The introduction of biologic therapies has led to dramatic improvements in the management of moderate-to-severe psoriasis. Even though the efficacy and safety of the newer biologic agents are difficult to match, oral administration is considered an important advantage by many patients. Current research is focused on development of oral therapies with improved efficacy and safety compared to available alternatives, as exemplified by deucravacitinib, the first oral allosteric Tyk2 inhibitor approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis in adults. Recent advances in our knowledge of psoriasis pathogenesis have also led to the development of targeted topical molecules, mostly focused on intracellular signaling pathways, such as AhR, PDE-4 and Jak-STAT. Topical tapinarof, an AhR modulator, and roflumilast, a PDE-4 inhibitor, have exhibited favorable efficacy and safety outcomes have been approved by the FDA for the topical treatment of plaque psoriasis. This revision focuses on the most recent oral and topical therapies available for psoriasis and specially on those that are currently under evaluation and development for the treatment of psoriasis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) occurs more frequently in women than in men, and the studies that have addressed clinical and prognostic differences between sexes are scarce and have contradictory results and methodological problems. The present work aims to evaluate sex and gender-related differences in the clinical expression and prognosis of RA as well as the impact on psychosocial variables, coping behavior, and healthcare use and access. By identifying between-sex differences and gender-related outcomes in RA, it may be possible to design tailored therapeutic strategies that consider the differences and unmet needs. Being sex, together with age, the most relevant biomarker and health determinant, a so-called personalized medicine approach to RA must include clear guidance on what to do in case of differences.

First came the digital banks without offices, and then the “fintech” companies that combined technology and finance to achieve greater efficiency and new business models. Later was the turn of transport and logistics, understood as the sector whose economic activities derived from the transport of people and goods, while on the one hand, it has had a new spring thanks to factors such as online sales. Then, perhaps catalyzed by the pandemic scenario, the turn has reached education, where years ago was only a complement of traditional education, now is a central part with multiple modern methodologies. Numerous studies exist about using or implementing these e-learning procedures, but technical analysis is barely found in references. This work aims to analyze the digital transformation of the main sectors of our society, including finances, transport, and education, together with several examples of how technology was helping to fight the pandemic scenario.

Vector-borne disease (VBD) accounts for more than 17% of the global infectious disease burden, disproportionately affecting developing nations within tropical and subtropical areas. As Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are the principal vector for the transmission of many Public Health pathogens, our study examined their population dynamics within the seasonal context of tropical dry biomes in El Salvador as incidence of VBD in this region has increased in recent years. Species that rely on sexual reproduction must maintain a balanced sex ratio (1:1) to support their population dynamics, however, our phenological analysis of field-collected A. aegypti specimens revealed significant sex ratio variations during dry and wet seasons. Interestingly, we detected a seasonal shift that favored female mosquitoes during the dry season, highlighting the dynamic nature of mosquito populations in highly urbanized environments like El Salvador. By linking sex ratio distortions to anthropogenic factors, our study underscores the importance of comprehensively characterizing the urban ecology of vectors for the development of effective biocontrol strategies. As such, we advocate for more nuanced vector control approaches that consider ecological factors as well as the human behaviors that influence mosquito breeding habitats to effectively combat the rise of VBDs amid global climate changes.

We present a new model formulation for a class of capacitated lot-sizing problem considering setup costs, product returns, and remanufacturing (CLSP-RM). We investigate a broad class of instances that fall into two groups, in the first group we can reformulate the problem with a relaxation and test whether the original problem is solvable. The relaxation gives near optimal solutions and the solution of this class does not give any difficulty to known solvers such as Cplex, Gurobi or Xpress. The second group of instances are of category NP and will be solved with a simple period-by-period simulation

The aim of the present study was to investigate the incidence of breast (females), prostate, testicular and thyroid cancer in the Italian National Priority Contaminated Sites (NPCSs), served by cancer registries, where the presence of endocrine disruptors (EDs), reported to be linked to these tumors, was documented. Evidence of carcinogenicity of EDs present in NPCs was assessed based on evaluation by international scientific institutions/committees. Standardized Incidence Ratios (SIRs) were computed for each NPCS and cancer site with reference to the time window 1996-2005. Excess incidence of one or more cancer site at study was found in twelve out of fourteen NPCSs. Significantly increased SIRs were found for breast cancer in eight NPCSs, for prostate cancer in six, for thyroid cancer (both gender) in four and for testicular cancer in two. Non significantly increased SIRs were found in five NPCSs for testicular cancer and in two for thyroid cancer (males). Even if increased incidence of one or more cancer sites at study were found in several NPCSs, the ecological study design and the multifactorial etiology of the considered tumors do not allow reaching conclusions in terms of causal links with environmental contamination. In light of the observation of some excesses in SIRs, continuing epidemiological surveillance is warranted.

Pandemic scenario has significantly changed several factors of life, including teaching, and learning at university. The development of suitable teaching materials to support university studies is mandatory to overcome distance learning difficulties and improve traditional teaching methodologies. This work explains a novel method for the preparation of teaching materials for medical sciences, but also plausible for other learning fields. An encephalon was extracted and prepared by using this methodology for teaching purposes. More than 200 students evaluated several factors of the material prepared this way, indicating a better understanding (up to 80%) of theoretical contents related to this human section, together with a high usability and good physical appearance

The cryopreservation of gametes and embryos is an important element of biodiversity conservation. One species in need of conservation is the honey bee Apis mellifera L. Changing environmental factors, especially the anthropogenic factor, have led to a reduction in the numbers of this insect species. In this study, we provide an example of the creation of a biobank of honey bee drone sperm. For sperm cryopreservation, drones of the most common subspecies of honey bees common in Russia were selected. These were the dark forest bee, Apis mellifera mellifera from the Republic of Bashkortostan, with three subspecies (A. m. carnica, A. m. carpatica, and A. m. caucasica) from the southern regions of Russia, as well as two breeding stocks, the Far Eastern bee and Prioksky bee. For subspecies identification, morphometric and genetic methods were used. The subspecies of the studied samples were confirmed by the analysis of the tRNAleu-COII locus of mitochondrial DNA and nine microsatellite markers of nuclear DNA. It was shown that bees of the Prioksky breeding stock belong to the subspecies A. m. caucasica based on phylogenetic analysis, and the Far Eastern breeding stock is a stable hybrid, descending on the maternal line from the evolutionary lineage C or O. The results of the morphometric analysis are consistent with the results of the genetic analysis. For the cryopreservation of sperm, we used a honey diluent. As a result, the viability of frozen–thawed sperm decreased by 20.3% compared to fresh sperm, and overall motility decreased by 25-fold. The measurement of the sperm concentration in the spermatheca of artificially inseminated queens showed that it varied from 0.22 to 4.4 million/μL. Therefore, the use of honey in sperm cryopreservation has great potential.

Essential oils are mixtures of compounds obtained from plants, including flowers, roots, bark, leaves, seeds,peel, fruits, wood, that have risen up in the last decades thanks to their beneficial properties as antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory agents. The aim of this study was to characterize and analyze 13 different commercial essential oils with two different techniques. The first is GC-MS, coupled with SPME, thanks to which 204 different VOCs have been identified. The results show that a total of 95 compounds was found only in one oil, while the others were found with different frequencies in many of them. The most represented class is that of terpenes, as widely reported in literature. The second technique is based on an array of chemical gas sensors. This system was used to investigate whether sensors are able to identify these products. It turned out that basil, cinnamon and carnation are the most identifiable oils with different number and typology of sensors, especially tin oxide and copper oxide nanowires, while cayeput and thyme are more mistakable samples. Thanks to this detailed study, it has been possible to reach and obtain novel insights for the future development of this type of research.

The split of the brain into two hemispheres is pivotal to human existence, enabling incompatible versions of the world, with quite different priorities and values, to exist concomitantly. Neuroimaging techniques are usually the adopted methods to assess hemispherical bias. However, can differences in thinking orientation, behavioural style, and personality emerging from laterality be observed without the use of neuroimaging techniques? This paper investigates whether a personality test based on the Five-factor model (FFM) is also able to identify hemispherical bias. It does so by testing five hypotheses on personality differences related to handedness. The aim is to contribute to the instantiation of the FFM in neuroscience by testing its validity against the neuroscientific literature on brain laterality. The findings pointed to no statistically significant differences due to handedness in three out of five personality traits (namely, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness and Extraversion). As to the other two traits – Openness and Agreeableness – the hypotheses were only partially confirmed by the data, as the relevant difference found was not between left-handed and right-handed groups, but between ambidextrous and the others.

Upon the outbreak of the COVID-19, countries worldwide developed policies with the goal to introduce restrictive measures geared towards mitigating the spread of the virus. Although these health initiatives were put in place through top-down public directives, they relied heavily on the cooperation of citizens who had to be willing to carry them out. As a consequence, we could observe differences in compliance with governmental restrictions within and between countries. Increasing policy stringency was the method adopted overall to promote people’s compliance. This article used survey data from 10308 participants in Brazil to examine whether there was a positive correlation between policy stringency and compliance with restrictive measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The results revealed, however, that there was no direct influence of policy stringency on people’s health behaviors. Accordingly, I hypothesized that individual differences in personality traits were one of the drivers behind policy compliance, as they would support self-interests such as the duty to support authorities as well as the perceived health risks of certain behaviors and ultimately motivate compliance. The findings’ implications for both compliance research and for authorities wanting to nurture voluntary compliance with public health orders are discussed and suggestions are provided.

Background: In healthy children, the frequency of anomalous persistence of primitive reflexes (PRs) and craniosacral blocks (CBs) are unknown, as well as their impact on neurodevelopment, behaviour disorders and related consequences. We aim to know the prevalence of anomalous PRs and CBs in apparently healthy children and its relationships with behavior and neurodevelopment anomalies. Methods: Participants (n=120) were evaluated through physical examination to detect PRs and CBs, an ad hoc parent survey to collect perinatal events, and children behavior assessment by teachers using Battelle score. Results: PRs were present in 89.5%. Moro (70.8%), cervical asymmetric (78.3%) and cervical symmetric PRs (67.5%) were the most frequent observed PRs. CBs were found in 83.2%, and the most frequent CBs were dura mater (77.5%) and sphenoid bone (70%) blocks. Moro, cervical asymmetric and cervical symmetric active primitive reflexes are significantly associated to cranial blocks of dura mater, parietal zones, and sphenoid bone sway. Gestational disorders or perinatal complications were associated to a higher frequency of PRs and CBs. The presence of PRs and CBs were associated with abnormal Battelle scores and neurobehavioral problems. Conclusion: Presence of PRs and CBs in children without diagnosed diseases are frequent and related with disturbances in childhood neurodevelopment.

Abstract Psychiatric care in Spain has experienced relevant changes both in the legislative and conceptual frameworks. This new approach advocates for the combination of carrying out mental health promotion, prevention of alterations and early diagnosis and treatment, enhancing actions against stigma and emphasising the attention on the most vulnerable groups, like childhood and youth. For that, it has seen fit to perform a nursing intervention on Education and Promotion of mental health for teachers and counsellors of a secondary school located in Valencia, with the general objective of assessing their impact on stigma. Non-randomised clinical trial in which a nursing intervention on Education and Promotion of mental health was performed. Pre-intervention tools: multiple choice test validated by a group of experts; pre and post-intervention: AQ-27 (stigma attribution); in order to check its acceptance, satisfaction surveys were used. The inferential analysis included the Wilcoxon Test (pre and post AQ-27) and the Pearson Correlation Test for the quantitative variables of interest. Sample (n=22): women aged 47.96 ± 10.12 years with 18.64 ± 10.34 years of work experience. The predominant stigmatising attitude before and after intervention was “Coercion”. The ones with lower score were “Segregation” and “Anger”. The p-values obtained in the Wilcoxon Test were statistically significant (p-value <0.05) except for “pre and post Responsibility” and “pre and post Pity”. The following constructs of interest were faced: “Age” vs “Fear” (r= -0.48, moderate), “Professional experience” and “Fear” (r= -0.46, moderate) and “Help” and “Psychosis test” (r= 0.51, severe). The overall satisfaction score was 9/10. Despite the scores obtained in “Coercion” and “Psychosis”, the intervention was useful for reducing stigma in the sample.

