In this paper, we study the sensing performance of metasurfaces comprised by spiral-disk-shaped metallic elements patterned on polypropylene substrates, which exhibit localized surface plasmon resonances in the low-frequency region of the THz spectrum (0.2-0.5 THz). Optimal designs of spiral disks with C-shaped resonators placed near the disks were determined and fabricated. The experimentally measured transmittance spectra of samples coated with very thin photoresistive layers (d ~ 10^-4-10^-3 λ) showed good agreement with simulations. The resonance frequency shift Δf increases with increasing d, while saturating near d = 50 µm. The narrow-band magnetic dark modes excited on symmetrical spiral disks with a 90⁰-C-resonator demonstrated very high FOM values reaching 1670 [RIU·mm]^-1 at 0.3μm-thick analyte. The hybrid high order resonances excited on asymmetrical densely packed spiral disks showed about two times larger FOM values (up to 2950 [RIU·mm]^-1) as compared to symmetrical distantly spaced spirals that resembles the best FOM results found in literature for metasurfaces fabricated with a similar technique. The demonstrated high sensing performance of spiral disks is evaluated to be promising for bio-sensing applications in the THz range.

The surface enhanced fluorescence（SEF）detection bases by plasmonic nanopillars array with nanoparticles has opened up a new gate in the application of biological imaging and sensing. The fluorescence enhancement of the probe molecule depends on its position in equilibrium, which is close to the hot spot leading to the electromagnetic field enhancement, but not too close to the metal surface resulting in quenching. Here, a large scale SiO₂-Ag-cicada wing SEF substrate was fabricated by magnetron sputtering with correction enhancement factor of 797.6. Thereinto the cicada wing provides the skeleton of the nanopillars array structure, the deposited Ag constructs two kinds of hot spots, and SiO₂ forms a separation layer to prevent quenching. Moreover, the substrate exhibited good reproducibility, high sensitivity with low limits of detection (LOD) and high stability for oxidation resistance. We propose that SEF substrate with modification of SiO₂ can not only improve the enhancement performance, but also expanding its application in the biological investigations.

This letter attempts to find splashing height of liquid-filled container drop impact to a solid surface by dimensional analysis (DA). Two solutions were obtained by both traditional DA and directed DA without solving any governing equations. It is found that the directed DA can provide much more useful information than the traditional one. This study shows that the central controlling parameter is called splash number $\mathrm{Sp}=\mathrm{Ga} \mathrm{La}^\beta=(\frac{gR^3}{\nu^2})(\frac{\sigma R}{\rho \nu^2})^\beta$, which is the collective performance of each quantity. The splash height is given by $ \frac{h}{H}=(\frac{\rho\nu^2}{\sigma R})^\alpha f[\frac{gR^3}{\nu^2}(\frac{R\sigma}{\rho\nu^2})^\beta]=\frac{1}{\mathrm{La}^\alpha}f(\mathrm{Ga}\cdot \mathrm{La}^\beta)$. From the physics of the splashing number, we can have a fair good picture on the physics of the liquid splashing as follows: the jets propagation will generate vortex streets from the container bottom due to sudden pressure increasing from drop impact (water-hammer effect), which will travel along the container sidewall to the centre of the container and subsequently excite a gravity wave on the liquid surface. The interaction between the gravitational force, surface force and viscous force is responsible for creating droplet splash at the liquid surface.

Detection of early stage corrosion on slender steel members is crucial for preventing buckling failures of steel structures. An active photoacoustic fiber optic sensors (FOS) system has been reported for early stage steel corrosion detection of steel plates and rebars using surface ultrasonic waves. The objective of this paper is to investigate the surface corrosion/rust detection problem on steel rods using numerically simulated surface ultrasonic waves. The finite element method (FEM) is applied in simulating the propagation of ultrasonic waves on steel rod models. Transmission mode of damage detection is adopted, in which one source (transmitter) and one sensor (receiver) are considered. In this research, radial displacements at the receiver were simulated and analyzed by short-time Fourier transform (STFT) for detecting, locating, and quantifying a surface rust located between the transmitter and the receiver. From our time domain and frequency domain analyses, it is found that the presence, location, and dimensions (length, width, and depth) of surface rust can be estimated by ultrasonic waves propagating through the surface rust.

Excessive neutrophil influx and activation in lungs during infections, such as manifest during the ongoing SARS CoV-2 pandemic, have brought neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and the con-comitant release of granule contents that damage surrounding tissues into sharp focus. Neutro-phil proteases, which are known to participate in NET release, also enable the binding of the viral spike protein to cellular receptors and assist in the spread of infection. Blood and tissue fluids normally also contain liver-derived protease inhibitors that balance the activity of proteases. In-terestingly, neutrophils themselves also express the protease inhibitor alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT), the product of the SERPINA-1 gene, and store it in neutrophil cytoplasmic granules. The absence of AAT or mutations in the SERPINA-1 gene promote lung remodeling and fibrosis in diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and increase the risk of allergic responses. Recent observations point to the fact that re-duced activity of AAT presents a major susceptibility factor for severe COVID-19. Here, we focus attention on the mechanism of neutrophil elastase (NE) in NET release and its inhibition by AAT as an additional factor that may determine the severity of COVID-19

Inhibition of the binding of enveloped viruses surface glycoproteins to host cell receptor(s) is a major target of vaccines and constitutes an efficient strategy to block viral entry and infection of various host cells and tissues. Cellular entry usually requires fusion of the viral envelope with host plasma membranes. Such entry mechanism is often preceded by “priming” and/or “activation” steps requiring limited proteolysis of the viral surface glycoprotein to expose a fusiogenic domain for efficient membrane juxtapositions. The 9-membered family of Proprotein Convertases related to Subtilisin/Kexin (PCSK) serine proteases (PC1, PC2, Furin, PC4, PC5, PACE4, PC7, SKI-1/S1P and PCSK9) participate in post-translational cleavages and/or regulation of multiple secretory proteins. The type-I membrane-bound Furin and SKI-1/S1P are the major convertases responsible for the processing of surface glycoproteins of enveloped viruses. Stefan Kunz has considerably contributed to define the role of SKI-1/S1P in the activation of arenaviruses causing hemorrhagic fever. Furin was recently implicated in the activation of the spike S-protein of SARS-CoV-2 and Furin-inhibitors are being tested as antivirals in COVID-19. Other members of the PCSK-family are also implicated in some viral infections such as PCSK9 in Dengue. Herein, we summarize the various functions of the PCSKs and present arguments whereby their inhibition could represent a powerful arsenal to limit viral infections causing the present and future pandemics.

Background and Objectives: Zonulin (Zo) is a molecule that has been identified as an intestinal permeability marker in recent years. It has been previously linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, but its role in chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Zo and systemic inflammation (SI), endothelial dysfunction (ED), and especially renal functions, in patients with CKD. Materials and Methods: One hundred sixty-three participants were enrolled in this study and were divided into two groups (patient and control), according to the presence of CKD. Results: A total of 104 patients with CKD (mean age: 58.9 ±1.4) and 59 control subjects (mean age: 59.0 ±1.1) were included, with similar age (p = 0.934) and gender (p = 0.196) between the groups. In the comparison analysis, plasma Zo levels in the CKD group (166.16 ± 53.54) were significantly higher than those in the control group (143.30 ± 60.92) (p < 0.001). In the correlation analysis, the serum Zo level showed a positive correlation with claudin-3 (r = 0.612, p < 0.001), IL-6 (r = 0.307, p < 0.001), and creatinine (r = 0.313, p < 0.001) and a negative correlation with glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (r = -0.320, p < 0.001) and TC (r = -0.074, p = 0.047). Additionally, according to a linear regression analysis, the Zo level was significantly associated with GFR after adjusting for age and SBP (β value = -0.918, p = 0.012). Conclusion: High serum Zo levels in patients with CKD reflected increased intestinal permeability and were associated with impaired renal function. Moreover, it was thought that Zo level could be associated with SI, but novel clinical studies are needed to elucidate its relationship with ED.

A one-pot, one-step protocol combining hydrogen transfer initiated dehydration (HTID) of 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO), catalysed by [Cp*IrCl2(NHC)] (Cp* = pentamethylcyclopentadienyl; NHC = carbene ligand) complexes (1-5H and 1-3F), and self-aldol condensation (SAC) of propanal (2), allowed selective production of aldehyde 2-methyl-pent-2-enal (3), in ionic liquids with high substrate conversion. The Ir(III) pre-catalysts, and the ionic liquids, were recyclable. 3 could also be selectively produced in the presence of water, and in neat 1,3-PDO. The efficient, selective delivery of a value-added chemical from 1,3-PDO, a major product of many whole cell bacterial fermentation processes, shows that the combination of chemo-catalytic processing of the chemical platform via Cp*IrCl2(NHC) - catalysed HTID / SAC with bio-catalysis has the potential to allow direct valorisation of the bio-renewable feedstocks, such as waste glycerol and sugars, into valuable chemicals.

Collapse calderas often experience large up and down movements, which rarely give rise to eruptions. The pattern of vertical deformation has generally an elliptical geometry, very close to a circular one. A simple and powerful method to explore second order anomalies of the volcanic caldera deformation patterns can enlighten important structural features. This method is here presented and applied to the case study of Campi Flegrei caldera ground deformation, representing a typical example of such a quasi-circular geometry, with dominant ground uplift occurring since 1950. Despite a markedly radial dependence of the vertical displacement, with a very constant shape in the time, we explore in the paper the second order anomalies, with respect to a purely radial behavior. To this aim, we have used a procedure based on the polynomial fit of the vertical displacement data, assuming they only depend on the distance from the maximum uplift point (i.e. deformation center); then, we have obtained anomalies map by subtracting from the theoretical deformation so determined the true data. We then obtain very peculiar results, which put in evidence a sharp separation between a less uplifted zone and a more uplifted one than expected, along a NE-SW alignment which approximately define the most seismically active area, in which most of the largest magnitude earthquakes occur. This very peculiar feature is likely to represent a main volcano-tectonic structure in the area, which can be of leading importance for evaluating both the highest seismic hazard area and the most likely zone of possible eruptive vent opening. The results obtained here indicate that the proposed method can be useful to analyze unrest related hazards.

While adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors are successfully used in a variety of in vivo gene therapy applications, they continue to be hampered by the immune system. Here, we sought to identify innate and cytokine signaling pathways that promote CD8+ T cell responses against the transgene product upon vector administration to murine skeletal muscle. Eliminating just one of several pathways (including DNA sensing via TLR9, IL-1 receptor signaling, and possibly endosomal sensing of double-stranded RNA) substantially reduced the CD8+ T cell response at lower vector doses but was surprisingly ineffective at higher doses. Using genetic, antibody-mediated, and vector engineering approaches, we show that blockade of at least two innate pathways is required to achieve an effect at higher vector doses. Concurrent blockade of IL-1R1>MyD88 and TLR9>MyD88>IFN I>IFNaR pathways was often but not always synergistic and had limited utility in preventing antibody formation against the transgene product. We further provide evidence that CpG depletion of vector genomes and inclusion of TLR9 inhibitory sequences can have a synergistic effect. However, even low-frequency CD8+ T cell responses could eliminate transgene expression. Thus, innate immune avoidance/blockade strategies, albeit helpful, may not be sufficient to prevent destructive cellular responses in muscle gene transfer because of redundancy of immune activating pathways.

Dent disease type 1 is a rare inherited renal disorder affecting mainly young males, generally leading to end-stage renal failure and for which there is no cure. It is caused by inactivating mutations in the gene encoding ClC-5, a 2Cl-/H+ exchanger found on endosomes in the renal proximal tubule. This transporter participates in reabsorbing all filtered plasma proteins which justifies why proteinuria is commonly observed when ClC-5 is defective. In the context of Dent disease type 1, a proximal tubule dedifferentiation was shown to be accompanied by a dysfunctional cell metabolism. However, the exact mechanisms linking such alterations to chronic kidney disease are still unclear. In this review, we gather knowledge from several Dent disease type 1 models to summarize the current hypotheses generated to understand the progression of this disorder. We also highlight some urinary biomarkers for Dent disease type 1 suggested in different studies.

Galectins are a family of beta-galactoside-binding proteins that are characterised by their carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) and include galectin-1 and galectin-3. These galectins have been implicated in numerous diseases due to their pleiotropic nature, including cancer and fibrosis, with therapeutic inhibitors being clinically developed to block the CRD. One of the early methods developed to characterise these galectins was hemagglutination of red blood cells. Although insightful this approach has been hampered by a lack of sensitivity and accurate quantification of the agglutination observed. In this study we aimed to validate a more precise and quantitative method to enable further investigation of differences between galectins in respect to agglutination induction in different blood groups as well as characterisation of small molecule inhibitors. Quantification of hemagglutination was shown to be optimal using U-bottom plates imaged and analysed with FIJI ImageJ rather than flat bottom plates read for absorbance on an optical density plate reader. Galectin-3-induced red blood cell agglutination efficacy increased significantly from blood group O to A to B. However, for both the galectin-1 monomer and concatemer a more comparable effect was observed between blood group B and O but with more potent effects than in blood group A. Inhibition assays for both galectin-3 and galectin-1 induced-hemagglutination were able to demonstrate clear concentration-responses and expected selectivity profiles for a set of small molecule glycomimetics, confirming historical profiles obtained in biochemical binding and functional cellular assays.

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.

Cell junction that is usually associated with dynamic cytoskeletons is essential for a wide range of cellular activities such as cell migration, cell communication, barrier function and signal transduction. Real-time observation of cell junction facilitates understanding of the mechanisms by which cell junction regulate relevant cellular activities. In this study, we examined the binding capacity of a modified tridecapeptide from Cx43 to cell junction protein ZO-1 and sought to create a fluorescent peptide that could be used to label cell junction. To introduce the fluorescent peptide into the cells, a cell-penetrating peptide was linked to the modified tridecapeptide and synthesized. The binding of the modified tridecapeptide was tested using pull down and immunoprecipitation assay. The ability of the peptide to label cell junction was assessed by adding it to fixed or cultured Caco-2 cells. Testing assay revealed that the Cx43-derived peptide can bind to ZO-1. Besides, the peptide was able to label cell junction of fixed cell, although no obvious cell junction labeling was observed clearly in living cells, probably due to the inadequate affinity. These results indicate that a peptide-based strategy for labeling cell junction may be feasible, and efforts to improve its affinity are warranted in the future.

