS+ nations using panel data from 1991 to 2019. Advanced econometric techniques, including FMOLS, DOLS, CCR, and GMM, reveal significant findings relevant to sustainability-focused policymakers. The results show that natural resource exploitation significantly contributes to environmental degradation, while renewable energy consumption mitigates these effects to varying degrees across the studied countries. Although economic growth is crucial, it worsens ecological footprints unless accompanied by sustainable practices. ICT and biocapacity emerge as key factors in promoting environmental sustainability, with ICT enhancing innovation and efficiency to reduce ecological impacts. The study emphasizes the need for tailored policy frameworks that align economic growth with environmental sustainability, advocating for the adoption of renewable energy, eco-innovations, and green finance initiatives suited to the unique conditions of BRICS+ nations. The findings aim to guide policymakers in advancing sustainable development and mitigating the adverse environmental impacts of rapid industrialization and urbanization, while contributing to the global discourse on achieving a balance between economic growth and ecological well-being in developing countries.

The increasing use of whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) examinations, also known as panCT, in emergency departments for trauma patients has raised concerns about potential over-use and the associated risk of unnecessary radiation exposure. The purpose of this study was to examine the utilization patterns and findings of panCT scans performed over one year at a major academic hospital. This retrospective cohort study included 599 trauma patients (adults and pe-diatrics) who underwent panCT scans in 2023. De-identified data for each patient, including the radiology report, age, gender, and dose-length product (DLP), were retrieved and reviewed. Ra-diology reports were classified as negative (no acute traumatic injuries) or positive, with posi-tive cases further subclassified based on injury location. Injury severity scores (ISS) were also calculated based on the findings of the radiology reports. Statistical analysis was performed us-ing Python programming language to assess predictors of report findings. Overall, 56% of panCT scans were negative. Logistic regression showed that age significantly impacted the like-lihood of negative findings (p=0.009), while gender did not (p=0.182). One-third of positive cases showed injuries either in head and neck (H&N) or chest-abdomen-pelvis (CAP) regions. Most cases (70% adults, 65% pediatrics) had an ISS between 1 and 8. Median DLP values were 2264 mGy.cm in pediatrics and 2666 mGy.cm in adults. The study showed a high rate of negative panCT scans, suggesting potential overuse of panCT. These findings highlight the need for more selective CT imaging approaches, evidence-based guidelines, and decision-support tools to promote appropriate utilization of panCT scans, reducing unnecessary radiation exposure while ensuring high-risk patients receive appropriate imaging.

Purpose: To analyze the clinical efficacy of superselective renal artery embolization and retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy for the treatment of ruptured hemorrhagic renal angiomyolipoma and to provide a reference for the selection of treatment methods for ruptured hemorrhagic renal angiomyolipoma. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 24 patients who were diagnosed with ruptured hemorrhagic renal angiomyolipoma at the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University between January 2019 and December 2021. Among them, 10 patients were treated with superselective arterial embolization (SAE), and 14 patients were treated with retroperitoneal laparoscopic part nephrectomy (RLPN). The differences between the two treatment methods in terms of hospital stay, hospital costs, anesthesia method, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative bed rest time, antibiotic dosage, postoperative complication rate, tumor diameter changes, creatinine value changes, hemoglobin value changes, tumor recurrence rate, and reoperation rate were compared. Results: All patients completed the treatment and were discharged. There were no significant differences in length of hospital stay, hospital costs, creatinine change values, or postoperative complication rates between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, there were statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) in surgical time (85.50±19.94 min vs. 141.07±76.33 min), intraoperative blood loss (21.50±14.72 ml vs. 153.57±97.00 ml), postoperative bed rest time (22.7±1.56 h vs. 41.21±3.57 h), preoperative hemoglobin levels (94.7 ±23.62 g/L vs. 113.79 ±17.83 g/L), and hemoglobin changes (-6.60 ±10.36 g/L vs. -15.21 ±8.79 g/L) between the two groups. Both groups of patients had an average follow-up period of 22 months, and patients in the SAE group had a mean reduction of 3.33 cm in tumor diameter within the follow-up period compared with the preembolization period (P < 0.05). None of the patients in the SAE group experienced rebleeding, and there was no tumor recurrence in either group. Conclusion: SAE and RLPN are effective treatments for ruptured renal angiomyolipoma with good outcomes. Furthermore, compared to RLPN, SAE offers advantages such as simplicity of operation, minimal trauma, shorter surgical time, minimal impact on hemoglobin levels, shorter bed rest time, faster postoperative recovery, and maximal preservation of renal units.

Damaged connective tissues between the bone and tendons or ligaments are common among adults regardless of activity level. Achilles tendinosis is one of the most common tissue defects and enthesopathies. The patient in this study is a 54-year-old female with chronic Achilles tendinosis from chronic enthesopathy at the Achilles tendon insertion with a retrocalcaneal exostosis for three years who has failed standard-of-care practices for over two years. The patient received extracorporeal pulsed-activated therapy (EPAT) before applying 2ml of CryoText, a Wharton’s jelly tissue allograft. The patient then received class IV laser therapy treatments twice weekly for three weeks. The patient started with a 10/10 VAS at the initial visit. At five weeks post-application, the patient’s score had improved by 80% at 2/10 VAS. By week 13, the patient rated her pain as 0/10 VAS. The improvement in patient-reported pain and functionality reported in this study after the application of Wharton’s Jelly, EPAT, and class IV laser therapy warrants future research studying the safety and efficacy of these patient care modalities together.

The electronic structure of 7/9-AGNR superlattices with up to eight unit cells has been studied by means of state of the art Density Functional Theory (DFT) and also by two model Hamiltonians, the first one including only local interactions (Hubbard model, Hu) while the second one is extended to allow long-range Coulomb interactions (Pariser, Parr and Pople model, PPP). Both are solved within mean field approximation. At this approximation level, our calculations show that 7/9 interfaces are better described by spin non-polarized solutions than by spin-polarized wavefunctions. Consequently, both Hu and PPP Hamiltonians lead to electronic structures characterized by a gap at the Fermi level that diminishes as the size of the system increases. DFT results show similar trends although a detailed analysis of the density of states around the Fermi level shows quantitative differences with both Hu and PPP models. Before improving model Hamiltonians, we interpret the electronic structure obtained by DFT in terms of bands of topological states: topological states localized at the system edges and extended bulk topological states which interact between them due to the long-range Coulomb terms of Hamiltonian. After careful analysis of the interaction among topological sates, we find that the discrepancy between ab initio and model Hamiltonians can be resolved considering a screened long-range interaction that is implemented adding an exponential cutoff to the interaction term of PPP model. In this way, an adjusted cutoff distance λ = 2 allows a good recovery of DFT results. In view of this, we conclude that the correct description of the density of states around the Fermi level (Dirac point) needs the inclusion of long-range interactions well beyond Hubbard model but not completely unscreened as is the case for the PPP model.

The results of the investigation showed that second-order kinetics govern the adsorption process, and the corresponding rate constants were found. To evaluate the parameters related to the adsorption process, the adsorption equilibrium was examined using a variety of mathematical models, such as the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models. The Langmuir isotherm was found to be the best appropriate among all models for describing the adsorption of Cu2+ and Ni2+ ions using bio-nanocomposite beads. The positive values of ΔH° indicate that the adsorption is physical and endothermic, in agreement with experimental results. The negative value of ∆G° shows that the adsorption process is spontaneous. Positive ΔS° values indicate increased randomness at the solid/liquid interface, during adsorption of Cu2+ and Ni2+ cations onto the engineered bio-nanocomposite. The maximum adsorbed amounts of metal ions by the bio-nanocomposite used were 370.37 mg/g for Ni2+ and 454.54 mg/g for Cu2+ from single system. For the binary system, according to the Langmuir isotherm, the maximum adsorbed amounts of Ni2+ and Cu2+ were 357.14 mg/g and 370,37 mg/g, respectively. There is proof that Alginate-Moroccan clay bio-nanocomposites can serve as a different, less expensive source of sorbents for the removal of metal ions from single and binary systems.

This study evaluated changes over time in skeletal muscle atrophy, expressions of skeletal muscle anabolic and catabolic genes, and mitochondrial activity by skeletal muscle type in an adenine-induced chronic kidney disease (CKD) model. A CKD model was successfully established by feeding male Wistar rats a 0.75% adenine diet for 4 weeks starting at 8 weeks of age. Control and CKD groups were sacrificed at 12 and 20 weeks of age. Back muscles were analyzed histologically, and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) staining was performed to evaluate mitochondrial activity. Gene expressions of myogenic determination gene number 1 and myogenin as indicators of muscle anabolism, atrogin-1 and muscle RING-finger protein-1 (MuRF1) as indicators of muscle catabolism, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1-α as a marker of mitochondrial biogenesis were assessed. Type I and type II muscle cross-sectional areas (CSAs) were decreased at 12 weeks, but type I muscle CSA recovered at 20 weeks. SDH staining was lower in CKD than control rats at 12 weeks, but no significant difference was observed at 20 weeks. Increased expressions of myogenin, atrogin-1, and MuRF-1 were observed only at 12 weeks, but no differences were observed at 20 weeks. The adenine-induced CKD rat model appears to show changes in muscle atrophy over time.

Combined radiation with hemorrhage (combined injury, CI), exacerbates hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome and mortality compared to radiation alone (RI). We evaluated the effects of RI or CI on blood cell depletion as a biomarker to differentiate the two. Male CD2F1 mice were exposed to 8.75 Gy γ- radiation (60Co). Within 2 h of RI, animals were bled under anesthesia 0% (RI) or 20% (CI) of total blood volume. Blood samples were collected at 4-5 h and days 1, 2, 3, 7, and 15 after RI. CI decreased WBC at 4-5 h and continued to decrease them until day 3; counts then stayed at the nadir up to day 15. CI decreased neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils and basophils more than RI on day 1 or day 2. CI decreased RBCs, hemoglobin and hematocrit on days 7 and 15 compared to RI, whereas Hemorrhage alone returned to the baseline on days 7 and 15. RBCs depleted after CI faster than post RI. Hemorrhage alone increased platelet counts on days 2, 3, and 7, which returned to the baseline on day 15. Our data suggest that WBC depletion may be a biomarker within 2 days post-CI and RBC depletion after 3 days post-CI.

Many studies of hypervelocity impact craters have described the characteristics of quartz grains shock-metamorphosed at high pressures of > 10 GPa. In contrast, few studies have investigated shock metamorphism at lower shock pressures. In this study, we test the hypothesis that low-pressure shock metamorphism occurs in near-surface nuclear airbursts and that this process shares essential characteristics with crater-forming impact events. To investigate low-grade shock microstructures, we compared quartz grains from Meteor Crater, a 1.2-km-wide impact crater, to those from near-surface nuclear airbursts at the Alamogordo Bombing Range, New Mexico in 1945 and Kazakhstan in 1949/1953. This investigation utilized a comprehensive analytical suite of high-resolution techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Meteor Crater and the nuclear test sites all exhibit quartz grains with closely-spaced, sub-micron-wide fractures that appear to have formed at low shock pressures. Significantly, these micro-fractures are closely associated with Dauphiné twins and are filled with amorphous silica (glass), widely considered a classic indicator of shock metamorphism. Thus, this study confirms that glass-filled shock fractures in quartz form during near-surface nuclear airbursts, as well as crater-forming impact events, and by extension, it suggests that they may form in any near-surface cosmic airbursts in which the shockwave is coupled to Earth’s surface. The robust characterization of such events is crucial because of their potential catastrophic effects on the Earth’s environmental and biotic systems.

Many studies of hypervelocity impact craters have described the characteristics of quartz grains shock-metamorphosed at high pressures of >10 GPa, but in contrast, few studies have investigated shock metamorphism at lower shock pressures. In this study, we test the hypothesis that low-pressure shock metamorphism occurs in near-surface nuclear airbursts and that this process shares important characteristics with impact-cratering events. To investigate low-grade shock microstructures, we compared quartz grains from Meteor Crater, a 1.2-km-wide impact crater, to those from near-surface nuclear airbursts at the Alamogordo Bombing Range, New Mexico in 1945 and Kazakhstan in 1949/1953. This investigation utilized a comprehensive analytical suite of high-resolution techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Meteor Crater and the nuclear test sites all exhibit metamorphosed quartz grains with closely-spaced, sub-micron-wide fractures that appear to have formed at low shock pressures. Importantly, these micro-fractures are closely associated with Dauphiné twins and are filled with amorphous silica (glass), widely considered to be a classic indicator of shock metamorphism. Thus, this study confirms that glass-filled shock fractures in quartz form during near-surface nuclear airbursts, as well as crater-forming impact events, and by extension, it suggests they also may form in near-surface cosmic airbursts.

