Oral mucositis (OM) is inflammation of the mouth caused by damage to the mucous membranes that line the mouth and throat. It is a side effect of cancer treatment, particularly in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who undergo radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and/or immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. The etiology and pathogenic mechanisms of OM is complex and multifaceted, involving cytotoxicity (cell death), inflammation, infection, change in microbiome, and immune-mediated cytotoxicity. We summarize the literature about attempts to use various omics methodologies (genomics, transcriptomics, microbiomics and metabolomics) to elucidate the biological pathways associated with the development or the severity of OM. Integrating different omics into multi-omics approaches carries the potential to discover links among host factors (genomics), host responses (transcriptomics, metabolomics), and local environment (microbiomics).

Research on early stages of corrosion of steel bars, together with the formation and development of cracks induced in the surrounding concrete and caused by chloride penetration, is relevant in improving the durability of reinforced concrete structures. This paper uses integration of the analytical models examined in the published literature, combined with experimental research in corrosion induced at the concrete/steel interface, in estimating the time-to-crack initiation of reinforced concrete subjected to corrosion. This work studies the influence of the porous network and electric current density on the cracking process at early ages. The experimental campaign was performed by using an accelerated corrosion test on a conventional concrete (CC) and a concrete with silica fume (SFC) by submitting them to a current density of 50μA/cm² and 100μA/cm². Examination performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) provided both qualitative and quantitative information on the penetration of the rust layer in the surrounding concrete porous network. Strain gauges were used to measure corrosion-induced deformations between steel and concrete matrices, as well as the formation of corrosion-induced cracks. A good correlation between the rate of penetration of the rust products in the surrounding pores and the delay of the cracking pressure in concrete was observed from the experimental results. This phenomenon is incorporated into the analytical model by using a reduction factor, which mainly depends on the pore size of the concrete. The crack width obtained exhibited a significant dependency on electric current density at the beginning of the test, depending mainly on the pore size of the concrete later.

This study addresses the problem of accurately predicting azimuth and elevation angles of signals impinging on an antenna array employing Machine Learning (ML). Using the information obtained at a receiving system when a transmitter’s signal hits it, a Decision Tree (DT) model is trained to estimate azimuth and elevation angles simultaneously. Simulation results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed DT-based method, showcasing its ability to predict the Direction of Arrival (DOA) in diverse conditions beyond the ones present in the training dataset, i.e., the results display the model’s generalization capability. Additionally, the comparative analysis reveals that DT-based DOA estimation outperforms the state-of-the-art MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm, establishing DTs as competitive alternatives for DOA estimation in signal reception systems.

Hospitalizations for patients with diabetes and dementia take a significant health and economic toll on older adults in the United States. The present study sought to examine the differences in hospitalization characteristics and outcomes associated with diabetes and dementia separately and together using discharge record data of Los Angeles County residents aged 50+ from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information for the period 2019-2021. Results from multiple linear regression analyses indicated that when compared to those with no diabetes or dementia, patients with diabetes alone exhibited the highest total charges, while those with comorbid diabetes and dementia exhibited lower charges (p≤.05). Results of a multinomial logistic regression found that patients with comorbid diabetes and dementia had the highest odds of having a length of stay of 7+ days (AOR=1.49; 95% CI=1.44-1.53). A matched-case control analysis found that comorbid diabetes and dementia was associated with significantly lower odds of hypertensive disease than diabetes alone (MOR=0.81; 95% CI=0.67-0.97). These results highlight the complexity of factors affecting variation in hospitalization outcomes across these distinct disease profiles. Findings suggest a need to carefully consider this complexity when developing health policies or strategies to improve hospitalization outcomes involving these disease conditions.

The Oxford English Dictionary includes 17 definitions for the word “model” as a noun and other 11 as a verb. Therefore, context is necessary to understand the meaning of the word model. For in-stance, “model railways” refer to replicas of railways and trains at a smaller scale and a “model student” refers to an exemplar individual. In some cases, a specific context, like cancer research, may not be sufficient to provide one specific meaning of a model. Even if the context is narrowed, specifically to the research related to the tumour microenvironment, a “model” can be understood in a wide variety of ways, from an animal model, to a mathematical expression. This paper presents a review of the different “models” of the tumour microenvironment grouped by the different def-initions of the word into four categories: model organisms, in vitro models, mathematical models, and computational models. Then, the frequency of different meanings of the word “model” related to the tumour microenvironment is measured from the number of entries in the MEDLINE database of the United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. The frequency of the main components of the microenvironment and the organ-related cancers modelled are also assessed quantitatively with specific keywords. Whilst animal models, in particular xenografts and mouse models are the most common used “models”, the number of entries have been slowly de-creasing. Mathematical models, prognostic and risk models follow in frequency and these have been growing in use.

The morphology and maturation process of gonads of 70 Burmeister´s porpoises, with body lengths ranging 135–183 cm (n= 34 females) and 64.5-182 cm (n= 36 males) were described. Samples were collected in six ports of central and northern Peru in 1987-1999. In the field, females were classified as immature, mature (resting, lactating, pregnant) and males as immature, pubescent and mature based on, respectively, the presence of ovarian corpora and the relative quantity of semen in cut epididymides. The ovaries of P. spinipinnis are ovoid or bean-shaped and flattened, with corpora modifying surface appearance. In the laboratory, ovaries were examined macro- and microscopically, measured, weighed and sliced in 1-3 mm sections. The number of corpora ovarica (lutea, albicantia, atretica) found in each ovary as well as their macroscopic and microscopic characteristics were documented in some detail. The follicles, their oocytes and nucleus were measured. Follicular development in P. spinipinnis is predominantly left-sided, but occurs in both ovaries in 16.3% of females, mainly in those with numerous corpora. Macroscopically, several corpora atretica with luteinization had characteristics similar to those of corpora albicantia, making microscopic determination essential. Inconclusive evidence of recent ovulation was found in January. Two of three immature females showed good follicular development in March and April. The body length at 50% sexual maturity in females was estimated at 152.7 cm. There was no evidence of reproductive senescence. The testes of P. spinipinnis are elongated and cylindrical. Of the 36 males examined macroscopically, 7 were immature, 5 pubescent and 24 mature. The histological analysis determining the presence and abundance of Sertoli cells, spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa, the relative amount of interstitial tissue, the elongation and mean diameter of the seminiferous tubules and the relative size of the lumen allowed to confidently determine sexual maturity status. The field evaluation of maturity based on the presence of sperm in the epididymides is a useful but, in 8.3% of cases, not exact method. For males the body length at 50% sexual maturity was estimated at 157 cm. No histological evidence of male reproductive seasonality was found. Spermatogenesis was perceptible year-round and tubule diameters had non-specific variations for each month.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health threat associated with serious clinical consequences worldwide. The WHO reports an estimated 58 million people globally living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, with 1.5 million new cases and over 350,000 deaths annually due to HCV-related diseases. Despite the existence of multiple diagnostic methods, the accessibility of diagnosis and treatment is often hindered across the continent by limited resources, insufficient healthcare infrastructure, and low public awareness of Hepatitis C virus Hepatitis C virus infection is a major public health concern in African countries, which have the highest prevalence rates of HCV in the world (1–26%). Egypt, African country which had the highest prevalence of Hepatitis C virus infection in the world. Its national hepatitis C elimination initiative emerges as an exemplary case of success an having screened over 60 million individuals, and treated more than 4 million, thereby markedly diminishing both the prevalence and incidence of the disease. The strategies employed by Egypt offer critical insights and adaptable frameworks for other African Countries facing analogous challenges. The Aim of this Review is to highlight the triumphs and hurdles of Egypt's approach, while also providing strategic guidance for African Countries to accelerate the journey towards the eradication of hepatitis C.

In this work, the transport equations of ionic species in concrete are studied. First, the equations at the porescale are considered, which are then averaged over a representative elementary volume. The so obtained transport equations at the macroscopic scale are thoroughly examined and each term is interpreted. Furthermore, it is shown that the tortuosity-connectivity does not slow the average speed of the ionic species down. The transport equations in the representative elementary volume are then compared with the equations obtained in an equivalent pore. Lastly, comparing Darcy’s law and the Hagen-Poiseuille equation in a cylindrical equivalent pore, the tortuosity-connectivity parameter is obtained for four dierent concretes. The proposed model provides very good results when compared with the experimentally obtained chloride profiles for two additional concretes.

Copper-catalyzed and organocopper-involved reactions are of great significance in organic synthesis. To have a deep understanding of the reaction mechanisms, the structural characterizations of organocopper intermediates become indispensable. Meanwhile, the structure-function relationship of organocopper compounds would advance rational design and development of new Cu-based reactions and organocopper reagents. Compared to the mono-carbonic ligand, the C,N- and C,C-bidentate ligands better stabilize the unstable organocopper compounds. The bidentate ligands can chelate to the same copper atom via ?2-mode, forming a mono-cupra-cyclic compounds with at least one acute C-Cu-C angle. When the bidentate ligands bind to two copper atoms via ?1-mode at each coordinating site, the bimetallic macrocyclic compounds will form nearly linear C-Cu-C angles. The anionic coordinating sites of the bidentate ligand can also bridge two metals via ?2-mode, forming organocopper aggregates with Cu-Cu interactions and organocuprates with contact ion pair structures. The reaction chemistry of some selected organocopper compounds is highlighted, showing their unique structure-reactivity relationships.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Latin American cities adopted earthen construction techniques from European colonizers. As a result, rammed earth (RE) buildings now occupy an important place in Latin America's cultural heritage. However, earthquakes around the world have shown that unreinforced earthen constructions are highly vulnerable. For several years, researchers in northern South America have been proposing a technique that consists of installing confining steel plates (or wooden elements) on both sides of the RE walls forming a grid. This system has shown excellent performance in controlling seismic damage and increasing strength and ductility capacity. Although researchers have tested full-scale one- and two-story earthen walls under pseudo-static loading in the laboratory, and one- and two-story earthen walls at 1:1 and 1:2 scale on uniaxial and biaxial shaking tables, the behavior of a complete reinforced module (one- or two-story) on a shaking table has never been assessed. The present study presents the results of shaking table tests performed on two-story RE modules at 1:4 scale. The experimental data indicate that the retrofit system with confining steel strips was effective in reducing the seismic damage of earthen constructions. In addition, the comparison of the results of the 1:4 scale tests with the 1:2 and 1:1 scale tests previously conducted by the researchers, shows that the acceleration levels of the equivalent prototypes are in the same order of magnitude for the three scales.

β-Ga2O3 is a well-known semiconductor material for power devices and other applications. Recently, β-Ga2O3 has also been reported as a scintillator material with a light yield of approximately 8400 ph./MeV, scintillation decay time of <1 μs, and density of 6.44 g/cm3. In this study, 2-inch diameter β-Ga2O3 single crystals were prepared by oxide crystal growth using the cold crucible (OCCC) method under various oxygen partial pressures. In the OCCC method, as in the cold crucible method, a high frequency is applied directly to the oxide materials, which are heated and melted, and the melt is held by the outermost solid material itself that is cooled by water using a copper hearth. In the OCCC method, crystal growth is performed while rotating the seed crystal, as in the Czochralski method, to increase the crystal diameter. The optical properties and radiation responses of the crystals grown under various oxygen partial pressures were evaluated.

Gastric cancer is a challenging public health concern worldwide and remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. The primary risk factor implicated in gastric cancer development is infection with Helicobacter pylori. H. pylori induces chronic inflammation affecting the gastric epithelium, which can lead to DNA damage and promotion of precancerous lesions. Disease manifestations associated with H. pylori are attributed to virulence factors with multiple activities and its capacity to subvert host immunity. One of the most significant H. pylori virulence determinants is the cagPAI gene cluster, which encodes a type IV secretion system and the CagA toxin. This secretion system allows H. pylori to inject the CagA oncoprotein into host cells, causing multiple cellular perturbations. Despite the high prevalence of H. pylori infection, only a small percentage of affected individuals develop significant clinical outcomes, while most remain asymptomatic. Therefore, understanding how H. pylori triggers carcinogenesis and its immune evasion mechanisms is critical in preventing gastric cancer and miti-gating the burden of this life-threatening disease. This review aims to provide an overview of our current under-standing of H. pylori infection, its association with gastric cancer and other gastric diseases, and how it subverts the host immune system to establish persistent infection.