Nanovaccines are able to deliver antigen(s) and immunomodulator(s) directly to antigen-presenting cells (APCs) of the lymphatic system. Positive charges improve their uptake by APCs and often drive a Th-1 biased immune response so necessary against infectious diseases caused by intracellular pathogens and cancers. However, cationic compounds often display a dose-dependent toxicity so that systematic evaluation of cytotoxicity against cells in culture is required. After the rapid evolution of nanovaccines against SARS-Covid 2, mRNA vaccines gained much strength and have been designed against several infectious diseases, often relying on cationic components for mRNA protection. Once established the limiting concentration for the cationic compound, cationic nanovaccines perform well eliciting the desired Th-1 improved immune response in most cases. Other valuable approach found in the literature has been the construction of biocompatible nanoparticles (NPs) carrying cationic lipids, polymers or surfactants so that minimization of the concentration for the cationic component led to absence of toxicity. Against cancer, recent constructions of nanovaccines in situ after cancer cell disruption in the presence of adjuvants led to systemic presentation of multiple tumoral antigens yielding, in many instances, prevention of metastasis appearance and conversion of tumors non treatable by immunotherapy into treatable ones.

As consequence of the digital transformation, e-learning methodologies have become an inseparable part of the standard classes in schools and universities, assuming an increasingly significant role in compensating for the difficulties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous pedagogical methodologies and strategies can be easily implemented in high education, promoting students’ motivation and interest in learning. This research study analyses the implementation of gamification pedagogical strategy on 50-60 undergraduate chemical engineering students at the university, by evaluating its effect on the success rate on a specific topic of Chemical Reactions Engineering subject and the motivation effect for the following topics. Our results show a significant positive effect of the gamification strategy on university lectures, increasing up to 25-30 % of the success ratio with an apparent motivation effect. During the subsequent years, the changes in the lifestyle of study also play a role in students’ performance. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate case studies such as the one presented here to understand better the use of these pedagogical methods and strategies in high education, especially in technical subjects described in this paper.

This study aims to better understand students who attend the Basic Vocational Training Cycles (FPB) regarding the measures to ensure diversity. This quantitative research project approximates the perception of students concerning their passage through their previous studies and their satisfaction and goals after finishing the school year. The sample con-sists of 352 students from Cordoba (Spain). A questionnaire has been used which follows the CIPP model. After the exploratory factor analysis was completed with the different groups of items and their descriptive analysis, various tests were carried out to consider the hypotheses (Pearson's correlation (r), one-factor analysis of variance and repeated ANOVA measures). The results indicate that the educational interest of the students is ac-ademic and professional. Likewise, there is no relationship detected between the appear-ance of socio-professional goals and average academic levels and the attributions with re-spect to repetitions of previous courses, although these goals vary depending on the satis-faction shown by the students with respect to the cycles. We conclude that the course of the FPB influences the adoption of decisions regarding academic-professional projects.

The World Health Organization has defined the outbreak of the new coronavirus as a public health emergency of international concern. The average age of patients affected by the disease caused by the virus ranges from 49 to 59 years. The symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection include fever, cough, acute respiratory disease, and, in severe cases, the disease may progress to pneumonia and renal failure that may lead to death. Many oral and maxillofacial hospital procedures produce aerosol and droplets contaminated by blood, bacteria, and viruses. The purpose of this study is to gather recommendations from health authorities and scientific articles in order to educate surgeons regarding the procedures to assist and treat in oral and maxillofacial surgeries. The objective is to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 during the treatment of patients in urgent and emergency situations. The study’s methodology used the guidelines provided by the Brazilian College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, in addition to the recommendations and epidemiologic data from national and international health authorities. The implementation of special precautions in oral and maxillofacial surgeries may elucidate questions related to the transmission of the disease by asymptomatic carriers and help control the spread of the virus.

Aluminum matrix nanocomposites have been the subject of much attention due to their extraordinary mechanical properties and thermal stability. This research focuses on producing and characterizing an aluminum matrix reinforced with silicon carbide (SiC) nanometric particles. The conventional powder metallurgy route was used to produce the nanocomposites, and the dispersion and mixing process was carried out by ultrasonication. The conditions of the dispersion and the volume fraction of the SiC were evaluated in the production of the nanocomposites. Microstructural characterization was carried out using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Mechanical characterization was carried out using hardness and tensile tests. The dispersion agent was investigated, and isopropanol leads to better dispersion with fewer agglomerates. Increasing the volume fraction of the reinforcement improves the hardness of the nanocomposites. However, greater agglomeration of the reinforcement is observed for larger volume fractions. The greatest increase in hardness (77% increase compared to the hardness of the Al matrix) is obtained with 1.0 vol % of SiC, corresponding to the sample with the best dispersion. The mechanical characterization through tensile tests attests to the effect of the reinforcement on the Al matrix. The main strengthening mechanisms identified were the load transfer, the texture hardening, Orowan strengthening, and the increase in the density of dislocations in the nanocomposites.

Epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease (AD) incidence increase with age. There are reciprocal relationships between epilepsy and AD. Epilepsy is a risk factor for AD and, in turn, AD is an independent risk factor for developing epilepsy in old age and abnormal AD biomarkers in PET and or CSF are frequently found in late onset epilepsies of unknown etiology. Accordingly, epilepsy and AD share pathophysiological processes including neuronal hyperexcitability and an early excitatory-inhibitory dysregulation leading to dysfunction in the inhibitory GABAergic and excitatory glutamatergic systems. Moreover, both β-amyloid and tau protein aggregates, the anatomopathological hallmarks of AD, have proepileptic effects. Finally, these aggregates have been found in the resection material of refractory temporal lobe epilepsies suggesting that epilepsy leads to amyloid and tau aggregates. Some epileptic syndromes, such as medial temporal lobe epilepsy share structural and functional neuroimaging findings with AD, leading to overlapping symptomatology such as episodic memory deficits and toxic synergistic effects. In this respect, the existence of epileptiform activity and electroclinical seizures in AD appears to accelerate progression of cognitive decline and the presence of cognitive decline is much more prevalent in epileptic patients than in elderly without epilepsy. Notwithstanding their clinical significance, the diagnosis of clinical seizures in AD is a challenge. Most are focal and manifest with altered level of consciousness without motor symptoms, and are often interpreted as cognitive fluctuations. Finally, despite the frequent association of epilepsy and AD dementia, there is a lack of clinical trials to guide the use of antiseizure medications (ASM). There is also a potential role for ASMs to be used as disease-modifying drugs in AD.

Campylobacter infection affects more than 200,000 people every year in Europe and in the last four years trend shows an increase of campylobacteriosis. Main vehicle for transmission of the bacterium is contaminated food like meat, milk, fruit and vegetables. In this study, the aim was to find characteristic VOCs of C. jejuni in order to detect its presence with an array of MOX gas sensors. Using a starting concentration of 10³ CFU/mL, VOCs were analyzed using GC-MS with SPME technique at the initial time (T0) and after 20 hours (T20). It has been found that Campylobacter sample at T20 is characterized by a higher number of alcohol compounds that the one at T0 and this is due to sugar fermentation. Sensors results showed the ability of the system to follow bacteria curve growth from T0 to T20 using PCA. In particular, this results in a decrease of ΔR/R₀ value over time. For this reason, MOX sensors are a promising technology for the development of a rapid and sensitive system for C. jejuni.

Roundabouts need capacity and safety improvements compatible with manual-driven, not only with autonomous vehicles. The signaling and control of roundabouts must evolve and incorporate current technologies. For that, we approach roundabouts as synchronous switches of vehicles. This paper describes Synchronous Roundabouts with Rotating Priorities, a roundabout control system based on vehicle platoons arriving at the roundabout at speed identical to the roundabout and within the time slot assigned to their entry, avoiding conflicts and stops, thus increasing roundabout capacity and safety. Signaling is visual for human drivers and also wireless for connected and autonomous vehicles. We evaluate analytically and with simulations roundabouts of different radius for several values of the average distance between vehicles. Average delays are 28,7 % lower, with negligible dispersion. The capacity improvements depend on design parameters: in our set is moderate for small roundabouts but goes up to 70-100 % for short distances and medium and large roundabouts.

Uterine Tumor Resembling Ovarian Sex Cord Stromal Tumor (UTROSCT) is a rare uterine mesenchymal neoplasm, which resembles ovarian sex cord tumors of the ovary. Although, in general, UTROSCT exhibits benign behavior with a favorable prognosis, this neoplasm is nonetheless classified as being of an uncertain ma-lignant potential, given its low rate of recurrence and the fact that it rarely pro-duces metastases (lymph nodes, epiploic appendix, omentum, small bowel, subcutaneous, lungs). Its histogenesis too is uncertain. Typically, UTROSCT oc-curs in peri-menopausal or menopausal women but can sometimes be observed in young women. Usually, this neoplasm can be found in the uterine corpus as a nodular intramural lesion, less frequently submucosal, subserosal or poly-poid/intracavitary. UTROSCT can cause abnormal bleeding, pelvic pain, enlarged uterus, mass sensation, but sometimes it is found purely by chance. This neo-plasm can be considered polyphenotypic on morphological, immunohistochem-ical, and genetic analyses. Generally, on microscopic examination, UTROSCT shows a predominant pattern of the cords, nests, and trabeculae typical of sex cord tumors of the ovary while, immunohistochemically, it is characterized by a co-expression of epithelial, smooth muscle, and sex cord markers. The aim of this review is to report clinical and pathological data and genetic alterations to estab-lish its impact on the prognosis and management of patients affected by this rare entity.

The present study evaluates the response to betahistine in patients who presented vestibular drops attacks in the context of Ménière's disease (MD) and the factors that can predict an unfavorable response to it. A total of 43 patients were analyzed, out of which 33 were diagnosed with MD. It is a descriptive, cross-sectional study with retrospective data collection. Data as regards age, accompanying symptoms, etiological diagnosis and response to MD treatment were collected. A statistical analysis was carried out, and we found that the disease evolution time and specific alterations in the vestibulospinal and oculomotor physical examination present an unfavorable response to betahistine, as opposed to the use of intratympanic gentamicin, with which symptomatic control is achieved in 100% of the cases.

Psoriasis is a chronic recurrent inflammatory autoimmune pathology, with a major genetic component and several interferences of immunological cells and their cytokines. The complex orchestration of psoriasis pathogenesis is related to the synergic effect of immune cells, polygenic alterations, the presence of autoantigens and several external factors. The major act of IL-23/IL-17 axis, strongly influencing the inflammatory pattern established during the disease activity, is visible as a continuous perpetuation of the pro-inflammatory response and keratinocyte activation and proliferation leading to the development of psoriatic lesions. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) along offered a better view of psoriasis pathogenic pathways, with approximately one third of psoriasis genetic impact on psoriasis development is associated to MHC region, with genetic loci located on chromosome 6. The most eloquent genetic factor of psoriasis, PSORS1, was identified in the MHC I site. Between the several factors involved in its complex etiology, dysbiosis, due to genetic or external stimulus, exhibiting less variety and the involvement of pathogenic bacteria, cand induce a burst of proinflammatory consequences, both cutaneous and gut microbiome being involved in psoriasis pathogenic process. A complex understanding of the major pathways that interplay in order to initiate and perpetuate psoriatic diseases and its associated comorbidities can help the current clinical practice by properly evaluating completely and individualized each patient and establish the proper therapeutic management.

Background and aims: Despite recent advances in advanced prostate cancer treatments, there are no clinically useful biomarkers or treatments for men with such cancers. Targeted therapies have shown promise, but there remain fewer actionable targets in prostate cancer than in other cancers. This work aims to characterize BRD9, currently understudied in prostate cancer, and investigate its co-expression with other genes to assess its potential as a biomarker and therapeutic target in human prostate cancer. Materials and methods: Omics data from a total of 2053 prostate cancer patients across 11 independent datasets were accessed via Cancertool and cBioPortal. mRNA expression and co-expression, mutations, amplifications, and deletions were assessed with respect to key clinical parameters including survival, Gleason grade, stage, progression and treatment. Network and pathway analysis was carried out using Genemania, and heatmaps were constructed using Morpheus. Results: BRD9 is overexpressed in prostate cancer patients, especially those with metastatic disease. BRD9 expression did not differ in patients treated with second generation antiandrogens versus those who were not. BRD9 is co-expressed with many genes in the SWI/SNF and BET complexes, as well as those in common signaling pathways in prostate cancer. Summary and conclusions: BRD9 has potential as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in prostate cancer. BRD9 also shows promise as a therapeutic target, particularly in advanced prostate cancer, and as a co-target alongside other genes in the SWI/SNF and BET complexes, and those in common prostate cancer signalling pathways. These promising results highlight the need for wider experimental inhibition and co-targeted inhibition of BRD9 in vitro and in vivo, to build on the limited inhibition data available.

