The aim of this study was synthesize and evaluate the effects of Poly (D, L-Lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) Nanoparticles (NPs) of metformin (PLGA+ Met) on inflammation, and bone loss in a ligature-induced periodontitis rat model. The prepared NPs were characterized by mean diameter, size particle, polydispensity index and encapsulation efficiency by Atomic force microscopy (AFM). Male albino Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups of 20 rats in each group, and given the following treatments for 10 days to evaluate in vivo activity: (1) Sham: no ligature + water; (2) Positive control: ligature + water (with Periodontal disease and Diabetes); (3) ligature + PLGA+ 10 mg/kg Met (With Periodontal disease and Diabetes); and (4) ligature + PLGA+ 100 mg/kg Met (with Periodontal disease and Diabetes). Water or PLGA + Met was administered orally by gavage. Maxillae were fixed and scanned using Micro-computed Tomography (μCT) to quantify linear of bone loss. Histopathological characteristics were assessed through immunohistochemical staining for Osteocalcin, Cathepsyn K, RANKL/RANK/OPG pathway. IL-1β and TNF-α from gingival tissues were analysed by Elisa immunoassay. Quantitative RT-PCR reaction was used to evaluate gene expression of AMPK, NF-κB p-65, Hmgb1 and TAK-1 from gingival tissues. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA at 5% significance. The mean diameter of MET-loaded PLGA nanoparticles was in a range of 457.1 ± 48.9 nm with a polydispersity index of 0.285, zeta potential: 8.16 ± 1.1 mV and entrapment efficiency (EE) was 70%. The results suggest that the addition of MET in the core slightly affected the particle sizes. Treatment with PLGA+ 10 mg/kg Met showed low inflammatory cells, decreased bone loss and integrity cement and levels of IL-1β, and TNF-α (p < 0.05) were significantly reduced. Additionally, weak staining was shown by RANKL, Cathepsyn K, OPG, and osteocalcin. Radiographically, linear measurements showed a statistically significant reduction in bone loss after treatment with PLGA+ 10 mg/kg Met compared to the positive control (p < 0.05). RT-PCR showed increased AMPK expression (p < 0.05) and decreased expression of NF-κB P65, HMGB1 and TAK-1 after PLGA+ 10 mg/kg Met (p < 0.05). The PLGA nanoparticle + 10 mg/kg Met decreased glucose levels and also decreased the inflammatory response, and bone loss in ligature-induced periodontitis in rats.

Anaerobic digestion has emerged as an increasingly popular method for the effective management of organic waste and wastewater with the potential to generate renewable energy. However, efficient digestion depends heavily on the complex and diverse microbial communities mediating this process. This review paper delves into the complex microbiome that exists within anaerobic digestion digesters, playing a critical role in the efficient and sustainable conversion of organic waste into biogas. Its primary focus falls within the scope of how various operational and environmental factors, including temperature, pH, hydraulic retention time, substrate loading rates, and the presence of inhibitory compounds, can substantially impact the microbiome of these systems. Through an extensive analysis of the existing literature, the microbial ecology of anaerobic digestion, including the composition and function of the microbial community, their interactions, and responses to different stressors, are evaluated. By offering critical insights into the distribution patterns of active microbial populations upon alterations in various process parameters, a better understanding of the microbial dynamics within these systems is provided, enhancing their efficiency. Overall, this paper emphasizes the importance of unraveling the microbial evolution within AD reactors to optimize biogas production and sustainable waste management and proposes future perspectives in this direction.

Biogas production from organic waste is a promising renewable energy source, but achieving optimal production and digester stability can be challenging. This study investigated the impact of the Evogen microbial additive on biogas production and digester quality through microbial abundance and physicochemical parameter analysis. Two biogas plants, BG01 and BG02, were examined using 16S rRNA profiling to assess microbial abundance. Simultaneously, physicochemical parameters, including FOS/TAC ratio, total solids, volatile solids, biogas production, and VFA profile, were measured to evaluate digester performance. Results revealed distinct microbial community shifts in Evogen-treated digesters. Increased abundance of methanogenic archaea and hydrolytic bacteria indicated improved anaerobic digestion. Evogen supplementation also positively affected digester performance, with higher FOS/TAC ratios indicating enhanced acidification and methanogenesis. Reductions in total solids and volatile solids demonstrated improved organic matter degradation. Significantly higher biogas production was observed in Evogen-treated digesters, highlighting its potential as a microbial additive. Furthermore, VFA profiling demonstrated improved process stability and reduced substrate inhibition in Evogen-treated digesters. In summary, Evogen microbial additive positively influenced microbial dynamics, improving biogas production and digester quality. These findings contribute to optimizing biogas production systems and understanding the complex microbial interactions within anaerobic digesters.