Introduction the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza conflict, initiated by a major attack on the civilian population in Israel provided a tragic opportunity to study the community wide association between severe emotional stressors related to acts of war and the incidence and clinical characteristics of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) in this scenario. Methods Eight consecutive cases of TCM diagnosed during the first 50 days of the Israel-Gaza conflict were retrospectively collected from two southern medical centers who provided care to most of the war victims throughout the period of monitoring. The medical records were thoroughly reviewed and analyzed. Results During the monitoring period, the incidence of TCM increased substantially compared to the control period. Eight patients were included in the analysis. All patients were female and 100% of patients presented within the first 3 weeks of conflict whereas after this initial phase, despite the continuing war, the incidence of TCM reverted to pre-conflict levels. Two patients (25%) were under 50 years of age. All patients had hazardous clinical characteristics including severe left ventricular (LV) dysfunction (≤35%) and prolonged QTc interval (>500 ms). Five patients (62.5%) experienced complications. Nevertheless, no in-hospital mortality was reported. Conclusions Repeated exposure to severe emotional stress, on both personal and national level, due to mass crisis such as war is associated with an increased incidence of TCM potentially with high-risk phenotype in comparison to TCM following other, less potent, psychological insults.

Research interest in the occurrence, distribution, fate, and toxicity of N-(1,3-Dimethylbutyl)-N’-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD) quinone, a derivative of the tire amino antioxidant 6PPD in urban environments, has surged. While several studies have found that 6PPD quinone exhibits acute, reproductive, and behavioral toxicity as well as mutagenicity and hepatotoxicity in aquatic and terrestrial animals, its environmental exposure data are fragmented and lack coherence across the source-to-exposure continuum, making it difficult to use for risk assessment and regulatory purposes. The present work developed an aggregate exposure pathway (AEP) framework to integrate the exposure data. An AEP network was developed for the atmospheric deposition of 6PPD quinone from tire wear in the Pearl River Delta, which led to human exposure. The 6PPD quinone research was organized, visualized, and evaluated with pertinent knowledge gaps identified using the weight of evidence assessment. Eight key exposure states were identified, with only two having high confidence levels and three having low confidence levels. Empirical support for the key transitional relationships decreased from High to Low from the source to the target site, indicating an urgent need for downstream mechanistic data. The proposed AEP framework integrated diverse 6PPD quinone research, facilitating a mechanistic understanding of the source-to-outcome continuum, as well as the development of quantitative predictive models for future research and environmental regulation.

Ulleung County, one of the most medically vulnerable areas in South Korea, requires public attention because of the high incidence of liver cancer. This study was conducted as a part of the Ulleung Liver Cancer Prevention and Management Project. The purpose of this study was to estimate the community prevalence of hepatitis B and C viruses and to identify the associated risk factors. The Project’s interagency workgroup established a procedure for conducting blood sampling and health behavior surveys at the Ulleung Public Community Health Center. A total of 1,792 residents aged 40 years and older voluntarily participated in the study between 2019 and 2022. The hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag) and hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) positive rates in Ulleung were 7.19% and 1.37%, respectively. Low education level and lifetime smoking were associated with HBsAg positivity, whereas cupping therapy at non-medical institutions was associated with anti-HCV positivity. The odds of HBs Ag positivity were lower among those with tattoos than among those without. There was a difference in the risk factors associated with hepatitis B and C viral infection. While a high HBs Ag positivity rate alone may not fully explain the high incidence of liver cancer in Ulleung, it may be a contributing factor.

Given the conceptual confusion between resilience and sustainability in organizations in the literature, the present study reviews the 27-year global literature on resilience and sustainability in organizations to clarify the relationship between the two, and derive a framework as cutting-edge knowledge on how to ensure resilience and sustainability in organizations. Findings uncover five schools of thought: Sustainable Business Strategy, Predictive Analytics, Sustainable Supply Chain, Ecological Resilience and Sustainable Leadership. A cutting-edge framework, comprising sustainability practices, sustainability outputs, sustainability and resilience outcomes, is derived to guide future research and inform practitioners on how to ensure resilience and sustainability in their organizations.

Road conditions, often degraded by insufficient maintenance or adverse weather, significantly contribute to accidents, exacerbated by the limited human reaction time to sudden hazards like potholes. Early detection of distant potholes is crucial for timely corrective actions, such as reducing speed or avoiding obstacles, to mitigate vehicle damage and accidents. This paper introduces a novel approach that utilizes perspective transformation to enhance pothole detection at different distances, focusing particularly on distant potholes. Perspective transformation improves the visibility and clarity of potholes by virtually bringing them closer and enlarging their features, which is particularly beneficial given the fixed-size input requirement of object detection networks, typically smaller than the raw image resolutions captured by cameras. Our method automatically identifies the region of interest (ROI)—the road area—and calculates the corner points to generate a perspective transformation matrix. This matrix is applied to all images and corresponding bounding box labels, enhancing the representation of potholes in the dataset. This approach significantly boosts detection performance when used with YOLOv5-small, achieving a 45.7\% improvement in average precision (AP) at IoU thresholds of 0.5 to 0.95 for a single class, and notable improvements of 30.3\%, 78.6\%, and 278\% for near, medium, and far pothole classes, respectively, after categorizing them based on their distance. This work is the first to employ perspective transformation specifically for enhancing the detection of distant potholes.

We model the financial markets as a game and make predictions using Markov chains estimators. We extract the possible patterns displayed by the financial markets, define a game where one of the players is the speculator, whose strategies depend on his/hers risk-to-reward preferences, and the market is the other player, whose strategies are the previously observed patterns. Then we estimate the market’s mixed probabilities by defining Markov chains and utilizing its transitions matrices. Afterwards, we use these probabilities to determine which is the optimal strategy for the speculator. Finally, we apply these models to real-time market data to determine its feasibility. After all, we obtained a model for the financial markets that has an outstanding performance in terms of accuracy and profitability.

Electric vehicles (EVs) play a significant role in reducing carbon emissions. In the US, EVs are mostly owned by multi-vehicle households, and their usage is primarily studied in the context of vehicle miles traveled. This study takes a unique approach by analyzing EV usage through the lens of vehicle choice (between EVs and internal combustion engine vehicles) within multi-vehicle households. A two-step machine-learning framework (clustering and decision trees) is proposed. The framework determines the preferred trip category for EV use and captures the effects of household attributes, driver attributes, built-environment factors, and gas prices on EV use in multi-vehicle households. Results indicate that discretionary trips (accumulated local effect = 0.037) are mostly preferred for EV use. EV preference is more pronounced among households with fewer workers (<2) and lower income levels. These findings are valuable for policymakers and auto manufacturers in targeting specific market segments and promoting EV adoption.

Among the major systems of high-speed rail, the arch network relationship, wheel-rail relationship and fluid-structure coupling relationship are important links affecting the performance of high-speed rail, and also the main control factors affecting the speed limit of high-speed rail. From this perspective, the contact state and interactive relationship between pantograph and catenary are the key factors affecting the forward performance of high-speed rail. As a key component in the pantograph system, the actuator is responsible for adjusting the contact force and position between the pantograph and the contact line. The performance characteristics of the actuator, such as response speed, accuracy, stability and durability, directly affect the control performance of the whole pantograph system. In this paper, the research status of the active control technology of high-speed railway pantograph is reviewed, and the future development direction is pointed out, which provides a new idea for the development of pantograph technology.

(1) Exoskeletons offer potential benefits for overhead working tasks, but gender effects or differences are unclear. This study aimed to compare the performance, strain, and comfort of men and women using an upper-body exoskeleton. (2) n=20 female and n=16 male participants performed an overhead drilling task with and without a passive upper-body exoskeleton in a randomized cross-over study. Task performance of different movement phases, perceived exertion, and ease of use were measured to compare gender differences. One and two-way analyses were used to compare genders in the different conditions. (3) Gender differences after controlling for BMI in task performance were found for error integrals (p

Under the action of cement hydration heat, construction environment, thermal insulation measures, and pipe cooling system, the mass concrete pile cap produces a complex temperature field inside the structure, which makes it difficult to control the internal surface temperature difference, the maximum adiabatic temperature rise and the surface temperature of the structure. In this paper, the mass concrete pile cap of a super large bridge (the length, width, and height are 26.40m，20.90m, and 5.00m, respectively, and the central pier pile cap is constructed with concrete with a strength of C40) is taken as the research support project. The controlling factors affecting the temperature field of the mass concrete pile cap are found by comparing the temperature monitoring of the pile cap with the calculated value of finite element software simulation analysis. Through the finite element software Midas Civil and Midas FEA, the control factors affecting the temperature field of the main pier cap (concrete mold temperature, concrete surface convection coefficient, ambient temperature, and pipe cooling system parameters, etc.) are numerically analyzed, and the influence law and influence degree of the control factors are found out.

Megaselia scalaris and Senotainia tricuspis are two parasitoid flies of the honeybee Apis mellifera and are known to infest apiaries of different European and Mediterranean countries. However, their prevalence is still little known and no systematic control of their presence and countermeasures are currently adopted. To achieve a better knowledge about their distribution in apiaries, quantitative PCR (qPCR) based methods for their rapid detection directly in hive matrices were developed in this study. These were applied to samples of adult honeybees and hive debris collected in the summer season in Central Italy and Kosovo. In total 16 samples per type per region were analyzed. Both flies were detected in the two geographical contexts but more frequently in Central Italy. The positive apiaries in Central Italy were re-sampled one year later by capturing viable honeybees and isolating emerging flies after differentiation into adults. These were genotyped by sequencing regions of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene COI for M. scalaris and cytochrome B gene cytB for S. tricuspis amplified with specific primers designed in this study. Different genotypes of M. scalaris were detected and these were related to biotypes from distant nations. Some fly isolates were shown to harbor DNA or RNA of honeybee microbial pathogens. Results suggested to implement efficient control against these parasites in apiaries to limit their detrimental effects. The qPCR tests that have been developed can facilitate larger screening studies and early detection.

In the last decade, the integration of robots into agricultural tasks has significantly transformed food production from planting to harvest. The precision and efficiency of a robot allow for specialized crop management in cases such as; plant disease identification, optimization of water and fertilizer use, monitoring of environmental and soil conditions, among others. That is, the adoption of robots in agricultural practices through intelligent automation increases crop yields and decreases environmental impact. Intelligent automation faces contemporary challenges such as climate change and population growth, promoting sustainable food security. Therefore, this article presents a review of the state of the art of modular robots and their applications in agriculture. Modular robots have the ability to reconfigure and adapt to different tasks, promoting versatile solutions for the agricultural sector. These solutions are linked to the robot's control systems, which can be centralized, decentralized, and hybrid. Firstly, centralized control allows for unified management and coordination in high-precision tasks. Secondly, the decentralized approach offers flexibility and robustness in changing environments where adaptability is required. Thirdly, hybrids incorporate features of both control types balancing control and autonomy to increase efficiency and effectiveness in practical applications. In some cases, control systems incorporate bio-inspired motion control techniques, where the robot mimics natural movements and behaviors to improve its adaptability in performing a task. For example, the chemosynthesis model, which is a biological process where bacteria convert an inorganic compound into energy, has been adapted for individual robots to explore and navigate their environment. Therefore, this article presents an overview of modular robots, the incorporation of bio-inspired motion control techniques, and their convergence towards the sustainable solution of contemporary problems in the agro-industry.

Social isolation and loneliness are major public health concerns and are associated with morbidity and mortality. As this is an increasing issue in older adults, guidance for healthcare providers is a priority. The Canadian Coalition for Senior’s Mental Health (CCSMH) has de-veloped the first Canadian social isolation and loneliness guidelines to help providers recog-nize, assess, and manage social isolation and loneliness among older adults. We review and summarize these guidelines to support healthcare to apply best practices and evidence based care for older adults experiencing social isolation and loneliness.