The deterioration and destruction of the environment is becoming more and more considerable and greater efforts are needed to stop it. To accomplish this feat, all members of society must identify with environmental problems, with collective environmental action being one of the most relevant means of doing so. From this perspective, the analysis of the psychosocial factors that lead to participation in environmental collective action emerges as a priority objective in the research agenda. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the role of "environmental identity" as conceptualized by Clayton, as a central axis for explaining environmental collective action. The inclusion of the latter in the theoretical framework of the SIMCA model gives rise to the model that we have called EIMECA. Two studies were conducted, and the results reveal that environmental identity, a variety of negative affects, as well as group efficacy accompanied by hope for a simultaneous additive effect, are critical when it comes to predicting environmental collective action.

Cancer is often characterised by the presence of hypoxia and inflammation. Paramount to the mechanisms controlling cellular responses under such stress stimuli, are the transcription factor families of Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) and Nuclear Factor of kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-кB). Although, a detailed understating of how these transcription factors respond to their cognate stimulus is well established, it is now appreciated that HIF and NF-кB undergo extensive crosstalk, in particular in pathological situations such as cancer. Here, we focus on the current knowledge on how HIF is activated by inflammation and how NF-кB is modulated by hypoxia. We summarise the evidence for the possible mechanism behind this activation and how HIF and NF-кB function impacts cancer, focusing on colorectal, breast and lung cancer. We discuss possible new points of therapeutic intervention aiming to harness the current understanding of the HIF-NF-кB crosstalk.

Reducing GHG emissions is a crucial challenge in urban areas, characterized by high energy consumption and reduced exposure to nature. In this context, the urban green system could play a pivotal role. In the literature, scholars analyzed both the ability of species-specific and layout-specific green infrastructures to increase carbon sequestration and the best location sites of new green infrastructures, to increase the provision of overall ecosystem services. There is a lack of studies helping green urban planners and designers choose where and which green infrastructure to implement, based on vegetation species-specific performance and local carbon emissions of city components. This paper uses tree inventory data from a medium-sized city in central Italy (Perugia) to develop a spatial analysis of the urban parks' performance in carbon sequestration. Then, the method evaluates the carbon emission of a public city building to generate a spatialized balance between buildings’ demand and trees’ supply, to support local decisions about the best locations for new green infrastructures and the choice between species. The paper contributes to GIS-based tools that vary the recommended location sites and species for new green infrastructures based on the demanded ecosystem service.

This paper describes a research project carried out in an Italian public school to assess whether parents were willing to take part in food procurement decisions, as well as their ability to accurately predict what foods children would pick at school lunch and their propensity to support sustainable food choices made by the school. The methodology included a questionnaire to 500 parents and an in-depth study of 138 child/parent pairs. The study comprised: (i) presentation of an innovative recipe in the weekly menu of the school canteen; (ii) meal observations of children’s intake at school lunch during the week of the menu modification; (iii) collection of both parents’ and children’s reports on their choices of recipes from the modified weekly menu. The results are commented in light of two important changes that have recently affected Italian public school food procurement: the opening of school canteens to lunches brought from home and the measures adopted since 2020 to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Both events go in the direction of delegating to parents the multifaceted role of the school in the food arena. The article concludes that the results of the study should discourage this approach.

The implementation of sustainable practices, such as the use of renewable sources and efficient technologies, is crucial for reducing climate change. Energy efficiency is highly important on a global scale due to its relationship with climate change, aiming to minimize environmental impact. In Spain, renewable energy policies have increased self-sufficiency and reduced the use of fossil fuels. Optimizing energy consumption in residences, buildings, and industries is essential for improving efficiency. This was taken into consideration for conducting this study, focusing on the residential sector. The desire to understand the level of energy efficiency in Extremadura drove this project, which focuses on collecting and analyzing data on a set of homes located in the au-tonomous community of Extremadura, with the purpose of evaluating their energy efficiency. To achieve this, a computer tool will be employed to provide a detailed view of the different levels of energy efficiency present in the community. In addition to data collection and analysis, research will be conducted to identify areas for improvement. This will allow proposing a series of specific measures that users can implement to optimize energy efficiency in their homes, adapting them to the particular characteristics of each residence.

Dyes, as indigo carmine have become indispensable to modern life being widely used in food, textile, pharmaceutical, medicine and cosmetic industries. Although indigo carmine is considered toxic and presents many adverse effects, it is heavily used in the food industry because the blue pigment is difficult to obtain from natural sources and is one of the most used dyes in the textile industry, especially for dyeing denim. Also, indigo carmine is one of the dyes used in medicine as diagnostic agent because it has impressive applicability in terms of diagnostic methods and surgical procedures. In the literature it is reported that indigo carmine is toxic for humans and can cause various pathologies, such as hypertension, hypotension, skin irritations, corneal and conjunctival disorders or gastrointestinal disorders. In this review, we discuss the structure and properties of indigo carmine, its use in various industries and medicine, the adverse effects of its ingestion, injection or skin contact, the effects on environmental pollution and its toxicity testing.

In the last two centuries, land use change (LUC) has been the most important direct changes driver for terrestrial ecosystems. To contrast the consequent ecosystems degradation, forward-looking spatial policies and target landscape and land-use planning processes, promoting a sustainable land use change, are needed. The present paper proposes a framework of action including different landscape planning and ecological approaches: from the spatial modelling to recognize the LUC and build different scenarios, to the ecosystem services (ESs) assessment to evaluate the possible environmental impacts. Three different scenarios were built: Trend, No-Tillage and Energy crops. The Sediment Delivery Ratio and Carbon Storage and Sequestration ESs were assessed and compared for each scenario. The aim of the paper is to support decision-makers and local communities into the landscape planning process. Results show that a regional development in line with past trend could lead to further land degradation. Instead, the two scenarios proposed in compliance with EU policies, could bring benefits only if related to moderate LUCs and respecting the naturally grass-vegetated land. From the local to global scale, a guided and shared LUC management allows implementing sustainable development, basing on a deep knowledge of physical-environmental but also social and economic issues.

Hypoxia, or reduced oxygen availability, has been studied extensively for its ability to activate specific genes. Hypoxia induced gene expression is mediated by the HIF transcription factors, although not exclusively so. Despite the great knowledge on the mechanisms by which hypoxia activates genes, much less is known about how hypoxia promotes gene repression. In this review, we discuss the potential mechanisms underlying hypoxia-induced transcriptional repression responses. We highlight HIF-dependent and independent mechanisms, but also the potential roles of dioxygenases with functions at the nucleosome and DNA level. Finally, we discuss recent evidence regarding the involvement of transcriptional repressor complexes in hypoxia.

(1) Background: Thrombophilia is a tendency towards hypercoagulability, and it is increased by pregnancy, peaking around delivery. Research question: does thrombophilia stimulate the in-flammatory state of the patient, already suppressed by pregnancy? (2) Methods: Eighty thrombo-philia patients admitted for delivery between 1/10/2017 and 1/12/2021 were prospectively stud-ied, together with eighty age- and para-matched control patients. Patients were admitted for de-livery at term by means of cesarean section. The inflammation indexes from the complete blood count values analysis during both the 24 hours before and after labor—extracted from the hospi-tal’s medical records—were calculated and then correlated with uterine involution. (3) Results: Except for the PLR, most of the numerous inflammation indexes studied were not significantly different in treated thrombophilia patients, before and after delivery, compared to non-thrombophilia patients. Only when we split the patients, based on the uterine haematometra in the first 24-48 hours postpartum, we found out that the few treated thrombophilia patients with haematometra (14 with haematometra out of 79 with treated thrombophilia) had elevated SII and AISI antepartum. In pregnant patients treated for thrombophilia, MLR is higher in pa-tients without the Rh factor than in those with the Rh factor. In non-thrombophilia patients, MCVL and NLPR increased with age and before labor, while SII and AISI increased with age postpartum. (4) Conclusions: Thrombophilia did not stimulate the inflammatory state of the pa-tient, already suppressed by pregnancy.

We consider a new model of a branching random walk on a multidimensional lattice with continuous time and one source of particle reproduction and death, as well as an infinite number of sources in which, in addition to the walk, only absorption of particles can occur. The asymptotic behavior of the integer moments of both the total number of particles and the number of particles at a lattice point is studied depending on the relationship between the model parameters. In the case of the existence of an isolated positive eigenvalue of the evolution operator of the average number of particles, a limit theorem is obtained on the exponential growth of both the total number of particles and the number of particles at a lattice point.

Portugal Mainland has hundreds of thousands of people living in the Atlantic coastal zone, with numerous high economic value activities and a high number of infrastructures that must be protected from natural coastal hazard, namely extreme storms and sea level rise (SLR). In the context of climate change adaptation strategies, a reliable and accurate assessment of the physical vulnerability to SLR is crucial. This study is a contribution to the implementation of flooding standards imposed by the European Directive 2007/60/EC, which requires each member state to assess the risk associated to SLR and floods caused by extreme events. Therefore, coastal hazard in the Continental Atlantic coast of Portugal Mainland was evaluated for 2025, 2050 and 2100 in the whole coastal extension with different sea level scenarios for different extreme event return periods and due to SLR. A coastal flooding probabilistic map was produced based on the developed methodology using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. The Extreme Flood Hazard Index (EFHI) was determined on flood probabilistic bases through five probability intervals of 20% of amplitude. For a given SLR scenario, the EFHI is expressed, on the probabilistic flooding maps for an extreme tidal maximum level, by five hazard classes ranging from 1 (Very Low) to 5 (Extreme).

This article presents a unique set of voltage and current data from a public building and acquired using a hybrid measurement solution that combines Python and Grafana. The transversal purpose consists of contributing to the community with a vision of the quality of the supply more oriented to the monitoring of the state of the network, providing a more realistic vision, which allows a better understanding, and the adoption of the best decisions to achieve the efficient energy management and thus optimize the operation and maintenance of power systems. The work focuses on higher order statistical estimators that, combined with exploratory data analysis techniques, improve the characterization of the shape of the stress signal. These techniques and data, together with the acquisition and monitoring system, present a unique combination in the line of low-cost measurement solutions. It also incorporates the underlying benefit of the contribution to industrial benchmarking. The paper also includes a computational comparison between Python and LabVIEW to elicit the performance of the measurement solution.

Endurance triathlons impose substantial physiological stress, yet effects of short-course formats remain relatively unexplored. In this preliminary study, we assessed proteinuria and hydration levels in 27 well-trained triathletes (41.9 [7.4] years) who completed a sprint triathlon consisting of a 1500-m swim, 26-km cycle, and 8-km run. Urine samples were collected before and after the race. The results showed an increase in cases of post-race proteinuria from four to nine (p=0.03). Also, one case of urobilinuria and ketoacidosis was observed after the race. Pre-race glucosuria, which was present in nine cases, decreased to three cases post-race. Although hematuria cases decreased from six to two (p=0.13), pre-race leukocyturia (found in two cases) resolved post-race. There was a significant increase in urine specific gravity (from 1.018 to 1.023, p=0.03), indicating dehydration. In conclusion, short-course triathlons were found to induce post-race proteinuria, urobilinuria, and dehydration without exacerbating pre-race glucosuria, hematuria, or leukocyturia. These preliminary findings contribute to our understanding of medical guidelines for sprint triathlons, an area of endurance sports that has received limited research attention. Further investigation, both mechanistic and longitudinal, is warranted in this regard.