Additives can improve the efficiency of anaerobic digestion by increasing biogas production, reducing air pollution, and preventing total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) inhibition. Biological or chemical supplementation can also improve the economic efficiency of anaerobic digestion. However, the effects of specific additives on biogas production can vary depending on the type of supplement used. This research utilizes the additives on an industrial scale and monitors the optimization of the anaerobic digestion operating parameters after their addition. The various AD additives were examined in a sufficient cycle of operation for three biogas plants located in northern Greece. In this manner, the effectiveness was investigated in multiple initial feeds and unstable operating situations caused by the seasonality of specific feedstocks. The existing operation state in the three biogas plants was recorded before and after adding the supplements. In all three cases, lower concentration levels were observed in many of the examined trace elements. Introducing additives proved to be a stabilization factor in AD performance and inhibition mediator.

For this research, a comparative evaluation was performed in which the addition of 3D-printed biocarriers fabricated with 13X and Halloysite (13Χ-Η) and commercial Kaldnes K1 biocarriers were evaluated as opposed to the non addition of biocarriers in a semi-pilot scale MBBR-MBR unit. For the evaluation of the MBBR-MBR efficiency, various physicochemical parameters were measured while static light scattering and optical microscopy observations were additionally used. Biofilm extracted from the biocarriers was also evaluated. It was observed that in the MBBR-MBR K1 unit, the membrane filtration improved while in the MBBR-MBR 13X-H unit the membrane fouling rate was the same as in the control MBBR-MBR unit. This is due to the production of large amount of SMP which resulted from the large amount of biofilm created in the 13X-H biocarriers. An optimal biodegradation of the organic load was concluded for all three MBBR-MBR units. The nitrification and denitrification processes were improved at the MBBR-MBR units using 13X-H and K1. The dry mass produced on the 13X-H biocarriers was three orders of magnitude larger than that produced on the K1. Finally, it was observed that mostly EPS was produced in the biofilm of K1 biocarriers while in the biofilm of 13X-H mostly SMP.

The physiological characteristics of liquid digestate retrieved from various biogas plants based in northern Greece are presented. Preliminary photocatalysis experiments on inoculated liquid di-gestate sampled showed that disinfection is possible when pre-treated digestate with a combination of centrifuge-flocculation-μFiltration after 5.5 hours of 0.7g/L suspended TiO2 under UVA illumination for the experimental conditions is used. A novel design photocatalytic nanofiltration reactor was implemented for disinfection experiments on pre-treated liquid digestate, giving promising results. This work sets the basis for the efficient operation and engineering application of technology collaboration with photocatalysis as the final step for liquid digestate sanitation and reusable water recovery.

Many corporations have now revised their value statements to showcase their commitment to sustainable development and green business due to the pressing issues of climate and environmental damage. Despite the importance of value statements that can direct companies to achieve sustainable goals, what kind of values can be perceived as organizational orientations to sustainability remains unknown. This study explores how the general public views the inclusion of sustainable components in value statements from the listed companies in Hong Kong by using Q-sort methodology (n = 30). Analyzing the final sample of 40 value statements extracted from 27 listed companies, we identified three factors related to sustainability, namely, Empowering business process management, Empowering customer-centric excellence, and Empowering sustainable progress. This study provides an additional component to the traditional triple bottom line by suggesting that internal operation of a company is an emerging idea to understand corporate sustainability.

Organic wastes and by-products from several activities, including food industries, farming, and animal husbandry, are a hygiene threat when aerobically decomposed. Therefore, their manage-ment is crucial for public health. In this direction, anaerobic digestion (AD) systems may be the solution by transforming waste into energy, which may decrease the environmental impact. However, their efficacy should be carefully examined. In this innovative study, we evaluated the physicochemical and microbial characteristics of liquid digestate (LD) retrieved from organic animal wastes in northern Greece using nanofiltration. Using treatment technologies including physical (solid-liquid separation, microfiltration and nanofiltration) and biological (anaerobic digestion), heavy metals and microbial (i.e., Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis) concentrations reduced and nutrients were recovered. This work sets the basis for the efficient management of liquid digestate. Our method may enable the use of treated liquid digestate for unlimited irrigation water and other industrial applications of water. Apart from the sanitation process, the recovery of nutrients for soil fertilization seems to be a more sustainable way for fu-ture agricultural practices.