Exposure to ionizing radiation, accidental or intentional, may lead to delayed effects of acute radiation exposure (DEARE) that manifest as injury to organ systems including kidney, heart, and brain. This study examines the role of activated protein C (APC), a known mitigator of radiation-induced early toxicity, in long-term plasma metabolite and lipid panels that may be associated with DEARE. Male and female cohorts of C57BL/6N wild-type and APCHi transgenic mice were exposed to 9.5 Gy γ-rays with their hind-legs shielded to allow long-term survival that is necessary to monitor DEARE, and plasma was collected at 6 months for LC-MS based metabolomics and lipidomics. We observed significant dyslipidemia, indicative of inflammatory phenotype, upon radiation exposure. Additionally, observance of several other metabolic dysregulations was suggestive of gut damage, perturbations in TCA and urea cycles, and arginine metabolism. We also observed gender and genotype modulated metabolic perturbations post radiation exposure. The APCHi mice showed near normal abundance for several lipids. Moreover, restoration of plasma levels of some metabolites including amino acids, citric acid, and hypoxanthine in APCHi mice are indicative of APC-mediated protection from radiation injuries. With the help of these findings the role of APC in plasma molecular events after acute -radiation exposure in a gender-specific manner can be established for the first time.

Objective: To evaluate the existing meta-analytic evidence of associations between exposure to ultra-processed foods, as defined by the Nova food classification system, and adverse health outcomes. Design: Systematic umbrella review of existing meta-analyses. Data Sources: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, as well as manually searching reference lists from 2009 to June 2023. Inclusion Criteria: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of cohort, case-control, and/or cross-sectional study designs that evaluated the associations between exposure to ultra-processed foods and adverse health outcomes in humans across the lifespan. Results: The search identified 45 unique pooled analyses, including 13 dose-response and 32 non-dose-response associations (n=9,888,373). Overall, direct associations were found between exposure to ultra-processed foods and 32 (71%) health outcome domains spanning cardiometabolic, gastrointestinal, and respiratory conditions, cancer, mental health, and mortality. Based on a pre-specified evidence classification criteria, convincing evidence (Class I) supported direct associations between greater ultra-processed food exposure and higher risks of incident cardiovascular disease-related mortality (RR: 1.50; 95%CIs: 1.37 to 1.63), type two diabetes (dose-response RR: 1.12; 95%CIs: 1.11 to 1.13), and depressive outcomes (HR: 1.21; 95%CIs: 1.16 to 1.28), as well as higher risks of prevalent anxiety outcomes (OR: 1.48; 95%CIs: 1.37 to 1.59) and combined common mental disorder outcomes (OR: 1.53; 95%CIs: 1.43 to 1.63). Highly suggestive (Class II) evidence indicated that greater exposure to ultra-processed foods was directly associated with higher risks of incident all-cause mortality (RR: 1.21; 95%CIs: 1.15 to 1.27), heart disease-related mortality (dose-response HR: 1.66; 95%CIs: 1.51 to 1.84), and type two diabetes (OR: 1.40; 95%CIs: 1.23 to 1.59), together with higher risks of prevalent obesity (OR: 1.55; 95%CIs: 1.36 to 1.77), adverse sleep-related outcomes (OR: 1.41; 95%CIs: 1.24 to 1.60), and wheezing (RR: 1.40; 95%CIs: 1.27 to 1.55). Out of the remaining 34 pooled analyses, 21 were graded as suggestive or weak strength (Class III-IV) and 13 were graded as no evidence (Class V). Using the GRADE framework, 22 pooled analyses were rated as "Low" quality, with 19 rated as "Very Low” and four rated as "Moderate" quality. Conclusions: Higher exposure to ultra-processed food was associated with a greater risk of adverse health outcomes, especially cardiometabolic, common mental disorder, and mortality outcomes. These findings provide a rationale to evaluate the effectiveness of using population-based measures to target and reduce dietary exposure to ultra-processed foods for improved human health. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO CRD42023412732.

In this nano era, nanomaterials and nanostructures are popular in developing novel functional materials. However, the combinations of nanoproducts with materials at micro and macro scale can open new routes for conceiving novel materials with an improved or even new functional performances. In this study, a brand-new hybrid, containing both nanofibers and particles having a microsize, was fabricated using a sequential electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) process. Firstly, the microparticles loaded with drug (berberine hydrochloride, BH) molecules in the cellulose acetate (CA) were fabricated using a solution electrospraying process. Later, these microparticles were suspended into a co-dissolved solution containned BH and a hydrophilic polymer (polypyrrolidone, PVP), and were co-electrospun into the nanofiber/microparticle hybrids. The EHDA processes were clearly recorded, and the resultant products showed a typical hybrid topography, with microparticles distributed all over the nanofibers, which was demonstrated by SEM assessments. FTIR and XRD demonstrated that the components within the hybrids were presented in an amorphous state and have fine compatibility with each other. In vitro dissolution tests verified that the hybrids were able to provide the designed dula-step drug release profiles, a combination of the fast release step of BH from the hydrophilic PVP nanofibers through an erosion mechanism and the sustained release step of BH from the insoluble CA microparticles via a typical Fickian diffusion mechanism. The present protocols pave a new way for developing trans-scale functional materials.

Veterinary science has benefitted from technological advancements in the past and will hopefully continue to do so, especially in the field of equine gait analysis. There is a need for rapid and easy to use technology that is accurate and portable, but at the same time is also readily interpretable. This manuscript presents two new approaches to equine gait analysis, both of which are commer-cial devices. The use of Acoustic MyoGraphy (AMG) has been proven in the field of muscle func-tion and performance as well as ligament health, but it can also provide details concerning gait when placed on the wall of the hoof of a horse. The TendibootTM system is a limb focused unit that can be easily attached, activated and used in a Veterinary clinic setting, rapidly providing gait details for equine diagnostic purposes. In conclusion this manuscript provides an insight into gait parameters from recent research trials that are novel and challenge current thinking.

BACKGROUND. Two sequelae of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), ESLD and HCC, have become the leading causes for liver transplantation in the Western. The present study aims to approach the cellular metabolic disturbances involved in NASH progression that are associated with microbiota community changes. METHODS. Metabolic effects and microbiota community changes were explored in the murine with NASH progression by blocking the Na/K-ATPase/Src/reactive oxygen amplification loop using the synthetic targeting peptide pNaKtide. DNA from the terminal ileum microbiota habitat was obtained and amplified by PCR to develop DNA bacterial phylogenic sequence analysis of wild type and treated animals at 12, 24 and 48 weeks. Induced changes by pSrc normalization at 24 weeks were correlated with liver morphological changes, intestinal CD4+/CD8+ ratio, and liver macrophage CD14+ expression. Differences among groups were evaluated by ANOVA/t-test and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). RESULTS. Microbiota communities varied significantly at all time points (12, 24 and 48 weeks), with an increase of Verrucomicrobia and a decrease of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes in the HFD group. Microbiota community changes regressed to their wild-type state at 24 weeks on treated animals, and those changes were associated with a decrease in liver inflammation and senescence, lower ileum CD4+/CD8+ T cells and higher liver CD14+ cells (p<0.05). Concomitantly, the metabolic disturbances in our diet-induced NASH model were normalized by NKA/Src signaling blockage and exercise with a paucity of apoptotic activity, mitigation of cell senescence, and regression of liver fibrosis (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS. pSrc inhibition at caveolar α1-Na/K-ATPase rescinded NASH-related metabolic disturbances establishing resident physiological microbiota communities with concomitant paucity on apoptotic activity and regression of liver fibrosis; effects that were associated with both gut and liver T-lymphocyte responses.

The Internet of Things (IoT) signifies a revolutionary technological advancement, enhancing various applications through device interconnectivity while introducing significant challenges due to these devices' limited hardware and communication capabilities. To navigate these complexities, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has tailored the Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) to meet the unique demands of IoT environments. However, RPL struggles with traffic congestion and load distribution issues, negatively impacting network performance and reliability. This paper presents a novel enhancement to RPL by integrating learning automata designed to optimize network traffic distribution. This enhanced protocol, the Learning Automata-based Load-Aware RPL (LALARPL), dynamically adjusts routing decisions based on real-time network conditions, achieving more effective load balancing and significantly reducing network congestion. Extensive simulations reveal that this approach outperforms existing methodologies, leading to notable improvements in packet delivery rates, end-to-end delay, and energy efficiency. The findings highlight the potential of our approach to enhance IoT network operations and extend the lifespan of network components. The effectiveness of learning automata in refining routing processes within RPL offers valuable insights that may drive future advancements in IoT networking, aiming for more robust, efficient, and sustainable network architectures.

This study investigates the complex role of financial risks in the context of public–private partnerships (PPPs) in India and their relationship to the amount and extent of investments made by private partners (s). We hypothesize that subsidies, bid criteria, and risk have a positive relationship with investments made by private partners. A project’s leverage moderates these relationships. Regression was used to analyze the hypotheses using SPSS 24 and PROCESS Macro. Data from the World Bank were collected from 2009 to 2019 for the study variables. Interestingly, our research finds support for these relationships that may seem contrary to some commonly-held notions of risk relationships, such as – the government using ‘viability gap’ funding to attract private investment and ‘leverage’ does not moderate the relationship between risk assumed and private investment. This study is among the first to recognize and elaborate on financial risk relationships, specifically in the context of Indian PPPs. These findings are significant for both private and public participants in terms of financial considerations in PPP projects, especially in emerging markets.

This paper focuses on the role of the most common mineralogical techniques applied to the identification of the different statuary qualities in white, grey and black Göktepe marble. For this purpose, a Roman case of sculpture marble collection from the rural villa of Valdetorres de Jarama (central Iberia), of the 4th century AD, is presented. The mythological statuary, combining white, grey and black marbles, are one of the most outstanding marble collections in Aphrodisian style found in Hispania. The analytical results (Petrography, Cathodoluminescence, C and O isotopes, and Sr and Mn concentration) support the identification of two varieties of “black” Göktepe, traditionally named as bigio morato and bigo antico, as well as the best statuary quality on white Göktepe. In addition, the analytical identification of other Asiatic marbles in Valdetorres collection, a white coarse-grained originally from the quarries of Aphrodisias city and one small piece identified as Carian red from Iasos, corroborates the already suggested strong connection existing between artists and the stone material they chose for their works. Finally, it is noteworthy the identification carried out on the marble of the bases that served as seats for the sculptures, as it is a white marble of lower quality whose analytical characteristics are consistent with the Microasiatic marble of Denizli. The use of these exotic and exceptional raw materials confirms the taste for luxury and decorative richness in Late Antique Hispanic rural villae and contributes to a better understanding of the distribution of Aphrodisian productions in the Western Roman provinces.

New data obtained from core samples of two boreholes in Alba Guyot in the Magellan Seamount Trail (MST), Western Pacific, including 40Ar/39Ar age of basanite, mineralogy of basanite, tuff, tuffite, mantle-derived inclusions in basanite and tuff (lherzolite xenolith and Ol, Cpx, Opx xenocrysts), and calcareous nannofossils biostratigraphy, have implications for the guyot history. Volcanics in the upper part of the Alba Guyot main edifice and its Oma Vlinder satellite, at sea depths between 3600 and 2200 m, were deposited during the Cretaceous 112 to 86 Ma interval. In the following ~60 myr, the Alba Guyot became partly submerged, and denuded with the formation of a flat summit platform while the respective fragment of the Pacific Plate was moving to the Northern Hemisphere. Volcanic activity in the northeastern part of the guyot summit platform rejuvenated in the Miocene (24–15 Ma) and produced onshore basanitic volcanoes and layers of tuff in subaerial and tuffite in shallow-water near-shore conditions. In Middle-Late Miocene (10–6 Мa), after the guyot had submerged, carbonates containing calcareous nannofossils were deposited on the porous surfaces of tuff and tuffite. Precipitation of the Fe-Mn crust (Unit III) recommenced during the Pliocene-Pleistocene (< 1.8 Mа) when the guyot summit reached favorable sea depths. The location of the MST guyots in the northwestern segment of the Pacific Plate near the Mariana Trench, along with the Miocene age and alkali-basaltic signatures of basanite, provide evidence for petit-spot volcanism on the Alba Guyot. This inference agrees with the geochemistry of Cenozoic petit-spot basaltic rocks from the Pacific and Miocene basanite on the Alba Guyot. The numerous volcanic cones reaching up to 750 m high and 5.1 km in base diameter, which were discovered on the Alba summit platform, provide the first evidence of voluminous Miocene petit-spot basanitic volcanism upon the Cretaceous guyots and seamounts of the Pacific.