The COVID-19 pandemic, declared in early 2020, is an unprecedented global health crisis, causing over 7.0 million deaths and ongoing challenges. While the pharmaceutical industry expedited vaccine development, mutant SARS-CoV-2 strains remain a major fear. Moreover, concerns regarding the long-term health repercussions of COVID-19-affected individuals persist since individuals affected by mild and moderate to severe SARS-CoV-2 infection experience long-term cardiovascular complications, liver dysfunction, pulmonary afflictions, kidney impairments, and most importantly neurocognitive deficits. In recent studies, we documented pathophysiological changes in various organs following the post-acute infection of mice with murine hepatitis virus-1 (MHV-1), a coronavirus, at both 7 days and 12 months after infection. One part of the body that can be drastically affected by SARS-CoV-2 is the skin. Studies have shown major changes in the skin post-acute SARS CoV-2 infection in humans. However, long-term dermatologic changes post-COVID have never been explored. For the first time, we show several cutaneous findings both at the acute stages and long-term post-infection of mice with MHV-1 coronavirus (a promising experimental model to study acute and long-COVID). Precisely, we found destruction of the epidermal layer, an increase in the number of hair follicles, extensive collagen deposition in the dermal layer, and hyperplasticity of the sebaceous glands at the acute stages, along with thinning of the panniculus carnosus, as well as the adventitial layer, which corresponds well with studies in humans. In contrast, the cutaneous investigation in the long-COVID phase shows the absence of hair follicles from both the epidermal and dermal layers, the destruction of adipose tissues, and the devastation of the epidermal layer. Further, treatment of these mice with a 15 amino acid synthetic peptide, SPIKENET (SPK), which was effective in preventing Spike glycoprotein-1 binding with host receptors, as well as has a potent anti-inflammatory response to severe inflammatory stimulus) restored the loss of hair follicles and re-architected the epidermal and dermal layers. Additionally, destruction in fatty tissue in the infected mice was successfully restored post-treatment with SPK. These findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 initiates the changes early post-infection, leading to devastating skin alterations in the long term which can be prevented by our newly identified peptide drug SPK.

Small molecule modulators of neurotensin receptor 1 (NTSR1), a class A G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), has been emerging as promising therapeutics for psychiatric disorders and cancer. Interestingly, a chemical group substitution of NTSR1 modulators can launch different downstream regulation, highlighting the significance of deciphering the internal fine-tuning mechanism. Here, we conducted synergistic application of Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics simulation, conventional molecular dynamics simulation, and Markov state models (MSM) to investigate the underpinning mechanism of ‘driver chemical groups’ of modulators triggering inverse signaling. The result indicated that the flexibility of leucine moiety in NTSR1 agonists contributes to the inward displacement of TM7 through a loosely coupled allosteric pathway, while the rigidity of adamantane moiety in NTSR1 antagonists leads to unfavorable downward transduction of agonistic signaling. Furthermore, we found that R3226.54, Y3196.51, F3537.42, R1483.32, S3567.45 and S3577.46 may play a key role in inducing the activation of NTSR1. Together, our findings not only highlight the ingenious signal transduction within class A GPCRs, but also lay a foundation for the development of targeted drugs harboring different regulatory function of NTSR1.

Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) is one of the most economically important pathogens of Pacific oysters. Understanding the pathogenesis of this virus is critical to developing tools to control outbreaks on shellfish farms. OsHV-1 is genetically related to vertebrate herpesviruses, which have a lytic and a latent stage, with the latent stage capable of being reactivated to the lytic stage. Here, OsHV-1 latency in Pacific oysters was investigated in experimentally and naturally infected oysters. Lytic infection in one-year-old oysters injected with the Tomales Bay strain of OsHV-1 was detectable between 1 and 4 days post-infection (dpi) but was not detectable after 5 dpi. The infected oysters shed 1102 to 1104 DNA copies/ml during the 4-day acute phase. At 21 dpi, the recovered oysters were temperature and chemically stressed and were found to shed 1104 to 1105 DNA copies/ml over a period of 48 h. Lytic shedding was not detectable in two-year-old oysters injected similarly with the same strain of OsHV-1; however, the OsHV-1 genome was detectable by qPCR in the adductor muscle, gill, mantle, and hemocytes within the first 3 dpi, after which it became undetectable. No OsHV-1 was detectable in the adductor muscle, gill, or mantle from experimentally infected oysters on days 15 and 21 post-infection or from oysters sampled 9 months after surviving an OsHV-1 mortality event; however, OsHV-1 DNA could be detected in hemocytes of both experimentally infected oysters at 21 dpi and naturally infected oysters. In addition, lytic viral gene transcription was detectable in hemocytes of experimentally infected oysters between 1 and 21 dpi and in hemocytes of naturally infected oysters.

Objectives: Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) isolates are one of the most difficult pathogens to treat. Cefiderocol, a chlorocatechol-substituted siderophore antibiotic, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2019 indicated for the treatment of infections due to CRAB infections. Despite the initial positive treatment outcomes with this antimicrobial, recent studies reported higher than all-cause mortality rate in patients treated with cefiderocol. The cause(s) behind these outcomes remains unconfirmed. A plausible hypothesis is heteroresistance, a phenotype characterized by the survival of a small proportion of cells in a population seemingly isogenic. Recent results have shown that the addition of human fluids to CRAB cultures leads to cefiderocol heteroresistance. Here we describe molecular and phenotypic analyses of CRAB heteroresistant bacterial subpopulations to better understand the nature of the less-than-expected successful outcomes after cefiderocol treatment. Methods: Isolation of heteroresistant variants of the CRAB strain AMA40 was carried out in cultures supplemented with cefiderocol and human pleural fluid (HPF). Two AMA40 variants, AMA40 IHC1 and IHC2, were subjected to whole genome sequencing and transcriptional analysis to identify mutations and expression changes associated with cefiderocol heteroresistance. The impact of these mutations on the pharmacodynamic activity of cefiderocol was assessed via susceptibility testing, EDTA and boronic acid inhibition analysis, biofilm formation, and static time-kill assays. Results: Heteroresistant variants AMA40 IHC1 and AMA40 IHC2 have 53 chromosomal mutations, of which 40 are common to both strains. None of the mutations occurred in genes associated with high affinity iron-uptake systems or β-lactam resistance. However, transcriptional analyses showed significant modifications in levels of expression of genes associated with these functions. The blaNDM-1 and blaADC-2, as well as various iron-uptake system genes, were expressed at higher levels than the parental strain. On the other hand, the carO and ompA genes’ expression was reduced. One of the mutations common to both heteroresistant strains mapped within pipA, a gene associated with iron homeostasis in other species. Static time-kill assays showed that supplementing cation-adjusted Mueller-Hinton broth with human serum albumin, the main protein component of HPF, considerably reduced cefiderocol killing activity for all three strains tested. Notably, collateral resistance to amikacin was observed in both variants. Conclusions: We conclude that exposing CRAB to fluids containing high HSA facilitates the rise of heteroresistance associated with point mutations and upregulation of genes coding for β-lactamases and biofilm formation.

Background The main aim of reconstructive surgery (RS) is to restore the integrity of soft tissues damaged by trauma, surgery, congenital deformity, burns or infection. Microsurgical techniques consist of harvesting tissues that are separated from the vascular sources of the donor site and anastomosed to the vessels of the recipient site. In these procedures, there are some preoperative modifiable factors that have the potential to influence the outcome of the flap transfer and its anastomosis. Methods Chronic inflammatory anaemia (ACD) is a constant condition in patients who have undergone RS and correlates with the perfusion of the free flap. In RS, it is important to maintain good tissue oxyporesis, avoiding blood hyperviscosity. From January 2017 to September 2019, we studied 16 patients (16 males, mean age 38 years) who underwent microsurgical procedures for RS. Haemoglobin (Hb) levels, Corpuscular Indexes, Transferring saturation (TSAT) ferritin concentrations and creatinine clearance have been measured the first day after surgery (T0), after the first week (T1) and after five weeks (T2). At T0 all patients showed low hemoglobin levels (average 7.4 g/dl, STD 0,71range 6,2-7,4 g dL-1), with an MCV of 72, MCH 28, MCHC 33, RDW 16, Sideremy 35, Ferritin 28, Ret% 1,36, TRF 277 and Creatinine Clearance 119. . We assessed all patients for clinical status, medical history and comorbidities before starting therapy. Results. In collaboration between the two departments, we started a therapeutic protocol with erythropoietic stimulating agents (ESAs) (Binocrit 6000 UI/week) and intravenous iron every other day, on the second day after surgery. Thirteen patients received ESAs and FCM (500-1000 mg per session), three patients received ESAs and iron gluconate (1 vial every other day). No patients received blood transfusions. No side effects were observed and, most importantly, no limb or flap rejection. Conclusions Preliminary data from our protocol show an optimal therapeutic response in a surgical setting with limited data in the scientific literature. The enrolment of further patients will allow us to validate this therapeutic protocol with statistically significant data.

Background: Endotheliopathy is common pathologic findings in patients with acute and long COVID-19. It may be associated with disease severity and predispose to long-term complications. Plasma levels of a proteoglycan syndecan-1 are found to be significantly elevated in patients with COVID-19, but its roles in assessing the disease severity and predicting long-term outcome are not fully understood. Methods: 124 consecutive hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV2 infection were prospectively enrolled and blood samples were collected on admission (T1), 3-4 days following treatment (T2), and 1-2 days prior to discharge or death (T3). Plasma levels of syndecan-1 were determined using an immunosorbent assay; various statistical analyses were performed to determine the association between plasma syndecan-1 levels and disease severity or the 60-day mortality rate. Results: Compared with those in the healthy controls, plasma levels of syndecan-1 in patients with critical COVID-19 were significantly higher (p<0.0001). However, there was no statistically significant difference among patients with different disease severity (p>0.05), resulting from large individual variability. Longitudinal analysis demonstrated that while the levels fluctuated during hospitalization in all patients, plasma syndecan-1 levels were persistently elevated from baseline in critical COVID19 patients. Cox proportional hazard regression analyses revealed that elevated plasma levels of syndecan-1 (>260 ng/mL at T1, >1018 ng/mL at T2, and >461 ng/mL at T3) were significantly associated with the 60-day mortality rate. Conclusions: Endotheliopathy, marked by glycocalyx degradation and elevated plasma syndecan-1, occurs in nearly all hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV2 infection; the elevated plasma syndecan-1 is associated with increased mortality in COVID-19 patients.

The glucose-insulin regulatory system and its glucose oscillations is a recurring theme in the literature because of its impact on human lives, mostly the ones affected by diabetes mellitus. Several approaches were proposed, from mathematical to data-based models, with the aim of modeling the glucose oscillation curve. Having such a curve, it is possible to predict, when injecting insulin in type 1 diabetes (T1D) individuals. However, the literature presents prediction horizons no longer than 6 hours, which could be a problem considering their sleeping time. This work presents Tesseratus, a model that adopts a multi-agent approach to combine machine learning and mathematical modeling to predict the glucose oscillation up to 8 hours. Tesseratus uses the pharmacokinetics of insulins and data collected from T1D individuals. Its outcome can support endocrinologists while prescripting daily treatment for T1D individuals, and provide personalized recommendations for such individuals, to keep their glucose concentration in the ideal range. Tesseratus brings pioneering results for prediction horizons of 8 hours for nighttime, in an experiment with seven real T1D individuals. It is our claim that Tesseratus will be a reference for classification of glucose prediction model, supporting the mitigation of short- and long-term complications in the T1D individuals.

Liver receptor homolog-1 (LRH-1) has emerged as a regulator of hepatic glucose, bile acid, and mitochondrial metabolism. However, the functional mechanism underlying the effect of LRH-1 on lipid mobilization has not been addressed. This study investigated the regulatory function of LRH-1 in lipid metabolism during fasting. The wild-type (WT) and LRH-1 liver-specific knockout (LKO) mice were either fed or fasted for 24 h, and the liver and serum were isolated. During fasting, the LRH-1 LKO mice showed greater accumulation of triglycerides in the liver compared to that in WT mice. Interestingly, LRH-1 LKO liver decreased the perilipin 5 (PLIN5) expression and genes involved in β-oxidation. Additionally, the LRH-1 agonist dialauroylphosphatidylcholine also enhanced PLIN5 expression in human cultured HepG2 cells. To identify new target genes of LRH-1, these findings directed to analyze the PLIN5 promoter sequence, which revealed −1620/−1614 to be a putative binding site for LRH-1. This was confirmed by promoter activity and chromatin immuno-precipitation assays. Moreover, fasted WT primary hepatocytes showed increased co-localization of PLIN5 in lipid droplets (LDs) compared to that in fasted LRH-1 LKO primary hepatocytes. Overall, these findings suggest that PLIN5 might be a novel target of LRH-1 to mobilize LDs and manage the cellular needs.

Aim: To establish, through molecular modelling, safe and clinically acceptable putative antagonists of E571K-mutated exportin-1 among the bioactive compounds in various parts of Juglans mandshurica. Methods: The bioactive compounds were subjected to compendium of druglikeness and lead-likeness filter workflows prior to docking of the resultant compounds into E571K exportin-1 active site using PyRx AutoDock vina to establish their binding affinity and interaction profile. The evolutionary algorithm of Osiris property explorer DataWarrior software as well as lead-likeness filter were employed for generation of novel non-promiscuous analogues of the lead compound with better putative selectivity and clinical acceptability as E571K Exportin-1 antagonists.Results: The findings of this study present taxifolin as the putatively effective and lead-like E571K Exportin-1 inhibitor with high potential of qualifying for clinical evaluation but is associated with high promiscuity tendency in high throughput screening. The evolutionary derivation of novel analogues of the compound, however, results in the generation of putatively non-promiscuous, non-toxic, and lead-like E571K Exportin-1 antagonists with high synthetic accessibility and clinical developability for evaluation in the strategy for treatment of drug-resistant KRAS-mutant lung adenocarcinoma condition.