Lymphocyte collection by apheresis for CAR-T production usually does not include mobilized blood using Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) due to the widespread knowledge that it causes a decrease in the number and functionality of lymphocytes. However, it is used for stem cell transplant, which is a common treatment for hematological malignancies. The growing demand for CAR therapies (CAR-T and NK-CAR), both in research and clinic, makes necessary to evaluate whether mobilized PBSC products may be potential candidates for use in such therapies. This review collects recent work that experimentally verifies the role and functionality of T and NK lymphocytes, and the generation of CAR-T, from apheresis after G-CSF mobilization. As discussed, T cells do not vary significantly in their phenotype, the ratio of CD4+ and CD8+ remains constant and the different sub-populations remain stable. In addition, its expansion and proliferation rate are invariant regardless mobilization with G-CSF, as well as the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines and the cytotoxic ability. Therefore, cells mobilized before apheresis are postulated as a new alternative source of T cells for adoptive therapies that will serve to alleviate high demand, increase availability, and take advantage of the substantial number of existing cryopreserved products.

The basis of this project is a health literacy cohort study (LISA) being developed in the county of Leiria. The study aims to reach and monitor the adult population of the county over time. Counting with a multidisciplinary team, the study stakeholders asked the designers to develop the study’s brand so it could be more advertisable to the population, turning the communication between the stakeholders and the public easier. The development of the brand identity and elements of communication used some graphic design approaches. These approaches were reinforced by the opinions given by the interviewed sample of the population, that answered some of the study’s questions. The interviews held by designers allowed the team to receive information about what was expected the study to be, and how and where to better communicate the LISA’s Study. Trough the aforementioned process resulted in the current finalized outcomes of the study’s brand and communication materials. Both printable and digital communication elements (i.e., roll-up, id cards, flyers, QR Code, and website) were developed and disseminated according to the brand's strategy. Concluding, the communication elements created are seen as the first phase of this project, leaving a second phase related to the design and structuration of the Study to be developed, and published in future articles.

The oncologic disease is a big global health issue that causes thousands of deaths annually, and it has a significant impact in the life quality of patients. Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in men in the western world. Delineation of pathogenetic pathways and key driver molecular alterations involved in PCa development has provided a roadmap for the evaluation of biomarkers in predicting disease outcome and to identify potential therapeutic targets. Chemotherapeutic agents introduced from the 1990s include the taxanes (paclitaxel, docetaxel and cabazitaxel), which are the most anticancer drugs used for PCa treatment. This review presents the current knowledge about the onset and development of PCa, state-of-art on the use of taxane-based therapy, and their combination with targeting different transmembrane oncoproteins in PCa. The silencing of some transmembrane proteins can improve taxane sensitivity, and therefore, may be a mechanism to improve the ef-fectiveness of these drugs in PCa treatment. This combined therapy needs to be explored as po-tential therapeutic agent for reducing cell proliferation, migration, and invasiveness in PCa.

Industry 4.0 is in continuous technological growth that benefits all sectors of industry and society in general. This article reviews the concept of Digital Twin (DT) and the interest of its application in photovoltaic installations. A comparison is made on how other authors use the DT approach in photovoltaic installations to improve the efficiency of the renewable energy generated and consumed, the energy prediction and the reduction of the operation and maintenance costs of the photovoltaic installation. It is reviewed how, by providing real-time data and analysis, DTs enable more informed decisions in the solar energy sector. The objectives of the review are to study the digital twin technology and to analyze its application and implementation in photovoltaic systems.

Recovery between physical efforts is essential for optimal performance in sports. Dietary supplements like cannabidiol (CBD) have been proposed to facilitate recovery and performance optimization. This systematic review aimed to: a) systematize the scientific evidence on CBD for recovery, b) associate CBD's biomedical properties with those required for optimal fatigue recovery, and c) recommend a future research agenda. Searches across databases identified 70 relevant studies from 1990-2022, including 38.6% preclinical, 31.4% clinical trials, and 30.0% reviews/meta-analyses across various populations like mice, rats, epileptics, and athletes. CBD demonstrated potentially beneficial properties for athlete recovery such as anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, anxiolytic, and analgesic effects with doses ranging from 5-600mg administered orally, intravenously, and via other routes. However, rigorous confirmatory research specifically in athlete populations is lacking. While CBD appears promising for facilitating recovery and performance optimization, further randomized placebo-controlled trials are needed to test the acute and chronic effects of different CBD dosing regimens in athletes. Future research should focus on elucidating CBD's physiological mechanisms of action as they relate to post-exercise recovery, as well as its comparative effectiveness versus conventional medications and therapies. Advancing our understanding of CBD's role in athlete recovery could provide new therapeutic strategies to optimize recovery and performance.

Introduction: Dental segmentation in panoramic radiograph has become very relevant in dentistry, since it allows health professionals to carry out their assessments more clearly and helps them to define the best possible treatment plan for their patients. Objectives: In this work, a comparative study is carried out with four segmentation algorithms (U-Net, DCU-Net, DoubleU-Net and Nano-Net) that are prominent in the medical literature on segmentation and we evaluate their results with the current state of the art of dental segmentation in panoramic radiograph. Methods: These algorithms were tested with a dataset consisting of 1,500 images, considering experiment scenarios with and without augmentation data. Results: DoubleU-Net was the model that presented the best results among the analyzed models, reaching 96.591% accuracy and 92.886% Dice using the dataset with data augmentation. Another model that stood out was Nano-Net using the dataset without data augmentation; this model achieved results close to that of the literature with only 235 thousand trainable parameters, while the literature model (TSASNet) contains 78 million. Conclusions: The results obtained in this work are satisfactory and present paths for a better and more effective dental segmentation process.

Background: Demographic aging is a reality in developed countries, which poses a social challenge of great responsibility. Thus, numerous studies have been developed in an attempt to understand which factors best predict healthy aging. The aim of this study was to investigate and systematize literature on intervention programs that simultaneously include cognitive stimulation and physical activity, understand the importance of the use of new technology in these programs, and understand their impact on cognitive function in older adults, giving indications about their contribution to healthy aging. Methods: A narrative approach was used for extraction and synthesis of the data. Relevant studies were identified from electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Academic Search Complete. Results: Thirty-two articles, involving 2815 participants, were identified. All selected studies were randomized controlled studies. The studies were published between 2011 and 2020. All studies included a combination of cognitive and physical interventions. Many of the studies used technology to administer the cognitive stimulation program. Conclusions: Most of the analyzed studies use new technologies in physical and cognitive interventions, demonstrating that this new form of intervention exerts lasting and stable benefits in cognition.

In this study the formation of thin-film barrier coatings based on a highly-conducting Bi1.60Er0.4O3 (EDB) solid electrolyte on supporting Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 (SDC) electrolyte substrates is implemented for the first time using electrophoretic deposition (EPD). Electrokinetic properties of EDB-based suspensions in a non-aqueous dispersion medium of isopropanol modified with small additions of polyethyleneimine (PEI, 0.26 g/L) and acetylacetone (0.15 g/L), as well as in a mixed isopropanol/acetylacetone (70/30 vol.%) medium are studied. The dependences of the thickness of EDB coatings on voltage and deposition time are obtained using deposition on a model Ni-foil electrode. Preliminary synthesis of a conductive polypyrrole (PPy) polymer film is used to create surface conductivity of non-conductive SDC substrates. The efficiency of using a modified dispersion medium based on isopropanol to obtain a continuous EDB coating 12 μm thick, sintered at a temperature of 850 °C for 5 h, is shown. The microstructure and morphology of the surface of the EDB coating are studied. Pt/SDC/EDB/Pt cell is used to characterize the coating conductivity. The EPD method is shown to be promising for the formation of barrier coatings based on doped bismuth oxide. The developed method can be used for creating cathode barrier layers in SOFC technology.

The paper explores different models of innovation management at the regional level and reasons for the best model considering the specific features of St. Petersburg as the innovative region of Russia. The authors, on the base of their long-time experience in studies of innovative enterprises and elaborating the regional innovation policy in St. Petersburg, propose the tool of creation and measuring the results of the regional innovation policy that promotes the life quality improvement and regional sustainable development. The balanced scorecard is used as a method, based on the methodology of knowledge economy development and adjusted to the specific needs of St. Petersburg innovation eco-system. The authors pay special attention to the implementation of principles of green economy into the realization of the regional innovation policy and the proposed balanced scorecard.

Construction involves the use of significant quantities of raw materials and entails high-energy consumption. For the sake of choosing the most appropriate solution that considers environmental and sustainable concepts, tools such as the integrated value model for sustainable assessment (Modelo Integrado de Valor para una Evaluación Sostenible, MIVES) used in Spain, plays a key role in obtaining the best solution. MIVES is a multi-criteria decision-making method based on the value function concept and the seminars delivered by experts. Such tools, in order to show how they may work, require application to case studies. In this paper, two concrete slabs manufactured with differing reinforcement during the construction of the La Canda Tunnels are compared by means of MIVES. The two concrete slabs were reinforced with a conventional steel-mesh and with polyolefin fibres. The results showed that from the point of view of sustainability, the use of polyolefin fibres provided a significant advantage mainly due to the lower maintenance required.

The quality of sedation and changes in cardiorespiratory variables after the intramuscular administration of alfaxalone and butorphanol in Galgo Español dogs were evaluated. Twenty-one adult dogs were included. The dogs received alfaxalone (2 mg/kg) and butorphanol (0,2 mg/kg) intramuscularly. Sedation scoring, cardiorespiratory parameters (including blood gas analysis), echocardiography, thoracic radiography and electrocardiography were performed before sedation and 30 minutes after drug administration. Moderate sedation was observed, and side effects, such as tremors, nystagmus and auditory hyperesthesia, were noticed. Statistically significant changes in heart rate, invasive blood pressure, pH, arterial saturation of O2 and partial pressure of O2 and CO2 were found. Echocardiographic variables, including end-diastolic volume, left ventricular diameter in diastole, aortic and pulmonic flow, diastolic transmitral flow and left atrial/aortic ratio, and electrocardiography parameters, including PQ interval and QT interval, showed statistically significant changes. In conclusion, the intramuscular administration of alfaxalone and butorphanol to healthy dogs produced moderate sedation with mild cardiorespiratory, echocardiographic and electrocardiographic changes, without alterations in cardiac size on X-ray images.

In the bioprinting process, controlling the motion of bioprinters involves a computer-aided design (CAD) model, converting that model into g-code, and transmitting the motion commands to the bioprinters. The g-code file contains information about the motion of the axes and can be generated using various software. However, a challenge arises when using g-code between different bioprinters. Therefore, the objective of this study was to propose a reliable method for analyzing the differences in 3D bioprinting devices by parameterizing a crucial variable for extrusion bioprinting: the E-value. Four bioprinters from three different manufacturers were used to investigate the extrusion behavior when subjected to the same E-value.

The postpartum period is marked by profound changes in women at a physical, psychological, and physiological level. Many of these changes persist after four to six weeks postpartum, and most women do not resume their levels of physical activity, which increases the risk of remaining inactive for many years. It is crucial to implement effective programs that promote exercise during the postpartum period. The objective of this study was to test the feasibility and analyze the effects of a structured and supervised postpartum exercise program on the maternal health and fitness parameters. To analyze the potential effects of the intervention, the level of physical activity, quality of life, pelvic girdle and low back pain, fatigue, depression, and the level of functional and physical fitness were assessed at baseline, after 8 weeks, and after 16 weeks of intervention. Feedback on the exercise program was collected after the final assessment. The results showed that a structured and supervised postpartum exercise program was feasible and safe, and produced positive effects on selected maternal health and fitness parameters. These results will encourage a study protocol with a larger sample in order to prove its effectiveness, improve the guidelines for postpartum exercise, and incorporate this program into a routine health care setting.

Food allergies have increased significantly in recent decades, with shellfish being a leading cause of food allergy and anaphylaxis worldwide, affecting both children and adults. The prevalence of shellfish allergies is estimated to be approximately 0.5-2.5% of the general population, varying significantly by geographical location, age, and consumption habits. Although mollusk consumption has risen, the prevalence of mollusk allergies remains unknown. While extensive research has focused on crustacean allergies, mollusk allergies, particularly those related to gastropods, have received comparatively less attention. Clinical manifestations of shellfish allergy range from localized symptoms to life-threatening systemic reactions, such as anaphylaxis. Notably, severe bronchospasm is a predominant clinical feature in cases involving gastropods. Several allergens have been identified in mollusks, including paramyosin, tropomyosin, and sarcoplasmic calcium-binding protein. In gastropods, documented allergens include tropomyosin, paramyosin, the heavy chain of myosin, and Der p 4 amylase. Diagnosis typically involves a thorough clinical history, skin testing, in vitro quantification of immunoglobulin (Ig) E, and confirmation through oral challenge, although the latter is reserved for selected cases. This review highlights the limited research on gastropod allergy, the identified allergens to date, and the necessity for further investigations to better understand the implications of shellfish allergy within this class.