In this paper, we develop an effective iterative algorithm to solve a generalized Sylvester tensor equation over quaternions which includes several well-studied matrix/tensor equations as special cases. We discuss the convergence of this algorithm within a finite number of iterations, assuming negligible round-off errors for any initial tensor. Moreover, we demonstrate the unique minimal Frobenius norm solution achievable by selecting specific types of initial tensors. Additionally, numerical examples are presented to illustrate the practicality and validity of our proposed algorithm. These examples include demonstrating the algorithm’s effectiveness in addressing three-dimensional microscopic heat transport and color video restoration problems.

Microscale laser dynamic forming, as a novel high-speed microforming technique, can overcome the shortcomings of traditional microforming methods. However, in practical applications, laser dynamic microforming technology is often affected by the rebound behavior of the workpiece surface, limiting the further improvement of processing quality and efficiency. This paper aims to reduce the rebound effect in laser dynamic microforming by using multi-pulse laser shock loading. The forming results of workpieces under different laser energies and laser impact numbers were studied using experimental and numerical simulation methods. Numerical simulations of the forming results after multiple laser shocks were conducted using ANSYS/LS-DYNA software. These numerical simulation results were then experimentally validated and compared. Surface morphology and microstructure of the workpieces were characterized using a confocal microscope and scanning electron microscope, and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was used to analyze the chemical element content changes in the collision regions at the bottoms of the workpieces after multi-pulse loading, revealing the collision behavior patterns during the forming process. Finally, the forming laws of workpieces under multiple laser shocks were summarized.

The COVID 19 pandemic saw the emergence of various Variants of Concern (VOCs) that took the world by storm, often replacing the ones that preceded them. The characteristic mutant constellations of these VOCs increased viral transmissibility and infectivity. Their origin and evolution remain puzzling. With the help of data mining efforts and the GISAID database, a chronology of 22 haplotypes described viral evolution up until July 23, 2023. Since the 3-dimensional atomic structures of proteins corresponding to the identified haplotypes are not available, ab initio methods were here utilized. Regions of intrinsic disorder proved to be important for viral evolution, as evidenced by the targeted change to the nucleocapsid (N) protein at the sequence, structure, and biochemical levels. The linker region of the N-protein, which binds to the RNA genome and self-oligomerizes for efficient genome packaging, was greatly impacted by mutations throughout the pandemic, followed by changes in structure and intrinsic disorder. Remarkably, VOC constellations acted cooperatively to balance the more extreme effects of individual haplotypes. Our strategy of mapping the dynamic evolutionary landscape of genetically linked mutations to the N-protein structure demonstrates the utility of ab initio modeling and deep learning tools for therapeutic intervention.

Microscopic and ultra-microscopic vascular sutures are indispensable in the surgical procedures such as arm transplantation and finger reattachment. The state of the blood vessels after suturing, such as vascular patency, narrow, and blocked, determines the success rate of the operation. If we can grasp the golden window period after blood vessel suture and before muscle tissue suture to achieve accurate and objective assessment of blood vessel status, it can not only reduce medical costs but also improve social benefits. Doppler optical coherence tomography enables high-speed, high-resolution imaging of biological tissues, especially microscopic and ultra-microscopic blood vessels. Using Doppler optical coherence tomography to image the sutured blood vessels, not only the three-dimensional structure of the blood vessels, but also the blood flow information can be obtained. By extracting the contour of blood vessel wall and the contour of blood flow area, the three-dimensional shape of blood vessel can be reconstructed in three dimensions, which provides parameter support for the assessment of blood vessel status. In this work, we propose a neural network-based multi-classification deep learning model that can simultaneously and automatically extract blood vessel boundaries from Doppler OCT vessel intensity images and the contours of blood flow regions from corresponding Doppler OCT vessel phase images. Compared with the traditional random walk segmentation algorithm and cascade neural network method, the proposed model has better performance. This method is easier to realize system integration and has great potential for clinical evaluation. It is expected to be applied to the evaluation of microscopic and ultra-microscopic vascular status in microvascular anastomosis.

Marine oil spills seriously threaten the coastal environment, challenge the safety of marine eco-system, and cause huge economic losses to marine fishery, aquaculture, and tourism industries. Timely and accurate oil spill monitoring and early warning can not only make the oil spill acci-dent be handled timely and effectively but also provide key information for investigating the re-sponsibility of the polluters. Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has shown its great po-tential in oil spill classification for its capacity to distinguish mineral oil and biogenic look-alikes. Traditional oil spill classification approaches rely on the scattering matrix elements or pre-designed scattering mechanism-based polarimetric SAR features, which limits its robustness and generalization in large-scale marine surveillance tasks. The recent development of deep learning frameworks, especially the convolutional neural network (CNN) provides a powerful tool for remote sensing image classification. However, conventional CNN only accepts re-al-valued input, which cannot efficiently analyze the polarimetric information carried by com-plex-valued SAR data. In this study, a new framework that employs the complex-valued neural network was proposed for marine oil spill detection. Sophisticated studies were designed to evaluate the contribution of the physical scattering mechanism-based features, complex-valued framework, and convolutional feature extraction structures respectively. Comparative studies were conducted on four study cases using Radarsat-2 and SIR-C fully polarimetric SAR data. The outcome of the proposed study may shed light on the development of an end-to-end marine spill classification system and enlarge its application in practical marine surveillance operations.

One of the most prevalent malignancies in males is prostate cancer, which most often metastasizes to the liver, thorax, bone, and local lymph nodes. The current case describes development of cervical lymphadenopathy; which remains a rather rare initial presentation, seen in <0.1% of the patients diagnosed with prostatic carcinoma. The current report describes a 55-year-old man with complaints of lower back pain and swelling on the left side of his neck for the previous two months. Physical examination revealed several swollen cervical lymph nodes that measured 2 cm, were nontender, firm, and adhered to the skin above. A poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma was found during cytological examination of the lymph nodes in the left lower cervical region. Findings from the ensuing Computed Tomography scan pointed to the possibility of spread prostatic cancer. PSA values were determined to be 364.762 ng/ml after additional analysis. The patient was then planned for hormone ablation therapy as per Institute protocol, in view of metastatic prostate cancer. The current report highlights the importance of timely detection of malignancies, particularly those such as Prostate cancer, that are slow growing and have well-established screening tools (such as PSA assays). Involvement of the cervical lymph nodes in prostate cancer, particularly for older individuals, is nearly always linked to extensive metastatic disease. As a result, it is a poor prognostic factor for prostate cancer patients, whose survival rates are markedly lower. Although hormone therapy has advanced significantly as the cornerstone of care for metastatic prostate cancer, the prognosis for these cases is still quite poor, especially when there has been distant lymph node metastases.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising tools for combating microbial resistance. However, their therapeutic potential is hindered by two intrinsic drawbacks – low target affinity and poor in vivo stability. Macrocyclization, a process that improves the pharmacological properties and bioactivity of peptides, can address these limitations. As a result, macrocyclic peptides represent attractive drug candidates. Moreover, many drugs are macrocycles that originated from natural product scaffolds, suggesting that nature offers solutions to the challenges faced by AMPs. In this review, we explore natural cyclic peptides from the DBAASP database. DBAASP is a comprehensive repository of data on antimicrobial/cytotoxic activities and structures of peptides. We analyze the data on small (≤25 AA) ribosomal and non-ribosomal cyclic peptides from DBAASP according to their amino acid composition, bonds used for cyclization, targets they act on, and mechanisms of action. This analysis will enhance our understanding of the small cyclic peptides that nature has provided to defend living organisms.

Ixodes ricinus ticks are widespread in Europe and important vectors for multiple pathogens. The purpose of the study was to collect ticks in a mountainous area in Greece and screen those of I. ricinus species for several pathogens. I. ricinus was the predominant tick species identified (398/440, 90.45%). Following pooling (1-17 ticks per pool), homogenization and extraction of genetic material of the ticks, a real time PCR was applied for the detection of a panel of tick-borne pathogens, while additional conventional PCRs combined with Sanger sequencing were applied for detection of viruses and for typing of Rickettsia and Borrelia species. At least one pathogen was detected in 60 of the 80 (75%) pools. Rickettsia spp. predominated as it was detected in 63.75% of the tick pools (51/80), followed by Borrelia spp. (35 pools, 45%); A. phagocytophilum was detected in 2 (2.5%) pools, phleboviruses in 3 (3.75%) and nairoviruses in 7 (8.75%) pools. All the Rickettsia sequences taken belonged to R. monacensis, while among Borrelia spp., B. garinii and B. valaisiana were detected. Regarding viruses, Norway phlebovirus 1, Sulina and Grotenhout nairoviruses were detected. Although a small number of ticks from only one area in Greece was tested, a variety of pathogens and recently identified viruses were detected, prompting for further studies in ticks and surveillance studies in humans.

The years 2021 and 2022 showed that maritime logistics are prone to interruptions. Especially the ports turned out to be bottlenecks with long queues of waiting vessels. This leads to the question of whether this can be (at least partly) mitigated by means of better and more flexible terminal operations. Digital Twins have been in use in production and logistics to increase flexibility in operations and are considered a reasonable fit. They are suitable for real-time data integration to support decision-making. However, the true potential of Digital Twins to enhance terminal operations still needs to be further investigated. A Delphi study is conducted to explore operational pain points, best practices to counter them, and how these best practices can be supported by Digital Twins. A questionnaire with 16 propositions is developed, and a panel of 17 experts is asked for their degrees of confirmation for each. The results indicate that today’s terminal operations are far from ideal and leave space for optimisation. The experts see great potential in analysing past working shifts data to identify reasons for poor terminal performance. Moreover, they agree on the proposed best practices and support the use of aiding IT solutions.

The main goal of the study was to obtain objective measures of the impact of a complete pre-season of amateur football on the players’ physical activity parameters. 17 amateur football players (24.47 ± 4.53 years) enrolled in the same team agreed to participate. They were asked to wear one accelerometer on the right hip during each training practice. Moderate-to-Vigorous physical activity (MVPA), steps and metabolic-equivalent (METs), among other parameters, were obtained and analyzed. Results showed that players spent an average 54.86% of each training session in MVPA levels, for a total of 100.33 minutes every week (3 training sessions per week). Therefore, this group of amateur football players did not meet the requirements to obtain health benefits from their physical activity program: amateur football. This finding could be considered noteworthy because there are thousands of adults worldwide who play amateur football to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They should be aware that their weekly training load is not enough to help them meet the necessary requirements. They either need more practice time (90-minute sessions) or more sessions. The pre-season training program was rated as “somewhat hard” by the participants, and quadriceps and hamstrings were mentioned as the most exerted muscles

Building a social security system to ensure Singapore residents have peace of mind in funding for retirement has been at the top of Singapore Government’s policy agenda over the last decade. Implementation of the Lifelong Income For the Elderly (LIFE) scheme in 2009 clearly shows that the government spares no effort in improving its pension scheme to boost its residents’ income after retirement. Despite the recent modifications to the LIFE scheme, Singapore residents must still choose between two plans: the Standard and Basic plans. To enhance the flexibility of the LIFE scheme while maintaining its simplicity, we propose some plan modifications such that scheme members do not face a dichotomy of plan choices. Instead, they select two age parameters: the Payout Age and the Life-annuity Age. This paper provides an actuarial framework for determining members’ payouts and bequests based on the proposed age parameters. We analyze the net cash receipts and internal rate of return (IRR) for various plan-parameter configurations. This information helps members make their plan choices. To address cost-of-living increases we propose to extend the plan to accommodate an annual step-up of monthly payouts. By deferring the Payout Age from 65 to 68, members can enjoy an annual increase of about 2% of the payouts for the same first-year monthly benefits.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the topical anesthetic effect of a 10% atomized lidocaine spray and an EMLA cream at different time intervals using parameters of visual analogue scale (VAS) score and heart rate (HR). Methods: The randomized split-month study included 30 patients (17 boys, 13 girls) aged 8.22 ± 1.8 years. Application of atomized lidocaine spray or cream was randomly used in the upper second premolar region. The parameters was measured before and at each needle insertion after 10,30,60 and 120 sec. Paired t -test and independent t-test were used for statistic analyses. Results: Compared to the first applications (10 sec), atomized lidocaine and EMLA cream applications significantly decreased scores of VAS at the applications at 30 and 120 seconds, respectively. Despite atomized lidocaine showed early effect compared to EMLA, there were no significant differences in VAS scores between the atomized lidocaine and EMLA cream at the 60 and 120 seconds measurements. Although HR significantly increased at first anesthetic administration with the atomized lidocaine spray, HR significantly decreased at 30 and 120 seconds administrations. Conclusion: Atomized 10% lidocaine-based topical anesthetics significantly reduced pain more rapidly and better than EMLA from needle pricks in the buccal mucosa. Therefore, atomized lidocaine topical anesthesia could be used as a substitute for EMLA cream before buccal anesthetic administration. On the other hand, further comprehensive studies are required to explore the effects of several doses of atomized lidocaine in various areas of the oral cavity.