Acute and chronic transplant rejections due to alloreactivity are essential contributors to graft loss. However, the strength of alloreactivity is biased by non-immunological factors such as ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI). Accordingly, protection from IRI could be favorable in terms of limiting graft rejection. Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) is part of the cell membrane and an important regulator of intracellular signaling. Cav-1 has been demonstrated to limit IRI and to promote survival of a variety of cell types including renal cells under stress conditions. Accordingly, Cav-1 could also play a role in limiting anti-graft immune responses. Here, we evaluated a possible association between pretransplant serum concentrations of Cav-1 and the occurrence of rejection during follow up in a pilot study. Therefore, Cav-1-serum concentrations were analyzed in 91 patients at the time of kidney transplantation and compared to the incidence of acute and chronic rejection. Higher Cav-1 levels were associated with lower occurrence of acute rejection episodes. Moreover, Cav-1 could be therapeutically useful for attenuating graft rejection.

Exportin-1, the ubiquitous nuclear protein transporter, is widely confirmed as an active chemotherapeutic target in non-small cell lung cancer condition while Juglans mandshurica is a well-studied anticancer plant in some lung cancer cell lines. We intend to find novel exportin-1 inhibitor from Juglans mandshurica with better potential tolerability and pharmaco-dynamo-kinetic properties than the current selective inhibitors of nuclear export in non-small cell lung cancer treatment. Osiris property explorer DataWarrior, Glide standard precision docking, quantum mechanics polarized ligand docking, MMGBSA binding free energy calculations, Jaguar density functional theory analysis, and the online web-based SwissADME were employed respectively in this study to filter the retrieved compounds based on tolerability, toxicity, and Lipinsky’s rule of five violation potential, determine their druggability, establish relative stability of the lead compound in water solvation model, and evaluates druglikeness, lead-likeness, as well as synthetic accessibility of the lead compound. This study reveals eriodictyol as having higher binding free energy (-40 kcal/mol) than that of standard (-39.56 kcal/mol) in exportin-1 active site, better synthetic accessibility score (3.15 versus 3.29), high GI absorption, non-blood brain barrier permeant, lacks Brenk and PAINS alert, obeying Lipinski’s, Ghose’s, Veber’s, Egan’s, and Muegge’s rule of druglikeness and lead-likeness as well as non-cytotoxic to HepG2 cells. We therefore found eriodictyol as a lead-like, non-toxic exportin-1 inhibitor with good predictive stability and pharmacokinetic potential and thus provided data for further validation of eriodictyol as a candidate exportin-1 inhibitor in both preclinical and clinical studies involving lung cancer therapy.

It has been demonstrated that a decrease in cellular adenosine triphosphate (c-ATP) causes cellular dysfunction. T-cells are not an exception. One of their roles is to properly detect and eliminate cancer cells. These processes occur at the expense of ATP. Therefore, it can be concluded that a decrease in c-ATP can defect T-cell function and promote cancer evolution. In this article, we provide a hypothesis to describe the correlation between the expression of PD-1 protein on T-cells and their c-ATP levels. Moreover, we present the possible predictive factors of Anti–PD(L)-1 therapy which has not yet been determined definitely.

In present study, the effect of Inonotus Obliquus extracts used in traditional medicine was investigated on the expression of matrix metalloproteinases-1 (MMP-1) in the normal human dermal fibroblasts. As shown our results, extracts of Inonotus Obliquus decreased MMP1 expression in oxidative stress-exposed normal human dermal fibroblasts. Additionally, Inonotus Obliquus extracts decreased AP-1 transcriptional activity and phospho-JNK in oxidative stress exposed normal human dermal fibroblasts. The results suggest that Inonotus Obliquus extracts decreased MMP1 expression using decreasing AP-1 transcriptional activity and phospho-JNK. Therefore, Inonotus Obliquus extracts has potential to reduce formation of wrinkle and to use as a cosmetic ingredient.

Honey is a complex sweet food stuff with well-established antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. It has been used for millennia in a variety of applications, but those most noteworthy include treatment of surface wounds, burns and inflammation. A variety of substances in honey have been suggested as the key component to its antimicrobial potential; polyphenolic compounds, hydrogen peroxide, methylglyoxal and bee-defensin 1. These components vary greatly across honey samples due to botanical origin, geographical location and the individual bee. The use of medical grade honey, Medihoney and Revamil, in the treatment of surface wounds and burns has been seen to improve the healing process, reduce healing time, reduce scarring and prevent microbial contamination. Therefore, medical grade honeys should be used for these treatments and reduce the demand for antibiotic usage. In this review, we aim to outline the constituents of honey and how they affect the antibiotic potential of honeys in a clinical setting.

Growing resistance is reported to carbamate insecticides in malaria vectors in Cameroon. However, the contribution of acetylcholinesterase (Ace-1) to this resistance remains uncharacterised. Here, we established that the G119S mutation is driving resistance to carbamates in Anopheles gambiae populations from Cameroon. Insecticide bioassay on field collected mosquitoes from Bankeng, a locality in southern Cameroon, showed high resistance to the carbamates bendiocarb (64.8 ± 3.5 % mortality) and propoxur (55.71 ± 2.9 %) but a full susceptibility to the organophosphate fenithrothion. The TaqMan genotyping of the G119S mutation in field-collected adults revealed the presence of this resistance allele (39%). A significant correlation was observed between the Ace-1^R and carbamate resistance at allelic [(bendiocarb; OR = 75.9; P<0.0001) and (propoxur; OR= 1514; P<0.0001)] and genotypic [RR vs SS (bendiocarb; OR = 120.8; P<0.0001) and (propoxur; OR= 3277; P<0.0001) levels. Furthermore, the presence of the mutation was confirmed by sequencing an Ace-1 portion flanking codon 119. The cloning of this fragment revealed a likely duplication of Ace-1 in Cameroon as mosquitoes exhibited at least three distinct haplotypes. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the predominant Ace-1^R allele is identical to that from West Africa suggesting a recent introduction of this allele in Central Africa from the West. The spread of this Ace-1^R represents a serious challenge to future implementation of IRS-based interventions using carbamates or organophosphates in Cameroon

DNA vaccines are stable, safe, cost effective to produce and relatively quick and easy to manufacture. However, to date DNA vaccines have shown relatively poor immunogenicity in humans despite promising preclinical results. Consequently, a number of different approaches have been investigated to improve the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines. These include the use of improved delivery methods, adjuvants, stronger promoters and enhancer elements to increase antigen expression, and codon optimization of the gene of interest. This review describes the creation and use of a DNA vaccine vector containing a porcine circovirus (PCV-1) enhancer element that significantly increases recombinant antigen expression and immunogenicity and allows for dose sparing. A 172bp region containing the PCV-1 capsid protein promoter (Pcap) and a smaller element (PC; 70 bp) within this were found to be equally effective. DNA vaccines containing the Pcap region expressing various HIV-1 antigens were found to be highly immunogenic in mice, rabbits and macaques, at 4 to 10-fold lower doses than normally used and to be highly effective in heterologous prime-boost regimens. By lowering the amount of DNA used for immunization, safety concerns over injecting large amounts of DNA into humans can be overcome.

Contrary to optical images, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images are in different electromagnetic spectrum where the human visual system is not accustomed to. Thus, with more and more SAR applications, the demand for enhanced high-quality SAR images has increased considerably. However, high-quality SAR images entail high costs due to the limitations of current SAR devices and their image processing resources. To improve the quality of SAR images and to reduce the costs of their generation, we propose a Dialectical Generative Adversarial Network (Dialectical GAN) to generate high-quality SAR images. This method is based on the analysis of hierarchical SAR information and the “dialectical” structure of GAN frameworks. As a demonstration, a typical example will be shown where a low-resolution SAR image (e.g., a Sentinel-1 image) with large ground coverage is translated into a high-resolution SAR image (e.g., a TerraSAR-X image). Three traditional algorithms are compared, and a new algorithm is proposed based on a network framework by combining conditional WGAN-GP (Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network - Gradient Penalty) loss functions and Spatial Gram matrices under the rule of dialectics. Experimental results show that the SAR image translation works very well when we compare the results of our proposed method with the selected traditional methods.

The Chinese drug Bombyx Batryticatus mori.L which also named as the white stiff silkworm is widely used in clinics, due to the significant antispasmodic and promotional blood circulation effects. In addition, its hypoglycemic effect is also recognized in recent years. From a pathological point of view, the enzymatic glycosylation and non-enzymatic glycation both have important roles in regulating properties of proteins and are associated with Diabetes. With the db/db mouse model, we examined the alterations of N-glycosylation of diabetic myocardium at primary stage and clarify the differences in glycosylation of myocardium before and after with 1-DNJ treatment. Hydrophilic chromatography solid phase extraction enrichment and LC-MS/MS identification was applied to profile the alternations in protein glycosylation. Meanwhile, N-glycan α1, 6-fucosylation alterations were profiled with LCA lectin blot and FITC-labelled lectin affinity histochemistry. Our results showed that AGES, hydroxyproline, CTGF and other serum indicators and fibrosis related cytokines expressional levels were reduced significantly by 1-DNJ in a dose-dependent manner. In order to verify this result, the well-known pathway of TGF-β/smad2/3 was picked out and α1, 6-core fucosylated TGFR-βⅡwas semi-quantified with western blot method. The result sustained the conclusion from LCA lectin affinity histochemistry and lectin blot analysis. The expressional level of α1, 6-fucosyltransferase mRNA was increased in the myocardium of db/db mice, however, the 1-DNJ administration did not show obvious inhibitory effect on FU8 expression. This unexpected result can be interpreted as 1-DNJ plays the roles by reducing the concentration of substrate rather than inhibiting α1，6-fucose glycosyltransferase expression. Meanwhile, 1-DNJ crude extract from BBm with some flavonoids accompany can also play the roles of anti-oxidant, and all the chemicals protect the diabetic myocardium from hyperglycemia damage commonly.

Aims: To study the effects of pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) on oxidative stress in isolated pancreatic acinar cells. We have previously shown that PLP has cytoprotective and insulinotropic effects on mice islet cells in vivo and in vitro studies. Main methods: Acinar cells were isolated from three months old WNIN male rats and were cultured in vitro for a period of 24 h in CO₂ incubator. Later the cells were divided into four groups as untreated (group 1), H₂O₂ treatment (group 2)_, PLP treatment (group 3) and PLP followed by H₂O₂ treatment (group 4). Cell viability was confirmed using MTT assays, oxidative stress levels were measured with ROS assay, change in different protein levels were recorded by flow cytometry. The acinar cells insulin secretion assay was performed with ELISA. The amylase protein expression was assessed using confocal microscopy. Key findings: The cell viability of acinar cell in group 1 was considered as 100%, while in group 2 it was reduced to 82% due to H₂O₂ effect, and in group 3 (99.8%) and group 4 (99.5%) were near to group 1 due to the cytoprotective effect of PLP. The ROS levels were increased by 1.47 folds in group 2, while PLP decreased to 1.02 fold in group 4, which was comparable with the changes in group 1. Beneficial effects of PLP were also observed from the increased expression levels of acinar cells are amylase -2.01, neurogenin-3-9.51, PDX-1- 23.6 and insulin-13.5 in group 3 compared to group 1. The specificity of PLP’s response was confirmed by amino oxy acetic acid (AOAA), a specific PLP inhibitor. The increased amylase protein localization with PLP was confirmed by confocal microscopy. Insulin secretion efficiency of acinar cells was observed to be 6.13 folds higher at basal and 24.63 fold higher at stimulated levels in group3 compared to group1. Significance: Our results advocate the antioxidant and cytoprotective effects of PLP on the pancreatic acinar cell along with increased pancreatic marker expressions of amylase,PDX-1, neurogenin-3 and insulin proteins.

We conducted a pilot study to analyze the differential methylation status of 20 primary acinar adenocarcinomas of the lungs. These adenocarcinomas had to be wild type in mutation analysis and had either high (TPS&gt;50%; n=10) or low (TPS&lt;1%; n=10) PD-L1 status to be integrated into our study. To examine the methylation of 866,895 specific sites, we utilized the Illumina Infinium EPIC bead chip array. Both hypermethylation and hypomethylation play significant roles in tumor development, progression, and metastasis. They also impact the formation of the tumor microenvironment, which plays a decisive role in tumor differentiation, epigenetics, dissemination, and immune evasion. The gained methylation patterns were correlated with PD-L1 expression. Our analysis has identified distinct methylation patterns in lung adenocarcinomas with high and low PD-L1 expression. After analyzing the correlation between methylation results of genes and promoters with their pathobiology, we found that tumors with high expression of PD-L1 tend to exhibit oncogenic effects through hypermethylation. On the other hand, tumors with low PD-L1 expression show loss of their suppressor functions through hypomethylation. The suppressor functions of hypermethylated genes and promoters are ineffective compared to simultaneously activated dominant oncogenic mechanisms. The tumor microenvironment supports tumor growth in both groups.

Many children and adults who have suffered prenatal hypoxia at an early age develop many serious diseases. This disease is an actual problem of pediatric cardiology and little studied. The aim was to analyze the cardioprotective effect of L-arginine, Thiotriazoline, Angioline and Mildronate on the cardiovascular system of rats after prenatal hypoxia. Methods: The experiments were carried out on 50 female white rats; intraperitoneal sodium nitrite solution was administered daily to pregnant female rats after 16 days at a dose of 50 mg/kg. Control pregnant rats received saline. The offspring were divided into groups: 1 – intact; 2 – the control group of rat pups after PH, daily treated with physiological saline; 3 – 6 groups of rat pups after PH, treated daily from the 1st to the 30th day after birth. Heat shock protein HSP70 was determined by enzyme immunoassay, ST2 Nitrotyrosine, eNOS was observed by ELISA. Results: Angiolin showed a high cardioprotective effect even a month after discontinuation of the drug, and after introduction, the highest decrease in ST2, nitrotyrosine was revealed. Thiotriazoline and L-arginine have an antioxidant effect and a positive effect on eNOS expression. increased the concentration of HSP70. Mildronate increased the expression of eNOS and the concentration of HSP70 in the blood of experimental rats after a course of administration, but did not show an antioxidant effect and did not reduce the concentration of nitrotyrosine. The results obtained indicate the cardioprotective effect of modulators of the NO system with different mechanisms of action of drugs after experienced prenatal hypoxia.