The contamination of areas around solid urban waste dumps is a global challenge for the maintenance of environmental quality in large urban centres in developing countries. This study applied geophysical methods (electrical resistivity) to identify leachate contamina-tion plumes in the subsoil and groundwater, as well as to describe their temporal (2020 and 2021) dynamics in the lithology and groundwater around the Hulene - B waste dump, Maputo, Mozambique. Geophysical methods (electrical resistivity) were applied to identify possible groundwater contamination plumes, their dynamics, mechanisms of their enrichment and dispersion. Eight 400 m electrical resistivity profiles were performed, four profiles in January 2020 and four profiles in May 2021, overlapped, and the data were inverted with RES2D software. The electrical resistivity models indicate an E - W move-ment of large contamination plumes that dilute superficially into the natural surface wa-ter receiving basin and groundwater, creating zones of resistive anomalies. The thickness of the plumes in the subsurface environment was shown to be extensive in summer for profiles 1a and 2b and we associate it with the higher leachate production and migration mechanisms, which are intense in the hot and rainy season. Profile 4b showed the prop-agation of anomalous surface and subsurface areas, which was associated with higher leachate production and migration process in the new deposition zone (west). The spatial distribution of contamination plumes at both stations reduced significantly as we moved further away from the waste deposit, revealing the attenuating effect of groundwater and lithological substrate (Profile 3 a, b, and fig.7).

The sea level rise, a consequence of climate change, is one of the biggest challenges that countries and regions with coastal lowland areas will face in the medium term. This study proposes a methodology for assessing the vulnerability to sea level rise (SLR) on the Atlantic coast of Portugal mainland. Some scenarios of extreme sea level for different return periods and extreme flooding events were estimated for 2050 and 2100, as proposed by the European Union Directive 2007/60/EC. A set of physical parameters are considered for the multi-attribute analysis technique implemented by the Analytic Hierarchy Process, in order to define a Physical Vulnerability Index fundamental to assess coastal vulnerability. For each SLR scenario, coastal vulnerability maps, with spatial resolution of 20 m, are produced at national scale to identify areas most at risk of SLR, constituting key documents for triggering adaptation plans for such vulnerable regions. For 2050 and 2100, it is estimated 903 km² and 1146 km² of vulnerable area, respectively, being the district of Lisbon the most vulnerable district in both scenarios. Results are available through a Web Map Service, for Portuguese public entities, and through a web map viewer for public and communities in general.

Non-canonical NF-kB signalling plays important roles in development and function of the immune system but also is deregulated in a number of inflammatory diseases. Although, NF-kB and HIF crosstalk has been documented, this has only been described following canonical NF-kB stimulation, involving RelA/p50 and the HIF-1 dimer. Here we report that the non-canonical inducer TNFSF14/LIGHT leads to HIF induction and activation in cancer cells. We demonstrate that only HIF-2a is induced at the transcriptional level following non-canonical NF-kB activation, via a mechanism dependent on the p52 subunit. Furthermore, we demonstrate that p52 can bind to the HIF-2a gene in cells. These results indicate that non-canonical NF-kB can lead to HIF signalling implicating HIF-2a as one of the downstream effectors of this pathway in cells.

In light of the worldwide spreading requirements related to the disclosure of non-financial information, which are aligning to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) developed by the United Nations (UN) in 2015, the study aims to analyse the influence of sustainability and other non-financial reporting on companies’ engagement in earnings management practices, through a pre-post adoption of European Directive 2014/95/EU comparative analysis for firms listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) in the period 2015-2019. To conduct the investigation, the research involves the assessment and analysis of three earnings management metrics resulted by running multiple linear regression models on a sample of 31 companies listed on BSE. Research findings emphasise a decrease in the use of income smoothing practices by sampled companies in the post-adoption period 2017-2019, compared to the period preceding the implementation of the EU directive related to mandatory disclosure of non-financial information, 2015-2016. Thus, firms characterised by a higher transparency in terms of sustainability reporting are less inclined to engage in earnings management practices. This research complements the literature in the field of sustainability reporting and earnings management, providing empirical evidence on the significance and impact of publishing non-financial information.

In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in the development of rare-earth ion doped tellurite glass laser sources, ranging from watt and multiwatt level fiber lasers to nanowatt level microsphere lasers. Significant success has been achieved in extending the spectral range of tellurite fiber lasers generating at wavelengths beyond 2 μm as well as in theoretical understanding. This review is aimed at discussing the state of the art of neodymium-, erbium-, thulium-, and holmium-doped tellurite glass fiber and microsphere lasers.

Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) encompass a group of biobased technologies capable of directly converting organic matter into electricity. In these systems, which are derived from conventional electrochemical systems, the ion exchange membrane represents a key element because of its influence on the economic feasibility and on the performance of BES. This study examines the impact of long-term operation of a BES on the mechanical, chemical and electrochemical properties of five different kind of cation exchange membranes (Nafion-117, CMI-7001, Zirfon UTP 500, FKE and FKB) through several techniques: (i) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to assess the changes on the membranes surface, (ii) thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to evaluate the structural stability of the membranes, and (iii) ion exchange capacity (IEC) to monitor any change in their electrochemical properties. Results confirmed that there is not an ideal membrane for BES. While Nafion and CMI-7000 exhibited the strongest chemical structure, they also underwent the highest fouling as revealed by a fast increase in surface roughness.

The present paper deals with an improvement of the strengthening technique consisting in the combined use of straps—made of stainless steel ribbons—and CFRP strips, to increase the out-of-plane strength of masonry walls. The straps of both the previous and the new combined technique pass from one face to the opposite face of the masonry wall through some holes made along the thickness, giving rise to a three-dimensional net of loop-shaped straps, closed on themselves. The new technique replaces the stainless steel ribbons with steel wire ropes, which form closed loops around the masonry units and the CFRP strips as in the previous technique. A turnbuckle for each steel wire rope allows the closure of the loops and provides the desired pre-tension to the straps. The mechanical coupling—given by the frictional forces—between the straps and the CFRP strips placed on the two faces of the masonry wall gives rise to an I-beam behavior of the facing CFRP strips, which begin to resist the load as if they were the two flanges of the same I-beam. Even the previous combined technique exploits the ideal I-beam mechanism, but the greater stiffness of the steel wire ropes compared to the stiffness of the steel ribbons makes the constraint between the facing CFRP strips stiffer. This gives the reinforced structural element greater stiffness and delamination load. In particular, the experimental results show that the maximum load achievable with the second combined technique is much greater than the maximum load provided by the CFRP strips. Even the ultimate displacement turns out to be increased, allowing us to state that the second combined technique improves both strength and ductility. Since the CFRP strips of the combined technique run along the vertical direction of the wall, the ideal I-beam mechanism is particularly useful to counteract the hammering actions provided by the floors on the perimeter walls, during an earthquake. Lastly, after the building went out of service, the box-type behavior offered by the three-dimensional net of straps prevents the building from collapsing, acting as a device for safeguarding life.

Earth is a complex material with a mechanical and physical behavior that differs from modern building materials. The conservation of rammed earth (RE) constructions presents specific difficulties that are challenging to overcome. The lack of knowledge about RE due to its abandonment for decades and attempts to adopt materials and repair methodologies designed for new building products has led to inadequate interventions. In the case of historic defensive constructions, the doubts and technical difficulties are even greater due to the nature of the so called military RE (with physical and mechanical characteristics significantly different from those of civil, more common, RE) and, not least, due to the historical and cultural heritage value of these constructions. Some important interventions have been carried out recently and others are underway or in the planning stage, and there is a constant lack of information and technical data on the best ways to intervene. To fill this gap, the state of conservation of the RE defensive structures and the results of interventions carried out throughout history in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula are being assessed. This article sets out the framework of the subject, identifies the material and construction techniques, and recognizes the main causes of its deterioration and decay. With special focus on the most frequent damages detected in historic military defensive structures built with RE, it analyses and discuss the most common techniques that have been used for the repair and conservation of these particular structures.

The links between rural and urban have often been the subject of study in Portugal. Nevertheless, the asymmetries between rural and urban have not ceased to increase over the last decades, contributing to an imbalance of economic, social, and territorial dimensions between regions. In order to counter this trend, policies to attract the population and tourism have been endorsed but have not been sufficient to promote territorial cohesion. This makes it necessary to rethink the capacity and the potential of rural territories in terms of mobilising their resources and, through them, promoting new and/or renewed relations with urban territories. This article aims to explore and map the links between urban and rural areas by analysing the routes taken by agri-food products, from production to marketing, with the support of a spatial analysis, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). For that, we analysed a set of specialised and/or gourmet shops in Oorto and Lisbon, and their relations with the territories from which the commercialized agri-food products come. Most of these products originate in the inland rural regions of the country, and there is a clear geographical connection between the shops analysed and specific territories. Thus, it was possible to verify the increase in interest and consumption of agri-food products of rural origin and the spontaneous increase of this type of shop in the cities analysed, as well as identify the target audience of the shops and the spatial influence they have in the respective cities. These shops, in addition to selling agro-food products, are also promoters of rural territories in an urban environment.

Construction work is physically demanding. The tasks involved in this professional occupation physically exhaust workers and put them at high risk of injury. This work aims to analyze muscle fatigue in civil construction workers, with and without physical activity historical practice. For this purpose, the muscle activity of the Biceps Femoris, Trapezius Transversalis, Erector Spinae Longissimus, was evaluated using surface electromyography. Eleven male civil construction workers aged 26 to 52 years (38.00 ± 9.60), of whom 7 were untrained (N =7) and 4 were trained (N=4) participated in this study. Each subject completed two assessments at two different times. At the first assessment moment, a questionnaire was completed, and the maximum repetition of the deadlift exercise was assessed. At the second assessment, the subjects were assessed while performing the deadlift in four different situations: 50%RM at rest, 80%RM at rest, 80%RM at fatigue, and 50%RM at fatigue. The trained construction workers have higher levels of muscle activity, and there are no significant differences in muscle activation between the fatigued and non-fatigued sets. There appears to be a strong influence of physical exercise on muscle activity and fatigue in civil construction workers.

This paper is the continuation of a previous study, which highlighted some inconsistencies in the RILEM guidelines for the interpretation of the diagonal compression test. Although improved compared to the ASTM guidelines, in fact, the RILEM guidelines underestimate the state of hydrostatic stress induced by the diagonal compression test at the center of the wallette. The new interpretation of the diagonal compression test proposed in this article shows that the RILEM guidelines actually underestimate both the hydrostatic and the deviatoric stress states at the center of the wallette. The new formulation complies with the linear elastic theory and allows us to use the the diagonal compression test to identify the three elastic coefficients of masonry. In particular, it allows the identification of the Poisson ratio, which instead takes on a conventional value in the RILEM and ASTM guidelines. The difference of one order of magnitude between the conventional and proposed Poisson’s ratio is in agreement with the experimental results on another brittle material, namely concrete. Finally, the new proposal fills the gap between the results provided by the two tests usually performed to identify the shear behavior of masonry: the diagonal compression test and the shear-compression test.

Among all the active confinement techniques, the use of pre-tensioned stainless steel straps has recently gained much attention. The flexibility of the stainless steel straps allows us to bend and pass them through the thickness of the masonry, thus creating a three-dimensional strengthening system between the two opposite facings. The use of the same perforation for the passage of several straps closed in a loop generates a continuous strengthening system that prevents parts of the structure from falling and injuring the occupants during seismic events. However, the perforations can nullify the in-plane strengthening, as they act as cylindrical hinges and make the reinforcement system labile for certain strap arrangements. Diagonal compression tests on square masonry panels performed in the present study show that the straps improve neither strength nor ductility when running along the mortar head and bed joints, arranged in square meshes. Conversely, they improve both strength and ductility when the straps make angles of 45° with the mortar joints. Furthermore, the experimental results show that the straps exert an anisotropic effect that decreases the apparent in-plane Poisson ratio. They also provide new insights into the diagonal compression test and allow formulating a new proposal for the pseudo-ductility factor.