For the last two decades, an increasing demand for low-cost adsorbents for drinking water treatment has been challenged in the rural areas of developing countries that have problems with arsenic (As) contamination. In this work, spent bleaching earth (SBE), a residual material that is formed during the process of refining vegetable oil, has been utilized to prepare the new magnetic adsorbent Fe-SBE/C by modifying its surface area through calcination and co-precipitation with iron. The experimental results demonstrate that Fe-SBE/C exhibits a substantial adsorption capacity towards both arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)). Optimal pH conditions were found to be pH 10 for As(III) and pH 3 for As(V), resulting in adsorption percentages of 76.7% and 94.1%, respectively. Other experimental parameters such as calcination conditions, adsorbent dosage, iron-loading ratio, and the presence of co-existing ions were thoroughly investigated. The kinetic study revealed that the adsorption processes follow the Elovich and intraparticle diffusion models, suggesting a combined adsorption mechanism of boundary layer control and chemisorption. Furthermore, the isotherm followed the Langmuir model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 202.61 μg g-1 for As(III) and 187.61 μg g-1 for As(V). Through thermodynamic analysis and reinforcement by activation energy data, this research validates that the observed adsorption process is indicative through chemisorption. The regeneration study revealed the potential for multiple cycles of arsenic removal, highlighting the practical applicability of Fe-SBE/C in environmental contexts. In conclusion, the findings of this study underscore the efficacy of Fe-SBE/C in arsenic removal and present it as a promising and environmentally friendly solution for mitigating arsenic pollution.

Since the discovery of transposable elements (TEs) in Maize in the 1940s by Barbara McClintock [1] transposable elements have been described as junk, as selfish elements with no benefit to the host, and more recently as major determinants of genome structure and genome evolution. TEs are DNA sequences that are capable of moving to new sites in the genome and make additional copies while doing so. To limit the propagation of TEs, host silencing mechanisms are directed at transposon-encoded genes that are required for mobilization. The mutagenic properties of TEs, the potential of TEs to form new genes and affect gene expression, together with the host silencing mechanisms shape eukaryotic genomes and drive genome evolution. While TEs constitute more than half of the genome in many higher eukaryotes, transposable elements in the nematode C. ele-gans form a relatively small proportion of genome, about 15% [2]. Genetic studies of transposon silencing and the discovery of RNAi in C. elegans, propelled C. elegans to the forefront of studies of RNA-based mechanisms that silence TEs. Here, I will review the transposable elements that are present and active in the C. elegans genome, and the host defense mechanisms that silence these elements.

L-Theanine, a unique non-protein amino acid, is an important bioactive component of green tea. Previous studies have shown that L-theanine has many potent health benefits, such as anti-anxiety effect, regulation of immune response, relaxing neural tension, reducing oxidative damage. However, little is known concerning whether L-theanine can improve the clearance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage in organisms. Here, we reported that L-theanine treatment increased ATP production and improved mitochondrial morphology to extend the lifespan of UVC-exposed nematodes. Mechanistic investigations showed that L-theanine treatment enhanced the removal of mtDNA damage and extended lifespan by activating autophagy, mitophagy, mitochondrial dynamics, and mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) in UVC-exposed nematodes. In addition, L-theanine treatment also up-regulated the expression of genes related to mitochondrial energy metabolism in UVC-exposed nematodes. Our study provided a theoretical basis for the possibility that tea drinking may prevent mitochondrial related diseases.

Data on helminth parasites and epizoites is presented for the long-beaked and short-beaked common dolphins from the Southeast Pacific. Sampling in 1985-2000 was conducted mainly at six fishing ports in Peru and Ecuador where cetaceans were landed. From a total of 473 common dolphins sampled, we identified helminths including three species of Trematoda: Nasitrema globicephalae, Pholeter gastrophilus and Braunina cordiformis; three species of Nematoda, which includes Anisakis spp., Crassicauda sp. and Halocercus sp.; and two cestodes Tetrabothrius forsteri and Clistobothrium delphini (formerly Phyllobothrium delphini). No acanthocephalans were observed. No statistically significant sexual and ontogenetic variation in helminth prevalence was detected after which samples were pooled. The highest prevalence in the long-beaked common dolphin (n=440) was observed for N. globicephalae (96.3%) in cranial sinuses, Crassicauda sp. (83.3%) in mammary glands, Crassicauda sp. (78.8%) infesting the cranial sinuses, followed by Cl. delphini (28.6%) in the blubber and P. gastrophilus and B. cordiformis (20.4%) in the digestive tract. Although comparative testing was unfeasible due to minimal samples of short-beaked common dolphin (n=33), several of the same helminth species were found, but not N. globicephalae nor B. cordiformis. No cyamids were encountered while pseudo-stalked barnacles Xenobalanus globicipitis were common. No new (global) helminth host records are revealed for common dolphins, but this study presents a first checklist of parasites separately for the Southeast Pacific long-beaked and short-beaked common dolphins. Future work should include exhaustive laboratory-based necropsies, enhanced sampling of the short-beaked form, focus on intermediate hosts and parasitic pathology, including potential human health impact from consumption of small cetaceans.

This paper compares a series of traditional and deep learning methodologies for the segmentation of textures. Six well-known texture composites first published by Randen and Hus{\o}y were used to compare traditional segmentation techniques (co-occurrence, filtering, local binary patterns, watershed, multiresolution sub-band filtering) against a deep-learning approach based on the U-Net architecture. For the latter, the effects of depth of the network, number of epochs and different optimisation algorithms were investigated. Overall, the best results were provided by the deep-learning approach. However, the best results were distributed within the parameters, and many configurations provided results well below the traditional techniques.

Introduction: Young adults are the second largest segment of the immigrant population in the United States (US). Given recent trends in later age of initiation of tobacco use, we examined variation in use of tobacco products by nativity status for this population group. Methods: Our study included young adults 18-30 years of age sampled in the National Health Interview Survey (2015-2019), a nationally representative sample of the US population. We calculated prevalence of use of any and 2 or more tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, pipes, e-cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco) for foreign-born (n=3,096) and US-born (n=6,811) young adults. Logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, race-ethnicity, education, and poverty, while accounting for the complex survey design. Results: Foreign-born young adults were significantly less likely to use any tobacco product (Cigarette = 7.3% vs 10.7%; Cigar= 1.8% vs 4.8%; E-cigarette= 2.3% vs 4.5%, respectively; p<0.01) or poly tobacco use (1.9% vs. 4.2%; p<0.01) than US-born young adults. Adjusted regression models showed lower odds of poly tobacco use among the foreign-born than their US-born counterparts (Odds Ratio = 0.41, (95% Confidence Interval: 0.26-0.63)). Conclusion: Findings highlight the importance of targeted interventions by nativity status and further tobacco prevention efforts needed for the US-born.

In this paper, we present a new concept of the generalized core orthogonality (called the C-S orthogonality) for two generalized core invertible matrices $A$ and $B$. $A$ is said to be C-S orthogonal to $B$ if $A^{\tiny\textcircled{S}}B=0$ and $BA^{\tiny\textcircled{S}}=0$, where $A^{\tiny\textcircled{S}}$ is the generalized core inverse of $A$. The characterizations of C-S orthogonal matries and the C-S additivity are also provided. And the connection between the C-S orthogonality and C-S partial order has been given using their canonical form. Moreover, the concept of the strongly C-S orthogonality is defined and characterized.

Popular devotions are reflections and expressions of the people’s faith. They are expressions of how people recognize God in their lives, and as a shared experience, they foster expressions of devotion and thus become a manifestation of prayer. Popular devotions as forms of prayer and worship do not contradict the Sacred Liturgy but are acknowledged as legitimate by the Apostolic See. Moreover, popular devotions, in general, lead to the cultivation of some values. One of the most popular devotions among Filipino Catholics is the devotion to the Black Nazarene, a life-sized statue of Jesus Christ kneeling in one knee carrying the cross-dressed in a maroon robe. His face is marked with wounds and blood. His head is crowned with thorns with three gold-plated metal rays on the top of his head, with his eyes looking up to heaven. The Black Nazarene devotion balances Christology from below and above, i.e., Christ does not remain crucified. Instead, he brings the hope of resurrection to those who fervently approach him with faith, hope, and love. It suffices to say that the Black Nazarene serves as a means for the Filipino faithful to encounter Christ in their lives. Given this, this paper aims to appraise the Black Nazarene Devotion as a means that contributes to the New Evangelization among Filipino Catholics. More specifically, this paper seeks to answer how the devotion to the Black Nazarene aids Filipino Catholics in their desire to sustain and grow in their faith amidst the crises and problems they are facing.

The photosystem I (PSI) of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii associates with 10 light-harvesting proteins (LHCI) to form the PSI-LHCI complex. Binding of LHCII to PSI may also occur and is controlled by a process called state transitions. Hereby, two LHCII trimers bind to the PSAL, PSAH and PSAO side of PSI to produce the PSI-LHCI-LHCII complex. In this work, we took advantage of chemical crosslinking of proteins in conjunction with mass spectrometry to identify protein-protein interactions between the light-harvesting proteins of PSI and PSII. We detected binding of LHCBM proteins to the LHCA1-PSAG side of PSI and identified protein-protein interactions of LHCSR3 with LHCA5 and LHCA3. Our data indicate that the binding of LHCII to PSI is more versatile as anticipated and reveal that LHCSR3 likely regulates excitation energy transfer to the PSI core via LHCA5/LHCA3.

This study presents the synthesis and electrochemical evaluation of nitrogen-doped vanadium oxide (N-V2O3/C) as a cathode material for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs), using a hydrothermal method. Compared to undoped V2O3/C, N-V2O3/C exhibits enhanced electrical conductivity, capacity, and electrochemical kinetics, attributed to the incorporation of pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen. Initial charge-discharge cycles indicate phase transitions to amorphous vanadium oxides, enhancing conductivity. N-V2O3/C shows a high specific capacity of 168.4 mAh g−1 at 10 A g−1 and remarkable reversibility, highlighted by the transient existence of intermediate species during cycling. Optimal electrochemical performance is achieved with a vanadium to nitrogen molar ratio of 2:3, indicating the significant impact of nitrogen doping concentration on the material’s efficiency. This work underscores the potential of N-V2O3/C as a superior cathode material for AZIBs.

Cascalote pods are an important source of phenolic compounds, mainly recovered using solvent extraction methods. As a sustainable alternative, this study aimed to evaluate solid-state fermentation (SSF) to enhance the extractability of total phenolic compounds (TPC) with antioxidant activity (AA) from cascalote pods. Aspergillus niger GH1 was selected based on the amount of TPC released and AA measured (ABTS, DPPH, FRAP) in a shorter time. Moreover, moisture, temperature, inoculum size, and mineral composition were evaluated. The largest amount of TPC released was 124.17 mg/gdm (g of dry material) after 12 h of culture, strongly and highly significantly correlated with the AA. Moisture and KH2PO4 concentration were the main influencing factors on TPC release. Treatment 6 [1x 107 spores/gdm, 30 °C, 60% moisture, mineral composition (g/L): KH2PO4, 1.52; NaNO3, 7.65; and MgSO4, 1.52] was selected due to the highest values of both TPC and AA. SSF-assisted extraction allowed increase 118 % and 93 % in TPC and AA values, respectively. Corilagin, lagerstannin, geraniin, and ellagic acid were the main phenolic compounds identified by RP-HPLC-ESI-MS in cascalote extracts. The results obtained demonstrate the feasibility of SSF-assisted extraction as a biotechnological alternative for the recovery of important bioactive molecules from this underutilized material.

The mechanisms underlying the establishment of asymmetric structures during development remain elusive. The wing of Drosophila is asymmetric along the Anterior-Posterior (AP) axis, despite that its growth signals that drive its growth are presumably symmetric. Here, we investigated the contribution of cell recruitment, a process that drives wing fate differentiation in Drosophila, to the asymmetric shape and pattern of the adult wing. Genetic impairment of cell recruitment results in a significant reduction in adult wing asymmetry, primarily affecting the region between longitudinal vein 5 and the wing margin (L5-M). Morphometric analysis reveals that the lack of cell recruitment results in a more symmetric wing with respect to the AP, suggesting a contribution of cell recruitment to the establishment of asymmetry in the adult wing. A close examination of the expression of the wing selector gene vestigial (vg) in wing disc does not support this hypothesis. However, the circularity of the Vg pattern significantly increase in recruitment-impaired wing disc, suggesting that while the decrease of the L5-M region in the adult wing may not be attributed to cell recruitment, it could contribute to the overall asymmetry of the adult wing. We conclude that cell recruitment, a widespread mechanism that participates in growth and patterning of several developing systems, could drive, at least partially, the asymmetric shape of the Drosophila wing.

A reliability-based criterion to estimate strength amplification factors for buildings with asymmetric yielding located within a seismic region presenting different soil conditions is proposed and applied. The approach involves the calculation of the mean annual rate of exceedance of structural demands of systems with different levels of asymmetric yielding. Two simplified mathematical expressions are developed considering different soil conditions of the valley of Mexico. The mathematical expressions depend on the ductility of the structural systems, their level of asymmetric yielding, their fundamental vibration period and the dominant period of the soil. In addition, the proposed expressions are compared with that recommended by the current Mexico City Building Code (MCBC). Since the expressions are developed with the help of simplified structural systems, the validity of such expressions is corroborated by comparing the expected ductility demand of multi-degree of freedom (MDOF) structural systems with respect to that of their equivalent simplified systems. Both structural representations are associated with a given annual rate of exceedance value of an engineering demand parameter. The expressions proposed in this study will be incorporated in the new version of the MCBC.