Pneumatic nebulizers (as variations based on the Collison nebulizer) have been widely used for producing fine aerosol droplets from a liquid material. The basic working principle of those nebulizers has been qualitatively described as utilization of the negative pressure associated with an expanding gas jet to syphon liquid into the jet stream, then to blow and shear into liquid sheets, filaments, and eventually droplets. Detailed quantitative analysis based on fluid mechanics theory is desirable, to gain in-depth understanding of the liquid aspiration mechanism among other aspects of the Collison nebulizer behaviour. The purpose of present work is to investigate the nature of negative pressure distribution associated with compressible gas jet flow in the Collison nebulizer by a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, using an OpenFOAM® compressible flow solver. The value of the negative pressure associated with a gas jet flow is examined by varying geometric parameters of the jet expansion channel adjacent to the outlet of jet orifice. Such an analysis can provide valuable insights into fundamental mechanisms for liquid aspiration, helpful for designing improved pneumatic atomizer in the Aerosol Jet® direct-write system for micro-feature, high-aspect-ratio material deposition

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is at the crossroads. It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the ACA in order to make rational decisions about the ongoing healthcare reform, but existing research into its effect on health insurance status in the United States is insufficient and descriptive. Using data from the National Health Interview Surveys from 2009 to 2015, this study examines changes in health insurance status and its determinants before the ACA in 2009, during its partial implementation in 2010–2013, and after its full implementation in 2014 and 2015. The results of trend analysis indicate a significant increase in national health insurance rate from 82.2% in 2009 to 89.4% in 2015. Logistic regression analyses confirm the similar impact of age, gender, race, marital status, nativity, citizenship, education, and poverty on health insurance status before and after the ACA. Despite similar effects across years, controlling for other variables, youth aged 26 or below, the foreign-born, Asians, and other races had a greater probability of gaining health insurance after the ACA than before the ACA; however, the odds of obtaining health insurance for Hispanics and the impoverished rose slightly during the partial implementation of the ACA but somewhat declined after the full implementation of the ACA starting in 2014. These findings should be taken into account by the U.S. government in deciding the fate of the ACA.

Biomechanics is a branch of biophysics that deals with mechanics applied to biology. The biomechanics of the cornea plays a significant role in managing patients with glaucoma. While evidence suggests a higher risk of glaucoma in patients with thin and stiffer corneas, it also affects the measurement of intraocular pressure (IOP). We reviewed the pertinent literature to help the understanding of corneal biomechanics and how it can help optimize clinical and surgical treatments and a better approach to diagnosing and managing patients with glaucoma.

We show that the van der Waals gas does not exhibit just the celebrated liquid-gas 1 transition but also a quantum-classical one. We study the issue with reference to the LMC statistical 2 complexity and in relation to the order-disorder contrast.

In the present work, a comparative evaluation of an MBBR unit performance was carried out for the following cases: when adding 3D-printed biocarriers fabricated with 13X and bentonite, when using K1 commercial biocarriers and when not adding biocarriers at all. For the evaluation of the MBBR efficiency, various physicochemical parameters were measured, while static light scattering and optical microscopy observations were additionally used. Finally, biofilm extracted from the biocarriers was evaluated. The findings suggest that there is an optimal biodegradation of the organic load in all MBBR units. The nitrification and denitrification process were improved at the 3D MBBR as compared to the control MBBR and MBBR K1. The dry mass of the biofilm in the 3D-printed biocarriers was two orders of magnitude larger than the one in the K1 biocarriers. What is more, in the K1 biocarriers the mass of the biofilm varied in relation to time, due to the fact that it could not be kept inside the holes, something that was not observed to happen with the 3D-printed biocarriers. Finally, it was observed, mostly in the 3D MBBR and less in the K1 MBBR, that the growth of nitrifying bacteria and heterotrophs inside the units increased the biomass production in the form of SMP, which in turn favored the adhesion of biomass on the surface of biocarriers.

The addition of biocarriers can improve the biological processes appearing in a bioreactor since their surface allows the immobilization, attachment, protection, and growth of microorganisms. In addition, the development of a biofilm layer allows the colonization of microorganisms in the biocarriers. The structure, composition, and roughness of the biocarriers' surface are crucial factors that affect the development of the biofilm. In the current work, the aluminosilicate zeolites 13X and ZSM-5 were examined as the main building components of the biocarrier scaffolds, using bentonite, montmorillonite, and halloysite nanotubes as inorganic binders in various combinations. 3D printing was utilized to form pastes into monoliths that underwent heat treatment. The 3d-printed biocarriers were subjected to a mechanical analysis, including density, compression, and nanoindentation tests. Furthermore, the 3d-printed biocarriers were morphologically and structurally characterized using nitrogen adsorption at 77 K (LN2), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The stress-strain response of the materials being studied was obtained through nanoindentation tests combined with finite element analysis (FEA). These tests were also utilized to simulate the lattice geometries under compression loading conditions to investigate their deformation and stress distribution in relation to experimental compression testing. The results indicated that the 3d-printed biocarrier 13X/halloysite nanotubes was endowed with high specific surface area and extended mesoporous structure. Due to these assets, its bulk density was one of the lowest observed amongst the biocarriers derived from the various combinations of materials. The biocarriers based on the 13X zeolite exhibited the highest mechanical stability and appropriate morphological features. The 13X/halloysite nanotubes scaffold exhibits a moderate hardness value compared to the rest, while it presents the highest value of modulus of elasticity. In conclusion, Aluminosilicate zeolites and their combination with clays and inorganic nanotubes afford 3d-printed biocarriers of various textural and structural properties, which can be utilized to improve biological processes.