This study aimed to present a systematic meta-analysis examining the association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, hemoglobin A1c levels, and the development of type 1 diabetes mellitus. The initial search identified 451 articles related to the association between H. pylori infection and T1DM. Among them, 14 articles had 2,971 participants meeting the inclusion criteria for advanced meta-analysis. A significant association was observed between H. pylori infection and T1DM, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.87 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.27–2.78, p = 0.002). A subgroup analysis on H. pylori status showed that a longer duration of diabetes diagnosis and higher hemoglobin A1c levels were significantly associated with H. pylori infection (p < 0.001 for both). However, there was no significant association between H. pylori infection and the diagnostic age of diabetes (p = 0.306). These findings contribute to the understanding of the association between H. pylori infection and T1DM, thereby highlighting the potential role of H. pylori in influencing the duration and glycemic control of diabetes.

Gold nanohole arrays are periodic metastructures gathering huge interest for biosensing applica-tions. The grating-like structure defines their plasmonic mode features and their angular disper-sion can be used to highlight efficiently their interaction with the fluorescence emission of a properly tuned fluorophore. Resorting to a properly tuned/engineered/optimised plasmonic na-nohole array and a commercial organic dye, we performed an accurate resolved angle-resolved optical characterization. The plasmonic fingerprints was consequently identified as a modification of the dye photoluminescence signal in terms of both spectral redistribution and enhancement. Interestingly, by analyzing the results, an advantageous measurement configuration can be iden-tified to better engineer a suitable platform for efficiency maximization in plasmon-enhanced flu-orescence-based applications. Therefore, the coupling mechanism with the plasmonic modes, and nanostructure properties can be carefully co-optimized.

Photon-counting Computed Tomography (PCCT) is a promising cardiovascular-imaging technique. Using detectors that count the number and energy of photons in multiple bins, PCCT offers several advantages over conventional CT, including a higher image quality, reduced contrast agent volume, radiation doses, and artifacts. Although PCCT is well established for cardiac imaging in assessing coronary artery disease, its application in vascular imaging remains limited. This review summarizes the available literature and provides an overview of the current use of PCCT for the diagnosis of vascular conditions. Of the 13 records selected in the initial search, 7 articles were included in the present review: 6 cohort studies and 1 case report. This review synthesized the available literature on PCCT in vascular imaging, focusing mainly on endoleaks detection and characterization after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), contrast dose volume, and radiation exposure reduction, particularly in patients with chronic kidney disease and in those requiring follow-up CT.

The increasing variability of precipitation, higher temperatures and recurring droughts in the semi-arid regions due to climate change are leading to increased aridity, resulting in scarcer water resources for crops. The present study aimed to analyse the spatial distribution of climate variables related to water resources in the olive-growing areas throughout Extremadura, southwestern Spain. To perform this task, three climate variables were used: potential evapotranspiration of the crop, the FAO aridity index and the annual water requirement. Considering data from 58 weather stations located throughout Extremadura and 17 along boundaries with at least 30-year length (within the 1991-2021 period), each variable was computed at each station. After calculating some descriptive statistics, a multivariate geostatistical (regression-kriging) algorithm, incorporating secondary information on elevation and latitude, was used to accurately map each climate variable. Later, temporal trends and their magnitude were analysed using the Mann-Kendall test and the Sen’s estimator, respectively. The highest evapotranspiration and water requirements are located in the southern part of the region, which has large areas dedicated to olive cultivation. In the northern part of the region, there is greater spatial variability in evapotranspiration and, consequently, in water requirements for olive groves due to the more rugged topography. Similarly, the olive-growing areas with the highest aridity are also in the south of Extremadura. In most areas of Extremadura, olive cultivation requires appropriate irrigation for optimal productivity. According to evapotranspiration trends, the water requirements will become greater in the future. However, it is not guaranteed that the water supply will be sufficient in olive-growing areas where aridity is higher and water resources are scarce. The results of this study are very important for evaluating water deficit and water resources in vulnerable olive-growing areas throughout Extremadura.

Combustion power plants emit carbon dioxide (CO₂), a major contributor to climate change. Direct emissions measurement is cost-prohibitive globally, while reporting varies in detail, recency, and granularity. To fill this gap and greatly increase the number of power plants worldwide with independent emissions monitoring, we developed and applied machine learning (ML) models using power plant plumes as proxy signals to estimate electric power generation and CO₂ emissions using Landsat 8, Sentinel-2, and PlanetScope imagery. Our ML models estimated power plant activity on each image snapshot, and then an aggregation model predicted plant utilization over a 30-day period. Lastly, emissions factors specific to region, fuel, and plant technology were used to convert estimated electricity generation to CO₂ emissions. Models were trained with reported hourly generation data in the US, Europe, and Australia and were validated with additional generation and emissions data from the US, Europe, Australia, Türkiye, and India. All results with sufficiently large sample sizes indicate that our models outperformed baseline approaches. In conducting external validation to compare modeled versus reported annual generation and emissions in the countries where available, we calculated the root mean square error overall for modeled countries with validation data as respectively 1.75 TWh (236 plants across 17 countries over 4 years) and 2.04 Mt CO₂ (207 plants across 17 countries over 4 years). Ultimately, we applied our ML method to plants that comprise 32% of global power plant CO₂ emissions averaged over 2015-2022. This dataset is the most comprehensive independent and free-of-cost global power plant point-source emissions monitoring system currently known to the authors and is publicly available at climatetrace.org to support global emissions reduction.

Everyone should therefore consistently get access to enough and safe water. The operation of the existing distribution network as well as the proper optimization and implementation of the new distribution systems are required for a sufficient and safe water supply. In Sekota town sufficient amount of water was not reached to the beneficiaries due to shortage of water at the source. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the performance and optimize the existing Sekota water supply distribution system using Bentley Water GEMS.The system's hydraulic modeling is carried out by considering as a continuous supply system, and the evaluation procedure used the extended period simulation approach after calibration was done. Calibration is used to ensure the performance of the model using the observed pressure values. The output of the existing system shows pressure is very high means above the maximum pressure and velocity is very low at peak hour demand. The results of velocity and pressure before optimization have negative effect on the performance of the system. The number of pipes and junctions their velocities and pressures which were in admissible ranges are 15 and 42 pipes for velocities and zero and 59 junctions for pressure before and after optimization were evaluated respectively.

Agriculture is the main driver of depletion resources worldwide, and its duty is to ensure food security within a rapidly increasing demographic and urbanization, so it is important to transition to sustainable production systems. Vertical crops (VCs) can reduce the pressure on conventional agriculture because they save water and nutrients and increase crop yield. Therefore, this study aimed to validate a proposed predictive model (PM) to simulate water and nutrient uptake in vertical crops under greenhouse conditions. Based on the Penman-Monteith equation, PM estimates transpiration, while nutrient uptake was estimated using the Carmassi-Sonneveld submodel. PM was experimentally evaluated for vertically grown lettuce under Mediterranean greenhouse conditions, during spring 2023. The irrigation technique was a closed-loop fertigation circuit. The experimental consisted of testing two densities (50 and 80 plants·m-2), where each unit of the experiment unit was divided into three heights (low, medium, and upper). It performed ANOVA with a value of p &lt; 0.05 and R2 to assess PM performance. The results suggest a high degree of PM, since R2 ranged from 0.7 to 0.9 for the uptake of water and nutrients. Both densities had a yield between 17-20 times higher than conventional lettuce production and significant savings in water, between 85-88%. In this sense, PM has great potential to intelligently manage VC fertigation, saving water and nutrients, which represents an advance towards reaching SDG 6 and SDG 12, within the 2030 Agenda.

A lignin modified salt resistance branched high-performance water reducer was prepared via free radical polymerization. The water reducing agent was identified through Fourier transform infrared analysis, thermal gravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The experiment conducted on cement paste demonstrates that the water-reducing efficiency can reach a maximum of 44%. Additionally, the significant spatial steric hindrance of the application enhances the dispersal capability of the water-reducing agent, resulting in effective water reduction and reduced viscosity. In addition, its compressive strength is the highest after 3-day curing and 3, 7, 28-day standard curing, and it has the best overall performance both in water and saline water prepared systems.The application in oil cement slurry shows that it exhibits good dispersibility in fresh water, saline water, and substitute ocean water. In the Halfaya and Missan Oilfields of Iraq, BHPWR was used in slurry with a density of 2.28g cm-3 for casing the 244.5 mm salt paste layer of five wells. Cementing results exceeded expectations with over 85% excellent and 100% qualified.

Since the energy sector is the main source of greenhouse gases, it has the highest potential for improvement. Improvements can be achieved by generating energy from renewable sources. Combined with thermal energy storage, concentrating solar power plants represent a promising technology for dispatchable renewable energy, ensuring a stable energy supply even in remote areas without contributing to greenhouse gas emissions during operation. However, it is important to note that greenhouse gases and other polluting emissions may occur during the manufacturing process of concentrating solar power plant components. This work analyses the design of the receiver to produce thermal energy for the existing solar dish CSP plant at the Energy Center of the Politecnico di Torino. The objective of this plant is to produce hot water for a small case study. Considering the average solar irradiance for Turin equal to 800 W/m2, the surface heat flux was obtained from the first part of the analysis, which was used to obtain the maximum internal temperature in the receiver equal to 873.7 °C. The maximum temperature obtained was a constraint for the selection of the material for the solar receiver. Of the various possibilities, copper was chosen. In the second part of the work, a Life Cycle Assessment was carried out to compare the emissions generated during the production of the main components of the CSP plant with the emissions generated by the methane-fuelled water heater that produces the same amount of water as the CSP plant. It can be concluded that the manufacture of the main components of the CSP plant results in lower greenhouse gas emissions than the operational phase of a conventional natural gas-fired water heater (1.6 kg CO2/day).

It is important to develop new antibacterial drugs since the emergence of bacterial resistance to available antibiotics. Metal nanoparticles have the potential to combat antibiotic resistance and are effective antibacterial agents. Here, we demonstrate the biogenic production of zinc nanoparticles using Rhododendron arboreum stem bark. The biosynthesized ZnNPs were characterized through different analytical techniques such as UV-vis, FTIR, EDX, SEM, and XRD. Clinical isolates such as E. coli, S. aureus, and K. pneumonia were used to check the antibacterial efficacy of the biosynthesized zinc nanoparticles. The MIC and MBC values against K. pneumonia, S. aureu, and E. coli were found to be 34±0.21 and 11.71±0.47, 47±0.11 and 23.86±0.84 and 94±0.18 and 40.43±0.16 µg/mL, respectively. It dramatically decreased the integrity of the cell membrane and markedly increased the permeability of both inner and outer membranes. The green synthesized ZnNPs have good catalytic activity. It degraded 65% of methyl orange dye within 6h when the mixture was kept in direct sunlight, thus demonstrating good photodegradation potential and can be employed as a good photocatalyst. According to these results, biosynthesized zinc nanoparticles could be a potential therapy option for controlling bacterial pathogenesis and an effective photocatalyst for the elimination of hazardous water contaminants.

The Korean water deer (WD), the dominant wildlife species in South Korea, is classified as vul-nerable on the IUCN Red List. Beside their several unique characteristics, they have a lower in-cidence of tick bites compared to other Cervidae species, particularly roe deer (RD). In natural environments, ticks exhibit questing behavior by waiting on grasses to climb onto host's hair coat. They use sensory organs to detect signals such as body temperature and chemicals from the host's skin, then move to preferred feeding location. Therefore, we conducted a comparative analysis of the skin tissue and hair features of both species to compare the factors leading to lower incidence of tick bites in WD. Notably, WD had significantly larger blood vessels, sebaceous glands, and sweat glands which maintain the barrier functions of the skin (p≤0.004), irregular scale surfaces in hair cuticles, and stiff and 2.83-times thicker primary hair diameter (p<0.001). Each parameters made the ticks difficult to move onto the epidermis of WD. To our knowledge, this is the first report which is focused on the comparative analysis for skin and hair feature in WD and RD. We suggest that these differences may attribute to evade tick bites in WD.

This study aimed to analyse the variation of recreational water quality in Plettenberg Bay in an attempt to comprehend the effects of pollution on the environment, and more specifically the potential impacts on the quality of surface water used for recreational activities. Plettenberg Bay is a major destination for tourists in South Africa, with recreational water activities representing an important attraction. For this study, data were obtained from Bitou Municipality, the local au-thority in charge of the water monitoring program in Plettenberg Bay. The selected datasets contained water quality data collected by the Bitou Municipality waterworks department in three sampling sites in Plettenberg Bay. The samples were tested for six water quality parameters namely, Ammonia, Suspended Solids, Conductivity, Nitrates/Nitrites, pH, and E coli. Water quality trends appeared stabile over the five years, with only a few parameters showing variation in their concentration levels. It is recommended that the Bitou Municipality increase the sampling frequency to allow a clearer understanding of water quality variation and to minimise potential uncertainties.

Leakages in the water distribution networks (WDNs) are real problems for utilities and other governmental agencies. Timely leak detection and location identification has been a challenge. In this paper, an integrated approach to geospatial and infrared image processing method was used for robust leak detection. The method combines drops in flow, pressure, and chlorine residuals to determine potential water leakage locations in the WDN using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. GIS layers were created from the hourly values of these three parameters for the city of Sharjah provided by Sharjah Electricity, Water and Gas Authority (SEWA). These layers are then analyzed for locations with dropped values of each of the parameters and are overlaid with each other. In the case where there were no overlaying locations between flow and pressure, further water quality analysis was avoided, assuming no potential leak. In the case where there are locations with drops in flow and pressure layers, these overlaying locations are then examined for drops in chlorine values. If overlaying locations are found, then these regions are considered potential leak locations. Once potential leak locations are identified, a specialized remote sensing technique can be used for precise leak location. This study also demonstrated the suitability of using an infrared camera for leak detection in a laboratory-based setup. This paper concludes that the following methodology can help water utility companies in the timely detection of leaks, saving money, time, and effort.