An important indicator of human-related pollution in watersheds is dissolved oxygen (DO). The DO is highly dependent on both space and time characteristics of the watershed and is directly linked to eutrophication, which impairs the development of both the aquatic fauna and flora, also negatively impacting the water quality. Aspiring to reach a more accurate and precise forecasting approach to predict levels of DO, the present work proposes new graph-based and transformer-based deep learning models. The models were trained and validated for the Credit River Watershed, and the results were compared with both benchmarking and literature-found approaches. The proposed Graph Neural Network Sample and Aggregate (GNN-SAGE) model was the best-performing approach, reaching coefficient of determination (R2) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) values of 97% and 0.34 ppm, respectively. The findings from the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) indicated that the GNN-SAGE benefited from spatiotemporal information from the surrounding stations, improving the model’s results, and that temperature is a major input attribute for determining future DO levels. The results established that the proposed GNN-SAGE model stands as a state-of-the-art solution for DO forecasting, with potential for real-time water quality applications.

Wikipedia, as "social machine", is a privileged place to observe the collective construction of concepts without central control. Based on Dahlberg's theory of concept, and anchored in the pragmatism of Hjørland - in which the concepts are socially negotiated meanings - the evolution of the concept of Semantic Web (SW) was analyzed in the English version of Wikipedia. An exploratory, descriptive and qualitative study was designed and we identified 26 different definitions (between 7-12-2001 and 12/31/2017) of which 8 are of particular relevance for their duration, with the latter being the two recorded at the end of the analyzed period. According to them, SW: "is a extension of the web"and "is a Web of Data"; the latter, used as a complementary definition, links to Berners-Lee's publications. In Wikipedia, the evolution of the SW concept appears to be based on the search for the use of non-technical vocabulary and the control of authority carried out by the debate. As a space for collective bargaining of meanings, the Wikipedia study may bring relevant contributions to a community's understanding of a particular concept and how it evolves over time.

The strong competition in the automotive industry has required manufacturers to implement lean production, both with methods and techniques specific to Industry 4.0. At the same time, universities must provide graduates with specific skills for applying these new production methods and techniques. In this context, a Lean Learning Factory was developed in the Pitesti University Center, which allows students to learn, experiment, and research, in an environment similar to that of enterprises, the new Lean Manufacturing methods and techniques, and Industry 4.0. The research presented in this study had as its objective identifying the minimum number of repetitions necessary to train operators who serve two differently organized workstations, one classic, the other including digital techniques, but on which the same assembly operation is performed. Several indicators were considered in the analysis, such as the number of errors, the number of stops, the effective duration of the work cycle, and the percentage ratio between the standard duration of cyclical activities and the effective duration of the work cycle. The evolution of these indicators was mathematically modelled by regression functions, using the least squares method. The obtained results also highlight the usefulness of applying the DOJO method as a Lean manufacturing-specific learning technique and the efficiency of implementing digital techniques in work organization.

Response of tomato and eggplant to continuous lighting (CL) and abnormal light/dark (L/D) cycles was studied to elucidate the role of the absence of the dark period in the diurnal cycle in the development of leaf injuries under CL. Four light treatments were set: 16/8 h (control), 24/0 h (CL), 6/6 h, and 24/24 h (abnormal L/D cycles). These light treatments provided average daily light integrals of 17.3, 25.9, 13.0 and 13.0 mol m-2 day-1, respectively. Results of this work have shown that in both tomato and eggplant abnormal L/D cycles caused photoinhibition and leaf injuries similar to those in CL-grown plants. Induced defense mechanisms were not strong enough to contend against oxidative stress caused by light treatments that provided plants with even smaller DLI than 16/8 h photoperiod did. Half time during abnormal L/D cycles were dark periods. Despite these facts, abnormal L/D cycles were injurious. It is concluded that photooxidative stress induced by CL can not be attributed to excessive DLI or the continuity of light itself (the absence of dark periods). Therefore, we believe that the hypothesis suggesting circadian asynchrony to be the main triggering factor of CL-induced leaf injuries is the most plausible among many others proposed.

Hypoxia — reduction in oxygen availability—plays key roles in both physiological and pathological processes. Given the importance of oxygen for cell and organism viability, mechanisms to sense and respond to hypoxia are in place. A variety of enzymes utilise molecular oxygen, but of particular importance to oxygen sensing are the 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG) dependent dioxygenases (2-OGDs). Of these, Prolyl-hydroxylases have long been recognised to control the levels and function of Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF), a master transcriptional regulator in hypoxia, via their hydroxylase activity. However, recent studies are revealing that dioxygenases are involved in almost all aspects of gene regulation, including chromatin organisation, transcription and translation. We highlight the relevance of HIF and 2-OG dioxyenases in the control of gene expression in response to hypoxia and their relevance to human cancers.

Deep learning image reconstruction (DLIR) algorithms employs convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for CT image reconstruction to produce CT images with a very low noise level, even at low radiation dose. The aim of this study was to assess whether the DLIR algorithm reduces the CT effective dose (ED) and im-proves CT image quality in comparison with filtered back projection (FBP) and iterative reconstruction (IR) algorithms in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. We identified all consecutive patients referred to the ICU of a single hospital who underwent at least two consecutive chest and/or abdominal contrast-enhanced CT scans within a time period of 30 days using DLIR and subsequently FBP or IR algorithm (Advanced Mod-eled Iterative Reconstruction model-based algorithm [ADMIRE], or Adaptive Iterative Dose Reduction 3D [AIDR 3D]) for CT image reconstruction. The radiation ED, noise level, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were compared between the different CT scanners. The non-parametric Wilcoxon test was used for statistical comparison. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. A total of 83 patients (mean age, 59 ± 15 years [standard deviation]; 56 men) were included. DLIR vs FBP reduced ED (18.45 ± 13.16 mSv vs 22.06 ± 9.55 mSv, P < 0.05), while DLIR vs FBP and vs ADMIRE and AIDR 3D IR algorithms reduced image noise (8.45 ± 3.24 vs 14.85 ± 2.73 vs 14.77 ± 32.77 and 11.17 ± 32.77\, P < 0.05) and increased SNR (11.53 ± 9.28 vs 3.99 ± 1.23 vs 5.84 ± 2.74 and 3.58 ± 2.74, P < 0.05). CT scanners employing DLIR reduced radiation ED and im-proved SNR compared to CT scanners using FBP, whereas CT scanners using DLIR improved SNR com-pared to CT scanners using FBP or IR algorithms in ICU patients.

(1) Background: To investigate the effect of phosphohistone H3 (PHH3) and vitamin D receptor (VDR) in the risk assessment of endometriosis, in two cohorts of women with this pathology, those receiving hormonal treatment, and those without treatment; (2) Methods: In 60 cases of women with endometriosis, the paraffin-embedded endometriosis tissue samples, retrieved after surgery, were immunohistochemically (IHC) analyzed aiming to determine the expression status of PHH3 and VDR; (3) Results: The IHC positive index of PHH3 and VDR of these two groups were compared. PHH3 levels were positively correlated with vitamin D levels, both being increased in patients without treatment. Within the group without treatment, PHH3 and VDR expressions were positively associated; (4) Conclusions: IHC analysis of PHH3 and VDR can be used as an additional tool for risk stratification and prognostic assessment in patients with endometriosis.

Turbidity is an important indicator of water quality in hydrology. More traditional ways to monitor turbidity can provide reliable results. However, they are prone to human error, have elevated costs, and lack real-time monitoring capacity. Addressing these hindrances, in this work we combine spectral bands and indices from Sentinel-2 with several machine learning paradigms, namely XGBoost, Random Forests, GMDH, Support Vector Regression, k-Nearest Neighbors and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator to model turbidity, using data from twelve monitoring stations encompassing the Mississippi River, USA. Results show that considering the individual monitoring stations, the ML paradigms for turbidity modeling were satisfactory at locations with a larger range and standard deviation values, achieving a mean R2 value of 59.5%. Tree-based models were the best overall approach, often ranking as the best or second-best performing model. When all the samples from the monitoring stations were used, the XGBoost provided superior output for turbidity modeling, reaching an R2 equal to 75.7%. A comprehensive comparison with the literature found values showed that the models implemented using this study’s methodology could provide competitive results, deeming it as an alternative for turbidity modeling from remote sensing data.

The influence of hafnium metal (Hf) and sulfate ions (SO₄^-2) on the acidic properties of SiO₂ mesopores synthesized by a non-hydrothermal method was studied using the following characterization techniques; TG-DTG, XRD, BET, SEM, TEM, EDS, FTIR, n-butylamine titration, FTIR-pyridine, and alcohol dehydration. The incorporation of 3.6% mol of Hf during the silicate synthesis step caused the characteristic structural arrangement of MCM-41 to collapse. However, an increase in the acid strength of the catalyst of up to 315 mV was observed, with Brönsted and Lewis-type acid sites being mostly present therein. Furthermore, the acidity of Hf- and (SO₄^-2) -modified SiO₂ in the dehydration of ethanol and methanol was evaluated, resulting in a selectivity towards ethylene and dimethyl ether, respectively. Acid solids have enormous potential to produce important compounds for the chemical industry using alternative routes other than petrochemical processes. They also represent a significant advance for biorefineries.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is characterized by liver steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis, is the most severe variation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This disease is a consequence of several metabolic alterations such as type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia that trigger different pathways of cell dysfunction and systemic inflammation which ultimately affect the liver. Furthermore, those mechanisms activate a complex cascade of immune response after repeated cell aggression. In the liver cytokines and interleukins interact with network of innate immune cells, including Kupffer cells (KCs), dendritic cells (DCs), lymphocytes and hepatic stellate cells (HSC). These cells translate those signals into immune responses and pathologic hepatic changes during the development of NASH. In this scenario the development of fibrosis is the most important change since it is an adaptive mechanism that in the short time has the objective of repair the damaged tissue but after prolonged injury it progresses to parenchymal scarring, cellular dysfunction and finally to organ failure. Finally, since NASH is an important cause of liver cirrhosis; this review addresses the cellular pathways of fibrosis in the setting of NASH explained by the interaction between immune and hepatic cells.

Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is one of the most appreciated and consumed food worldwide, especially in Italy, for its high content of nutrients and for its taste. However, these characteristics make this product subject to counterfeiting in different forms. In this study, a novel method based on an electronic nose has been developed in order to investigate the potentiality of this tool to distinguish rind percentage in grated Parmigiano Reggiano packages that should be lower than 18%. Different samples in terms of percentage, seasoning and rind working process were considered to tackle the problem at 360°. In parallel, GC-MS technique was used to give a name to the compounds that characterize Parmigiano and to relate them with sensors responses. Data analysis consisted of two stages: multivariate analysis (PLS) and classification made in a hierarchical way with PLS-DA ad ANNs. Results are promising in terms of correct classification of the samples. The classification rate is higher for ANNs than PLS-DA, reaching also 100% values.

In the olive orchard on the western part of Istria, Croatia, twig and branch dieback was observed on several olive trees from the local cultivar ‘Buza’. In total, seven samples from symptomatic trees were collected. Samples were analyzed, and four fungal isolates showed morphological similarities to the species Phaeoacremonium iranianum. One isolate, chosen as a representative, was taken for molecular identification and pathogenicity tests. Based on DNA sequence data of ITS1/ITS4, βt2a/βt2b, EF1-728F/EF1-986R, the isolate was identified as P. iranianum. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on detached olive branches and olive trees in the greenhouse, and identified fungal species was pathogenic on olive. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of twig and branch dieback on olive causing by phytopathogenic specie of fungus Phaeoacremonium iranianum.

Objectives Bone fractures are very common diseases, which can be caused by impact injuries or physiological disorders. Thus, the present review aimed to study the use of medicinal plants in the healing mechanism of bone fractures. Evidence acquisition Through research in the PubMed, Google Academic, and Scielo databases, this article reviews 11 ethnopharmacological studies and 34 preclinical studies on the biological actions of different plants in bone fracture healing mechanism. Results Indian tribes have highlighted in the plants ethnopharmacological study for various diseases, including bone fractures. However, despite the large citations of traditional use, technical-scientific studies are still scarce in the literature. Chenopodium ambrosioides, Piper sarmentosum, quadrangular Cissus, Ricinus communis and Radix salvia miltiorrhiza plants were the most studied in the literature regarding their osteogenic, angiogenic, anti-inflammatory and remodeling effects, acting on bone receptors, stimulating bone metabolism, increasing minerals uptake, and assisting in free radicals breakdown. Conclusion Thus, the medicinal plants use is promising in the field of bone regeneration, as well as being alternative when conventional therapies are unfeasible, increasing herbal medicines demand and popularity.