To date the role of green leaf volatiles has been mainly constrained to their role in protecting plants against pests and pathogens. However, increasing evidence suggests that among the stresses that can significantly harms plants, GLV can also provide significant protection against an array of those including heat, cold, drought, light, and salinity. But while the molecular basis for this protection is still largely unknown, it seems obvious that a common theme in the way GLV work is that most if not all of these stresses are associated with physical damage to the plants, which in turn is the major event responsible for the production of GLV. Here, I summarize the current state of knowledge on GLV and abiotic stresses and provide a model that explains the multifunctionality of these compounds.

This paper is devoted to Petri net (PN) based models of Automated Manufacturing Systems (AMS) with resources in order to prevent deadlocks in them. The sustainability can be seen as the process of deadlock-freeness leading to correct and fluent production, because AMS with deadlocks work neither correctly nor fluently, need reconstruction and cause downtime in production. A class S3PR (Systems of Simple Sequential Processes with Resources) of such PN models is well known as to the deadlock prevention point of view. Here, Extended S3PR (ES3PR) will be explored as to modelling and deadlock prevention. While in case of S3PR Ordinary Petri Nets (OPN) were used for these aims, here, for ES3PR Generalized Petri Nets (GPN) are used. The reason for such a procedure is a possible presence of multiplex directed arcs in the structure of PN models of AMS. The significant alternation is that while in former case the elementary and dependent siphons were sufficient for the supervisor synthesis, here, in later case, the GPN and their siphons have to satisfy the max-cs property.

Quasi-interpolation is a powerful tool for approximating functions using radial basis functions (RBFs) such as Gaussian kernels. This avoids solving large systems of equations as in RBF interpolation. However, quasi-interpolation with Gaussian kernels on compact intervals can have significant errors near the boundaries. This paper proposes a quasi-interpolation method with Gaussian kernels using Chebyshev points and boundary corrections to improve the approximation near the boundaries. The boundary corrections use a linear approximation of the function beyond the interval to estimate the truncation error and add correction terms. Numerical studies on test functions show that the proposed method reduces errors significantly near boundaries compared to quasi-interpolation without corrections, for both equally spaced and Chebyshev points. The convergence and accuracy with the boundary corrections are generally better with Chebyshev points compared to equally spaced points. The proposed method provides an efficient way to perform quasi-interpolation on compact intervals while controlling the boundary errors.

This paper proposes training improvement methods of artificial neural networks (ANN) trajectory predictors. First, a dynamic power system time-series trajectory is split into several different segments to simplify the original ANN training problem. Moreover, the time-derivative of the trajectory is included to obtain an augmented loss function. Compared to previous studies which mainly focused on increasing the prediction accuracy, the aim of these novel techniques is to reduce the computational burden where the ANN output performance is still acceptable. The effectiveness of the developed methods is validated based on the WSCC three-machine nine-bus and IEEE 39-bus system models. The mean absolute error (MAE) and trajectory prediction results are analyzed, in which the numbers of neurons, hidden layers, and training epochs are constrained during the ANN training process. Rotor-angle difference between generators and the system frequency are investigated as the dynamic trajectories of the power system models. It is revealed that when the ANN architecture and epochs are constrained, the MAE results can be reduced, and the ANN training results can better reflect the original trajectory using the improvement approaches.

Currently there is little doubt left on the symbiogenetic nature of eukaryotes - genomes of archaeon and bacterium participated in shaping a genome of last eukaryotic common ancestor in equal albeit asymmetric manner, while a merger event itself indicated the advent of a new domain of life. The “symbiogenetic” framework of interaction of two partners is proposed, outlining similar steps essential for three major advents: the origin of life, the origin of complex life and the origin of humans. Given the immense importance of proper energy source for the evolution of life it seems plausible that for any principal increase in complexity, a partnership with a novel energy donor is required. Moreover, a “language” elaborated in the course of communication of partners might have been a prerequisite for a subsequent increase in complexity. Transitions, which led to RNA-protein world, eukaryotes and human brain, resulted in advent of complex languages via communication onsets between two entities in close partnership. Accordingly this further facilitated formation of first cells, multicellular organisms and human society.

For distances less 10 nm, a total energy transfer occurs from a quantum emitter to a nearby metallic surface, producing evanescent surface waves that are plasmonic in nature. When investigating a metallic nanohole supported on an optically dense substrate (such as diamond with NV-), the scattering occurred preferentially from the diamond substrate towards the air for dipole distances less 10 nm from the aperture. In addition, an enhancement to the dipole's radiative decay rate was observed when resonance of the aperture matched the emitters wavelength. The relationship between an emitter and a nearby resonant aperture is shown to be that of the resonance energy transfer where the emitter acts as a donor and the hole as an acceptor. In conjunction with the preferential scattering behavior, this has led to the proposed device that operates in transmission mode, eliminating the need for epi-illumination techniques and optically denser than air superstrates in the collection cycle, hence making the design simpler and more suitable for miniaturization. A design criterion for the surface grating is also proposed to improve the performance, where the period of the grating differs significantly from the wavelength of the surface plasmon polaritons. Response of the proposed device is further studied with respect to changes in NV's position and its dipolar orientation to identify the crystallographic planes of diamond over which the performance of the device is maximized.

With the proliferation of locating devices, more and more raw spatial trajectories are formed, and many works enrich these raw trajectories with semantics, and mine patterns from both raw and semantic trajectories, but access control of spatial trajectories is not considered yet. We present a multi-policy secure model for semantic spatial trajectories. In our model, Mandatory Access Control, Role Based Access Control and Discretionary Access control are all enforced, separately and combined, and we represent the model semi-formally in Ontology Web Language.

This study explores the application of the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System (® LBMS), particularly its Effort component, to analyze the biomechanical dynamics of the golf swing. Focusing on the initiation of the downswing, this paper investigates how the instantaneous screw axis (ISA) with rotational and linear motions contributes to subsequent movements, such as the hip turn. We propose that the physical forces generated by the golf club, characterized by mass moment inertia, extend beyond the body's boundaries, such as through the hand grip. A skilled golfer’s ability to 'allow' these forces to influence body dynamics without opposing them is analyzed through the lens of LBMS's Free Flow Effort, suggesting an indulgent and expansive use of movement energy.

Increasingly large numbers of people are using digital weight-loss services (DWLSs) to treat overweight or obesity. Although it is widely agreed that digital modalities improve access to care in general, obesity stakeholders remain concerned that many DWLSs are not comprehensive or sustainable enough to deliver meaningful health outcomes. This study adopted a mixed-methods approach to assess why and after how long patients tend to discontinue Austral-ia’s largest DWLS, a program that combines behavioural and pharmacological therapy under the guidance of a multidisciplinary care team. We found that in a cohort of patients who commenced the Eucalyptus DWLS between January and June 2022 (n=5604), mean program adherence was 171.2 (±158.2). Inadequate supply of a patient’s desired Glucose-like peptide-1 receptor agonist medication was the most common reason for discontinuation (43.7%), followed by program cost (26.2%), result dissatisfaction (9.9%), and service dissatisfaction (7.2%). Statistical tests revealed that ethnicity and age both had a significant effect on patient adherence. These findings suggest that DWLSs have the potential to improve access to comprehensive, continuous obesity care, but that care models need to improve upon the one observed in the Eucalyptus Australia DWLS to maximise program adherence.

In Pakistan, the incidence of HIV/AIDS is rising, particularly among transgender individuals, who face significant marginalization in various aspects of life, leading to compromised health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aimed to assess the HRQoL of transgender individuals living with HIV/AIDS and explore its correlation with social disparities. Using the validated WHO EQ-5D-5L scale, HRQoL was evaluated among 106 transgender patients with HIV/AIDS from Mayo Hospital and Fountain House Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, following ethical considerations with PACP. Data analysis employed the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests. The research revealed that HIV/AIDS moderately impacts the HRQoL of transgender individuals due to physical, psychological, and social factors. Comorbidities further exacerbated the HRQoL among this population. In conclusion, managing multiple health issues, including comorbidities, can substantially diminish the quality of life for transgender individuals with HIV/AIDS. Hence, comprehensive healthcare services should address both HIV/AIDS and associated comorbidities to ensure holistic care.

As practiced in Africa, urban agriculture (UA) has been examined in the literature and by architecture and urban planning experts, revealing both advantages and disadvantages for health. While the recognized disadvantages are not negligible, the literature focuses mainly on the positive outcomes about food security and improved socio-economic conditions for farmers. However, little research has focused on farmers' perceptions of the effect of this practice on their psychological well-being. This study seeks to delve into this aspect by surveying 733 farmers in Dar es Salaam and Greater Lomé to map UA's distribution, assess its benefits and challenges, study its psychosocial associations, and demonstrate how architectural design and urban planning can enhance its spatial distribution and overall benefits. The standardized Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) and non-standardized questionnaires are used to evaluate their responses. Using logistic regression and spatial analysis techniques with Python and QGIS 3.32.2-Lima, the analysis uncovers that farmers attribute improved psychological well-being to their involvement in UA. The study found that farmers' happiness due to UA varies by location within a city, with those on the outskirts generally more satisfied than those in urban centers. Additionally, women farmers reported greater happiness than men farmers, highlighting UA's role in empowering women. The research underscores UA's positive association with practitioners' psychological health in Africa and advocates for its integration into urban planning to promote equitable and beneficial urban spaces.

Diagenetic spheroids are rounded mineralised structures in sedimentary rocks that span several orders of size dimensions. These objects include rosettes spanning tens of micrometres, millimetre-sized granules, and centimetre- to metre-scale botryoids, nodules and concretions. Connections between diagenetic spheroids and chemically oscillating reactions (COR) have been established based on chemical and pattern similarities. Nevertheless, it is unknown if there are variations in their occurrences throughout geological time, especially during periods of global environmental change. This is because COR are pattern-forming reactions where carboxylic acids are decarboxylated by strong oxidants like sulphuric acid, bromate, or iodate. The hypothesis is that there should be a greater number of diagenetic spheroids at periods of increased atmospheric-oceanic oxygenation levels. Hence, this work presents the first compilation of occurrences of diagenetic spheroids between 0.541 to 1.8 billion years ago (Ga). The compiled patterned objects are those with concentric laminations and radially aligned crystals, which are patterns akin to equidistant circularly concentric waves that radially propagate in COR. Another characteristic of diagenetic spheroids, such as in botryoidal minerals, is the destructive interfere that forms circular twins; this is identical to the COR pattern formed when circular waves meet. The timeline of Proterozoic diagenetic spheroids produced in this work reveals a significant increase of occurrences across the Ediacaran, which is attributed to increased environmental oxidation state. During this interval, seawater is known to have become richer in sulphate and iodate, which create ideal conditions for the abiotic and diagenetic oxidation of biomass. Therefore, increased occurrences of diagenetic spheroids in the Neoproterozoic possibly represents sedimentological evidence for abiotic decarboxylation reactions and widespread COR in productive environments. The distribution of diagenetic spheroids observed during the Proterozoic may also be more broadly applicable to other epochs of Earth history.