This study chose the indoor soil column test as the main method and the field test as the validation test to investigate the effects of various straw mulching techniques (surface, deep and straw mulching + deep burial) on evaporation and salt dynamics in saline soils. The results showed that straw mulching treatment could effectively reduce soil water evaporation, promote desalination in the stage of leaching infiltration and alleviate salt return in the stage of water evaporation, and the effect of straw mulching + deep burial treatment was better than that of single-layer straw mulching treatment. The indoor soil column test showed that S2D1 treatment (a 2:1 ratio of soil surface cover to the amount of straw buried 40cm below the soil surface) had the best effect on the suppression of soil moisture evaporation, and the cumulative evaporation of soil moisture was reduced by 65.85% compared with that of the CK, and the rate of salinity return in the evaporation stage was effectively reduced by 92.04% compared with that of the CK. In addition, there is a significant positive correlation between cumulative evaporation of soil moisture and cumulative soil salinity, which implies that cumulative soil salinity increases with cu-mulative evaporation of soil moisture. The results of the field experiment were consistent with the soil column test, and the S2D1 treatment was able to maintain high soil moisture content in all soil layers in all periods of the experiment and kept soil salinity in the 0-40 cm soil layer at a low level. However, in the 40-80 cm soil layer, the soil salinity suppression effect of DB treatment (straw buried at 40 cm below soil surface) was the best. So in summary, the S2D1 treatment had the best salinity and evapo-transpiration suppression effect in saline soils. This study is of great significance for the resource uti-lization of straw waste, improvement of water utilization and efficiency, and soil salinization manage-ment.

An experiment was conducted in 2016 & 2017 for development of novel rice hybrids for aerobic ecology with lesser yield penalties in comparison to irrigated ecosystem, further with added advantage of reduced methane emissions and water budget as witnessed in irrigated system. Based on the restorer / maintainer reaction and spikelet fertility (%), 10 restorer lines were selected to cross with 3 CMS lines in the line by tester fashion in Yasangi (summer) season 2016-17. Resulting 30 experimental hybrids besides 13 parental lines (10 Restorer lines and 3 B - lines of akin CMS lines) and checks (GK 5022, CR Dhan 201) assessed during Vankalam (rainy) season 2017 at three different places/locations viz., Rajendranagar, Warangal and Kampasagar. The outcome of experiment were two experimental hybrids viz., APMS-6A × HRSV – 7 and IR-79156A × ATR – 372, were categorized as stable hybrids with desirable sca effects, heterosis (ranging from 7% to 13%) over best check GK 5022 along with an in-essence performance for yield and other yield attributing characters.

Mangrove creeks adjoining typical riverine mangrove forests is known to be a net source of CO2 and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) to the ocean due to the decomposition of rich organic carbon in the soil; such information is limited in fringe mangroves. This study aims to clarify the difference in carbonate processes between the two types of mangrove forests. We conducted continuous monitoring of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) and measured carbonate chemistry parameters (total alkalinity (TA) and DIC) in two types of mangrove areas located in Okinawa, Japan. The result showed that the maximum pCO2 reached 5242 µatm in the Fukido River estuary (a riverine mangrove), whereas it was only 765 µatm on the Yubu coast (a fringe mangrove). The measured maximum TA and DIC values were 3285 µM and 3283 µM in the Fukido River estuary and 3162 µM and 2977 µM on the Yubu coast. These indicate that pCO2 on the Yubu coast was maintained at low values by the carbonate buffering capacity even when TA and DIC increased rapidly. The mangroves on the Yubu coast grow on dead corals and coral soils. It was suggested that the DIC/TA ratio was constantly kept at approximately 0.9 due to TA production by the dissolution of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which resulted in lower pCO2.

Achieving universal access to water and sanitation services in developing countries requires a coherent legal, political, and institutional environment, along with a clear financial strategy. Regionalizing utilities may be crucial for addressing disparities, economic inequalities, and governance challenges. Regionalization offers economies of scale, resource efficiency, knowledge sharing, and collaboration. The cornerstone will be ensuring the financial-economic viability of regional utilities, considering their social impacts in terms of affordability. The State of Santa Catarina case study is assessed. In the case of Santa Catarina, only four regional utilities currently generate sufficient revenue, without factoring in necessary investments, indicating the need to review design parameters to improve operational efficiency and increase revenues. Additional financial support may be required to ensure universal access. Tariff adjustments must strike a balance between cost-effectiveness and affordability for families.

The Yamuna River in Delhi is a prevalent epitome of the depleted ecosystem that has transformed into a sewage drain due to intense pollution and blooming anthropogenic pressure. As a leading polluter, Delhi contributes to more than 70% of Yamuna's pollution load. Its drains discharge a massive B.O.D. load daily into the river, making it severely polluted, as reflected by the water quality index. The paper uses secondary data to analyze the parameters to determine the water quality of Yamuna at different monitoring sites. It performs correlation analysis to determine the relationship among factors contributing to river water pollution. The results of correlation analysis suggest a highly significant association between parameters COD-BOD, but the association is mild to a minimum among other parameters such as BOD-DO, BOD-pH, COD-DO, COD-pH and DO-pH. Most parameters were observed to be above the hazardous level acceptable for using river water. The analysis of S.T.P.s indicates the need to increase the capacity in terms of treatment, storage, reopening of closed plants and efficient operation to meet the increasing demand for fresh Water. Also, there is a need to create demand for wastewater in different sectors of urban areas like construction, horticulture, industrial coolants, etc.

Recharge is a crucial section of water balance for both surface and subsurface models in water resource assessment. However, quantifying its spatiotemporal distribution at a regional scale poses a significant challenge. Empirical and numerical modeling are the most commonly used methods at the watershed scales. However, integrated model inherently contain a vast number of unknowns and uncertainties, which can limit their accuracy and reliability. In this work, we have proposed integrated SWAT-MODFLOW and Transient Water Table Fluctuation Method (TWTFM) to evaluate the spatiotemporal distribution of groundwater recharge in Anyang wa-tershed, South Korea. Since TWTFM also uses SWAT model percolation output data, calibration was performed for individual models and coupled model. The coupled model was calibrated using daily streamflow and hydraulic head. SWAT-MODFLOW model performed well during the simulation of streamflow compared SWAT model. The study output showed that the study watershed had significant groundwater recharge variations during the simulated period. A sig-nificant amount of recharge happens in the wet season. It contributes about 34% of the average annual precipitation of the region. The direct flow components (surface and lateral) showed sig-nificant contributions when the water balance components were evaluated in the region. TWTFM showed a glimpse to estimate recharge, which requires representative monitoring wells in the study region. Comprehensively, the SWAT-MODFLOW model estimated groundwater recharge with reasonable accuracy in the region.

Sachet water (SW) is a major source of drinking water in most Nigerian homes, thus making it a possible conveyance medium for health risks due to contamination rather than for replenishment of the body. This study collected SW from three busy neighborhoods and investigated for the presence of indicator bacteria – Escherichia coli (E. coli), Total Coliform (TC), Total Heterophilic Bacteria (THB), and Staphylococcus – and some physio-chemical parameters – total dissolved solids (TDS), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and salinity. Multi-variable and exploratory statistical methods were applied to the results to determine correlations between bacterial contamination levels and perceived brand reputation. Bacteriological test with raw SW samples appeared too numerous to count (TNC) and thus required serial dilutions. After seven dilutions, results obtained revealed that SW brands with good reputation had no TC and E. coli and was statistically significant with groupings of other SW brands (χ2 = 12.28; p < 0.05 and χ2 = 37.96; p < 0.05) respectively. Additionally, SW brands with poor reputation had mean values of TC (19.7X10^8 cfu/ml;14X10^8 cfu/ml1.15X10^8 cfu/ml) and E.coli (18.2X10^8 cfu/ml;38.7X10^8 cfu/ml,32.4X10^8 cfu/ml) exceeding threshold value of zero set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Only one sample from poor reputation brand tested positive for Staphylococcus and was not statistically significant (χ2 =5.2191; p = 0.074). Principal Component Analysis (PCA)/ Factor Analysis (FA) revealed that most of the SW had fecal contamination in an alarming magnitude. Therefore, this study suggests that periodic cleaning of distribution lines, location specific treatment, QC and QA measures should be taken to reduce water security risk for SW consumption in the region.

In this work, the adsorption and photocatalytic properties of ZnO-ZnAl2O4 nanosized composites synthesized by the polymer-salt method have been studied. To evaluate the efficiency of adsorption, experiments were carried out on the decolorization of aqueous solutions of the Chicago Sky Blue diazo dye. The adsorption process is divided into two stages, at the first stage the dye is rapidly adsorbed on the outer surface of the composite particles, at the second stage the dye diffuses into the pores of the material. It was noted that the rate of photocatalytic decomposition of the dye is higher than the rate of the adsorption process, which indicates the occurrence of photocatalytic decomposition of dye molecules both on the surface of the composites and in the liquid phase. With an increase in the light intensity, the photocatalytic process is significantly accelerated, linearly at low intensities, and at high intensities the dependence becomes a power law.

Glyphosate　(GLYP)　is a broad-spectrum, non-selective, organic phosphine post emergence herbicide registered for use on many food and non-food field. Herein, we developed a biosensor (Mbs@dsDNA) based on carboxylated modified magnetic beads incubated with NH2-polyA and then hybridized with polyT-glyphosate aptamer and complementary DNA. Afterward, a quantitative detection method based on qPCR was established.　When the glyphosate aptamer on Mbs@dsDNA specifically recognized glyphosate, a complementary DNA is released and then enters the qPCR signal amplification process. The linear range of the method was 0.1-5 μg/mL, and the detection limit was set at 0.1 μg/mL. The recoveries in tap water were ranged from 103.4 ~ 104.9%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were < 1%. The aptamer proposed in this study has a good potential for recognizing glyphosate. The detection method combined with qPCR might have a good application prospect in detecting and supervising other pesticide residues.

Surface water availability is a fundamental environmental variable to implement effective climate adaptation and mitigation plans, as expressed by scientific, financial and political stakeholders. Recently published requirements urge the need for homogenised access to long historical records at a global scale, together with the standardised characterisation of the accuracy of observations. While satellite altimeters offer world coverage measurements, existing initiatives and online platforms provide derived water level data. However, these are sparse, particularly in complex topographies. This study introduces a new methodology in two steps 1) teroVIR, a virtual station extractor for a more comprehensive global and automatic monitoring of water bodies, and 2) teroWAT, a multi-mission, interoperable water level processor, for handling all terrain types. L2 and L1 altimetry products are used, with state-of-the-art retracker algorithms in the methodology. The work presents a benchmark between teroVIR and current platforms in West Africa, Kazakhastan and the Arctic: teroVIR shows an unprecedented increase from 55% to 99% in spatial coverage.A large-scale validation of teroWAT results in an average of unbiased root mean square error ubRMSE of 0.638 m on average for 36 locations in West Africa. Traditional metrics (ubRMSE, median, absolute deviation, Pearson coefficient) disclose significantly better values for teroWAT when compared with existing platforms, of the order of 8 cm and 5% improved respectively in error and correlation. teroWAT shows unprecedented excellent results in the Arctic, using a L1 products based algorithm instead of L2 one, reducing the error of almost 4 m on average. To further compare teroWAT with existing methods, a new scoring option, teroSCO, is presented, measuring the quality of the validation of time series transversally and objectively across different strategies. Finally, teroVIR and teroWAT are implemented as platform-agnostic modules and used by flood forecasting and river discharge methods as relevant examples. A review of various applications for miscellaneous end-users is given, tackling the educational challenge raised by the community.

The unquenchable demand for rock materials has attracted many companies within the building and construction sector to invest in stone quarrying. However, this has brought about the environmental impacts with health threats to people. There is a paucity of information about the magnitude of pollution on air and water and how it varies with quarry sites. This study therefore investigated the physical impacts of quarrying on air and water and explored the in-situ mitigations to undesirable effects due to stone quarrying. Four active quarry sites were identified. Field measurements of dust (particulate matter) was conducted within the four quarry sites and in the nearby community. Water samples were collected from quarry pits and nearby shallow wells for laboratory analysis of water quality. Statistical Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test for differences in pollution across the four studied sites. Results revealed that, amidst use of wet crushing and water sprinkling on bare surfaces, dust emission was higher than the recommended permissible standards levels with a significant variation across the quarry sites with ANOVA (P-value=0.003) for PM2.5 and (P-value=0.04366) for PM10. Water pollution was mainly contributed by the non-permissive levels of nitrates, chromium, and pH. Polluted air and water are associated with sparking off health threats to the users in the community. In conclusion, quarry companies should strengthen the already existing mitigation of dust suppression. The study recommends additional measures such as treating quarry pit water before discharging to the open environment

Soil erosion is now almost universally recognized as a serious threat to man's well-being, if not his very existence. As a result, we assessed the soil physicochemical properties of two possible levels of soil bund and fanya juu. RCBD with three replications was used to collect soil samples from each soil conservation structure. Five composite soil samples were collected from each soil structure based on slop (0-30cm). Soil physicochemical properties such as erosion index, dispersion ratio, and erodibility proportionality ratio were investigated. The effect of different soil structure levels revealed that soil properties differed significantly (P≤0.05) for all parameters studied. The control plots had significantly higher (P≤0.05) dispersion ratio, erosion indexes, and erodibility proportionality than the soils treated by the level bund and level Fanya juu structures. On the control plot, this result showed lower clay content and higher sand content. The level of soil bund and fanya juu had a significant (P≤0.05) effect on soil OC, CEC, OM, and TN, as well as available phosphorous and potassium. As a result, all related soil properties show a positive relative change when the level of soil bund and fanya juu is compared to the control plot. Aside from this result, the dynamic natures of the sciences compel us to conduct additional research based on the agro-ecological zones of the study area.

Heavy metal contaminants have serious consequences for the environment and human health. Consequently, effective methods for detecting their presence, particularly in water and food, are urgently required. Accordingly, the present study proposes a sensor for the detection of mercury Hg(II) and lead Pb(II) ions using graphene oxide (GO) as a quenching agent and aptamer solu-tion as a reagent. In the proposed device, the aptamer sequences are labeled by FAM and HEX fluorescent dyes, respectively, and are mixed with 500 ppm GO solution in a microfluidic device. The presence of Hg(II) and Pb(II) ions is then detected by measuring the change in the fluores-cence intensity of the GO/aptamer suspension as the aptamer molecules undergo fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The experimental results show that the aptamer sensors have a linear range of 10~250 nM (i.e., 2.0~50 ppb) for Hg(II) ions and 10~100 nM (i.e., 2.1~20.7 ppb) for Pb(II) ions. Furthermore, the limit of detection is around 2 ppb for both metals, which is signifi-cantly lower than the maximum limits of 6 ppb and 10 ppb prescribed by the World Health Or-ganization (WHO) for Hg(II) and Pb(II) in drinking water, respectively.