The analysis of curated genomic, metagenomic, and proteomic data are of paramount importance in the fields of biology, medicine, education, and bioinformatics. Although this type of data is usually hosted in raw form in free international repositories, its access requires plenty of computing, storage, and processing capacities for the domestic user. The purpose of the study is to offer a comprehensive set of genomic and proteomic reference data, in an accessible and easy-to-use form to the scientific community. A representative type material set of genomes, proteomes and metagenomes were directly downloaded from the site: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/assembly/ and from Genome Taxonomy Database, associated with the major groups of Bacteria, Archaea, Virus, and Fungi. Sketched databases were subsequently created and stored on handy raw reduced representations, by using Mash software. Our dataset contains near to 100 GB of space disk reduced to 585.78 MB and represents 87,476 genomics/proteomic records from eight informative contexts, which have been prefiltered to make them accessible, usable, and user-friendly with computational resources. Potential uses of this dataset include but are not limited to, microbial species delimitation, estimation of genomic distances, genomic novelties, paired comparisons between proteomes, genomes, and metagenomes.

Urban and agricultural runoffs can transport contaminants and pesticides into freshwater ecosystems, particularly in the developing tropics. For instance, organophosphate and pyrethroids pesticides like glyphosate, malathion, and permethrin have been found in tropical streams. The uncontrolled application of these pesticides has become a growing concern due to their adverse effects on various non-targeted organisms. Unfortunately, most studies have focused on a few selected model species, ignoring the effects on other nontarget organisms, which may play an important role in tropical lotic ecosystems. In addition, the biological characteristics of aquatic crustaceans, including their morphology, physiology, and behavior, make them susceptible to toxic chemicals. For this reason, this study used the widely distributed freshwater shrimp Xiphocaris elongata as a model organism to determine the acute toxicity of permethrin, malathion, and glyphosate. Our results show that the proportion of mortality of X. elongata in each concentration group became progressively higher as the concentration of exposure increased. We also found that the synthetic pyrethroid permethrin is the most toxic pesticide tested, followed by organophosphate malathion and glyphosate. Experiments with this freshwater shrimp showed a good control performance and reproducibility for the tested pesticides. This study demonstrated that X. elongata is a suitable test organism that can be a representative bioindicator of pesticide toxicity in tropical streams.

In patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), the choice of surgical strategy for histopathologic assessment is still controversial, particularly in terms of preoperative corticosteroid (CS) therapy. To provide further evidence for clinical decision-making, we retrospectively analyzed data from 148 consecutive patients who underwent surgery at our institution. Although patients treated with corticosteroids preoperatively were significantly more likely to require a second or third biopsy (p=0.049), it was only necessary in less than 10% of the cases with preoperative corticosteroid treatment. The choice of surgical procedure did not affect diagnostic accuracy (p&gt;0.05). Preoperative CSF sampling did not provide additional information but was associated with delayed surgery (p=0.02). Surprisingly, diagnostic accuracy was significantly lower when patients were treated with anticoagulation or dual antiplatelet therapy (p=0.015). In conclusion, preoperative CS therapy can challenge the histological diagnosis of PCNSL. At the same time, our data suggest that preoperative CS treatment only presents a relative contraindication for an early surgical intervention. The standard surgical approach is stereotactic biopsy, but other approaches can be individually considered. If a definitive diagnosis cannot be made after the first surgical intervention, the timing of a repeat biopsy after discontinuation of CS remains a case-by-case decision.

This article addresses the emergence of a niche for sustainable agricultural production in the province of García Rovira, Colombia. It examines the intervention of the Colombian planning regime, which implements agendas for sustainable territorial development. However, these agendas are not adequately aligned with provincial realities, resulting in a productive decline. From a multi-level perspective, a niche of production linked to the landscape is identified, highlighting sustainable practices and innovation. The study seeks to understand how planning influences the emergence of such niches and what factors boost their transition to sustainability. Through a mixed methodology, growing sectors are highlighted, and the profiles of the producers involved are outlined. The main conclusion is that the planned intervention is inefficient, as the niche of sustainable production emerges without its clear influence. Therefore, it is proposed to re-evaluate planning using alternative analysis frameworks to detect emerging productive dynamics, serving as a basis for future plans.

A mild, efficient, and photocatalytic synthesis of 6-phosphorylated phenanthridines via tandem radical addition/cyclization/aromatization of 2-isocyanobiphenyls with diarylphosphine oxides is reported. The method features operational simplicity, metal-free conditions, using low-cost rose Bengal as catalyst and sustainable air as terminal oxidant at room temperature, and providing the desired products in moderate to good yields.

Heart failure (HF) is a growing issue in developed countries and most patients present with a reduced ejection fraction. This condition significantly impairs quality of life and represents a threat not only for patients, but also for the entire healthcare system due to its high management cost. In the last decade, new medical treatments and devices have been developed to reduce HF hospitalizations and improve prognosis, while reducing the overall mortality rate. Medical therapy does not achieve the same results in all patients and, whenever it fails, technology comes in handy: novel devices for the management of HF have reduced symptoms. They have also improved the treatment of fluid retention and life threatening arrhythmias. The present review article gives to the readers a comprehensive overview of the most recent and important findings that need to be considered in HF with reduced ejection fraction patients. Both novel medical treatments and devices have been presented and discussed.

Two polyurethanes (PUs) were similarly synthesized by reacting a cycloaliphatic isocyanate with 1,4 butanediol and two polyols of different nature (polyester, polycarbonate diol) with molecular weights of 1000 Da. The PU made with polycarbonate diol polyol (YCD) was the only showing intrinsic self-healing at 20 °C. For assessing the mechanism of intrinsic self-healing of YCD, a structural characterization by molecular weights determination, infrared and X-ray photoelectronic spectroscopies, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, thermal gravimetric analysis and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis was carried out. It was concluded that the self-healing at 20 °C of YCD was due to non-covalent dynamic exchange interactions among the carbonate groups of the soft segments. Therefore, the chemical nature of the polyol played a key role in developing PUs with intrinsic self-healing at 20 °C.

Agricultural soils serve as crucial storage sites for soil organic carbon (SOC). Their appropriate management is pivotal for mitigating climate change. To evaluate spatial and temporal changes in SOC within agricultural fields, continuous monitoring is imperative. In-field data sets of Vis-NIR soil spectra were collected on a long-term experimental site using an on-the-go spectrophotometer. Data processing for continuous SOC prediction involves a two-steps modelling approach. In Step 1, a Partial Least Square (PLSR) regression model is trained to establish a relationship between the SOC content and the spectral information also including spectral preprocesisng. In Step 2, the predicted SOC content obtained from the PLSR models is interpolated using ordinary kriging. Among the tested spectral preprocessing techniques and semivariogram models, SG and gapDer preprocessing along with a Gaussian semivariogram model, yielded the best performance resulting in a root mean square error of of 1.24 and 1.26 g kg-1. A striping effect due to the transect-based data collection was addressed by testing the effectiveness of extending the spatial separation distance, employing data aggregation, and defining the distribution based on treatment plots using block kriging. Overall, the results highlight the immense potential of on-the-go spectral Vis-NIR data for field-scale spatial-temporal monitoring of SOC.

Negative temperature coefficient (NTC) materials are usually based on ceramic semiconductors and electrons are involved in their transport mechanism. A new type of NTC material, adequate for alternating current (AC) applications, is represented by zeolites. Indeed, zeolites are single-charge carrier ionic conductors with a temperature-dependent electrical conductivity. In particular, electrical transport in zeolites is due to the monovalent charge-balancing cations, like K⁺, capable of hopping between negatively charged sites in the aluminosilicate framework. Owing to the highly non-linear electrical behavior of the traditional electronic NTC materials, the possibility to have alternative types of materials, showing linearity in the electrical behavior, is very desirable. Among different zeolites, the natural clinoptilolite has been selected for investigating the NTC behavior since it is characterized by high zeolite content, convenient Si/Al atomic ratio, good mechanical strength, due to its compact microstructure, and low toxicity. Clinoptilolite has shown a rapid and quite reversible impedance change under heating, characterized by a linear dependence on temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD) has been used to identify the natural zeolite, to establish all types of crystalline phases present in the mineral, and to investigate the thermal stability of these phases up to 150°C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis has been used for the chemical characterization of the natural clinoptilolite sample, providing important information on the cationic content and framework composition. In addition, since electrical transport takes place in the zeolite free-volume, a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis of the mineral has been also performed.

Concrete contributes 8% of all global carbon emissions making the need to find substitute critical for environmental sustainability. Research has indicated the potential for recycled plastics to be used as concrete substitutes. This study extends existing research by investigating the use of polycarbonate (PC) in plastic sand bricks as a mechanical equivalent to concrete. PC has high compressive strength, durability, impact strength, thermal resistivity, clarity, fatigue resistance, and UV resistance. This work provides a method and mold to produce a matrix of sand-plastic sample compositions with dimensions adhering to ASTM D695 standard for compressive properties of rigid-plastic. Compositions of 0% (control), 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% sand by weight were tested. Samples were tested for compressive strength until yield and stress-strain behaviors plotted. The results for 100% PC demonstrated an average and maximum compressive strength of 71 MPa and 72 MPa, respectively. The 50% PC and 50% sand composition yielded an average and maximum compressive strength of 71 MPa and 73 MPa respectively with an increase in compressive stiffness, and transition to shear failure resembling cement. With a composite density of 1.86 g/cm3 against concrete’s average 2.4 g/cm3, and a compressive strength exceeding commercial concrete demands of 23.3 MPa to 30.2 MPa, this lightweight alternative meets the strength demands of concrete, reduces the need for new construction materials, and provides an additional recycling opportunity for nonbiodegradable waste plastic.

In this paper a more flexible extension of the Fréchet distribution is introduced. The new distribution is defined by means of the stochastic representation as the quotient of two independent random variables, a Fréchet distribution and the power of a random variable with uniform distribution in the interval (0,1). We will call this new extension the Slash Fréchet distribution and one of its main characteristics is that its tails are heavier than the Fréchet distribution. The general density of this distribution and some basic properties are determined. Its moments, skewness coefficients and kurtosis are calculated. In addition, the estimation of the model parameters is obtained by the method of moments and maximum likelihood. Finally, two applications with real data are performed by fitting the new model and comparing it with the Fréchet distribution.

Cultivating research competencies facilitated by the use of technology in the university is crucial to boost acquisition of knowledge, educational innovation, and successful professional development. The objective of this article is to analyze the evolution and characteristics of scientific production that has had the greatest impact on the momentum of investigative competencies and their articulation within technological scenarios. Applying various selection criteria in the Scopus database, we utilized systematic, bibliometric mapping as a methodological strategy in which 250 articles related to the topic were identified, then analyzed with the semantic analysis software VOSViewer. The results indicate that there is an emerging line of research on the subject since 2016 and point to the underdevelopment of lines that associate research skills with digital literacy, information literacy, digital libraries databases, and the development of critical thinking.

The utilization of eco-fonts for office printing is a sustainable, “green” printing concept, which has obvious economic benefits. As a result, it has a significant effect on environmental sustainability. This practice's fundamental problem is the decreased quality of text printed using eco-fonts compared to those printed with regular fonts. The aim of this research is eco-font efficiency estimation, i.e. determination of toner usage reduction level of inkjet-printed documents typed with this font type, as well as estimation of the extent humans perceive differences between text printed with eco-font and the one printed by its “non-eco“ equivalent. Combining the instrumental measuring method and digital image analysis, it was found that this simple principle (eco-font utilization) enables substantial toner usage reduction for an inkjet printing system. At the same time, a visual test showed that the visual experience of text printed using eco-font was sufficient. In addition, awareness of the benefits that eco-font utilization brings, change users’ attitude towards eco-font quality. The concept of removing the black pixel from this commonly used Thai font has a great potential for the sustainability printing process, and this simple solution could be applied to other languages as part of the GIT campaign.

The treatment of the bulky Rind-based dibromosilanes, (Rind)2SiBr2 (2) [Rind = 1,1,7,7-tetra-R1-3,3,5,5-tetra-R2-s-hydrindacen-4-yl: EMind (a: R1 = Et, R2 = Me) and Eind (b: R1 = R2 = Et)], with two equivalents of tBuLi in Et2O at low temperatures resulted in the formation of blue solutions derived from the diarylsilylenes, (Rind)2Si: (3). Upon warming the solutions above −20 °C, the blue color gradually faded, accompanying the decomposition of 3 and yielding the cyclic hydrosilanes (4) via intramolecular C−H bond insertion at the Si(II) center. The molecular structures of the bulky Eind-based 3b and 4b were confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Thus, at −20 °C, blue crystals were formed (Crystal-A), which were identified as mixed crystals of 3b and 4b. Additionally, colorless crystals of 4b as a singular component were isolated (Crystal-B), whose structure was also determined by an X-ray diffraction analysis. Although the isolation of 3 was difficult due to their thermally-labile nature, their structural characteristics and electronic properties were discussed based on the experimental findings complemented by computational results. We also examined the hydrolysis of 3b to afford the silanol, (Eind)2SiH(OH) (5b).