Abstract: In order to explore new options for colon targeting, this study designs new polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) coacervate xerogels of chitosan (Ch) with Albizia procera (AP). It was determined by potentiometric titration tests that a 1:5 Ch/AP weight ratio was necessary for 1:1 charge stoichiometry. Rheological characterizations experiments were carried out for the pH independent coacervates and 1:5 coacervate was found to be having the highest G^/ value in the strain sweep experiment. In the frequency sweep experiments the coacervate (1:5) with the highest storage modulus (G^/) values was produced at pH 4.5.

This study investigates the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and ethnobotanical knowledge to identify natural compounds with potent antiviral activity against HPV-16. Through molecular docking simulations, we evaluated the binding affinities of various essential oil components, in-cluding Apigenin, against the key antigenic determinants of HPV-16 (E6, E7 oncoproteins, and L1 major capsid protein). Apigenin exhibited strong binding affinities, particularly to E6 Oncopro-tein. To further enhance these findings, we employed an AI-driven reverse engineering approach to predict a natural compound with superior efficacy. The AI identified Luteolin, a flavonoid with additional hydroxyl groups, as a promising candidate. Comparative docking studies demon-strated that Luteolin possesses significantly stronger binding affinities to all three HPV-16 targets, surpassing the efficacy of Apigenin. This work highlights the potential of AI in accelerating the discovery and optimization of natural antiviral agents, providing a powerful tool for pharmaco-logical and ethnopharmacological screenings. Our findings suggest that AI-guided identification of natural compounds can lead to the development of more effective antiviral therapies, warranting further experimental validation and potential synthesis in laboratory settings.

Mobile applications, websites and social media networks are nowadays widely used communication tools. With the emergence of communication-related technologies in our lives and, consequently, the rise of social networks and mobile applications, health-related applications, generically encompassed under the term digital health, have become popular among the population. Smartphones and artificial intelligence have become very useful tools for health-related interventions. Because they are very accessible and cost-effective. They are also able to serve a larger number of communities than traditional interventions. Nutrition is not a field that has remained on the sidelines, and numerous mobile applications and technological tools have emerged that are intended to help and support diets or in the process of recovering from disease. However, many of these applications have limitations that are important to consider. For this reason, the aim of this review was to analyze the most widely used tools currently in use, discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and propose hypotheses for improvement.

Bile acids (BAs) and their signalling pathways have been identified as therapeutic targets for liver and metabolic diseases. We generated Cyp2c70-/- (KO) mice that are not able to convert chenodeoxycholic acid into rodent-specific muricholic acids (MCAs) and, hence, possess a more hydrophobic, human-like BA pool. Recently, we have shown that KO mice display cholangiopathic features with development of liver fibrosis. The aim of this study was to determine whether BA sequestration modulates liver pathology in Western type-diet (WTD)-fed KO mice. The BA sequestrant colesevelam was mixed into the WTD (2% w/w) of male Cyp2c70+/+ (WT) and KO mice and the effects were evaluated after 3 weeks of treatment. Colesevelam increased fecal BA excretion in WT and KO mice and reduced the hydrophobicity of biliary BAs in KO mice. Colesevelam ameliorated diet-induced hepatic steatosis in WT mice, whereas KO mice were resistant to diet-induced steatosis and BA sequestration had no additional effects on liver fat content. Total cholesterol concentrations in livers of colesevelam-treated WT and KO mice were significantly lower than those of untreated controls. Of particular note, colesevelam treatment normalized plasma levels of liver damage markers in KO mice and markedly decreased hepatic mRNA levels of fibrogenesis-related genes in KO mice. Lastly, colesevelam did not affect glucose excursions and insulin sensitivity in WT or KO mice. Our data show that BA sequestration ameliorates liver pathology in Cyp2c70-/- mice with a human-like bile acid composition without affecting insulin sensitivity.

With the compelling popularity of integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), WiFi sensing has drawn increasing attention in recent years. Starting from 2010, WiFi CSI-based wireless sensing has enabled various exciting applications such as indoor localization, target imaging, activity recognition and vital sign monitoring. In this paper, we retrospect the up-to-date achievements of WiFi sensing using commodity-off-the-shelf (COTS) devices over the past 5 years in detail. Specifically, this paper first presents the background of CSI signal and related sensing models. Then, recent researches are categorized from two perspectives, namely according to their application scenario diversity and corresponding sensing methodology difference respectively. Next, this paper points out the challenges faced by WiFi sensing including domain dependency and sensing range limitation. Finally, three imperative research directions are highlighted, which are critical for realizing more ubiquitous and practical WiFi sensing in real-life applications.

Left displaced abomasum (LDA) is a multifactorial disease of cattle that occurs mainly during the transition postpartum period and is characterized by a decrease in milk production and an increased risk of culling. Despite the widespread prevalence of this pathology, its etiology remains unclear. It is believed that unbalanced nutrition, disturbances in energy and calcium metabolism in the post-calving period lead to impaired motility of the gastrointestinal tract of cows. However, studies have been conducted confirming the hereditary nature of predisposition to this disease. Currently, the search for genetic determinants reliably associated with predisposition to LDA is actively underway. The aim of our study is to identify genetic associations characterizing the genomic variability of susceptibility to LDA in Holstein cattle in the Leningrad region of the Russian Federation. The object of the study was 360 highly productive dairy cows divided into two groups: with LDA and healthy ones (control). Fourteen candidate SNPs were found to be significantly associated with leftward displacement of the abomasum (P&lt;1e-4). When performing functional annotation of genes containing associated polymorphisms or located close to them, candidate genes presumably associated with the development of LDA were identified: ABCB11, SRP72, RGS18, SOX4, GSG1L, FBXL19, PNPLA4.

Manual material handling (MMH) significantly impacts worker health and productivity, often leading to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) primarily in the lower back. As a novel assistive technology, exoskeletons may serve as ergonomic tools to mitigate these work-related MSDs. It is essential to examine exoskeletons from the users’ perspectives before their widespread implementation in occupational settings. This study investigates the effectiveness of a passive back-support exoskeleton (BExo) in reducing perceived physical exertion and improving ergonomic safety in manufacturing context. Twenty-two college students were recruited to perform MMH tasks in a controlled lab environment, both with and without the BExo, followed by completing a survey questionnaire on various aspects of the BExo. Using ANOVA, the study analyzed biomechanical exertion across various body parts and tasks. The findings indicate that the BExo substantially alleviates discomfort in the low back, shoulders and knees, thereby, enhancing ergonomic posture and reducing fatigue. These results underscore the potential of passive exoskeletons to boost workers’ safety and efficiency, providing valuable insights for future ergonomic strategies in industrial setting.

Globally, habitat fragmentation has increased the proximity between wildlife, humans, and emerging predators such as free-ranging dogs. In these fragmented landscapes, encounters between primates and dogs are escalating, with primates often falling victim to dog attacks while navigating patchy landscapes and fragmented forests. We aim to investigate how these primates deal with the simultaneous threats posed by humans and predators, specifically focusing on the adaptive strategies of Central Himalayan Langur (CHL) in the landscape of fear. To address this, we conducted a behavioral study on the CHL in an agro-forest landscape, studying them for a total of 3912 hours over two consecutive years. Our results indicate that, compared to their most common resting behavior, CHL allocate more time to feeding and locomotion, and less time to socializing in the presence of humans and predatory dogs. Additionally, they exhibit increased feeding and locomotion and reduced social behavior in agro-forest or open habitats. These behavioral patterns reflect adaptive responses to the landscape of fear, where the presence of predators significantly influences their behavior and resource utilization. This study suggests measures to promote coexistence between humans and wildlife through the integration of effective management strategies that incorporate both ecological and social dimensions of human-wildlife interactions.

Understanding vaccine hesitancy in organ transplant recipients (OTR) is critical, given clear, alt-hough attenuated, benefits from vaccination. Adult OTR were surveyed regarding vaccine-related values and a novel outcome variable called Vaccine Acceptance Composite Score (VACS) was built as the average Likert score of 7 domains of vaccination confidence. Of 46 OTR included (93.5% kidney transplant recipients), 32.6% were female, 13.3% Black, 6.77% Hispan-ic/Latino/a/x; median age was 58 years. Patients were most concerned about COVID-19 vac-cine-associated risks (46.3%), its potential effect on allograft (47.6%) and motives of government officials involved with vaccine policy (55.6%). Politically conservative patients were likely to have a significantly lower VACS, while those who lived with someone ≥65 had a higher VACS. The VACS was not significantly associated with race, income, religious beliefs, comorbidities, COVID-19 history, or influenza vaccination status. Higher VACS was significantly associated with ≥3 and ≥4 COVID-19 immunizations. This study highlighted political beliefs and elderly household members as correlates of vaccine acceptance among OTR. The VACS may be a useful tool to help standardize multifaceted analyses in vaccination-focused behavioral research, as well as identify individuals and groups at risk for vaccine hesitancy, who may benefit from tai-lored outreach and educational interventions.

Stroke is the number one cause of morbidity in the United States and number two cause of death worldwide. There is a critical unmet medical need for more effective treatments of ischemic stroke, and this need is increasing with the shift in demographics to an older population. Recently, several studies have reported the therapeutic potential of stem cell derived exosomes as new candidates for cell-free treatment in stoke. This review focuses on the use of stem cell-derived exosomes as a potential treatment tool for stroke patients. Therapy using exosomes can have a clear clinical advantage over stem cell transplantation in terms of safety, cost, and convenience, as well as reducing bench-to-bed latency due to fewer regulatory milestones. In this review article, we focus on 1) the therapeutic potential of exosomes in stroke treatment, 2) the optimization process of upstream and downstream production, and 3) preclinical application in stroke animal model. Finally, we discuss the limitations and challenges faced by exosome therapy in future clinical applications.

Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a zoonotic parasite, can invade the human central nervous system (CNS) and cause acute eosinophilic meningitis or eosinophilic meningoencephalitis. Mice infected with A. cantonensis show elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, plasminogen activators, and matrix metalloproteinase-9, resulting in disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and immune cell infiltration into the CNS. Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) regulates the permeability of the BBB, which affects immune cells and cerebrospinal fluid. This intricate interaction ultimately fuels the progression of brain damage and edema. This study aims to investigate the regulatory role of Cav-1 in the pathogenesis of meningoencephalitis induced by A. cantonensis infection. We investigate pathological alterations by triphenyl-tetrazolium chloride, brain water content, BBB permeability, Western blot analysis, and gelatin zymography in BALB/c mice after A. cantonensis. The study evaluates the critical role of Cav-1 regulation through the TLR4 / MyD88 signaling pathway, modulates tight junction proteins, influences BBB permeability, and contributes to brain damage in A. cantonensis-induced meningoencephalitis.

High-resolution wave measurements at intermediate water depth are required to improve coastal impact modeling. Specifically, such data sets are desired to calibrate and validate models, and broaden the insight on the boundary conditions that force models. Here, we present a wave data set collected in the North Sea at three stations in intermediate water depth (6-14~m) during the 2021/2022 storm season as part of the RealDune/REFLEX experiments. Continuous measurements of synchronized surface elevation, velocity and pressure were recorded at 2-4~Hz by Acoustic Doppler Profilers and an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter for a 5~month duration. Time series were quality-controlled, directional-frequency energy spectra were calculated, and common bulk parameters were derived. Measured wave conditions vary from calm to energetic with 0.1-5.0~m sea-swell wave height, 5-16~s mean wave period and W-NNW direction. Nine storms, i.e. wave height beyond 2.5~m for at least six hours, were recorded including the triple storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin. This unique data set can be used to investigate wave transformation, wave nonlinearity and wave directionality for higher and lower frequencies (e.g. sea-swell and infragravity waves) to compare with theoretical and empirical descriptions. Furthermore, the data can serve to force, calibrate and validate models during storm conditions.

Quantifying an imaging modality’s ability to reproduce results is important for establishing its utility. In Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI), new acquisition protocols are regularly introduced, which improve upon their precursors with respect to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), total acquisition duration, and nominal voxel resolution. This study has quantified the within-subject and between-subject reproducibility of one such new protocol (reduced-Field-of-View-Density-Weighted-Concentric-Ring-Trajectory (rFOV-DW-CRT) MRSI) by calculating the Coefficient of Variance of data acquired from a test-retest experiment. The Posterior Cingulate Cortex (PCC) and the Right Superior Corona Radiata (SCR) were selected as the Regions of Interest (ROIs) for Grey Matter (GM) and White Matter (WM), respectively. CVs for between-subject and within-subject are consistently around or below 15% for Glx, tCho, and Myo-Ins and below 5% for tNAA and tCr.