Water and nutrients shortage threatens agricultural sustainability in many arid and semiarid areas of the world. It is unknown whether improved water and nutrient conservation practices can be developed to alleviate this issue while increasing crop productivity. In this study, experimental work included the application of straw, biochar and N fertilizer. The straw and biochar were applied alone or combined with N fertilizer (0 and 100 kg N ha-1). Application of biochar and straw in combination with N fertilizer caused a reduction in mean soil temperature by an average of 20.05% and 18.10% relative to soils without carbon. Biochar and straw– amended soils significantly (P &lt; 0.05) increased soil moisture content by 11.04% and 13.68% compared to no carbon treatments. Statistically comparable temperatures and moisture were recorded for both straw and biochar treated plots. Both biochar and straw treated soils produced the lowest bulk density (0–5 cm) at 1.15 g cm–3, and no carbon soils the highest at 1.20 g cm–3. The improved soil quality translated into higher biomass in the biochar (1906 kg ha–1) and biomass (1643 kg ha–1) and soils without carbon the lowest at 1553 kg ha–1. The improvement of soil moisture and the optimization of soil temperature for the two residue treated soils allow us to conclude that combined application of biochar and straw at the rate used in this study can be used as an effective farming model in alleviating water and nutrient shortage in semiarid environments.

Water literacy is the ability to feel familiar with and get actively involved in water to face issues about it. This study aims to analyze the water literacy of students who come from areas that have indigenous knowledge related to water conservation and do not have indigenous knowledge but have come from the same province with a similar abundance of water. The samples of this study were 439 people consisting of 184 boys and 255 girls aged 11-18 years from junior and senior high school students in Palembang Municipality and three sub-districts in Muara Enim Regency, namely Semende Darat Laut, Semende Darat Tengah, and Darat Ulu and both are indonesian. There were 39 questions for measuring water literacy in the form of a Likert scale (1-5) to measure practical and living literacy with Cronbach alpha values of 0.692 and 0.773, respectively, and were analyzed with SPSS version 21 through the Mann-Whitney (u) and Cronbach alpha statistical tests. The total alpha was 0.838. Social literacy was measured in the open-ended question instrument and analyzed descriptively. The results showed that practical water literacy in Palembang was significantly different from Semende's but not with living water literacy. Students' social water literacy in the Semende had two different answer patterns, while, in Palembang, it was more diverse with six different response patterns. Meanwhile, when asked to describe a diagram of the flow of water in nature in Semende, no students think that it is the neglect of customs that results in reduced water in Semende as understood by some students in Palembang who are not involved with these customs.

In this study, a new approach for estimating volume variations of lakes and reservoirs using water levels from satellite altimetry and surface areas from optical imagery is presented. Both input data sets, namely water level time series and surface area time series, are provided by DGFI-TUM‘s Database of Hydrological Time Series of Inland Waters (DAHITI). The approach is divided into three parts. In the first part, a hypsometry model based on the new modified Strahler approach is computed by combining water levels and surface areas. The hypsometry model describes the dependency between water levels and surface areas of lakes and reservoirs. In the second part, a bathymetry between minimum and maximum surface area is computed. For this purpose, DAHITI land-water masks are stacked using water levels derived from the hypsometry model. Finally, water levels and surface areas are intersected with the bathymetry to estimate a time series of volume variations in relation to the minimum observed surface area. The results are validated with volume time series derived from in-situ water levels in combination with bathymetric surveys. In this study, 28 lakes and reservoirs located in Texas are investigated. The absolute volumes of the investigated lakes and reservoirs vary between 0.099 km³ and 6.448 km³. The correlation coefficients of the resulting volume variation time series with validation data vary between 0.80 and 0.99. Overall, the relative errors with respect to volume variations vary between 2.8% and 14.9% with an average of 8.3% for all 28 investigated lakes and reservoirs. When comparing the resulting RMSE with absolute volumes, the absolute errors vary between 1.5% and 6.4% with an average of 3.1%. This study shows that volume variations can be calculated with a high accuracy which depends essentially on the quality of the used water levels and surface areas. In addition, this study provides a hypsometry model, high-resolution bathymetry and water level time series derived from surface areas based on the hypsometry model. All data sets are publicly available on the Database of Hydrological Time Series of Inland Waters (DAHITI, https://dahiti.dgfi.tum.de).

(1) Background: Water resources at Chia lagoon experience possible threat to its sustainability. Communities are seeking alternatives to improve water quality at the lagoon. The study evaluated the extent at which local communities are WTP to improve water quality at Chia lagoon and the influencing factors. (2) Methods: A study was conducted at Chia lagoon, Western Part of Lake Malawi from November, 2015 to March, 2016. Wide range of data collection approaches such as household surveys, exploratory surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and field observation were employed. A sample of 240 households were selected randomly. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors influence WTP. (3) Results: Out of 240 respondents, 57.4% expressed WTP. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated significant (P<0.01 or P<0.05) relationship between demographic (Gender, age, literacy level), social-economic (Land ownership, main agriculture water source and income) and institution (civic education and social network, extension, water user rights) factors and WTP. (4) Conclusion: The findings from this study provide significant clues for further research and baseline information for local government and local communities in development of more effective and holistic approaches to improve water quality.

This study investigated the removal characteristics of N-nitrosamines and their precursors at three pilot-scale water reclamation plants. These plants applies different integrated membrane systems: (1) microfiltration (MF) / nanofiltration (NF) / RO; (2) sand filtration/three-step RO; and (3) ultrafiltration (UF) / NF and UF / RO. Variable removal of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) by the RO membrane processes could be attributable to membrane fouling and feed water temperature. The effect of membrane fouling on N-nitrosamines removal was extensively evaluated at one of the plants by conducting one month of operation and chemical cleaning of the RO membrane element. Membrane fouling enhanced N-nitrosamines removal by the pilot-scale RO membrane process. This finding contributes to better understanding of variable removal of NDMA by RO membrane processes. This study also investigated the removal characteristics of N-nitrosamines precursors. The NF and RO membrane processes greatly reduced NDMA formation potential (FP), but the UF process had little effect. The contributions of MF, NF, and RO membrane processes for reducing FPs of NDMA, N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR) and N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) were different, suggesting different size distributions of their precursors.

High concentrations of Na⁺ or [Co(NH₃)₆]³⁺ can induce the B to Z conformational transition in alternating (dC-dG) oligo and polynucleotides. The use of short DNA oligomers (dC-dG)₄ and (dm⁵C-dG)₄ as models can allow a thermodynamic characterization of the transition. Both form right handed double helical structures (B-DNA) in standard phosphate buffer with 115 mM Na⁺ at 25 ^oC. However, at 2.0 M Na⁺ or 200 mM [Co(NH₃)₆]³⁺, (dm⁵C-dG)₄ assumes a left handed double helical structure (Z-DNA) while the unmethylated (dC-dG)₄ analogue remains right handed under those conditions. We have previously demonstrated that the enthalpy of the transition at 25 ^oC for either inducer can be determined using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) [Ferreira, J. M. & Sheardy, R. D., Biophys. J. 2006, 91, 1–7]. Here, ITC is used to investigate the linkages between temperature, water activity and DNA conformation. We found that the determined enthalpy for each titration varied linearly with temperature allowing determination of the heat capacity change (DC_p) between the initial and final states. As expected, the DC_p values were dependent upon the cation (i.e. Na⁺ vs [Co(NH₃)₆]³⁺) as well as the sequence of the DNA oligomer (i. e., methylated vs unmethylated). Osmotic stress experiments were carried out to determine the gain or loss of water by the oligomer induced by the titration. The results are discussed in terms of solvent accessible surface areas, electrostatic interactions and the role of water.

Hot rolling tests of a low-alloy steel were conducted at a rolling temperature of 850 ℃ under different lubrication conditions, including benchmarks (dry condition and water) and water-based nanolubricants containing different concentrations of nano-TiO₂ from 1.0 to 8.0 wt%. The effects of nanolubricants on rolling force, surface roughness, thickness of oxide scale and microstructure were systematically investigated through varying nano-TiO₂ concentrations. The results show that the application of nanolubricants can decrease the rolling force, surface roughness and oxide scale thickness of rolled steels, and refine ferrite grains. In particular, the nanolubricant containing an optimal concentration (4.0 wt%) of nano-TiO₂ demonstrates the best lubrication performance, owing to the synergistic effect of lubricating film, rolling, polishing and mending generated by nano-TiO₂.

For decades, the Ébrié Lagoon in Côte d'Ivoire has been the receptacle of wastewater effluent and household waste transported by runoff water. This work assesses the spatio-temporal variability of the Ébrié lagoon water quality at the city of Abidjan. The methodological approach used in this study is summarized in three stages: the choice and standardization of the parameters for assessing water quality for uses such as aquaculture, irrigation, watering, and sports and recreation; the weighting of these parameters using the Hierarchical Analysis Process (AHP) of Saaty; and finally, the aggregation of the weighted parameters or factors. Physicochemical and microbiological analysis data on the waters of the Ébrié lagoon for June and December of 2014 and 2015 were provided by the Ivorian Center for Anti-Pollution (Centre Ivoirien Anti-Pollution, CIAPOL) and the concentrations of trace elements in sediments (As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn) were used. The aggregation of standardized and weighted parameters allowed the determination of the Water Quality Indices (WQI) by usage for each bays of the lagoon. The results show that in both 2014 and 2015, the waters of the Ébrié lagoon were generally of poor quality for the different uses examined in this study (aquaculture, irrigation, watering and sport and recreation) with an accentuation in 2015. However, some bays of the lagoon have waters of dubious to satisfactory quality. This study contributes an improved evaluation of the Ébrié lagoon waters.

Diseases caused by contaminated water consumption and poor hygiene are among the leading cause of death in children, the elderly and people with compromised immune system. The present study aims to assess the drinking water quality of some selected drinking water sources in the chosen study area using water quality index (WQI). Samples of drinking waters were collected from four different sources—river, sachet (packaged), borehole and well in Jabi, Abuja, Nigeria for physicochemical and bacteriological analyses using standard methods. With the exception of pH, river water had the highest content of all the physicochemical parameters examined. Some of the physicochemical parameters such as temperature and pH determined in this study were mostly within the World Health Organization (WHO) standard. The bacteriological analyses revealed that the highest total viable counts of 1.54 (0.12) × 10² (cfu/mL) were obtained in the river sample while the least values of 0.03 (0.00) × 10² (cfu/mL) were obtained in the sachet water. Three bacterial isolates of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp and Aeromonas spp were isolated from well water while Pseudomonas spp and Proteus spp were isolated from borehole water. All other bacteria were isolated from the river. The study demonstrates that the safest drinking water source in Idu district, Jabi, Abuja is the sachet/packaged water while the least safe is the river water due to the presence of significant opportunistic pathogens. The results of this study are beneficial for water quality management and could be used for low-cost effective water quality assessment in Jabi.

Thermal-expandable microcapsules (TEMs) for water-based coatings were synthesized with co-polymer of Acrylonitrile (AN) - Methyl methacrylate (MMA) - Ethylhexyl acrylate (EHA) - Divinylbenzene (DVB) as shell and toluene-p-sulfonyl hydrazide as core by suspension polymerization method. It was found that the microcapsules with desirable thermal expansion property and good heat stability could be obtained with a shell monomers composition of 70% AN /20% MMA /9% EHA /1% DVB. When 2% styrene-maleic acid copolymer (SMC) as emulsifier and 3% poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) as dispersing agent were used, well defined spherical and more uniform microcapsules could be prepared. It was also found that when the shell/core mass ratio was 3:1, an encapsulation efficiency of ca. 94.5% could be achieved. Beyond this ratio, the increase of encapsulation efficiency reached a plateau. The 100 μm thickness film of water-based coating containing 5% microcapsules could be expanded to the thickness of 450 μm after exposed at 150 °C for 2 minutes. TG analysis revealed the mass loss start temperature of coating increased by more than 30 °C when 5% microcapsules were added to water-based coatings, which demonstrated the flame-retardant function of the coatings.

Cyanobacteria are ubiquitous phototrophic bacteria that inhabit diverse environments across the planet. They dominate many eutrophic lakes impacted by excess nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) forming dense accumulations of biomass known as cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms or cyanoHABs. Their dominance in eutrophic lakes is attributed to a variety of unique adaptations including N and P concentrating mechanisms, N fixation, colony formation that inhibits predation, vertical movement via gas vesicles, and the production of toxic or otherwise bioactive molecules. While some of these molecules have been explored for their medicinal benefits, others are potent toxins harmful to humans, animals, and other wildlife known as cyanotoxins. In humans these cyanotoxins affect various tissues, including the liver, central and peripheral nervous system, kidneys, and reproductive organs among others. They induce acute effects at low doses in the parts-per-billion range and some are tumor promoters linked to chronic diseases such as liver and colorectal cancer. The occurrence of cyanoHABs and cyanotoxins in lakes presents challenges for maintaining safe recreational aquatic environments and the production of potable drinking water. CyanoHABs are a growing problem in the North American (Laurentian) Great Lakes basin. This review summarizes information on the occurrence of cyanoHABs in the Great Lakes, toxicological effects of cyanotoxins, and appropriate numerical limits on cyanotoxins in finished drinking water.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first identified in humans in Wuhan City at the end of December 2019. Since then, it has spread to all the countries. Therefore, global interest has been focused on discovering treatments and developing successful vaccines. This study sequenced the complete genome of the SARS-COV-2 Omicron Omicron (BA.1) and sub-variants (BA.1.1, BA.2), which were isolated from 40 individuals in Duhok, Iraq. Ninety-five different mutations were identified when the complete genome of the SARS-COV-2 virus discovered in Wuhan, China (accession number: NC 045512.2) was matched to the virus sequence using sequencing technology (Illumina, USA). Sequence analysis revealed 38 mutations in spike glycoprotein (S), 30 of which were found in ORF1a. Additionally, 11 mutations were found in ORF1b, and 7,3,2,1 mutations were found in Nucleocapsid (N), membrane protein (M), Open Reading Frames 6 (ORF6), Open Reading Frames 9 (ORF9), and Envelope (E) genes, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis and transmission further confirmed that the isolates found in Iraq had distinct infection origins and were closely related to those from other countries and states. According to the findings of this study, a new vaccine can be developed based on identifying new Omicron variant mutations and sub-variants such as BA.2, which were identified for the first time in Iraq.

Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) plays a pivotal role in cell division regulation and emerges as a promising therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Consequently, the development of small-molecule inhibitors targeting PLK1 has become a focal point in contemporary research. The adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding site and the polo-box domain in PLK1 present crucial interaction sites for these inhibitors, aiming to disrupt the protein's function. However, designing potent and selective small-molecule inhibitors can be challenging, requiring a deep understanding of protein-ligand interaction mechanisms at these binding sites. In this context, our study leverages the fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method to explore these site-specific interactions in-depth. Through the FMO approach, we used the FMO method to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of small-molecule drug binding to these sites to design PLK1 inhibitors that are both potent and selective. Our investigation further entailed a comparative analysis of various PLK1 inhibitors, each characterized by distinct structural attributes. This comparison enhanced our understanding of the structure-activity relationships of these inhibitors, underscoring the efficacy of the FMO method in identifying critical binding features and predicting binding modes for small-molecule ligands. Furthermore, Our research spotlighted "hot spot" residues instrumental for selective and robust PLK1 binding. Our findings offer profound insights, priming the rational design of innovative potential PLK1 inhibitors with significant implications for developing anticancer therapeutics.

The aim of this study was to examine oxidative stress and low level of alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS), and evaluate the associated autoreactivity against unmodified and their 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE)-modified peptides with pSS. Two differentially expressed proteins, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein 1 (A1AG1) and A1AT, exhibited 2-fold differences, and their HNE modifications were identified by depleted-albumin and immunoglobulin G (IgG) serum protein, in-solution digestion, in-gel digestion, and nano-LC-MS/MS from pSS patients and age-matched healthy controls (HCs). Furthermore, levels of proteins, confirmation of HNE modifications, HNE-protein adducts and autoreactivity against unmodified and their HNE-modified peptides were further validated. Levels of the HNE-protein adduct and A1AG1 were significantly higher in pSS patients than HCs, but levels of A1AT were significantly lower in pSS patients compared to HCs. Only the HNE modification of A1AT was confirmed. Further, concentrations of anti-A1AT^50-63 IgG and anti-A1AT^50-63 HNE IgA were significantly lower in pSS patients than HCs. Our study suggests that elevated HNE-protein adduct, oxidative stress, level [odds ratio (OR) 4.877, p = 0.003], lowered A1AT level (OR 3.910, p = 0.010) and a decreased level of anti-A1AT^50-63 IgG (OR 3.360, p = 0.010) showed an increased risk in pSS patients compared to HCs, respectively.

The present paper reports exact results for the muon self-energy and anomalous g-factor. A unique to the muon cut-off terms that remove the radial singularity in the system and regularize the corresponding electrodynamics are presented. Equations of motion and a transcendental equation satisfied by the muon anomalous g-factor are derived, with solution a_m=0.001165920162(198). The obtained value matches the latest experimental one found in the literature to about 0.43 ppb ruling out a possible tension between theory and experiment.

A fundamentally new synthetic approach to the synthesis of 2-aminopurine has been developed. It consists in the combination of creation of condensed polyazotic heterocyclic tetrazolopyrimidine structure, it’s transformation into triaminopyrimidine and subsequent cyclization into 2-aminopurine. The structure of the obtained compounds was established based on spectral characteristics and intermediate 5 directly by X-ray diffraction analysis.

In 2018, the author identified a previously unknown/unreported association between dexrazoxane and poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR). Interestingly, PAR is a close structural analogue of the polyadenine nucleotide polymer, polyadenosine monophosphate (poly(A)). In this report, subsequent in silico modelling of the interaction between dexrazoxane and poly(A) reveals some notable differences from the previously reported interaction between dexrazoxane and PAR. Significantly, the supramolecular self-assembly of dexrazoxane and poly(A) is distinguished by vertically-orientated nonelectrostatic forces comparable to the stabilizing interactions between stacked bases within DNA. Notably, the vertical separation of 3.4 Å between each stack is consistent with solvent entropy as a dominant driving force in stabilising the interaction. Additionally, concomitant conformational analysis by the author reveals the existence of low energy planar conformers of dexrazoxane. This analysis enables an explanation for the considerable discrepancies and conflicts that exist within the reported pharmacokinetic data for dexrazoxane. Exploring the significance of the interaction between dexrazoxane and poly(A), the author illustrates that survival, translation and replication of the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is absolutely dependent upon the mature and unhindered poly(A) tail of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. The proposition herein, that dexrazoxane, as a chameleonic agent sequesters the poly(A) tail of the SARS-CoV-2 genome by the catalysis of a supramolecular hybrid assembly establishes SARS-CoV-2 infected cells as deep compartments for the accumulation of dexrazoxane. Taken together, dexrazoxane or its demethylated analogue, represent a novel treatment to kill the SARS-CoV-2 virus by irreversible destabilization of the SARS-CoV-2 poly(A) tail.

The furin cleavage site, with an arginine doublet (RR), is one of the clues of the SARS-CoV-2 origin. This furin-RR is encoded by the CGG-CGG sequence. Because arginine can be encoded by six codons, in a previous work we found that in SARS-CoV-2, CGG was the minority arginine codon (3%). Also, analyzing the RR doublet from a large sample of furin cleavage sites of several kinds of viruses, we found that none of them were encoded by CGG-CGG. Here, we come back to the core of the matter, but from the perspective that in the human genome, in contrast, CGG is the majoroty arginine codon (21%). Here, we highlighted that the 6 arginine codons provide genetic markers to a traceability on the RR origin in the furin site, as well as, to weigh the probability of the theories about the origin of the virus.

Zinc plays a crucial role in the process of virion maturation inside the host cell. The accessory Cys-rich proteins expressed in SARS-CoV-2 by genes ORF7a and ORF8 are likely involved in zinc binding and in interactions with cellular antigens activated by extensive disulfide bonds. In this report we provide a proof of concept for the feasibility of a structural study of orf7a and orf8 proteins. A conceivable hypothesis is that lack of cellular zinc, or substitution thereof, might lead to a significant slowing down of viral maturation.

Collective spread of aggregated viral particles may have beneficial effects on viral capability to survive in the external environment, to counteract immune responses, and to successfully colonize host cells. Here we ask whether SARS-Cov-2 particles, responsible for COVID-19, display collective clustering behavior. Looking at microphotographs and movies of SARS-Cov-2 particles emerging from the surface of cultured cells, we describe single virions that tend to aggregate in progressively larger globular assemblies, until a network-like appearance is achieved. When SARS-Cov-2 particles stick into each other, the squeezing of single virions leads to improved viral package in host’s fluids. We discuss how these findings might explain both the ability to spread of SARS-Cov-2 and the clinical severity of COVID-19 in humans, paving the way to novel therapeutic strategies to mechanically disrupt collective clustering.

Background and Objectives: Acute lung injury (ALI) is an inflammatory response in the lung caused by bacteria, viruses, trauma and other factors that results in lack of alveolar surfactant and subsequently respiratory distress. Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT) is closely related to ALI-induced pulmonary fibrosis development and progression. This study examined the effect of milk fat globulin factor 8 (MFGE8) knockdown and overexpression on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced EndoMT. Methods: Total MFGE8 activity in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and healthy volunteers was assessed using a colorimetric kit. In vitro, cell morphology was observed by microscopy, and invasion and migration were tested by Transwell and scratch assays. Specific siRNAs were transfected into HLMECs to downregulate MFGE8, and CD31 and α-SMA protein expression was detected by fluorescence microscopy and FCM. MFGE8, BMP, Smad 1, Smad4, Smad5, Snail, CD31 and α-SMA protein and gene expression was assessed by western blotting (WB) and qRT‒PCR. In vivo, the changes in cell morphology and alveolar septum in the lung of mice (C57BL/6, aged 7-8 weeks, male) were observed by H&E staining. In addition, ECM deposition in lung tissue was detected by Masson staining. CD31 and α-SMA protein expression in lung tissue was measured by WB. Results: The serum level of MFGE8 was lower in the ARDS group than in the control group. MFGE8 was identified as a protective factor associated with hospital survival. In vitro, the treatment of human lung microvascular endothelial cells (HLMECs) with LPS for 96 h clearly changed the cells from the typical cobblestone shape of ECs to spindle-like fibroblasts. The scratch and Transwell assay results indicated that endothelial cell migration and invasion were enhanced in the LPS group compared with the control group. Fluorescence microscopy, FCM, WB and PCR showed that LPS greatly inhibited CD31 (endothelial marker) expression and increased α-SMA (mesenchymal marker) expression. These data showed that LPS could induce EndoMT in HLMECs. Notably, siRNA-treated HLMECs yielded the same results. The administration of rhMFGE8 to HLMECs in the LPS or LPS+siRNA group ameliorated the changes in cell morphology and decreased cell migration and invasion. rhMFGE8 attenuated the effect of LPS or LPS+siRNA on EndoMT induction by increasing CD31 and decreasing α-SMA protein and gene expression. Moreover, activation of BMP/Smad1/5-Smad4 signalling in response to LPS and Snail (related to EndoMT transcription factors) expression were increased by MFGE8 knockdown but inhibited by rhMFGE8. In vivo, H&E staining revealed a thickened alveolar septum in the LPS group, and the thickness increased over time; in contrast, rhMFGE8 reversed this effect. ECM deposition occurred early in ALI induced by LPS and increased over time, and the administration of rhMFGE8 reversed this effect. WB showed that LPS inhibited CD31 protein expression and increased α-SMA protein expression in lung tissue. Conclusions: rhMFGE8 exerts a protective effect early in LPS-induced EndoMT through BMP/Smad1/5/Smad4 signalling and could be a therapeutic target in ALI.

Background: PRAME, NY-ESO-1 and SSX2 are cancer testis antigens (CTAs), which in normal tissues are expressed in testicular germ cells with re-expression in numerous cancer types. Their ability to elicit humoral and cellular immune responses have rendered them promising targets for cancer immunotherapy, but they have never been studied in a large and well-characterized cohort soft tissue sarcomas (STS). Methods: On protein level, we examined PRAME, NY-ESO-1 and SSX2 expression in tumour tissues of 249 STS using immunohistochemistry. We correlated expression levels with clinicopathological parameters including Tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) counts, grading and long- term survival. Results: Expression of PRAME, NY-ESO-1 and SSX2 was observed in 25 (10%), 19 (8%), and 11 (4%) of 249 specimens with distinct patterns for histo subtypes. Expression of PRAME was associated with shorter patient survival (p=0.005) and higher grade (G2 vs G3, p=0.001) while NY-ESO-1 expression was correlated with more favourable survival (p=0.037) and low grade (G2 vs G3, p=0.029). Both PRAME and NY-ESO-1 expression was more frequent in STS with low TILs counts. Conclusions: CTAs PRAME, NY-ESO-1 and SSX2 show distinct expression patterns in different STS subtypes. These results may guide future immunotherapeutic approaches in STS.

The (numerical) solution of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) problems is of paramount relevance, ODEs system being an ubiquitous mathematical formulation of many physical phenomena (such as those involved in fluid dynamics, chemistry, biology, evolutionary-anthropology, ...): almost every dynamici phenomenon can be modeled by means of an ODEs system. The present paper is the first manifesto of FOODIE, a library aimed to numerically solve ODEs problems by means of a clear, concise and efficient abstract interface. FOODIE, meaning Fortran Object oriented Ordinary Differential Equations integration library, has manifolds aims: to provide a set to built-in numerical schemes that are accurate, robust, validated and efficient and to allow easy application of these schemes to (almost) all ODEs problems by means of an effective Abstract Calculus Pattern. The key idea is to allow the same solver-implementation to be applied to all ODEs problems thus avoiding the re-implementation of the ODEs solver for each different ODEs problem: code re-usability is consequently maximized, FOODIE being a general robust framework. Besides, the same framework also allows rapid development of new ODEs solvers due to the high abstraction level of the library itself. The present paper is the first announcement of FOODIE project: the current implementation is extensively discussed and its capabilities are proved by means of tests and examples.

De-escalation is currently taking place both in surgical and systemic treatment of breast cancer. The introduction of trastuzumab, the first monoclonal antibody against the HER2 receptor over 20 years ago was a milestone in the treatment of HER2 positive breast cancer and marked the beginning of a new era in targeted tumor therapy. In the sense of de-escalation, omitting non-targeted cytotoxic chemotherapy altogether is often hailed as the ultimate goal of oncological research. Especially in case of small, node-negative, HER2 positive early breast cancer, it remains a challenge for clinicians to establish the safest and most efficient treatment plan while considering the significant potential for toxic side effects associated with chemotherapy and HER2 targeted therapy, and the generally excellent prognosis. In this context, several ongoing studies are currently assessing chemotherapy-free regimens as part of strategies aimed at de-escalating therapy in the field of HER2 positive early breast cancer. Despite promising early results from these studies, combination of anti-HER2 treatment with chemotherapy backbone remains standard of care.

Considering the harmful effects of cannabis on individuals with a severe mental disorder and the limited effectiveness of current interventions, this case report showcases the beneficial results of a 10-session Avatar intervention for cannabis use disorder (CUD) on a polysubstance user with a comorbid schizoaffective disorder. Virtual reality allowed the creation of an Avatar representing a person significantly related to the patient’s drug use. Avatar intervention for CUD aims to combine exposure, relational, and cognitive behavioral therapies while practicing real-life situations and learning how to manage negative emotions and cravings. Throughout therapy and later on, Mr. C managed to maintain abstinence from all substances. Also, an improvement in the severity of CUD as well as a greater motivation to change consumption, were observed after therapy. As observed by his mother, his psychiatrist, and himself, the benefits of Avatar intervention for CUD extended to other spheres of his life. The drastic results observed in this patient could be promising as an alternative to the current treatment available for people with a dual diagnosis of cannabis use disorder and psychotic disorder, which generally lack effectiveness. A single-blind randomized control trial comparing the treatment with a classical intervention in a larger sample is currently underway to evaluate whether the results are reproducible on a larger sample.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) usually comes along with metabolic disturbances attributed to androgen excess and obesity, but the contribution of each has not been defined, and the occurrence of metabolic disturbances is frequently not investigated. We evaluated 99 PCOS and 41 non-PCOS women. Clinical biomarkers of glucose-, liver-, and endothelial-related metabolic alterations were measured; participants were categorized into four groups according with obesity (OB) and hyperandrogenemia (HA) statuses: Healthy (no-HA, lean), HA (HA, lean), OB (no-HA, OB), and HAOB (HA, OB). Metabolic disturbances were highly frequent in PCOS women (70%). BMI correlated with all biomarkers, while free testosterone (FT) only with glucose- and hepatic-related indicators. Despite insulin sensitivity and liver enzymes were associated with FT, women with obesity exhibited lower M [coeff = 8.56 – 0.080(FT) –3.71(Ob); p &lt;0.001)] and higher aspartate aminotransferase (coeff = 26.27 + 0.532(FT) + 8.08(Ob); p = 0.015)] than lean at the same level of FT. Women with obesity exhibited greater risk of metabolic disorders than lean, independently of hyperandrogenemia. Clinicians are compelled to search for metabolic alterations in PCOS women; obesity must be handled in all cases, but hyperandrogenemia needs to be managed also in those with glucose- or liver-related disturbances.