In searching for compounds with antioxidant and antifungal activity, our study focused on the subshrub species Empetrum rubrum Vahl ex Willd. (Ericaceae), commonly known as Brecillo or Murtilla de Magallanes. We measured the antioxidant activity of its methanolic extract (MEE) obtained from the aerial parts (leaves and stems). The antioxidant activity of MEE was evaluated in vitro by 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical and 2,2′-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) cationic radical. Results were expressed in gallic acid and Trolox equivalents for DPPH and ABTS assays, respectively. The antioxidant activities, for the DPPH and ABTS assays, were also calculated as an inhibitory concentration of extract needed to inhibit 50% of the absorbance (IC50 value). The results of IC50 values measured by the DPPH and ABTS methods were 0.4145 mg mL-1 and 0.1081 mg mL-1, respectively. In relation to the antioxidant activity, the total phenolic content (TPC) in MEE was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method, and the presence of secondary metabolites groups, including phenolic compounds, was determined by using different standardized test procedures. Phenolic compounds contained in leaves, stems, and fruits of E. rubrum were determined qualitatively by means of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) analysis. The antifungal activity of MEE obtained from aerial parts of E. rubrum was tested against Rhizoctonia solani. In vitro, mycelial growth of this fungus was reduced from 90% to 100% in the presence of MEE.

The performance of the presurgical test (preSurg) for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) was evaluated via video-electroencephalography (VEEG), electroencephalography (EEG), 99mTc-HmPAO single-photon emission tomography (SPECT) and 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a group of 112 men (37.0 ± 1.1 years) and 106 women (39.7 ± 1.1 years) operated on for TLE. The epileptic zone (EZ) was adequately identified to determine whether the patient reached an Engel I grade (EI) at least one year postop. Accuracy was evaluated by the coefficient α, ranging from 3 (when result = EZ) to 2 (result in the same hemisphere as the EZ), 1 (noninformative result) or 0 (EZ in the contralateral hemisphere). The simplicity of diagnosis was defined as the number of preSurg surgeries needed to identify the EZ. EI was obtained in 85.8% of patients even though 42.2% of patients had noninformative MRI results. For preSurg α was (mean ± SEM) = VEEG (2.83 ± 0.04) &gt; MRI (2.14 ± 0.08) &gt; EEG (1.87 ± 0.09) &gt; SPECT (1.71 ± 0.09). The accuracy (combination of sensitivity and specificity) was calculated as follows: VEEG (0.797) &gt; MRI (0.518) &gt; EEG (0.446) &gt; SPECT (0.360). The likelihood positive ratio was greater, and the likelihood negative ratio was lower for VEEG. The most relevant factor for the regression model was VEEG (3.106) &gt; MRI (2.558) &gt; EEG (1.905), and the factors were not significantly related to SPECT. EZs in EI patients with low simplicity were identified mainly by VEEG. A very good postoperative outcome can be obtained even in TLE patients with no lesions on MRI. The VEEG is the most reliable preSurg test and may be the only reliable test for patients with very low simplicity (i.e., difficult).single paragraph of about 200 words maximum. For research articles, abstracts should give a pertinent overview of the work. We strongly encourage authors to use the following style of structured abstracts, but without headings: (1) Background: Place the question addressed in a broad context and highlight the purpose of the study; (2) Methods: briefly describe the main methods or treatments applied; (3) Results: summarize the article’s main findings; (4) Conclusions: indicate the main conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be an objective representation of the article and it must not contain results that are not presented and substantiated in the main text and should not exaggerate the main conclusions.

The α(1,2)fucosyltransferase (Se enzyme) encoded by FUT2 is involved in the secretor status of ABH(O) blood group antigens. The sedel2 allele is one of the non-functional FUT2 (se) alleles in which 9.3 kb containing the entire coding region of FUT2 is deleted by Alu-mediated nonhomologous recombination. In addition to this allele, three SNPs of FUT2, c.375A>G, c.385A>T, and c.571C>T, appear to be prevalent in certain Oceanian populations such as Polynesians. Recently, we developed an endpoint genotyping assay to determine the sedel2 zygosity, using a FAM-labeled probe for detection of the sedel2 allele and a VIC-labeled probe for detection of FUT2. In this study, instead of the VIC probe, a HEX-labeled probe covering both c.375A>G and c.385A>T and a Cy5-labeled probe covering c.571C>T were added to the sedel2 allele assay mixture to allow simultaneous detection of these four variations by endpoint genotyping for the sedel2 zygosity and fluorescence melting curve analysis for c.375A>G, c.385A>T, and c.571C>T genotyping. The results obtained from 24 Samoan subjects with this method were identical to those obtained with previous methods. Therefore, it appears that present method can accurately determine these four variations simultaneously.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of ethyl nitroacetate, ethyl 2-nitropropionate and 3-nitropropionic acid on ruminal production of CH4, H2, volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and on dry matter digestibility of ground alfalfa under in vitro conditions. In vitro incubations were conducted as consecutive batch cultures. Total gas and amounts of methane produced by ruminal microbes were decreased by all nitrocompounds (P &lt; 0.05). Total production of VFAs was significantly reduced for all the nitrocompounds (P &lt; 0.05) except for NPA. DM disappearance was not affected (P &gt;0.05) by treatment.

A series of dinuclear copper(I) N,C,N- and P,C,P-carbodiphosphorane (CDP) complexes using multidentate ligands CDP(Py)2 (1) and (CDP(CH2PPh2)2 (13) have been isolated and characterized. Detailed structural information was gained by single crystal XRD analyses of nine representative examples. The common structural motive is the central double ylidic carbon atom with its characteristic two lone-pairs involved into binding of two geminal L-Cu(I) fragments at Cu-Cu distances in the range 2.55 – 2.67 Å. In order to enhance conformational rigidity within the characteristic Cu-C-Cu triangle, two types of chelating side arms were symmetrically attached to each phosphorus atom: two 2-pyridyl functions in ligand CDP(Py)2 (1) and its dinuclear copper complexes 2-9 and 11, as well as two diphenylphosphinomethylene functions in ligand CDP(CH2PPh2)2 (13) and its di- and mononuclear complexes 14-18. Neutral complexes were typically obtained via reaction of 1 with Cu(I) species CuCl, CuI, and CuSPh or via salt elimination reaction of [(CuCl)2(CDP(Py)2] (2) with sodium carbazolate. Cationic Cu(I) complexes were prepared upon treating 1 with two equivalents of [Cu(NCMe)4]PF6, followed by the addition of either two equivalent of an aryl phosphine (PPh3, P(C6H4OMe)3) or one equivalent of a bisphosphine ligands DPEPhos, XantPhos or dppf. For the first time carbodiphosphorane CDP(CH2PPh2)2 (13) could be isolated upon treating its precursor [CH(dppm)2]Cl (12) with NaNH2 in liquid NH3. A protonated and a deprotonated derivative of ligand 13 were prepared and their coordination was compared to neutral CDP ligand 13. NMR analysis and DFT calculations reveal, that the most stable tautomer of 13 does not show a CDP (or carbone) structure in its uncoordinated base form. For most of the prepared complexes, photoluminescence upon irradiation with UV light at room temperature was observed. Quantum yields (PL) were determined to 36% for dicationic [(CuPPh3)2(CDP(Py)2)](PF6)2 (4) and to 60% for neutral [(CuSPh)2(CDP(CH2PPh2)2] (16).

In this paper, several two-dimensional clustering scenarios are given. In those scenarios, soft partitioning clustering algorithms (Fuzzy C-means (FCM) and Possibilistic c-means (PCM)) are applied. Afterward, VAT is used to investigate the clustering tendency visually, and then in order of checking cluster validation, three types of indices (e.g., PC, DI, and DBI) were used. After observing the clustering algorithms, it was evident that each of them has its limitations; however, PCM is more robust to noise than FCM as in case of FCM a noise point has to be considered as a member of any of the cluster.

DNA Topoisomerase IIa (Top2A) is a nuclear enzyme that is a cancer drug target, and there is interest in identifying novel sites on the enzyme to inhibit cancer cells more selectively and to reduce off-target toxicity. The C-terminal domain (CTD) is one potential target, but it is an intrinsically disordered domain, which prevents structural analysis. Therefore, we set out to analyze the sequence of Top2A from 105 species using bioinformatic analysis including the PSICalc algorithm, entropy analysis, and other approaches. Our results demonstrate that large (10th-order) interdependent clusters are found including non-proximal positions across the major domains of Top2A. Further, CTD-specific clusters of 3rd, 4th, and 5th-order were identified that included positions that had been previously analyzed via mutation and biochemical assays. Some of these clusters coincided with positions that when mutated either increased or decreased relaxation activity. Finally, sites of low entropy (i.e., high information content) were identified and mapped as key positions in the CTD. Included in the low entropy sites are phosphorylation sites and charged positions. Together, these results help to build a clearer picture of the critical positions in the CTD and provide potential sites/regions for further analysis.

Using a safe subset of C++ is a promising direction for increasing the safety of the programming language while maintaining its performance and productivity. In this paper, we examine how close existing C/C++ code is to conforming to a safe subset of C++. We examine the rules presented in existing safe C++ standards and safe C++ subsets. We analyze the code characteristics of 5.8 million code samples from the Exebench benchmark suite and 5 modern C++ applications using a static analysis tool. We find that raw pointers, unsafe casts, and unsafe library functions are used in both C++ code at large and modern C++ applications. In general, C++ code at large does not differ much from modern C++ code, and continued work will be required to transition from existing C/C++ code to a safe subset of C++.

This article analyzes the assessment of the four development levels of the Digital Teaching Competence (DTC) to recognize the needs and formulation of challenges in training and educational innovation required in the pedagogical practices of university professors under the current context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The study used an empirical-analytical methodology with a non-experimental, transactional, descriptive design. The sample design was probabilistic, estimated with 95% confidence and 5% error among 252 teachers from various faculties of the University of La Guajira. The selected instrument corresponded to the rubric's application to evaluate the university professor's digital teaching competence in Latin America. Among the study's significant results, we highlight that the rubric presented a high Cronbach's alpha reliability (α: 0.947). In the general assessment of DTC development, it was estimated that 78.2% of teachers are in the first two levels of DTC development assessment (Beginning and Middle). The evaluation rubric allows identifying challenges and opportunities that teacher training must address to advance the professional development of professors.

The chicken poultry business is becoming a crucial sector for our nation's sustainable food supply. To increase the health of chickens in coops and maybe increase the output of chicken meat and eggs, several innovations and inventions have been developed. Therefore, the creation of an automated chicken feeding device might be highly beneficial for the expansion of the poultry sector. This equipment may take the role of a worker in the chicken feeding process, solving the industry's labor shortage and introducing a semi-automatic procedure. The main processor of the automated chicken feeding system is a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. The machine consists of five main components: a Raspberry Pi with an amplifier that makes noise to draw the attention of free-range chickens, a Raspberry Pi with a pi camera that counts and detects the chickens, a Raspberry Pi with a servomotor that moves the food from storage to a container, a Raspberry Pi with a load cell that controls the number of feeds to avoid waste on foods, and a Raspberry Pi with a temperature sensor that monitors the food's freshness. This enhances the coop's atmosphere while lowering labor costs, conserving food, and ensuring that the chickens are fed on time. It also regulates the temperature sensor to ensure that the chicken food is fresh and prevents food from becoming polluted by insects and chicken excrement.

Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) has been widely used by the majority of consumers in different digital platforms. This exploratory study was conducted with the aim to get further insights about online consumer behavior through social networking sites and online reviews sites in order to help tourism businesses develop sustainable eWOM strategies. In order to carry out this objective, an exploratory study has been developed to analyze the existing literature of eWOM strategies and online consumer behavior. The systematic literature review analysis establishes two main topics: (i) tourism (ii) eWOM. The scientific database of Web of Science has been used to collect relevant literature of the subject matter. The search term “Tourism” and “eWOM” were applied. The database of Web of Science produced a total of 124 articles and with the different filters applied during the PRISMA 2009 Flow diagram the process resulted in a selection of 13 studies. The results of the research will provide a broader knowledge for scholars of social sciences and businesses for adopting sustainable strategies of the increasing influence of eWOM in tourism.