Road dust resuspension, especially the particulate matter fraction below 10 µm (PM10), is one of the main air quality management challenges in Europe. Road dust samples were collected from representative streets (suburban and urban) of the city of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. PM10 emission factors (mg veh-1 km-1) ranging from 49 (asphalt) to 330 (cobble stone) were estimated by means of the United Stated Environmental Protection Agency method. Two road dust fractions (< 0.074 mm and from 0.0074 to 1 mm) were characterised for their geochemical, mineralogical and morphological properties. In urban streets, road dusts reveal the contribution from traffic emissions, with higher concentrations of e.g. Cu, Zn, and Pb. In the suburban area, agriculture practices likely contributed to As concentrations of 180 mg kg-1 in the finest road dust fraction. Samples are primarily composed of quartz, but also of muscovite, albite, kaolinite, microcline, Fe-enstatite, graphite and amorphous content. Particle morphology clearly shows the link with natural and traffic related materials, with well-formed minerals and irregular aggregates. The hazard quotient suggests a probability to induce non-carcinogenic adverse health effects in children by ingestion of Zr. Arsenic in the suburban street represents a human health risk of 1.58 x 10-4.

The importance of personalized medicine is growing, since there is an urged need to avoid unnecessary and expensive treatments. In nuclear medicine, the theranostic approach is an established tool for a specific molecular targeting in means of diagnostics and therapy. The visualisation of potential targets can help to predict if a patient would benefit from a particular treatment or not. Thanks to the quick development of radiopharmaceuticals and diagnostic techniques, the use of theranostic agents is constantly rising. In this article important milestones of nuclear therapies and diagnostics in the context of theranostics are highlighted. It begins with the well-known radioiodine therapy in patients with thyroid cancer and then guides through different approaches for the treatment of advanced cancer with targeted therapies. The aim of this review is to provide a summary of background knowledge, current applications and advantages of targeted therapies and imaging in nuclear medicine practice.

Deep Learning is developing interesting tools which are of great interest for inverse imaging applications. In this work, we consider a medical imaging reconstruction task from subsampled measurements, which is an active research field where Convolutional Neural Networks have already revealed their great potential. However, the commonly used architectures are very deep and, hence, prone to overfitting and unfeasible for clinical usages. Inspired by the ideas of the green-AI literature, we here propose a shallow neural network to perform an efficient Learned Post-Processing on images roughly reconstructed by the filtered backprojection algorithm. The results obtained on images from the training set and on unseen images, using both the non-expensive network and the widely used very deep ResUNet show that the proposed network computes images of comparable or higher quality in about one fourth of time.

Oxygen and hydrogen mobility are among the important characteristics for operation of solid oxide fuel cells, permselective membranes and many other electrochemical devices. This, along with other characteristics, enables reaching a high power density of solid oxide fuel cells and a high oxygen or hydrogen permeation fluxes for membranes. This work focuses on oxygen and hydrogen diffusion of mixed ionic (oxide ionic or/and protonic) – electronic conducting materials for these devices and its role in the performance. Ionic transport properties of conventional and state-of-the-art materials are reviewed.

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common endocrinopathies, estimated to affect about 5.4% of the world's population around 2025. It is thought that nearly a third of diabetic patients have some type of skin condition. Frequently, the cutaneous effects of this heterogeneous syndrome are ac-curately detected late in the progressive form of the disease. The main objective of the present study was to identify the main cellular characteristics of the cutaneous microenvironment in exper- imentally induced diabetes mellitus. Skin fragments were harvested from adult white Wistar rats of both sexes, with the weight of 200 g, 12 weeks after streptozotocin diabetes was induced. In parallel with histopathological diagnosis by using hematoxylin and eosine staining, samples were processed by transmission electron microscopy technique and examined with a Philips CM100 microscope. In the apparently macroscopically unchanged tegument, photon microscopy revealed both progres ive thinning of the epidermis in the early stages of diabetes and a significant process of fibrosis and collagen hyalinization in the dermis. In addition, in the early stages, the electron microscopic study provided ultrastructural details characteristic of a senescent phenotype with reduced cell proliferation. The morphological changes in the skin may be the first signs of disruption of carbohydrate metabolism and in the case of established diabetes may reflect its progression and the efficacy of therapy.

The effects of methyl jasmonate (MeJ) on growth and taxoid formation in the cell culture of Himalayan yew was investigated for elucidate the specifics of the action of phytohormones on dedifferentiated plant cells in vitro. The characteristics of the same suspension culture of Taxus wallichiana was compared in 2017 ("young culture") and in 2022 ("old culture") - 1.5 or 6 years after culture induction, respectively. Cells were grown in flasks and bioreactors, MeJ (100 µM) was added at the exponential growth phase. It was found that cell culture demonstrated good growth (dry weight (DW) accumulation 10–18 g/l, specific growth rate µ = 0.15–0.35 day-1) regardless of "age", cultivation system and MeJ addition. UPLC–ESI-MS analysis showed the presence of C14-hydroxylated taxoids (yunnanxane, taxuyunnanine C, sinenxane C, sinenxane B) in cell biomass in the amounts comparable to plants. The content of C14-OH taxoids during 5 years of cultivation increased by 3-5 times. It was 0.2–1.6 mg/g DW for "young culture” and 0.6-10.1 mg/g for “old culture” depending on cultivation conditions. The ratio of individual compounds changed also: in the "young culture" was predominant yunnanxane, in the "old culture" - sinenxane C. Important that C13-hydroxylated taxoids were found in trace amounts only in the "young culture” (below 0.05 mg/g DW) and were not detected in the "old culture”. The response to MeJ was radically different depending on culture’s «age». In the “young culture”, exogenous MeJ had no effect on the content of C14-OH com-pounds, but significantly (almost 10 times) increased the content of C13-OH compounds. In particular, paclitaxel concentration was elevated up to 0.12–0.19 mg/g DW, which is comparable to its content in the bark of yew trees. By contrast, MeJ added to the "old culture” had minor effect on the synthesis of C13-OH toxoids that appeared in trace amounts only (below 3.5 µg/g DW for paclitaxel) but notably increased the content of C14-OH compounds (1.5–2.0 times in flasks and 5–8 times in bioreactors). These findings suggest that hormonal signaling in dedifferentiated yew cells grown in vitro is different from that in plants and change with culture age. This might be a result of the high level of heterogeneity of cells in vitro and their constant auto-selection for proliferate intensity which leads to predominant formation of C14-OH taxoids versus C13-OH taxoids and modified cell response to exogenous MeJ treatment. These results have both fundamental and practical biotechnological application.

A remarkable strengths of deep neural networks lies in their ability to discover patterns and representations from complex data. Deep learning models can learn and refine features at different levels of abstraction, enabling them to handle complex tasks in computer vision recognition, natural language processing, and speech recognition. The ability to generalize from examples, coupled with the capacity to process vast amounts of data, empowers deep learning to achieve state-of-the-art results across a wide spectrum of applications. An argument for this ability is based on similarities between deep neural networks and the nervous system. In this report, we argue that despite the remarkable performance of deep learning, there are still gaps between deep learning and the nervous system that needs to be closed to enable deep learning doing tasks that currently only the nervous system can perform

Peach is the third most important temperate fruit crop considering fruit production and harvested area in the world. Exporting peaches represents a challenge due to the long-distance export markets. This requires fruit to be placed in cold storage for a long time, which can induce a physiological disorder known as chilling injury (CI). The main symptom of CI is mealiness which is perceived as non-juicy fruit by consumers. The purpose of this work was to identify and compare the metabolic and lipid profile between two siblings from a contrasting population for juice content, at harvest and after 30 days at 0°C. A total of 119 metabolites and 189 lipids were identified, which showed significant differences of abundance including mainly in amino acids, sugars and lipids. Our results indicate that some of the top metabolites and lipids could be used as biomarkers associated with mealiness at harvest and after cold storage.

Transcriptional regulation constitutes a key step in gene expression regulation. Myocyte enhancer factor 2C (MEF2C) is a transcription factor of MADS box family involved in the early development of several cell types including muscle cells. Over the last decade a novel layer of complexity modulating gene regulation is emerging as non-coding RNAs have been identified, impacting in both transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. microRNAs represent the most studied and abundantly expressed subtype of small non-coding RNAs and their functional role have been widely documented. On the other hand, our knowledge on the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that drive microRNA expression is still incipient. We recently demonstrated that MEF2C is able to transactive the long, but not short, regulatory element upstream of miR-23a-miR-27a-miR-24-2 transcriptional start site. However, MEF2C over-expression and silencing, respectively, displayed distinct effects on each of the miR-23a-miR-27a-miR-24-2 mature cluster members, without affecting pri-miRNA expression levels, supporting thus additional MEF2C-driven regulatory mechanisms. Within this study we demonstrated a complex post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms directed by MEF2C in the regulation of miR-23a-miR-27a-miR-24-2 cluster members, distinctly involving different domains of the MEF2C transcription factor and the physical interaction with pre-miRNAs and RNA interacting proteins such as Ksrp, HnRNPa3 and Ddx17.

Sustainability, particularly in construction materials, has been a subject of growing interest. Civil construction is one of the industries where more materials are consumed, which leads to high energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The production of cement, especially clinker is largely responsible for these problems. As a solution, new materials emerge, which do not require much energy for their production, which are the alkaline cements, specifically the geopolymers. Geopolymers are inorganic polymers obtained by the alkaline activation of aluminosilicate precursors. In the present study geopolymers were developed with low grade kaolin (as a precursor) from a Portuguese company. The development of these geopolymers will be, due to their properties, a good solution for rehabilitation of earth buildings, especially in adobe. The development of these geopolymers is also a contribution to the sustainability of kaolin exploitations as it opens new markets for the low grade kaolins, presently not easily commercialized. As mechanical strength of adobe materials ranges in literature from 0.6 to 8.3 MPa, the values obtained for the developed geopolymers (between ~2 to 10 MPa) can be considered as totally adequate.

This study presents results of the sediment yield Watershed of Ribeirão do Pinhal, in the city of Limeira, São Paulo, conducted under three different scenarios of the land use: 1 – land use in 2008, 2 – with reforested protection areas, 3 – the increase sugarcane's areas over grassland and citrus areas. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used as a hydro-sedimentological modeling tool to simulate these scenarios. This watershed was divided into five sub-watersheds according to the prevalent use, and adjustments were made in soils database parameters and cultures that are in SWAT, to adapt it to the Brazilian reality. Was used climatological data of eight years (2007-2014) for this modeling. Different sediment yield could be noted in the different types of land use, sub-watersheds and scenarios. The uses that presented higher sediment yield, in ascending order, were: natural vegetation, sugarcane, citrus, annual crop e grassland. Sub-watershed number 2 had the highest sediment yield (~10Mg.ha^-1), while the sub-watershed 5, the lowest (5.51Mg.ha^-1). This remained in the three scenarios. Overall, scenario 2 had the lowest sediment yield (7.74Mg.ha^-1). Scenario 1 had 8.37 Mg.ha^-1 and scenario 3, 8.58Mg.ha^-1. SWAT was considered efficient to simulate the sediment yield by scenarios and by use, combining different thematic and tabular data when performing the necessary adjustments on their original database.

The highly adaptable parasite Trypanosoma cruzi undergoes complex developmental stages to exploit host organisms effectively. Each stage involves the expression of specific proteins and precise intracellular structural organization. These morphological changes depend on key structures that control intracellular components’ growth and redistribution. In trypanosomatids, the flagellar attachment zone (FAZ) connects the flagellum to the cell body and plays a pivotal role in cell expansion and structural rearrangement. While FAZ proteins are well-studied in other trypanosomatids, there is limited knowledge about specific components, organization, and function in T. cruzi. This study employed the CRISPR/Cas9 system to label endogenous genes and conduct deletions to characterize FAZ-specific proteins during epimastigote cell division and metacyclogenesis. In T. cruzi, these proteins exhibited distinct organization compared to counterparts in T. brucei. TcGP72 is anchored to the flagellar membrane, while TcFLA-1BP is anchored to the membrane lining the cell body. We identified unique features in the organization and function of the FAZ in T. cruzi compared to other trypanosomatids. Deleting these proteins had varying effects on intracellular structures, cytokinesis, and metacyclogenesis. This study reveals specific variations that directly impact the success of cell division and differentiation of this parasite.