The current work is dedicated to the search for new high-energy materials (HEMs) with improved characteristics which are gained through agglomeration with salts. The research was performed by Becke’s three-parameter hybrid functional approach with non-local correlation provided by Lee, Yang, and Parr and cc-pVTZ basis set. The geometry, total energy, and heat of formation of the most stable compounds forming due to 3-amino-5-[(2, 4, 6-trinitrophenyl) amino]-1H-1, 2, 4-triazole (APATO) within salts selected were obtained to foresee its influence on resistance to shock stimuli, detonation pressure, and velocity of the materials under study. Results obtained allow us to foresee that only agglomeration with precise salts could lead to significant improvement in the stability of the specific high-energy materials and the resistance to shock stimuli. We also show that the agglomeration leads to better energetic properties of the above compound, although the improvement could be insignificant in some cases.

Inflammation is a conserved process that involve the activation of immune and non-immune cells aiming at protecting the host from bacteria, viruses, toxins and injury. However, unresolved inflammation and permanent release of pro-inflammatory mediators are responsible for the promotion of a condition called “low-grade systemic chronic inflammation”, characterized by tissue and organ damages, metabolic changes and increased susceptibility to non-communicable diseases. Several studies have demonstrated that different dietary components may influence modifiable risk factors for diverse chronic human pathologies. Marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs), mainly eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are well recognized anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory agents able to influence many aspects of the inflammatory process. The aim of this article is to review the recent literature that relates to the modulation of human disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, by n-3 PUFAs.

Ingrown toenails are a commonly occurring foot complaint. The condition occurs when the nail plate pierces the sulcus, giving rise to pain, inflammation and infection. As the skin attempts to heal itself, hypergranulation tissue may form. This is a case report of phenolic nail surgery treatment for a bilateral presentation with sharp resection of hypergranulation tissue performed in only one (the lateral) of the two affected sulci. Sharp resection of the residual medial hypergranulation tissue was performed two months after the index procedure when this had not settled. The case highlights the potential role of sharp resection in the overall improvement of treatment outcomes.

The Surface Urban Heat Island (UHI) is caused by the difference in temperature between the urban and its surrounding areas. However, in the scientific literature, there is no solid methodology defining urban and non-urban areas, which is essential to estimate the SUHI with greater accuracy. This study uses the official national urban areas limit, to obtain the SUHI more accurately on the nine northeastern Brazilian capitals. The land surface temperature was obtained using the Sentinel 3 satellite data for the years 2019 and 2020. Afterward, the maximum and average SUHI, and the complementary indexes were calculated, such as the Urban Thermal Field Variation Index (UTFVI) and the Thermal Discomfort Index (TDI) for the urban areas and their surrounding areas. The Maximum and Average SUHI, obtained values between 1.85 and 8.25 and -4.92 and 2.59 degree difference, respectively, proving the SUHI existence in the study areas. The UTFVI, with values between 0.010 and 0.040, expresses how bad the eco-environmental spaces of urban are. The TDI, with values between 24.61 and 28.89 ºC, expresses the population’s thermal comfort. Therefore, this study provides a better understanding of the surface UHI pioneeringly for the Brazilian Northeast Region.

Pancreatic cancer exhibits a poor prognosis due to the lack of early diagnostic biomarkers and the resistance to conventional chemotherapy. CD44 has been known as a cancer stem cell marker, and plays tumor promotion and drug resistance in various cancers. Especially, the splicing variants are overexpressed in many carcinomas, and play essential roles in the cancer stemness, invasiveness or metastasis, and resistance to treatments. Therefore, the understanding of each CD44 variant (CD44v) function and distribution in carcinomas is essential for the establishment of CD44-targeting tumor therapy. In this study, we immunized mice with CD44v3–10-overexpressed Chinese hamster ovary-K1 (CHO) cells, and established various anti-CD44 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). One of the established clones (C44Mab-3; IgG1, kappa) recognized peptides of the variant 5-encoded region, indicating that C44Mab-3 is a specific mAb for CD44v5. Moreover, C44Mab-3 reacted with CHO/CD44v3–10 cells or pancreatic cancer cell lines (PK-1 and PK-8) by flow cytometry. The apparent KD of C44Mab-3 for CHO/CD44v3–10 and PK-1 was 7.1 × 10−10 M and 1.9 × 10−9 M, respectively. C44Mab-3 could detect the exogenous CD44v3–10 and endogenous CD44v5 in western blotting, and stained the formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded pancreatic cancer cells, but not normal pancreatic epithelial cells in immunohistochemistry. These results indicate that C44Mab-3 is useful for detecting CD44v5 in various applications, and expected for the application of pancreatic cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Environmental accounting should be performed by both private companies and local governments. However, it may be difficult for government agencies to objectively measure their current environmental impact, and there is currently no internationally standardized methodology of environmental accounting for local governments. This study therefore attempts to incorporate life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) into the calculation of environmental loads for administrative divisions. In LCIA, environmental loads for several impact categories, such as “Climate change” and “Land use,” are integrated into a simple indicator expressed in terms of monetary units. This study leverages the LIME-3 assessment theory, one of the endpoint-type and global-scale LCIA methods. Annual environmental loads for administrative divisions in 42 countries were measured in a tentative assessment. Results showed that the annual damages for the 42 countries to be USD 10.5 trillion. Assessment results are shown on the world map to highlight the regionality of the damages in the 42 countries’ administrative divisions. This study seeks to provide new knowledge that local governments around the world can use in environmental accounting.

In the present study, the performance of a 70 L photobioreactor, operating outdoors, was investigated using a purple bacterial strain as Rhodopseudomonas sp. S16-VOGS3 for producing poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB). The novel photobioreactor was equipped with 5L-shaped rows; the bottom of every row was placed in a stainless-steel tank containing water with controlled temperature. The photofermentation trials were carried out under fed-batch mode and under a semi-continuous regimen using lactic acid as carbon source. The effect of the irradiance and the C/N ratio on the PHB accumulation was investigated, in order to evaluate the optimal bacterial growth. The results showed the feasibility of the prototype photobioreactor for the production of PHB by Rhodopseudomonas sp. S16-VOGS3 under the natural light/dark cycle. During the fed-batch growth (144 h long), the cumulative PHB increased quickly reaching the maximum value of 377 mg/L and decreased to 255 mg/L during the semi-continuous regimen (336 h long).

The Rapid Mapping (RM) component of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) delivers crisis information within hours or days, during and in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Users of the service have requested the incorporation of flood depth estimates for inundations and related disasters, such as storms and tsunamis. This demand required the development of a quick and operational approach for estimating floodwater depth distribution, which can effectively adapt to a wide range of flood scenarios, remotely sensed data and Digital Terrain Models (DTMs). INFLOS is a tool developed to answer these requirements, within an expedient 30-minute timeframe at most. It uses sample points collected along the edges of flooded areas derived from remotely sensed imagery, and integrates high resolution DTMs and hydrography data to enhance accuracy. Flood depth is then estimated through a multi-step interpolation and filtering process. INFLOS underwent thorough testing across fourteen regions. As it transitioned into production, INFLOS successfully generated a wealth of flood depth products accessible through the CEMS RM portal: https://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/list-of-activations-rapid. Currently, INFLOS is operational and its computation time remains consistently within the order of minutes, making it a staple of the RM tooling and portfolio.

Water quality assessment stands as a fundamental step in water resource management. In addition to substances and organisms present in the water, land use and land cover are two factors affecting also water quality. This study analyzed the correlation and influence between water quality and land use and land cover in the Miranda River Basin (MRB) and the natural wetlands in the Pantanal Biome. Using a watershed-wide approach, results suggested that water quality management policies can be considered in terms of sub-basins (smaller planning units). The Water Quality Index (WQI) was considered GOOD or EXCELLENT throughout the MRB. It was observed that the natural wetlands have the capacity to contribute to improve WQI, with reductions in thermotolerant coliforms and turbidity; however, high values were found for thermotolerant coliforms, a temporal increasing trend of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and a reduction in dissolved oxygen and total phosphorus. Conversely, it was found in these flooded areas a trend of decrease in dissolved oxygen and an increase in BOD concentrations. Natural wetlands play important hydrological and ecological roles in water quality, storing, removing, and cycling nutrients. They are highly relevant areas for defining watershed management and conservation strategies, environmental protection, and providing ecosystem services.

The coseismic surface three-dimensional deformation fields were significant for quantified the geometric and kinematic characteristics of earthquake rupture faults. Traditional geodetic techniques were constrained by their intrinsic limitations, such as InSAR, which could only extract far-field deformation fields due to its incoherence, and GNSS, which could only acquire deformations at discrete points. The recently developing optical pixel correlation technique based on high resolution remote sensing images could acquire the near-field coseismic horizontal deformation. In this study, the vertical displacement field of the 2022 Mw 6.6 Menyuan earthquake was obtained by differencing the pre- and post-earthquake DEMs from GaoFen-7 stereo satellite images. Further, the line-of-sight (LOS) and azimuthal (AZI) directions far-field deformations by InSAR, the horizontal near-field deformation by optical pixel correlation based on pre- and post-earthquake GF-2/7 images, and the vertical deformation by differencing the pre- and post-earthquake DEMs, were incorporated to comprehensively solve the complete three-dimensional deformation fields of the 2022 Mw 6.6 Menyuan earthquake. Firstly, the vertical displacement field by differencing DEMs indicated there were significant vertical displacements about 1 m at the bend region, which was induced by the local compressive stress. In addition, at the epicenter on the middle segment of ruptured Lenglongling fault (LLLF), the maximum lifting occurred on the southern sides of the main and secondary faults exceeded 2 m. Secondly, the three-dimensional deformation fields solved by multiple deformation data demonstrated that the near-field deformation field calculated by optical pixel correlation method could quantify the displacements distributed over the rupture fault zone, which were not available on the InSAR deformation maps. Finally, the surface 2D strain derived from the displacement maps calculated by optical pixel correlation revealed high strain concentration on the rupture fault zone. Our study focused on the complete surface three-dimensional deformation estimation from multiple far- and near-field deformation data, and provided a new perspective for a deeper understanding of the characteristics of coseismic surface deformation and the rupture pattern of the fault.

EV transmissions operate at high speeds, upto 30,000 rpm. High speed operation puts higher demands on bearings, seals, and gears. Bearings in EV transmissions are prone to electrically induced bearing damage and may exhibit signs of pitting and fluting. Surface-initiated rolling contact fatigue is another common problem gaining increased attention lately. Most EV transmissions require a coupling between an oil-lubricated gearbox to an electrical motor that runs with minimal lubrication at very high rpm. High mechanical and thermal stresses the seals are exposed to under starved lubrication conditions have a detrimental impact on their service life. Hence, proper lubrication is critical. In general, EV transmission fluids call for a somewhat different spectrum of properties compared to conventional ATF. Gear tribology simulations open new ways to the design and optimization of lubrication for EV transmissions. Additionally, such simulations can also provide valuable insights into the effects of different oil properties on cooling and lubrication efficiencies, thereby helping in matching the lubricant and hardware characteristics for optimal performance. In the present communication, we demonstrate the effects of different lubricants and surface finishing technologies on the tribology of high-speed gears using tribological tests and advanced thermal elastohydrodynamic (TEHD) simulations. Important roles of lubricity additives and surface finish optimization are highlighted in conjunction with a move towards ultralow viscosity EV transmission fluids.

In this article, we combine datasets from multiple research projects and remote sensing tech-nologies to evaluate the conservation conditions of La Fortaleza de Kuelap, a pre-Hispanic monument in Peru’s northeastern Andes that suffered significant damage during historically high seasonal rains in April 2022. Our analyses seek to identify the main causes of the collapse and locate places where the monument is likely at risk of further deterioration. To do so, we model surface hydrology using a digital elevation model (DEM) derived from drone LiDAR data, re-construct a history of previous collapses, and calculate the volume of the most recent by fusing terrestrial LiDAR and photogrammetric datasets. In addition, we examine subsurface water ac-cumulation through electrical resistivity data, reconstruct the stratification of the monument from seismic refraction data, and analyze vegetation loss and ground moisture accumulation using high resolution satellite imagery. Our results point to water accumulation as the most significant source of risk for La Fortaleza’s perimeter walls. Combined with adverse contemporary conser-vation interventions and natural conditions, this led to the collapse of April 2022. This integration of analytical results demonstrates how multi-scalar and multi-instrumental approaches provide comprehensive and timely assessments of conservation needs.

We present a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor array for microRNA (miRNA) detection that utilizes photocatalytic silver staining on titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles as a signal enhancement technique for high sensitivity with an internal reference sensor for high reproducibility. A sandwich hybridization was performed on working sensors of the SAW sensor array that could simultaneously capture and detect three miRNAs (miRNA-21, miRNA-106b, and miRNA-155) known to be upregulated in cancer. Sensor responses due to signal amplification varied depending on the concentration of synthetic miRNAs. It was confirmed that normalization (a ratio of working sensor response to reference sensor response) screened out background interferences by manipulating data and minimized non-uniformity in the photocatalytic silver staining step by suppressing disturbances to both working sensor signal and reference sensor signal. Finally, we were able to successfully detect target miRNAs in cancer cell-derived exosomal miRNAs with performance comparable to the detection of synthetic miRNAs.