Slope failures pose a substantial threat to mining activity due to their destructive potential and high probability of occurrence on steep slopes close to limit equilibrium conditions, often found both in open pits and in waste and tailing disposal facilities. The development of slope monitoring and modeling programs usually entails the exploitation of in situ and remote sensing data together with the application of numerical modeling, and it plays an important role in the definition of prevention and mitigation measures aimed at minimizing the impact of slope failures in mining areas. Here we present a new methodology combining satellite radar interferometry and 2D finite element modeling for slope stability analysis at a regional scale, applied within slope unit polygons. We studied a former mining area in southeast Spain, and the method proved useful in detecting and characterizing a considerably large number of unstable slopes. Out of 1,959 slope units used for the spatial analysis of the radar interferometry data, 43 were unstable, with varying values of safety factor and landslide size. Out of the 43 active slope units, 21 exhibited line of sight velocities greater than the maximum error obtained through the validation analysis (2.5 cm/year). Eventually, this work discusses the possibility of using the results of the proposed approach to devise a proxy for landslide hazard. The proposed methodology can help to provide non-expert final users with intelligible, clear and easily comparable information to analyze slope instabilities in different settings, not limited to mining areas.

Natural products have a significant role in the development of new drugs, being relevant the pentacyclic triterpenes extracted from Olea europaea. Anticancer effect of uvaol, a natural triterpene, has been scarcely studied. The aim of this study was to understand the anticancer mechanism of uvaol in HepG2 cell line. Cytotoxicity results showed a selectivity effect of uvaol with higher influence in HepG2 than WRL68 cells used as control. Uvaol presented anti-migratory capacity in HepG2, supported by the morphological changes and higher HSP-60 expression. This compound also induced arrest in G0/G1 phase and an increase in apoptosis rate. These results are supported by decreased Bcl-2 expression and down-regulation of AKT/PI3K signaling pathway. A reduction in reactive oxygen species levels in HepG2 cells was observed. Altogether, results showed anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effect of uvaol on hepatocellular carcinoma, constituting an interesting challenge in the development of new treatments against this type of cancer.

Weight loss solutions are on the rise, and there is growing interest in natural alternatives to the pharmaceuticals in the market, which are not devoid of relevant side effects. To this end, the objective of the current study is to assess the effects of a botanical-based blend comprised of lemon verbena and hibiscus extracts in weight management, body fat, appetite, lipid, and glucose profiles, in an overweight population, for 90 days. As a result, the volunteers presented significant weight loss in absence of diet, which coincided with decreased body fat. Body fat was assessed by anthropometry, electrical bioimpedance and DEXA scan. Cholesterol levels were also significantly decreased. Satiety assessment revealed that the product contributed to increased feeling of fullness and satisfaction after a meal, compared to the placebo group, which could contribute to the weight loss observed. Blood glucose and blood pressure levels remained unchanged, which was expected as the volunteers were normoglycemic and their blood pressure was in the healthy range. In conclusion, daily supplementation of a botanical-based blend contributes to weight loss in overweight individuals, in absence of diet, while not affecting other parameters that are in the healthy range. This product could be a candidate alternative or add-on to other weight loss products, as part of a healthy lifestyle.

The molecular evolution of medulloblastoma is more complex than was previously imagined as emerging evidence suggests that multiples interactions between the tumor cells and components of the tumor microenvironment (TME) are important for tumor promotion and progression. The identification of several molecular networks within the TME, which interact with tumoral cells, has provided new clues to understand the tumorigenic roles of many TME components as well as potential therapeutic targets. In this review, we discuss the most recent studies regarding the roles of astrocytes in supporting the sonic hedgehog (SHH)–activated medulloblastoma molecular subgroup, and provide an overview of medulloblastoma progression through SHH expression and signal transduction mechanisms into the complex tumor microenvironment. In addition, we highlight the associations between tumor and stromal cells as possible prognostic markers and new therapeutic strategies.

Two series of novel [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-c]- and [1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]quinazoline fluorophores with 4’-amino[1,1′]-biphenyl residue at position 5 have been prepared via Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling Suzuki-Miyaura reactions. The treatment of 2-(4-bromophenyl)-4-hydrazinoquinazoline with orthoesters in solvent-free conditions or in absolute ethanol leads to the formation of [4,3-c]-annulated triazoloquinazolines, whereas [1,5-c] isomers are formed in acidic media as a result of Dimroth rearrangement. 1D-NMR and 2D-NMR spectroscopy as well as single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis unambiguously confirmed the annelation type and determined the molecular structure of p-bromophenyl intermediates and target products. Photophysical properties of the target compounds were investigated in two solvents and solid state and compared with those of related 3-aryl-substituted [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-c]quinazolines. The excluding of aryl fragment from triazole ring has been revealed to improve fluorescence quantum yield in solution. Most of the synthesized structures show moderate to high quantum yields in solution. Additionally, the effect of solvent polarity on the absorption and emission spectra of fluorophores has been studied and considerable fluorosolvatochromism was stated. Moreover, electrochemical investigation and DFT calculations have been performed, their results are consistent with the experimental observation.

Developmental hazard evaluation is an important part of assessing chemical risks during pregnancy. Toxicological outcomes from prenatal testing in pregnant animals result from complex chemical-biological interactions, and while New Approach Methods (NAMs) based on in vitro bioactivity profiles of human cells offer promising alternatives to animal testing, most of these assays lack cellular positional information, physical constraints, and regional organization of the intact embryo. Here, we engineered a fully computable model of the embryonic disc in the compucell3d.org modeling environment to simulate epithelial-mesenchymal transition of epiblast cells and self-organization of mesodermal domains (chordamesoderm, paraxial, lateral plate, posterior/extraembryonic). Cell fate in the model is determined by an autonomous homeobox (HOX) clock driven by morphogenetic signals (e.g., FGF, WNT, ATRA, CDX). Executing the model renders a quantitative cell-level computation of mesodermal subpopulations and consequences of perturbation based on known embryogeny. For example, synthetic perturbation of the control network rendered altered phenotypes (cybermorphs) mirroring experimental mouse embryology, with 50% reductions in FGF4, FGF8 and BMP4 signaling resulting in 86%, 98% and 59% reductions, respectively in the posterior mesodermal population, while ATRA exposure also resulted in a 78% decrease in this population. This model enables integration of in vitro chemical bioactivity data for specific molecular targets with known embryology to test mechanistic veracity and quantitative prediction of altered development.

The adsorption of carbon dioxide on amino silanes-functionalized MCM-41 and SBA-15 materials is reported. The functionalization of mesoporous silicas was made by post-synthesis method, by impregnation of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. The obtained materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, nitrogen adsorption-desorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The carbon dioxide adsorption capacities for the samples were carried out under ambient pressures. The obtained results evidenced that amino-silanes with a terminal amine (–NH₂) were functionalized through covalent coupling of this group on the surface of the channels in the ordered mesoporous silica, meaning that the amine is anchored on the surface of the bigger pores of the MCM-41 and SBA-15 support. For functionalized materials, the CO₂ adsorption capacity of the AMCM-41 increased from 0.18 to 1.1 mmol·g⁻¹, whereas for ASBA-15, it was from 0.6 to 1.8 mmol·g⁻¹. The Lagergren kinetic algorithms were applied in order to validate the obtained results, evidencing the enhanced carbon dioxide adsorption capacity and stability of the functionalized ordered mesoporous molecular sieves.

Tantalum doped ZnO structures (ZnO:Ta) were synthesized and some of their characteristics were studied. ZnO material was deposited on silicon substrates by using a hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) reactor. The raw materials were a pill made of a mixture of ZnO and Ta₂O₅ powders, and molecular hydrogen was used as a reactant gas. Percentage of tantalum was varied from 0 to 500 mg by varying the percentage of tantalum oxide in the mixture of the pill source, by holding a fixed amount of 500 mg of ZnO in all experiments. X-ray diffractograms confirmed the presence of zinc oxide in the wurtzite phase and metallic zinc with a hexagonal structure, and no other phase was detected. Displacements to lower angles of reflection peaks, compared with those from samples without contamination, were interpreted as the inclusion of the Ta atoms in the matrix of the ZnO. This fact was confirmed by EDS and XRD measurements. From SEM images from undoped samples exhibited mostly micro sized semi-spherical structures while doped samples displayed a trend to grown as nanocrystalline rods. The presence of tantalum during the synthesis affects the way of the growth. Green photoluminescence at naked eye was observed when Ta doped samples were illuminated by ultraviolet radiation and confirmed by PL spectra. PL intensity on Ta doped ZnO varied from those undoped samples up to 8 times.

This study introduces and demonstrates a comprehensive, accurate, unbiased approach to robust quantitative comparison of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) appropriate for establishing substantial equivalence (or lack thereof) between tobacco products. The approach is demonstrated across a family of thirteen pen- and pod-style ENDS products. Methods employed consist of formulating a robust emissions surface regression model, quantifying the empirical accuracy of the model as applied to each product, evaluating relationships between product design characteristics and maximum emissions characteristics, and presenting results in formats useful to researchers, regulators, and consumers. Results provide a response surface to characterize emissions (total particulate matter and constituents thereof) from each ENDS appropriate for use in a computer model and for conducting quantitative exposure comparisons between products. Results demonstrate that emissions vary as a function of puff duration, flow rate, E-Liquid composition, and device operating power. Further, results indicate that regulating design characteristics of ENDS devices and consumables may not achieve desired public health outcomes; it is more effective to regulate maximum permissible emissions directly. Three emissions outcome measures (yield per puff, mass concentration and constituent mass ratio) are recommended for adoption as standard quantities for reporting by manufacturers and research laboratories. The approach provides a means of (a) quantifying and comparing maximal emissions from ENDS products spanning their entire operating envelope, (b) comparative evaluation of ENDS devices and consumable design characteristics, and (c) establishing comparative equivalence of maximal emissions from ENDS. A consumer-oriented product emissions dashboard is proposed for comparative evaluation of ENDS exposure potential. Maximum achievable power dissipated in the coil of ENDS is identified as a potentially effective regulatory parameter.

In this paper, we present a new parametric class of optimal fourth-order iterative methods to estimate the solutions of nonlinear equations. After the convergence analysis, we study the stability of this class by using the tools of complex discrete dynamics. This allows us to select those elements of the class with lower dependence on initial estimations. We verify by means of numerical tests that the stable members on quadratic polynomials perform better than the unstable ones, when applied to other non-polynomial functions. We also compare the performance of the best elements of the family with known methods, such as the schemes by Newton or Chun, among others, showing robust and stable behaviour.

Misuse of measurement units and orientations leads to errors in scientific applications, Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), and IoT C/C++ programs. Standard type system are inadequate in preventing such errors. Although dimensional and orientational analysis in physics can manually detect these errors in equations, analyzing complex code with intricate physical computations is impractical. To overcome this challenge, we propose an advanced type system that incorporates units and orientations as integral components within a specialized type library. Our enhanced type system automatically detects potential errors during compile time by representing physical quantities as types and utilizing dimensional analysis, orientational analysis, and metaprogramming techniques. Our improved type system enables formal verification of C++ software, successfully verifying programs with extensive codebases. We also employ it for runtime verification of dynamic linking and pointer operations in C++ programs. The integration of compile-time verification, dimensional analysis, orientational analysis, and advanced type system enhances the robustness and accuracy of scientific applications, CPS, and IoT C/C++ programs. By leveraging these approaches, we ensure precise calculations and prevent errors related to measurement units and orientations, resulting in substantial improvements in reliability and accuracy.

Suzuki cross-coupling reaction has developed one of the furthermost effectual approaches for the synthesis of biaryls or substituted aromatic moieties from aryl halides and arylboronic acids with a palladium-catalyst in the past two era’s. Herein, Pd-free layered double hydroxide containing nickel catalysts were prepared by co-precipitation method under ultrasonic irradiation and N2 atmosphere with different molar ratios of Ni: Mg: Al and coded as (1NiLDHs-Dr), (1.5NiLDHs-Dr) and (2NiLDHs-Dr). A series of reduced catalysts under 5%H2/N2 at different temperatures were coded as 1NiLDHs-R200, 1.5NiLDHs-R200 and 2NiLDHs-R200. As-synthesized 2NiLDHs-Dr was the superlative catalyst when coupling different aryl halides with different boronic acids derivatives. Deep investigation of all catalysts was done using different techniques such as inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) connected with energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) and N2-physisorption at -196 ℃. The results attained verified that ɑ-Ni(OH)2 was fashioned for 2NiLDHs-Dr catalyst and the enclosure of nickel ions in the cationic sheet of layered structure were responsible for the fascinating catalytic efficacy rather than the basic nature of material. The Ni-containing LDHs catalysts encourage forthcoming studies in Pd-free catalyzed C-C coupling reactions.