Concrete-filled steel columns have been extensively used in the world due to having all suitable characteristics of concrete and steel, more ductility, increasing concrete confinement using steel wall, large energy-absorption capacity and appropriate fire behavior. In present paper, concrete-filled steel square columns have been simulated under the influence of blast load using ABAQUS software. These responses will be compared for scaled distances based on the distance to source and weight of explosive material. As result, it can be seen that although concrete deformation has been restricted using steel tube, but inner layer of concrete has been seriously damaged and column displacement will be decreased by increasing scaled distance. We also concluded that concrete-filled steel columns have high ductility and blast resistance.

Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia (CEP) is an idiopathic disorder characterized by an abnormal and marked accumulation of eosinophils in the interstitial and alveolar spaces of the lung. Idiopathic chronic eosinophilic pneumonia is reported to comprise anywhere from 0-2.5% of cases within the registries of interstitial lung disease. Diagnosis is based on the clinical constellation of symptoms, characteristic radiographic findings and peripheral blood or BAL eosinophilia, in the absence of infection or drug-induced eosinophilia. There is no consensus on the dose and duration of treatment, but most authors recommend initial doses of prednisone at 0.5–1 mg/kg/day with gradual tapering of the dose for total treatment duration of 6–12 months.

Objective: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the mental health of Cypriot citizens, living in the current difficult period of economic recession. Specific objective was to investigate the different factors (gender, age, socio-economic factors, etc.) that may affect the levels of emotional distress, anxiety and depression in visitors of the Rural Health Centre of Kofinou. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of total 300 Cypriots who visited Kofinou Health Centre in the period between August and September 2015. For the middle-aged citizens the Greek version of the HADS scale (Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale) was administered to 150 persons (Michopoulos I., 2007), while for the visiting senior citizens (aged over 65 years) the Greek version of the GDS scale (Geriatric Depression Scale) was used (Fountoulakis K., et al., 1999). All analyses were performed with the social science analysis package SPSS (version 21). Results: HADS: A total of 150 people of average age 47±11,5 years (23-64), were 56% women, while the 77.3% stated they had drastic reduction of income as well as 46.7% suffered from chronic disease. The 36.6% and 28.7% of the visitors showed moderate and severe forms of anxiety and depression, accordingly. Higher emotional distress is associated with lower educational level (p<0,001). Moreover, patients with low income have higher levels of anxiety (p=0,003), depression (p=0,036) and total emotional distress (p=0,007), while those with chronic disease have a higher stress (p<0,001), depression (p<0,001) and total emotional distress symptoms (p<0,001) compared to non - patients. GDS: 150 patients out of which 77 were women (51.3%). The average age of participants was 72±5,5 years. 93(62%) participants declared a drastic reduction of income due to the financial crisis while 139 (92.7%) stated they had chronic disease. 53 participants (35.3%) think they have symptoms of depression after the economic crisis. The women showed higher level of geriatric depression symptoms than men (p<0.001). Higher levels of depression is associated with lower income (p=0.001). Conclusions: The study shows that stress levels, depression and emotional distress are increased in specific population groups. The main factors affecting the mental health of the participants are the presence of chronic disease, income and level of education.

Exogenous melatonin, a nutraceutical for maintaining a healthy sleep-wake cycle and managing sleep disorders, requires large, repeated doses due to low bioavailability and short half-life. This necessitates the development of a sustained-release formulation with a longer half-life and sustained plasma concentration. Therefore, exogenous novel 5 mg sustained-release melatonin capsules (Melatonin-SR, test product) were formulated. This open-label cross-over study compared the pharmacokinetics (maximum concentration [Cmax], time to reach Cmax [Tmax], area under the curve [AUC] and elimination half-life [t1/2]) and safety of Melatonin-SR with 5 mg immediate-release melatonin capsules (Melatonin-IR, reference product) after single-dose oral administration in healthy fasting adults. Sixteen participants (aged 18-45 years) were randomized (1:1) to receive either Melatonin-SR or Melatonin-IR in two periods with a 7-day washout period. Melatonin-SR reported lower Cmax (11446.87 pg/mL) compared to Melatonin-IR (22786.30 pg/mL). The mean Tmax of Melatonin-SR and Melatonin-IR was 1.26 h and 0.87 h, respectively. The mean t1/2 of Melatonin-SR (5.10 h) was prolonged by five-fold compared to Melatonin-IR (1.01 h). One adverse event (vomiting) was reported following administration of the Melatonin-IR. Melatonin-SR resulted in higher and sustained plasma melatonin concentrations for an extended period and was well-tolerated. Hence, Melatonin-SR may be a promising nutraceutical for maintaining healthy sleep.

The hyper-arid environment is characterized by high inter-annual climatic fluctuations. The yearly average rainfall can change substantially for several years, forming wet or dry sub-periods. Observing rainfall trends over a sub-period can lead to a false perception of a change in the trend but may in fact represent a periodic cycle when examined on a larger time scale. We aimed to better characterize the rainfall regime prevailing in the hyper-arid Arava Valley (Israel/Jordan), and to examine the response of vegetation to annual rainfall. We hypothesized that annual and perennial vegetation would respond differently to wet and dry sub-periods, and that grazing activities will impact vegetation growth. We used a time series of monthly rainfall, from which we calculated Standard Precipitation Index (SPI), and calculated proxies of perennial and annual vegetation over the last four decades using Landsat-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). We found no clear trend in rainfall amounts during this period, however we did identify wet and dry sub-periods which were statistically distinct in rain and in vegetation patterns from each other. The highest levels of correlation between rainfall and the NDVI derived proxies were found when examining average rainfall over a period of two- three years for the annual vegetation and over four years for perennial vegetation. Using the Mann-Kendall test, we identified a time lag of two to four years, with the proxies of annual vegetation responding faster than the proxies of perennial vegetation, to shifts between wet and dry sub-period. In addition, we found a consistent difference between natural vegetation cover in Jordan (grazed) and Israel (non-grazed), favoring the development of natural vegetation on the Israeli side. We conclude that integrating between long-term remote sensing satellite imagery and climatic records revealed the greater resilience of perennial vegetation in the hyper-arid region to climatic fluctuation, and enabled us to identify the vegetation’s sensitivity to anthropogenic impact.

Since the creation of the first parallel electrical power systems around the world, the rotor angle stability of synchronously operating generators has been one of the most crucial and challenging problems. In modern electricity networks, involving Kazakhstani, where the renewable energy technologies are rapidly penetrating, and the issue of stability takes on even greater importance due to the technical shortcomings of inverter-based generation. In this framework, an analysis of rotor angle transient stability was carried out when replacing existing synchronous generators with doubly fed induction generators under a certain pre-emergency mode. A critical proportion of active power generation by DFIG units was identified at which transient stability can still be maintained due to the sufficient stored kinetic energy of the synchronous machines remaining in operation. In addition, 2 simple solutions were investigated to improve transient stability, such as an increased time of the automatic reclosure operation and the use of special load shedding automation. For the analysis, a real power system of Mangystau region in Kazakhstan was considered, and the PowerWorld software was used.

COVID-19 has substantially influenced healthcare systems, requiring early prognosis for innovative therapies and optimal results, especially in individuals with comorbidities. Healthcare practitioners have used AI systems for investigating, anticipating, and predicting diseases, through means including medication development, clinical trial analysis, and pandemic forecasting. This study proposes the use of AI to predict disease severity in terms of hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted the approval from the Research Ethics Committee of King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Saudi Arabia. The study used sequential sampling approaches to include 50 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) positive COVID-19 patients from KAU's coronavirus isolation wards. A pre-designed form was used to collect each patient's demographic information, including age and gender, signs and symptoms, illness severity (mild, moderate, severe), and laboratory findings. Furthermore, the length of the hospital stay and the result, whether the patient recovered or died, were reported. Results: The study involved 50 patients with varying degrees of disease severity, most of whom suffered from fever, fatigue, cough, sore throat, and diarrhoea. Laboratory analysis of COVID-19 patients showed increased white blood cell and platelet counts, with C-reactive protein levels above normal. Elevated LDH levels indicated possible tissue damage, while ferritin levels were elevated. Other enzymes were in the normal range, but bilirubin levels were slightly elevated. Overall, the patient's lab results indicated inflammation and possible blood clot formation. The study evaluated the predictive accuracy for outcomes and mortality of COVID-19 patients based on factors such as CRP, LDH, Ferritin, ALP, Bilirubin, D-dimers, and hospital stay (p-value ≤0.05). The predictive accuracy mortality of patients with COVID-19 using AI showed Hospital stay, D-Dimers ALP, Bilirubin, LDH, CRP, and Ferritin significantly affected hospital mortality. (p ≤ 0.0001). Conclusion: Artificial Intelligence is crucial for identifying early coronavirus infections and monitoring patient conditions. It improves treatment consistency and decision-making via the development of algorithms. AI can track the crisis at various scales, facilitate research, and aid in developing treatment regimens, prevention strategies, and drugs and vaccines. It also aids in monitoring health and facilitating research on the virus.

Petit vert (scientific name: Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera DC. × Brassica oleracea var. acephala DC.) is a new variety of vegetable created by crossbreeding kale and brussels sprouts (Brassica oleracea species). The present study aimed to identify biologically active compounds in extracts of the outer leaves of Petit vert by purification and to examine their biological activities. Dried and powdered outer leaves of Petit vert were extracted, fractionated, and purified to isolate active compounds. Nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometries were performed to elucidate the structures of five compounds (1‒5). The compounds isolated from Petit vert leaves were glycosides that contained kaempferol, quercetin (flavonol), or sinapinic acid (phenylpropanoid).　Glucose uptake in cultured C2C12 murine myoblasts in the absence of insulin was significantly increased by these compounds, kaempferol, sinapic acid, and ferulic acid, while that in the presence of insulin was also significantly increased by compounds 3 and 4, kaempferol, and sinapic acid. The present study reports for the first time the isolation of five compounds containing sinapic acid from the outer leaves of Petit vert and their stimulation of glucose uptake in cultured C2C12 murine myoblasts. The results obtained herein suggest the potential of these compounds to effectively attenuate hyperglycemia and maintain muscle strength by promoting glucose metabolism in muscle cells.

Energy poverty in the Global South generally focuses on the lack of basic access to modern fuels and energy carriers. Impoverished people rely primarily on traditional biomass as a source of energy. This situation of basic resource deprivation, in which almost one third of the world's population lives, masks other relevant features of the problem. Current assessments of energy poverty in impoverished areas and the mitigation strategies being implemented derive from the development agenda and, with variations in detail and scope, highlight electricity connections and access to clean cooking fuels as guarantors of progress. However, a comprehensive understanding of energy poverty requires going beyond basic access, building on the interactions between the supply of energy sources and carriers, the provision of energy services and its impact on decent living conditions. Several studies in the last decade have attempted to construct an assessment framework centered on energy services to deal with these interactions. This work discusses the relevant dimensions in the framework (supply, services and impact in wellbeing), reviews the multidisciplinary work available in each aspect, presents a range of proposed taxonomies, and discusses the different issues. A detailed framework is proposed for the integrated assessment of the supply of energy carriers and energy equipment, the provision of relevant energy services, and the improvements obtained in living conditions.