Cellular automata (CA) models have emerged as a valuable tool in corrosion management. This manuscript provides an overview of the application of cellular automata models in corrosion research, highlighting their benefits and contributions to understanding the complex nature of corrosion processes. Cellular automata models offer a computational approach to simulate corrosion behavior at the microscale, capturing the intricate interactions between electrochemical reactions, material properties, and environmental factors generating a new vision of predictive maintenance. It discusses the key features of cellular automata, such as the grid-based representation of the material surface, the definition of state variables, and the rules governing cell-state transitions. The ability to model local interactions and emergent global behavior makes cellular automata particularly suitable for simulating corrosion processes. Finally, cellular automata models offer a powerful and versatile approach to studying corrosion processes, expanding models that can continue to enhance our understanding of corrosion and contribute to the development of effective corrosion prevention and control strategies.

Transfer RNA fragments (tRFs) have gene silencing effects similarly to miRNAs, can be sorted into extracellular vesicles (EVs) and are emerging as potential circulating biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. We aimed at analyzing the expression of tRFs in gastric cancer (GC) and understanding their potential as biomarkers. We explored miRNA datasets from gastric tumors and normal adjacent tissues (NAT) from TCGA repository, and proprietary 3D-cultured GC cell lines and corresponding EVs, in order to identify differentially represented tRFs using MINTmap and R/Bioconductor packages. Selected tRFs were validated in patient-derived EVs. We found 613 Differentially Expressed (DE)-tRFs in the TCGA dataset, of which 19 were concomitantly upregulated in TCGA gastric tumors and present in 3D-cells and EVs, but barely expressed in NAT. Moreover, 20 tRFs were expressed in 3D-cells and EVs and downregulated in TCGA gastric tumors. Of these 39 DE-tRFs, 9 tRFs were also detected in patient-derived EVs. Interestingly, the targets of these 9 tRFs affect neutrophil activation and degranulation, cadherin binding, focal adhesion and cell-substrate junction, highlighting these pathways as major targets of EV-mediated crosstalk with the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, as they are present in four distinct GC datasets and can be detected even in low quality patient-EV derived samples, they hold promise as GC biomarkers. By repurposing already available NGS data, we could identify and cross-validate a set of tRFs holding potential as GC diagnosis biomarkers.

Herein are reported the main pros and cons of using the conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) called “ChatGPT” as a tool to write essays in the academic and scientific community. Also, selected mathematical and scientific problems were solved to determine the effectiveness of this platform. To this end, a systematic case study was designed and conducted to obtain data generated by the chatbot that was further analyzed. Six different topics were chosen for the essay evaluation, and the introduction section was created using this AI. Meanwhile, six mathematical problems related to integrals, z-transform, Laplace transform, and resolution of ordinary differential equations were solved. Furthermore, a scientific problem associated with the structural properties of material was also solved. After data analysis, we concluded that the conversational platform could quickly create written essays with well-structured words. Nonetheless, in almost all cases, the chatbot only used basic information to complete the introduction, and no critical writing was obtained. For the mathematical case study, we observed that under the current status of the ChatGPT, this platform has no ability or skills to solve complex equations. Thus, significant changes need to be conducted to improve the performance of ChatGPT for mathematical solutions.

Laser reduced graphene oxide (LRGO) on a PET substrate was prepared in one-step to obtain the LRGO grid electrode for sensitive carbaryl determination. The grid form results in a grid distribution of different electrochemically active zones affecting the electroactive substance diffusion towards to the electrode surface and increasing the electrochemical sensitivity for carbaryl determination. Carbaryl is electrochemically irreversibly oxidized by the secondary amine moiety of the molecule with the loss of one proton and one electron in the pH range from 5 to 7 by LSV on the LRGO grid electrode with a scan rate of 300 mV/s. Some interference of the juice matrix molecules did not significantly affect the LSV oxidation current of carbaryl on the LRGO grid electrode after adsorptive accumulation without applied potential. The LRGO grid electrode can be used for LSV determination of carbaryl in fruit juices in the concentration range from 0.25 to 128 mg/L with LOD of 0.1 mg/L by. The fabrication of the LRGO grid electrode opens up possibilities for further inexpensive monitoring of carbaryl in other fruit juices and fruits.

Context: In Software Engineering, there must be clarity in communication among interested parts to elicit the requirements aimed at software development through frameworks to achieve the behaviors expected by the software. Problem: Lack of clarity in the requirements elicitation stage can impact subsequent stages of software development. Solution: We proposed a case study to achieve the proposed goal focusing on the performance efficiency characteristic expressed in the ISO/IEC/IEEE 25010 Standard using Behavior-Driven Development (BDD). Method: The case study was performed with professionals who use BDD to elicit the non-functional requirements of a company that develops software. Summary of Results: The results obtained were aspects related to the elicitation of non-functional requirements aimed at the performance efficiency characteristic of the ISO/IEC/IEEE 25010 Standard using BDD through the point of view of industry professionals. Contributions and impact: The article’s main contribution is to demonstrate the effectiveness of using BDD to elicit non-functional requirements about the performance efficiency characteristic of the ISO/IEC/IEEE 25010 Standard.

PBRM1, a component of the chromatin remodeller SWI/SNF, is often deleted or mutated in human cancers, most prominently in renal cancers. Core components of the SWI/SNF complex have been shown to be important for the cellular response to hypoxia. Here we investigated how PBRM1 controls HIF-1alpha activity. We find that PBRM1 is required for HIF-1alpha transcriptional activity and protein levels. Mechanistically, PBRM1 is important for HIF-1alpha mRNA translation, as absence of PBRM1 results in reduced activly transalting HIF-1alpha mRNA. Interestingly, we find that PBRM1, but not BRG1, interacts with the m6A reader protein YTHDF2. HIF-1alpha mRNA is m6A modified, bound by PBRM1 and YTHDF2. PBRM1 is necessary for YTHDF2 binding to HIF-1alpha mRNA and reduction of YTHDF2 results in reduced HIF-1alpha protein expression in cells. Our results identify a SWI/SNF independent function for PBRM1, interacting with HIF-1alpha mRNA and the epitranscriptome machinery. Furthermore, our results suggests that the epitranscriptome associated proteins play a role in the control of hypoxia signalling pathways

Helicobacter pylori, a gram-negative bacteria usually found in stomach and first part of small intestine, is known to cause infections and ulcers and may have association with cancer. Normally, the treatment options include combinations of antibiotics with proton pump inhibitors and antiinflammatory drugs. However, all of them have high systemic exposure, and hence, unfavourable side effects, whereas their exposure in stomach mucus, the predominant location of the bacteria, is very limited. We have attempted to develop a predominantly gut-restricted formulations of antibiotic + adjuvant combinations as a basis for potentially more safe and efficacious treatment of gastrointestinal tract infections. We have considered E. coli (as a model of H. pylori) and Lactobacilli to study the antibacterial activity of nanogel with combined drugs (classical antibiotics and individual components of essential oils). It has been shown that levofloxacin (LF) in combination with zephirol demonstrates synergy effect against E. coli (cell viability has decreased by about 50%) and weakens the effect against Lactobacilli. A number of other combinations of antibiotic + adjuvant is also shown to be effective. Using FTIR and UV spectroscopy, it has been proved that chitosan nanogels with the drug are well adsorbed on the mucosal model, thereby increasing the bioavailability of drugs. Using ABTS assay, the antioxidant properties of flavonoids and other drugs are shown, which is potentially necessary to minimize the harmful effects of toxins and radicals produced by pathogens. Thus, chitosan nanogels loaded with a combination of drugs can be considered as a new strategy for the treatment of infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, and applicable to difficult-to-treat bacteria.

This paper analyzes the main variables which determines the relation between disinformation and the youth responsibility during the last stage of Covid-19 pandemic in Spain. The document presents relevant results on this subject. At the Introduction the reader will find the theoretical framework of the following concepts: disinformation, responsibility, credibility, and youth responsibility variables. The greatest interest, considering the authors specialization, falls in communication factors. The methods applied had been the reference review of the literature found about this subject, as well as a qualitative opinion research through discussion groups with young University students from Communication Schools in Madrid, both public and private. This recent study, held in June 2021, provide a very rich material for this paper. The main results and findings are the facts of being not satisfied with the information received about Covid-19; the knowledge about their most credible sources; the connection between information and responsibility, and some of the solutions said by youth to be more responsible in this context. As a conclusion, this paper confirms the first hypothesis of considering the disinformation as a variable which causes the lack of youth responsibility. Regarding the second hypothesis it is checked that young people consider communication as a solution for being more responsible.

Wearable Biosensor Technology (WBT) has emerged as a transformative tool in the educational system over the past decade. This systematic review encompasses a comprehensive analysis of WBT utilization in educational settings over a 10-year span (2012-2022), highlighting both the evolution of this field and its integration to address challenges in education by integrating technology to solve specific educational challenges, such as enhancing student engagement, monitoring stress and cognitive load, improving learning experiences, and providing real-time feedback for both students and educators. By exploring these aspects, the review sheds light on the potential implications of WBT for the future of learning. A rigorous and systematic search of major academic databases, including Google Scholar and Scopus, was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Relevant studies were selected based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The articles selected were assessed for methodological quality and bias using established tools. The process of data extraction and synthesis followed a structured framework. Key findings include the shift from theoretical exploration to practical implementation with the EEG being the predominant measurement, aiming to explore mental states, physiological constructs, and teaching effectiveness. Wearable biosensors are significantly impacting the educational field, serving as an important resource for educators and a tool for students. Their application has the potential to transform and optimize academic practices through sensors that capture biometric data, enabling the implementation of metrics and models to understand the development and performance of students and professors in an academic environment, as well as to gain insights into the learning process.

The objective of the study was to analyse the antimicrobial susceptibility trends of Spanish porcine bacteria to quinolones, cephalosporins and polymyxins. Isolates of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, Pasteurella multocida, and Escherichia coli were isolated from sick pigs from 2019 to 2022. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was determined by minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) following internationally accepted methodology. MIC categorization was based on distributing the range of MIC values in four categories being category one the most susceptible (lowest MIC value) and four the less susceptible one (highest MIC value). Moreover, clinical susceptibility (susceptible/resistant) was also determined according to CLSI and EUCAST clinical breakpoints. A logistic and multinomial logistic regression model was used to analyze the susceptibility data for dichotomized and categorized MIC data, respectively for any pair of antimicrobial/microorganism. In general terms, the antimicrobial susceptibility of pig bacteria to these antimicrobials remained stable or increased in the last four years in Spain. In the case of A. pleuropneumoniae and quinolones, it was observed a significant temporal trend where isolates from 2020 had significantly increased odds of being more susceptible than isolates from 2019. In the case of E. coli and polymyxins, a significant temporal trend was observed where isolates from 2020 and 2021 had significantly increased odds of being more susceptible than isolates from 2019 and 2020, respectively. Finally, a significant odd of being less susceptible was only observed for cephalosporins and E. coli for 2020 versus 2019, stagnating for the rest of study period. These results provide sound data on critical important antimicrobials in swine medicine.

Plastic pollution of the ocean is currently one of the most serious environmental threat. Analysis of observations in the Arctic ocean shows that microplastic particles have been found in Arctic snow cover, sea ice, water and sediments. Possible pathways and deposition locations of microplastics in the Arctic Ocean can be assessed based on 3D numerical modeling of thermohaline structure and water circulation, sea ice conditions and drift. The problem is that in addition to transport by currents, a number of other processes affect the state of microplastics. These include mechanical fragmentation, freezing into sea ice and release back into the water, biofouling, adsorption of contaminants and other factors. In this study, based on scenario calculations for a 5-year period, we analyzed the possible spread of microplastics brought by Siberian rivers to the Kara Sea shelf. The Lagrangian particle model used daily 3D numerical simulation data to simulate microplastic transport by ocean currents and by sea ice drift. The results of a series of scenario calculations show how the distribution of particles and their subsequent deposition depend on their type (density), size, processes of freezing into the ice and biofouling.