Introduction: Carcinoid heart disease is a rare cause of right-sided valvular dysfunction, an important complication in patients with carcinoid syndrome. Objectives: We aim to present our own experience regarding early myocardial dysfunction in patients with carcinoid syndrome. Methods: 64 patients (35-90 year old, 62,5% female, 37,5% male patients) with carcinoid syndrome were evaluated be-tween October 2017 and June 2021. All patients underwent two-dimensional echocardiography with additional tissue Doppler and speckle-tracking techniques. For all patients there were measured urinary level of 5- hydroxyindolacetic acid, serotonin and NT-proBNP values. Results: The following echocardiographic features: global longitudinal strain of both ventricles, mean systolic velocity of the left ventricle, systolic velocity of the free wall of right ventricle, correlated with high values of specific biomarkers: serotonin, and urinary 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid, and also with the presence of hepatic metastases and poorly differentiated tumors. Discussion: In this study we identified several patients with early myocardial dysfunction due to carcinoid syndrome, representing a predictive model of poor prognosis, requiring further investigations. Conclusion: Echocardiographic assessment based on the measurement of systolic velocities, as well as the global longitudinal strain of both ventricles, together with specific biomarkers may contribute to better recognition of carcinoid heart disease in clinical practice, but this needs validation through further studies enrolling larger number of patients.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type E (PTPRE) is a member of the “classical” protein tyrosine phosphatase subfamily and regulates a variety of cellular processes in a tissue-specific manner by antagonizing the function of protein tyrosine kinases. PTPRE plays a tumorigenic role in different human cancer cells, but its role in retinoblastoma (RB), the most common malignant eye cancer in children, remains to be elucidated. Etoposide resistant RB cell lines and RB patients display significant higher PTPRE expression levels compared to chemosensitive counterparts and the healthy human retina, respectively. PTPRE promotor methylation analyses revealed that PTPRE expression in RB is not regulated via this mechanism. Lentiviral PTPRE knockdown (KD) induced a significant decrease in growth kinetics, cell viability, and anchorage independent growth of etoposide resistant Y79 and WERI RB cells. Caspase-dependent apoptosis rates were significantly increased and a re-sensitization for etoposide could be observed after PTPRE depletion. In vivo chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assays revealed decreased tumor formation capacity as well as reduced tumor size and weight following PTPRE KD. Expression levels of miR631 were significantly downregulated in etoposide resistant RB cells and patients. Transient miR631 overexpression resulted in significantly decreased PTPRE levels and concomitantly decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis levels in etoposide resistant RB cells, impacts mirroring PTPRE KD effects and indicating PTPRE regulation via this miR. Additionally, PTPRE KD led to altered phosphorylation of protein kinase SGK3 and - dependent on the cell line - also AKT and ERK1/2, suggesting potential PTPRE downstream signaling pathways. In summary, these results indicate an oncogenic role of PTPRE in chemoresistant retinoblastoma.

Planning and implementation of construction projects are difficult processes and are burdened with many risk elements. The budget spread over time, which is developed on the basis of the schedule, presents the expected distribution of costs throughout the duration of the works, which during the implementation of the project is subject to constant changes resulting from time, cost and organizational factors. Managing construction contracts requires managers to be able to analyze on an ongoing basis the variances of production costs - from the values calculated in the offer cost estimate and assumed in the Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled. The article attempts to analyze the emerging time and cost variances using proprietary C-S and S-C monitoring, based on simple indicators of the EVM method. An example of construction of a multi-family housing development was used to study the variances of planned and incurred costs.

In recent years, research has focused on generating mechanisms to assess the levels of subjects' cognitive workload when performing various activities that demand high concentration levels, such as driving a vehicle. These mechanisms have implemented several tools to analyze cognitive workload where the electroencephalographic (EEG) signals are the most used due to its high precision. However, one of the main challenges in the EEG signals implementing is finding the appropriate information to identify cognitive states. Here we show a new feature selection model for pattern recognition using information from EEG signals based on machine learning techniques called GALoRIS. GALoRIS combines Genetic Algorithms and Logistic Regression to create a new fitness function that identifies and selects the critical EEG features that contribute to recognizing high and low cognitive workload and structures a new dataset capable of optimizing the model's predictive process. We found that GALoRIS identifies data related to high and low cognitive workload of subjects while driving a vehicle using information extracted from multiple EEG signals, reducing the original dataset by more than 50%, maximizing the model's predictive capacity-achieving a precision rate greater than 90%.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, and despite advances in treatment, survival rates are still low; therefore, the development of novel drugs is imperative. Acetylcorynoline (ACN) is derived from Corydalis ambigua. The effect of ACN on colon cancer is still unknown. Therefore, we investigated its potential effects. Our data showed that ACN inhibited cell viability and proliferation. Moreover, ACN induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by inhibiting cell growth. In the present study, we hypothesized that ACN regulates c-Myc through CNOT2 or MID1IP1. ACN reduced the protein expression of oncogenic genes, decreased c-Myc half-life, and rapidly inhibited the serum stimulation response. Moreover, knockdown of CNOT2 and MID1IP1 with ACN increased apoptosis and further reduced the expression of oncogenes. In addition, ACN exhibited a synergistic effect with low-dose of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and doxorubicin (Dox). Collectively, our data demonstrates that ACN inhibited c-Myc expression through CNOT2 and MID1IP1 and induced apoptosis. These findings indicate the potential of ACN as a therapeutic agent against colon cancer.

Abstract: Hyperuricemia is commonly diagnosed in subjects with abnormal purine metabolism. Prolonged hyperuricemia often associated with gout, which is a vital risk factor for joint dysfunction. The current study was designed to determine the efficacy of vitamin C supplements for treatment of high serum uric acid (UA) among hyperuricemic and gouty patients, and finding-out the effect of supplementation on serum creatinine (Cr) level and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). This intervention study was started in April, 2013, till two months. A convenient sample of 30 adults aged between 24-75 years of both genders was assigned into two study groups: hyperuricemic (n=15) and gouty (n=15) groups. Each participant supplemented with 500 mg/day vitamin C chewable tablets for 2 months. Serum UA, Cr, and GFR were measured before and after treatment. At the end of this study, Cr and GFR enhanced insignificantly in both groups. UA increased insignificantly in gouty group after 2 months by about 0.31 mg/dl. On the other hand, hyperuricemic group showed significant (P ≤0.05) decrease in UA (-0.78 mg/dl) after 2 months duration. In conclusion, supplementation with 500 mg/day vitamin C for 2 months significantly attenuated serum UA for hyperuricemic patients and insignificantly affected serum UA in gouty patients. The uselessness of vitamin C supplements on gouty patients could be associated to a number of possible reasons.

This study explores cutting-edge and sustainable green methodologies and technologies for the synthesis of functional nanomaterials, with a specific focus on the removal of water contami-nants and the application of kinetic adsorption models. Our research adopts a conscientious ap-proach to environmental stewardship by synergistically employing eco-friendly silver nanopar-ticles, synthesized using Justicia Spicigera extract as a biogenic reducing agent, in conjunction with Mexican zeolite to enhance contaminant remediation, particularly targeting Cu²⁺ ions. Structural analysis, utilizing X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution scanning and transmis-sion electron microscopy (TEM and SEM), yields crucial insights into nanocomposite structure and morphology. Rigorous linear and non-linear kinetic models, encompassing pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, Freundlich, and Langmuir, are employed to elucidate the kinetics and equilibrium behaviors of adsorption. Results underscore the remarkable efficiency of the Zeolite-Ag composite in Cu²⁺ ion removal, surpassing traditional materials, achieving an im-pressive adsorption rate of 98% for Cu. Furthermore, the Zeolite-Ag composite exhibits maxi-mum adsorption times of 480 minutes. In the computational analysis, an initial mechanism for Cu²⁺ adsorption on zeolites is identified. The process involves rapid adsorption onto the surface of the Zeolite-Ag NP composite, followed by a gradual diffusion of ions into the cavities within the zeolite structure. Upon reaching equilibrium, a substantial reduction in copper ion concen-tration in the solution signifies successful removal. This research represents a noteworthy stride in sustainable contaminant removal, aligning with eco-friendly practices and supporting the potential integration of this technology into environmental applications. Consequently, it pre-sents a promising solution for eco-conscious contaminant remediation, emphasizing the utiliza-tion of green methodologies and sustainable technologies in the development of functional na-nomaterials

This research investigates the effects of torsional moments on the mechanical behavior of thin-walled open-ended vertical pile foundations subjected to lateral wind loads. The warping and torsion effect generated over the piles due to the resultant lateral load impact outside the shear center is analyzed in-field tests. Complementarily, a two-dimensional finite element model based on the simple bending stress-strain state as well as a three-dimensional finite element model considering torsional effects were implemented and their results analyzed. Finally, a comparative analysis between the in-field lateral loading tests and the finite element model approaches was established and correlations between the errors and the parameters of influence were highlighted. From the results, it has been ascertained that the slender thin-walled open-ended pile foundations are particularly sensitive to small load deviations from their center of gravity, this leads to the fact that the slenderer and the more eccentricity of the load, the more it affects the torsion and warping of the pile. Calculation methodologies usually consider a simple in-plane bending behavior which conducts to errors between 44 and 58% of the experimental results.

Nonparametric assessments of police technical and scale efficiency is challenging because of the stochastic nature of criminal behavior and because of the subjective dependence on multiple decision criteria, which can lead to a more or less efficiency prospect depending on the regulation, necessity, or organizational objective. There is a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness in many police performance assessments, i.e., efficient departments (producing more clear-ups with a given resource) are crime-specialized or cannot reproduce those good results effectively on more severe or complex occurrences. This study proposes a combined methodology for carrying out efficiency and effectiveness analysis of Police departments. A conditional non-parametric approach, which allows to include crime as an external factor in the analysis, is combined with a non-compensatory ranking based on the PROMETHEE II methodology for the approach illustrated on the multidimensional efficiency and effectiveness comparison of 145 Pernambuco (Brazil)'s police departments. The application results offer compelling perspectives for public administrations concerning the strategic prioritization of units for rewards or interventions.

We study an air-fluidized granular monolayer, composed in this case of plastic spheres, which roll on a metallic grid. The air current is adjusted so that the spheres never loose contact with the grid, so that the dynamics may be regarded as pseudo two-dimensional (or two-dimensional, if the effects of sphere rolling are not taken into account). We find two surprising continuous transitions, both of them displaying two coexisting phases. Moreover, in all cases, we found the coexisting phases display strong energy non-equipartition. In the first transition, at weak fludization, a glassy phase coexists with a disordered fluid-like phase. In the second transition, a hexagonal crystal coexists with the fluid phase. We analyze, for these two-phase systems, the specific diffusive properties of each phase, as well as the velocity correlations. Surprisingly, we find a glass phase at very low packing fraction and for a wide range of granular temperatures. Both phases are characterized also by a strong anti-correlated velocities upon collision. Thus, the dynamics observed for this quasi two-dimensional system unveils phase transitions with peculiar properties, very different from the predicted behavior in well know theories for their equilibrium counterparts.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical predictive model for LNG shipping routes selection process. Strategic decisions about shipping costs could be improved if a deeper knowledge about products economic value is provided. Developments made on the extraction and industrial processes related to this fossil fuel are driving the natural gas sector towards a unique globalised market. Moreover, data analytics applications as well as machine learning are topics presented as perfect catalysers for achieving an unprecedented natural gas globalised market. Additionally, this paper aims at showing the state of the art of new techniques used in transportation engineering that might have synergies with other industries (eg. commodities cost reduction, energy supply…). Finally, this paper aims to provide foundation for further research and development using more sophisticated data and algorithms that will help to close the gap between theoretical and practical scope of this techniques.

Sustainability has been playing a major role on the world stage. As with everything in the be-ginning, it was aligned to purely environmental contexts, but with the passing of the years and the new way of producing, marketing, and consuming, this concept has encompassed other as-pects which are the way of producing products and services. In this article, to obtain information on the implementation of sustainable innovation, a search equation was formulated in the SCOPUS database, contemplating the period from 2018 to 2023 as a time interval, with a total of 62 articles. Once the search of the published articles was carried out, 7 categories were formed to classify the research topic of each of the publications with Bibliometrix software, according to the main ob-jective and methodology used in each one. In this sense, 44% of the articles published are related to open innovation, and 26% of the articles are focused on sustainable business models. At the end of the analysis of the implementation of innovation according to the articles consulted, it was possible to establish that sustainable innovation began an important work, in the mitigation of the adverse impacts.

Biochar is a carbonaceous material derived from the thermochemical conversion of biomass under oxygen-lean conditions. Its properties render it many applications in agriculture, environmental remediation, and catalysis. Commonly produced by pyrolysis under a nitrogen atmosphere, the biochar composition is influenced mainly by residence time, heating rate, and process temperature. The existing literature primarily assesses biochar properties, such as ultimate, proximate, calorific, porosity, and combustibility, generated under various thermo-conversion conditions. However, there is a notable lack of sufficient investigation and attention given to the practical application of biochar. This article seeks to bridge that gap by enhancing the comprehension of the necessary experimental assessment for specific biochar applications and proposing process optimization methods using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). By delving into these aspects, the study offers a concise overview of biochar production and presents a comprehensive panorama based on articles and patents. Additionally, the research explores the physicochemical characterization techniques associated with biochar and its various applications in conjunction with MCDA. This comprehensive approach aims to uncover valuable insights that could further advance the practical and sustainable utilization of biochar in a wide range of fields.