The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent for the COVID-19 first registered in Wuhan, China and responsible for more than 6 million deaths worldwide. Currently, RT-PCR is the gold standard method for diagnosing COVID-19. However, serological tests are needed for screening acute disease diagnosis and screening large populations during the COVID-19 outbreak. Herein we described the development of an in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting levels of anti-Spike-1-RBD IgM antibody in well-defined serum/plasma panel for screening and identifying subjects infected with SARS-CoV-2 in a Latin population. We found that, compared to the RT-PCR as standard method, the in-house CovIgM-ELISA displayed sensitivities of 96.15% and 93.22% for samples collected up to 30 or 60 days after infection, respectively, as well as 95.59% specificity with 97.3% accuracy. The agreement kappa value (κ) of our CovIgM-ELISA was substantial when compared to RT-PCR (κ =0.873) and to SCoV-2 DetectTM IgM ELISA (κ = 0.684). The IgM levels detected in the population positively correlate with the neutralizing activity against the Wild-type, Alpha and Delta variants but failed to neutralize Omicron. These data indicate that our in-house CovIgM-ELISA is a compatible performing assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Swarm electrification-driven communities face significant challenges, including implementing advanced distributed control in areas with limited ICT access and establishing trust among villagers hesitant to grant access to their assets. This paper proposes a distributed DC microgrid architecture for P2P energy exchange in these communities, ensuring stability and effective exchange operation. By implementing a Blockchain marketplace specifically designed to suit the rural context, the proposed architecture ensures tracing of exchange transactions to fairly settle participants. Validation experiments demonstrate its efficacy in achieving peak shaving. It provides 11% of the requester's total demand from the community even while maintaining the constraint of reducing discharge-charge cycles to one per day, thereby preserving battery life. Additionally, the solution reduces prosumer production losses by 16% of the total PV production.

Addressing the issue of low bonding strength in Ti/Mg laminated composites due to interfacial oxidation, this study employs a differential temperature rolling method using longitudinal induction heating to fabricate Ti/Mg composite plates. The entire process is conducted under an argon gas protective atmosphere, which prevents interfacial oxidation while achieving uniform deformation. The effects of reduction on the mechanical properties and microstructure of the composite plates are thoroughly investigated. Results indicate that as the reduction increases, the bonding strength gradually increases, mainly attributed to the increased mechanical interlocking area and a broader element diffusion layer. This corresponds to a transition from brittle to ductile fracture at the microscopic tensile-shear fracture surface. When the reduction reaches 47.5%, the Ti/Mg interfacial strength reaches 63 MPa, which is approximately a 20% improvement compared to the bonded strength with previous oxidation at the interface. Notably, at a low reduction of 17.5%, the bonding strength is significantly enhanced by about 1 time. Additionally, it is found that a strong bonded interface at high reduction is beneficial in hindering the propagation of interfacial cracks during tensile testing, enhancing the ability of the Ti/Mg composite plates to resist interfacial delamination.

Glioblastoma is a highly malignant brain tumor consisting of heterogeneous cellular population. The transformed metabolism of glioblastoma cells supports their growth and division on the background of their milieu. One might hypothesize that the transformed metabolism of a primary glioblastoma could be well adapted to limitations in the variety and number of substrates imported into the brain parenchyma and present it their microenvironment. Additionally, the phenotypic heterogeneity of cancer cells could promote the variations among their metabolic capabilities regarding the utilization of available substrates and release of metabolic intermediates. With the aim to identify the putative metabolic footprint of different types of glioblastoma cells, we exploited the possibility for separation of polar and ionic molecules present in culture media or cell lysates by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC). The mass spectrometry (MS) was then used to identify and quantify the eluted compounds. The introduced method allows the detection and quantification of more than 150 polar and ionic metabolites in single run, those may be present either in culture media or cell lysates and provide data for polaromic studies within metabolomics. The method was applied to analyze the culture media and cell lysates derived from two types of glioblastoma cells, T98G and U118. The analysis revealed that even the both types of glioblastoma cells share several common metabolic aspects, they also exhibit differences in their metabolic capability. This finding agrees with the hypothesis about metabolic heterogeneity of glioblastoma cells. Furthermore, the combination of both analytical methods, HILIC-MS, provides a valuable tool for metabolomic studies based on the simultaneous identification and quantification of a wide range of polar and ionic metabolites - polaromics.

With the use of linear regression modeling, this study sought to forecast and analyze rainfall patterns in Ethiopia. The dataset included historical rainfall data as well as pertinent independent variables. The R-squared score and mean squared error (MSE) were used to assess the effectiveness of the linear regression model. The results showed that the model's ability to forecast and analyze rainfall patterns was not very good. Only around 5.3% of the variance in rainfall could be explained by the chosen independent variables, according to the R-squared score of 0.053. This low number indicated that there was little correlation between the selected variables and rainfall, and that a sizable percentage of the variation in the dependent variable was not captured by the model. The model's accuracy in forecasting rainfall was shown to be quite low by the MSE error, with significant squared discrepancies between the expected and actual amounts. These results support the notion that the linear regression model as it is now designed is not appropriate for studying or forecasting Ethiopia's rainfall patterns. Alternative modeling approaches, the inclusion of other pertinent factors, and the assurance of the availability of high-quality data that faithfully captures the intricate dynamics of rainfall in the area all require more investigation.

The search for materials with exceptional properties has led to significant advances in the field of non-carbon diamond-like conductive thin films (DLC-CTFs). These films, synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and other techniques, are being actively researched for their potential in high-tech applications. This literature review discusses the synthesis methods, material properties, and applications of DLC-CTFs, highlighting the role of non-carbon dopants in enhancing electrical conductivity. This literature review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the historical development, synthesis techniques, material properties, characterization methods, and applications of DLC-CTFs, with a focus on the impact of non-carbon doping on their conductive properties. By reviewing the literature. The review also addresses the challenges faced and suggests future research directions.

False news refers to false, fake, or misleading information presented as real news. In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in false news on the Internet. The goal of this paper was to study the automatic detection of such false news using machine learning and natural language processing techniques and to determine which techniques work the most effectively. This article first studies what constitutes false news, and how it differs from other types of misleading information. We also study the results achieved by other researchers on the same topic. After building a foundation to understand false news, and the various ways of automatically detecting it, this article provides its own experiments. These experiments were done on four different datasets, one that was made just for this article, and using 10 different machine learning methods. The results of this article were satisfactory and provided answers to the original research questions set up at the beginning of this article. This article could determine from the experiments that passive-aggressive algorithms, support vector machines, and random forests are the most efficient methods for automatic false news detection. This article also concluded that more complex experiments, such as using multiple levels of identifying false news or detecting computer-generated false news, require more complex machine learning models.

This paper presents a novel normative framework for assessing granular base materials in rigid pavements, incorporating evaluations of California Bearing Ratio (CBR) alongside hydraulic conductivity tests. A critical component of this research adheres to Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) standards, which specify a permeability coefficient range of 0.05 to 0.20 cm/sec. Our investigations indicate that increased compaction energy inversely affects permeability, highlighting a sophisticated interplay between compaction dynamics and hydraulic characteristics. The study further elucidates that CBR values are profoundly impacted by the content of coarse-grained soil, advocating for a tailored approach to base layer assessment. Multivariable CBR analysis facilitated the identification of an optimal water content, underscoring that maintaining a minimum 80% CBR—while minimizing water content—can mitigate fatigue effects and enhance structural performance under heightened energy conditions. This research proposes bespoke, scientifically validated standards that integrate local geotechnical nuances, aimed at refining material selection processes and extending the durability of pavement infrastructures through foundational yet meticulous geotechnical evaluations.

The purpose of this work is to analyze heat-treated ash wood at temperature of 185 ºC, in order to analyze its dimensional stability. For comparison, native ash/ not thermally treated wood, was be used. In order to analyze heat-treated ash wood, some main properties such as water absorption, swelling in thickness, roughness, Brinell hardness, modulus of rupture and elasticity, color change toward black with CIELab space, and many others properties were determined and processed. The results obtained after processing the experimental data have showed that heat-treated ash wood had good physical properties as absorption and swelling in thickness, and the slight increase in elasticity offers new fields of use. As a general conclusion of the work, it was established that the ash wood can be properly thermally treated, the dimensional stability characteristics being very good, and the decrease in bending resistance being almost imperceptible.

Every year, the Montreal police are confronted with countless crimes committed by criminals. These crimes affect the quality of life of city residents and impose a socio-economic burden on the city. In this study, we conduct a comparative analysis based on several machine learning algorithms to develop a model to predict the crime category in Montreal. The performance of algorithms such as eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Decision Trees (DT) and Random Forest (RF) were analyzed. The performance analysis takes into account the performance metrics such as precision, accuracy, recall and F1-score. This analysis was based on crime data in Montreal from 2015 to 2023. This data is characterized by a strong imbalance between crime categories. To address the data imbalance problem, a data balancing approach based on the SMOTE-ENN algorithm was adopted. In the exploratory data analysis phase, temporal trends by crime category were highlighted. The results of the analysis showed that the XGBoost algorithm outperformed the other two. Specifically, the XGBoost algorithm achieves an accuracy of 92%, while DT and RF achieve an accuracy of 86% and 84%, respectively. As a result, XGBoost was deployed via a web application using the Flask and Swagger UI Python frameworks. This study provides the Montreal police with an effective tool to better utilize their resources in fighting crime. In addition, policymakers in the city of Montreal can use this tool to identify high-risk areas and give them more attention.

The article delves into the landscape of the plant-based food industry, exploring innovative market entry strategies and their interplay with the evolving food market and shifting consumer preferences and lifestyles. Adopting a multidimensional approach, the study reflects diverse perspectives at play. Through a comparative analysis of strategic promotion and growth strategies employed by both innovative startups and established industry giants in the plant-based meat alternatives sector in Germany, the study aims to capture the challenges faced by the 'newer' wave of plant-based alternatives. This examination is particularly relevant for navigating the complexities of entering a competitive market. Striving to penetrate evolving consumer lifestyles, the study draws insightful comparisons with their "older" counterparts. In addition, through in-depth interviews with selected companies, the study investigates the entry methods of startups venturing into the German market, aiming to identify parallels and contrasts in market strategies with established brands. This provides valuable insights into innovation within the alternative food market. Furthermore, the study explores the process of brand "platformization" by scrutinizing the websites of the selected companies and analyzing customers' online reviews of their brand experience. This comprehensive analysis unveils distinctive patterns in communication strategies, brand positioning, and consumer engagement, offering insights into plant-based innovation shaping new, caring lifestyles.

Mechanical ventilation is a life-saving treatment for critically ill patients who are struggling to breathe independently due to injury or disease. Globally, large numbers of Individuals have always required mechanical ventilation per year. The Covid-19 pandemic elevated the significance of the mechanical ventilation which have played a significant role in sustaining Covid 19 infected critically ill patients who could not breathe on their own. The pandemic drew the attention of the world to the shortage of ventilators globally.This research work presents the formulation of a detailed Port Hamiltonian model of a mechanical ventilator integrated to the human respiratory system. The interconnection and coupling conditions for the various subsystem within the mechanical ventilator and the coupling between the mechanical ventilator and the human respiratory system is also presented.A structure preservation discretization is provided along side numerical simulations and results. The obtained results are found to be comparable to results presented in literature.The future work will include the design of suitable controllers for system.

In this study, we utilized the UniProt database to extract breast cancer genes Total 2658 genes in Homo sapiens are obtain. Then 166 genes are taken and after delating duplicates 158 genes were remains. These genes were then analyzed for their biological pathways using Gene Ontology enrichment analysis through the Genecodis platform, resulting in the identification of 12 unique genes involved in disease pathways. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis was conducted using the STRING database and Cytoscape software, identifying ANLN,TREM1,LZTFL1,OXSM,PLA2G3,TAS2R13,ABCB10,ECT2,TRPC,BCAS3,PLA2G3,ZDHHC7 and ERBB2 as potential gene targets for breast cancer.

Vaccines are one of the most effective medical interventions, playing a pivotal role in treating infectious diseases. Although traditional vaccines comprising of killed, inactivated, or live attenuated pathogens have resulted in protective immune responses, negative consequences of their administration have been well-appreciated. Modern vaccines have evolved to contain purified antigenic proteins, epitopes, or antigen-encoding mRNAs, rendering them relatively safe. However, reduced humoral and cellular responses pose major challenges to modern vaccine platforms. Protein nanoparticle (PNP)-based vaccines have garnered substantial interest in recent years for their ability to present repetitive array of antigens for improving immunogenicity and enhancing protective responses. Discovery and characterization of naturally occurring PNPs from various living organisms such as bacteria, archaea, viruses, insects, and eukaryotes, as well as computationally designed structures and approaches to link antigens to the PNPs have paved the way for unprecedented advances in the field of vaccine technology. In this review, we focus on some of the widely used naturally occurring and optimally designed PNPs for their suitability as promising vaccine platforms for displaying native-like antigens from viral pathogens for protective immune responses. Such platforms hold great promise in combating emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and enhancing vaccine efficacy and safety.