Little is known about public knowledge of meat chicken production and how it influences attitudes to birds’ welfare and consumer behaviour. We interviewed 506 members of the public in SE Queensland, Australia, to investigate this. Knowledge was assessed from 15 questions, and low scores were supported by respondents’ self-assessed report of low knowledge levels and agreement that their knowledge was insufficient to form an opinion about which chicken products to purchase. Older respondents and single people without children were most knowledgeable. There was uncertainty about whether chicken welfare was adequate, particularly in those with little knowledge. There was also evidence that lack of empathy towards chickens related to lack of knowledge, since those that thought it very acceptable that some birds are inadequately stunned at slaughter had low knowledge scores. More knowledgeable respondents ate chicken more frequently and were less likely to buy products with accredited labelling. Approximately half of the respondents thought the welfare of the chicken to be more important than the cost. It is concluded that the public’s knowledge has an important connection to their attitudes and consumption of meat chickens. Respondents with little knowledge demonstrated that they had both lack of empathy and intolerance to religious slaughter practices.

Infectious as well as most non-infectious diseases share certain common molecular mechanisms. Among them, oxidative stress and the subsequent inflammatory reaction are of particular note. Metabolic disorders induced by external agents, be they bacterial or viral pathogens, excessive calorie intake, poor-quality nutrients, or environmental factors, produce an imbalance between the production of free radicals and endogenous antioxidant systems; the consequence being the oxidation of lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. Oxidation and inflammation are closely related, and whether oxidative stress and inflammation represent the causes or consequences of cellular pathology, they produce metabolic alterations that influence the pathogenesis of the disease. In this review we highlight two key molecules in the regulation of these processes: Paraoxonase-1 (PON1) and chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2). PON1 is an enzyme bound to high-density lipoproteins. It breaks down lipid peroxides in lipoproteins and cells, participates in the protection conferred by HDL against different infectious agents, and is considered part of the innate immune system. With PON1 deficiency, CCL2 production increases, which induces migration and infiltration of immune cells in target tissues, and is involved in disturbing normal metabolic function. This disruption involves pathways controlling cellular homeostasis as well as metabolically-driven chronic inflammatory states. Hence, an understanding of these relationships would help improve treatments and, as well, identify new therapeutic targets.

The complete structure and connectivity of the Caenorhabditis elegans nervous system was first published in 1986. The ‘mind of a worm’ was the first organism to have its nervous system to be reconstructed at the level of synapses, and represented a critical milestone considering today it remains the only organism to be mapped to that level of connection. Recently, the extrasynaptic connectome of neuropeptides and monoamines has been described. This review discusses recent technological advances used to perturb whole-organism neuronal function, such as: whole brain imaging, optogenetics, sonogenetics and mutant analysis, which have allowed for interrogations of both local and global neural circuits, leading to different behaviors. A better understanding of a whole organism requires combining experimental datasets with biophysical neuronal modelling, and behavioral quantification. Combining these approaches will provide a complete understanding of the worm nervous system and shed light into how networks function and interact with the synaptic network to modulate information processing and behavioral output.

Topic discovery is finding the main idea of large amounts of textual data. It indicates the recurring topics in the documents, allowing an overview of the texts. Current topic discovery models receive the texts, with or without pre-processing of Natural Language Processing. The processing consists of stopwords removal, text cleaning and normalization (lowercase conversion). A topic discovery model that receives texts with or without processing generates general topics since the input data is many uncategorized texts. The general topics do not offer a detailed overview of the input texts, and manual text categorization is a time-consuming and tedious task. Accordingly, it is necessary to integrate an automatic text classification task in the topic discovery process to obtain specific topics with their top words that contain relevant relationships based on belonging to a class. Text classification performs a word analysis that makes up a document to decide what class or category is being identified; then, integrating the text classification before a topic discovery process will provide latent topics depicted by top words with a high coherence in each topic based on the previously obtained classes. Therefore, this paper exposes a approach that integrates text classification into topic discovery from large amounts of English textual data, such as 20-Newsgroup and Reuters corpora. The text classification is accomplished with a Convolutional Neural Network(CNN) incorporating three embedding models based on semantic relationships. The topic discovery over categorized texts is realized with Latent Dirichlet Analysis(LDA), Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis(PLSA), and Latent Semantic Analysis(LSA) algorithms. An evaluation process was performed based on the normalized topic coherence metric. The 20-Newsgroup corpus was classified, and twenty topics with ten top words were discovered for each class, obtaining 0.1723 normalized topic coherence when applying LDA, 0.1622 with LSA, and 0.1716 with PLSA. The Reuters corpus was also classified, obtaining 0.1441 normalized topic coherence when applying the LDA algorithm to obtain 20 topics for each class.

Embedding representation models characterize each word as a vector of numbers with a fixed length. These models have been used in tasks involving text classification, such as recommen- dation and question-answer systems. Semantic relationships are words with a relationship between them providing a complete idea to a text. Therefore, it is hypothesized that an embedding model involving semantic relationships will provide better performance for tasks that use them. This paper presents three embedding models based on semantic relations extracted fromWikipedia to classify texts. The synonym, hyponym, and hyperonym semantic relationships were the ones considered in this work since previous experiments have shown that they are the ones that provide the most semantic knowledge. Lexical-syntactic patterns present in the literature were implemented and subsequently applied to the Wikipedia corpus to obtain the semantic relationships present in it. Several semantic relationships are used in different models: synonymy, hyponym-hyperonym, and a combination of the first two. A convolutional neural network was trained for text classification to evaluate the performance of each model. The results obtained were evaluated with the metrics of precision, accuracy, recall, and F1-measure. The best values obtained with the second model were accuracy of 0.79 for the 20-Newsgroup corpus. F1-measure and recall of 0.87 respectively for the Reuters corpus.

This paper shows the proposal of the use of linked data for smart metering systems. The aim of linked data in smart grid applications such as smart metering systems is to give semantic knowledge of the energy transactions between all participators in the power markets. In combination with other technologies like blockchain, the linked data could improve decentralization and security in the world's energetic future.

The c-Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK) signalling pathway is a conserved response to a wide range of internal and external cellular stress signals. Besides the stress response, the JNK pathway is involved in a series of vital regulatory mechanisms during development and adulthood that are critical to maintain tissue homeostasis. These mechanisms include the regulation of apoptosis, growth, proliferation, differentiation, migration and invasion. The JNK pathway has such a diverse functionality and cell-tissue specificity, that it has emerged as a key player in regeneration, tumorigenesis and other pathologies such as neurodegenerative diseases. The JNK pathway is highly active in the central nervous system (CNS), and plays a central role for the cells to cope with pathophysiological insults during both development and adulthood. Among the many mechanisms described in the literature, in this review we focus on the JNK pathway functions in pathologies of the CNS. More specifically, we discuss some newly identified examples and mechanisms of JNK-driven tumor progression in glioblastoma, regeneration/repair after an injury in the CNS, neurodegeneration, and neuronal cell death. Recent studies have shown that the JNK pathway regulates matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) production in response to cytoneme/tumor microtubes formation and Wingless (Wg)/WNT pathway activation in glioblastoma cells. Thus, JNK pathway is essential for glioblastoma progression, infiltration and non-autonomous induction of neurodegeneration. In regeneration, the JNK pathway controls Draper (Drpr) expression in glial cells that mediate engulfment and regeneration of the CNS upon injury.

Injury to the peritoneum during surgery is followed by a healing process that frequently results in the attachment of adjacent organs by a fibrous mass, referred to commonly as adhesions. Because injuries to the peritoneum during surgery are inevitable, one must understand the mechanisms of adhesion formation to prevent its occurrence. This requires a thorough understanding of the molecular sequence that results in the attachment of injured peritoneum and the development of fibrous tissue. Recent data show that fibroblasts from the injured peritoneum may play a critical role in forming adhesion tissues. Therefore, identifying changes in gene expression patterns in the peritoneal fibroblasts during the process may provide clues to the mechanisms by which adhesion develops. This review presents many papers discussing genes implied in peritoneal adhesion.

Vitamin C status is known to be associated with several demographic and lifestyle factors. These include gender, age, ethnicity, pregnancy/lactation, body weight, smoking status and dietary habits. In the present study, our aim was to interrogate the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017-2018 datasets to assess the impact of these factors on vitamin C dose-concentration relationships to establish if there are higher requirements for vitamin C in certain subpopulations and the possible extent of these additional requirements. The relevant data were extracted from the NHANES 2017-2018 datasets, the final cohort of which comprised 2828 non-supplementing adult males and females (aged 18 – 80+ years) with both vitamin C serum concentrations and dietary intake data available. The data was subsequently stratified by gender, age tertiles (≤36, 37-58, ≥59 years), ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and total Hispanic), socioeconomic tertiles (poverty income ratios: &gt;3.0, 1.36 – 3.0, ≤1.35), weight tertiles (≤72, 72-91, ≥91 kg), BMI tertiles (≤26, 26-32, ≥32 kg/m2) and smoking status. Sigmoidal (four parameter logistic) curves with asymmetrical 95% confidence intervals were fitted to the dose-concentration data. We found that males required vitamin C intakes ~1.2-fold higher than females to reach ‘adequate’ serum concentrations of 50 µmol/L. Males had both higher body weight and a higher prevalence of smoking than females. Smokers required vitamin C intakes ~2.0-fold higher than non-smokers to reach adequate vitamin C concentrations. Relative to adults in the lighter weight tertile, adults in the heaver weight tertile required ~2.0-fold higher dietary intakes of vitamin C to reach adequate serum concentrations. We did not observe any impact of ethnicity or socioeconomic status on the vitamin C dose-concentration relationship, and although no significant difference between younger and older adults was observed at vitamin C intakes &gt; 75 mg/day, at intakes &lt; 75 mg/day, older adults had an attenuated serum response to vitamin C intake. In conclusion, certain demographic and lifestyle factors, specifically gender, smoking and body weight, have a significant impact on vitamin C requirements. Overall, the data indicate that the general population must consume ~110 mg/day of vitamin C to attain adequate serum concentrations, smokers require ~165 mg/day relative to non-smokers, and heavier people (100+ kg) require ~155 mg/day to reach the same vitamin C concentrations. These findings have important implications for global vitamin C dietary recommendations.

Aedes aegypti is inherently susceptible to arboviruses. The geographical expansion of this vector host species has led to the persistence of Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya human infections. These viruses take advantage of the mosquito’s cell to create an environment conducive for their growth. Arboviral infection triggers transcriptomic and protein dysregulation in Ae. aegypti and in effect, host antiviral mechanisms are compromised. Currently, there are no existing vaccines able to protect human hosts from these infections and thus, vector control strategies such as Wolbachia mass release program is regarded as a viable option. Considerable evidence demonstrates how the presence of Wolbachia interferes with arboviruses by decreasing cellular components vital for the pathogen and strengthening antiviral host responses. However, variation in the magnitude of Wolbachia’s viral inhibition that is neither due to strain nor density has been observed. Furthermore, the cellular mechanisms involved in the endosymbiont’s pathogen-blocking differs among hosts. This prompts the need to explore the cellular interactions between Ae. aegypti-arboviruses-Wolbachia and how these interactions overall affect the mosquito’s cell. Understanding what happens at the cellular and molecular level will provide evidence on the sustainability of Wolbachia vector control.

Knowledge is not merely the characteristic of certain pieces of information being deemed true and justifiable, but rather a process. Within an axiomatic system, the set of information that reaches the status of knowledge forms a universe that provides an interpretation of the reality one aims to describe. Language exchanges information through communication and the process of justification (exchange of information), if it consistently justifies a particular piece of information, it elevates it to knowledge. In this paper, we provide a framework for knowledge within an axiomatic model where we define the fundamental elements of communication and grammar. As a result, the structure dictates that knowledge, to be considered as such, must be investigateable by anyone who utilizes it in its entirety, both in form and content. Ultimately, the development of knowledge processing, referred to as \emph{knowmatics}, represents a clear evolution of the computer science that processes information (subset of knowledge).

Modified nucleobases are potentially useful building blocks when containing catalytically active functionalities and could be introduced in chiral tridimensional molecules such as nucleic acids, which creates the premises for the development of novel catalytic species. Herein we describe the synthesis of a novel β-C-nucleoside bearing a diol group at anomeric position, amenable as metal ligand or as organo-catalyst. The abasic ligand was successfully prepared and inserted into complementary DNA strand.

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), one of the largest superfamilies of cell-surface receptors, are heptahelical integral membrane proteins that play critical roles in virtually every organ system. G-protein-coupled receptors operate in membranes rich in cholesterol, with an imbalance in cholesterol level within the vicinity of GPCR transmembrane domains affecting the structure and/or function of many GPCRs, a phenomenon that has been linked to several diseases. These effects of cholesterol could result in indirect changes by altering the mechanical properties of the lipid environment or direct changes by binding to specific sites on the protein. There are a number of studies and reviews on how cholesterol modulates class A GPCRs, however, this area of study is yet to be explored for class C GPCRs, which are characterized by a large extracellular region and often form constitutive dimers. This review highlights specific sites of interaction, functions, and structural dynamics involved in the cholesterol recognition of the class C GPCRs. We summarize recent data from some typical family members to explain the effects of membrane cholesterol on the structural features and functions of Class C GPCRs and speculate on their corresponding therapeutic potential.

This article introduces a new fractional approach to the concept of information dimension of complex networks, based on a (q,q′)-entropy proposed in the literature. The q parameter measures how far is the number of subsystems (for a given size ε) from the mean number of overall sizes. The q′ (interaction index) measures when the interactions between subsystems are greater (q′&gt;1), lesser (q′&lt;1) or equal to the interactions into these subsystems. The computations of the proposed information dimension are carried out on several real-world and synthetic complex networks. The results from the proposed information dimension are compared with those from the information dimension based on the Shannon entropy.

Steel reinforcement in concrete has the tendency to corrode and this process can lead to structural damage. FRP reinforcement represents a viable alternative for structures exposed to aggressive environments and has many possible applications where superior corrosion resistance properties are required. The use of FRP rebars as internal reinforcements for concrete, however, is limited to specific structural elements and does not yet extend to the whole structure. The reasons for this relate to the limited availability of curved or shaped reinforcing elements on the market and their reduced structural performance. Various studies, in fact, have shown that the mechanical performance of bent portions of composite bars is reduced significantly under a multiaxial combination of stresses and that the tensile strength can be as low as 25% of the maximum tensile strength that can be developed in the straight part. In a significant number of cases, the current design recommendations for concrete structures reinforced with FRP, however, were found to overestimate the bend capacity of FRP rebar. This paper presents the state-of-the art review of the research works on the strength degradation in curved FRP composites and highlighted the performance of exiting predictive models for the bend capacity of FRP reinforcement. Recent practical predictive model based on the Tsai-Hill failure criteria by considering the material at marcromechanical level is also discussed and highlighted. The review also identifies the challenges and highlights the future directions of research to explore the use of shaped FRP composites in civil engineering applications and the trends for future research in this area.

Influenza in pregnancy is associated with elevated morbidity and mortality. Influenza vaccines are safe and effective in pregnancy. There are no Mexican surveys in physicians on knowledge, beliefs, and practices towards influenza and influenza immunization during pregnancy. A 32 questions cross-sectional and descriptive survey was conducted addressing general knowledge of influenza, as well as beliefs and practices regarding influenza vaccination during pregnancy among Mexican physicians responsible for prenatal care, traditionally Obstetricians (OBGYNs), and Family Physicians (FPs). A total of 206 surveys were available, 98 (47.6%) from OBGYNs, and 108 (52.4%) from FPs representing an estimated 2,472 daily pregnancy consultations. 54 from 206 (26.2%) weren´t aware that influenza is more severe during pregnancy, 106 from 206 (51.5%) ignored the potential side effects of influenza infection on the fetus, and 56.8% did not know when to vaccinate pregnant women. Pregnancy as a risk factor for developing influenza complications was known only by 99 from 206(48.1%), and 6.1 % believed that vaccination does not confer protection to the fetus. Current beliefs of Mexican OBGYNs and FPs for both influenza morbidity and mortality, and the importance of influenza vaccination during pregnancy, is suboptimal. Understanding drivers for beliefs should be assessed to improve influenza vaccination recommendations, as knowledge alone is not sufficient.

Background: Several kinds of research say that adjuvant blood glucose and blood pressure are usual, but an efficient solution for medical application count remains. This review analyzes the pandemic blood pressure and blood glucose to identify the publications which tell about the clinical practices and research gaps in systematic research.Methods: A study guides to identify the research of Blood Pressure (BP) and Blood Glucose. In order to analyze the recent innovations and research on BP and Blood glucose, the relevant publications and literature from journals were identified.Results: Co-morbidity of BP and Blood glucose is reported as very high. The commonness of blood pressure is thrice as high in type I diabetes patients and almost two times higher in type II diabetes patients when compared to others without Diabetes. The pervasiveness of getting depression is more in the female when compared with men. A detailed study about the linkage of BP and blood glucose tells that the relationship between them is not exactly clear.Limitations: Nearly all reviews providing the linkage of BP and blood glucose are with some limitations and they are not providing any clear conclusion.Conclusions: Present research tells that people having high blood glucose will have a greater chance of getting high blood pressure. More research is needed to state the linkage between BP, blood glucose, and the growth of diabetes mellitus issues and to provide support for managing Diabetes.

An 8-months old male American Staffordshire terrier was referred for a no weightbearing lameness of the right pelvic limb, hyperthermia, lethargy and inappetence caused by hematogenous osteomyelitis. Orthopedic, radiographic and tomographic examinations revealed a bone sequestrum of 4 x 1.4 cm and active periosteal reaction of the caudo-lateral cortical in the metaphysis and the distal third of the right femoral diaphysis, medullary osteolysis and interruption of the cranio-medial cortical profile, with involvement of the femoral trochlea leading to a secondary medial patella luxation. Once skeletally mature, after 4 months from surgical debridement and aggressive antibiotic therapy against Klebsiella oxytoca revealed by bacteriological exam, the patient underwent prosthetic surgery for the application of a custom-made patellar groove replacement (PGR) to fill the bone defect and restore the femoral trochlea surface. Despite the serious injury that afflicted the right pelvic limb, the surgery had satisfactory outcomes until the last 18-months postoperative follow up.

The volume of vehicular traffic in large cities has increased in recent years, the devices that collect vehicular GPS data such as cameras, GPS receivers and others generate millions of records at every instant of time generating problems in processing and storage of these data which becomes important for researchers. Intelligent Transportation Systems perform vehicle monitoring and control by collecting GPS trajectories, this large volume of information is necessary to have an optimal storage process. Its processing by means of compression techniques and simplification algorithms allow to reduce the necessary storage space. This paper presents a GPS trajectory simplification algorithm that considers noise reduction, point simplification and analysis of road network information. The results obtained on two data sets from the cities of California and Beijing are satisfactory, achieving a higher compression ratio without affecting data quality

Prior work has suggested that discrimination and immigration-related stress may impede mental health care seeking and utilization among Latinx populations. These effects may be more nuanced as both discrimination and immigration-related stress may increase symptomology, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Both symptoms may in turn prompt attempts to seek care. The current study examined the direct effects of discrimination and immigration-related stress on care access, as well as potentially indirect effects with PTSD and depression symptoms as mediators. Interviews and online surveys were completed with 234 Latinx residents of the Midwest assessing everyday discrimination, discrimination in healthcare, PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, current mental health utilization, and previous unsuccessful attempts to seek care. Direct effects of discrimination and immigration-related stress were largely unrelated to care access variables. Discrimination in healthcare settings predicted both unsuccessful attempts to seek care and current use, but this effect was positive. The indirect effect was largely supported, but only for PTSD symptoms and not depression. Results indicate further investigation is necessary to understand the direct effects of discrimination on care access. Further, discrimination and immigration-related stress may indirectly prompt attempts to seek mental health care.

Battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as an environmentally friendly and efficient alternative to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, while their single-charge driving distances under cold conditions are significantly limited due to the high energy consumption of heating systems. Heat pumps can provide an effective heating solution for EVs, but their coefficient of performance (COP) is hampered by heat transfer deterioration due to frost accumulation. This study proposes a solution to this issue by introducing a microchannel heat exchanger (MHE) with superhydrophobic surface treatment (SHST) as a heat pump evaporator. A computational-fluid-dynamics MHE model and a dynamic heat pump model are developed and rigorously validated to examine the detrimental impact of frost accumulation on heat transfer, airflow resistance, and heat pump performance. When the frost layer thickness is 0.8 mm at a given air-side velocity of 1.0 m/s, the air-side heat transfer coefficient can be reduced by about 75%, and the air-side pressure drop sharply increases by 28.4 times. As frost thickness increases from 0 to 0.8 mm, the heating effect drops from 3.97 to 1.82 kW, and the system COP declines from 3.17 to 2.30. Experimental results show that the frost thickness of the MHE with SHST reaches approximately 0.4 mm after 30 minutes, compared to that of 0.8 mm of the MHE without SHST, illustrating the defrosting capability of the superhydrophobic coating. The study concludes by comparing the performance of various heating methods in EVs to highlight the advantages of SHST technology. As compared to traditional heat pumps, the power consumption of the proposed system is reduced by 48.7% due to the defrosting capability of the SHST. Moreover, the single-charge driving distance is extended to 327.27 km, an improvement of 8.99% over the heat pump without SHST.

The central nervous system (CNS) is the final frontier in drug delivery because of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which poses significant barriers to the access of most drugs to their targets. Kynurenic acid (KYNA), a tryptophan (Trp) metabolite, plays an important role in behavioral functions and abnormal KYNA levels have been observed in neuropsychiatric conditions. The current challenge lies in delivering KYNA to the CNS owing to its polar side chain. Recently, C-3 side chain modified KYNA analogs have been shown to cross the BBB; however, it is unclear whether they retain the biological functions of the parent molecule. This study examined the impact of KYNA analogs, specifically SZR-72, SZR-104, and the newly developed SZRG-21, on behavior. The analogs were administered intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.), and their effects on the motor domain were compared with those of KYNA. Specifically, open field (OF) and rotarod (RR) tests were employed to assess motor activity and skills. SZR-104 increased horizontal exploratory activity in the OF test at a dose of 0.04 μmol/4 μL, while SZR-72 decreased vertical activity at doses of 0.04 and 0.1 μmol/4 μL. In the RR test, however, neither KYNA nor its analogs showed any significant differences in motor skills at either dose. Side chain modification affects affective motor performance and exploratory behavior, as the results show for the first time. In this study, we showed that KYNA analogs alter emotional components such as motor-associated curiosity and emotions. Consequently, drug design necessitates the development of precise strategies to traverse the BBB while paying close attention to modifications in their effects on behavior.

Using the h-index to assess individual researchers is not only unethical and unfair but also inaccurate and misleading. This index fails to offer a reliable measure of a researcher's impact based on their citation scores. Beyond statistical and conceptual considerations, authorship practices, especially in the case of multi-authored publications, give rise to significant problems that often go unnoticed. While some modifications of the h-index have been proposed to mitigate these weaknesses, the fundamental deficiencies persist. Most of these flaws have been effectively addressed by the c-score, a composite citation index. The c-score excludes self-citations, normalizes the number of citations by considering the number of authors in each paper, and takes into account first, single, and last authorship. This approach provides a more realistic measure of the impact of each individual researcher based on raw citations.

Senescence is a stable cell cycle arrest that is either tumor suppressive or tumor promoting depending on context. Epigenetic changes such as histone methylation are known to affect both induction and suppression of senescence by altering expression of genes that regulate the cell cycle and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype. A conserved group of proteins containing a Jumonji C (JmjC) domain alter chromatin state, and therefore gene expression, by demethylating histones. Here, we will discuss what is currently known about JmjC demethylases in induction of senescence and how these enzymes suppress senescence to contribute to tumorigenesis.

Emerging pollutants as pharmaceuticals have been focusing international attention for few decades. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a common drug widely found in effluents from hospitals, industrial and different wastewater treatment plants, as well as rivers. In this work, the lab-scale 3D-BER system was established, and more than 90% of the antibiotic CIP removal from the Low C/N wastewater. Best results were obtained with current intensity, and different C/N ratio significantly improve the removal of CIP and nitrates, when the ideal conditions were; C/N = 1.5-3.5, pH =7.0-7.5, and I = 60 mA. The highest removal efficiency of CIP = 94.20 %, NO3--N= 95.53 % and total nitrogen (TN) = 84.27 %, respectively. In this novel system, the autotrophic-heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria played vital role for the removal of CIP and enhanced denitrification process. Thus, autotrophic denitrifying bacteria uses CO2 and H2 as carbon sources to reduce nitrates to N2. This system has the assortment and prosperous community revealed at the current intensity of 60 mA, and the analysis of bacterial community structure in effluent samples fluctuates under different condition of C/N ratios. According to the results of LC-MS/MS analysis, the intermediate products were proposed after efficient biodegradation of CIP. Microbial community on biodegrading was mostly found at phylum, and class level was dominantly responsible for the NO3--N and biodegradation of CIP. This work can provide some new insights towards the biodegradation of CIP and the efficient removal of nitrates from low C/N wastewater treatment by the novel 3D-BER system.