Cardiomyopathies are diseases of heart muscle, a significant percentage of which are genetic in origin. Cardiomyopathies can be classified as dilated, hypertrophic, restrictive, arrhythmogenic right ventricular or left ventricular non-compaction, although mixed morphologies are possible. A subset of neuromuscular disorders, notably Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies, are also characterized by cardiomyopathy aside from skeletal myopathy. The global burden of cardiomyopathies is certainly high, necessitating further research and novel therapies. Genome editing tools, which include zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) systems have emerged as increasingly important technologies in studying this group of cardiovascular disorders. In this review, we discuss the applications of genome editing in the understanding and treatment of cardiomyopathy. We also describe recent advances in genome editing that may help improve these applications, and some future prospects for genome editing in cardiomyopathy treatment.

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

Despite its growing importance as a dry beneficiation method, there is a lack of studies exploring the fundamentals aspects of dry jigging. In this sense, this study focuses on explore some essential aspects of density-based separation in dry jigs, like pulse profile, energy consumption and, especially, stratification over time, also exploring an innovative operational strategy here called “transient pulsation”. The tests were carried out using density tracers distributed across 11 density ranges (0.4-2.4 g/cm³) and employing a base bed (gravel) to analyze their segregation in a pilot-scale dry jig. Pressure drop and active power data were acquired to measure the pulse characteristics and energy consumption. The findings suggest that establishing the dry jigging cycle is more complex than in hydraulic jigs due to the compressibility of air. Stationary pulsation tests revealed an unstable behavior of stratification over time, contrasting with traditional hydraulic jigs, while transient pulsation tests unveiled varied trends in separation quality. Energy consumption analysis underscored the significant role of the blower drive. These insights have the potential to inform operational enhancements in dry jigging.

Let G be a finite group. The prime graph Γ(G) of G is defined as follows: The set of vertices of Γ(G) is the set of prime divisors of |G| and two distinct vertices p and p' are connected in Γ(G), whenever G has an element of order pp'. A non-abelian simple group P is called recognizable by prime graph if for any finite group G with Γ(G)=Γ(P), G has a composition factor isomorphic to P. In [4] proved finite simple groups ²D_n(q), where n ≠ 4k are quasirecognizable by prime graph. Now in this paper we discuss the quasirecognizability by prime graph of the simple groups ²D_2k(q), where k ≥ 9 and q is a prime power less than 10⁵.

Leaf temperature (T_leaf) influences photosynthesis and respiration. Currently, there is a growing interest on including lianas in productivity models due to their increasing abundance, and their detrimental effects on net primary productivity in tropical environments. Therefore, understanding the differences of T_leaf between lianas and trees is important for future of forest on whole ecosystem productivity. Here we determined the displayed leaf temperature (T_d= T_leaf – ambient temperature) of several species of lianas and their host trees during ENSO and non-ENSO years to evaluate if the presence of lianas affects the T_d of their host trees, and if leaves of lianas and their host trees exhibit differences in T_d. Our results suggest that close to midday, the presence of lianas does not affect the T_d of their host trees; however, lianas tend to have higher values of T_d than their hosts across seasons, in both ENSO and non-ENSO years. Although lianas and trees tend to have similar physiological-temperature responses, differences in T_d could lead to significant differences in rates of photosynthesis and respiration based temperature response curves. Future models should thus consider differences in leaf temperature between these life forms to achieve robust predictions of productivity.

The application of graph theory in chemical and molecular structure research far exceeds people's expectations, and it has recently grown exponentially. In the molecular graph, atoms are represented by vertices and bonded by edges. In this report, we study the silicon-carbon Si₂C₃-I[p,q] and Si₂C₃-II[p,q]. We compute several Zagreb polynomials and Redefined Zagreb indices of these silicon-carbons.

This article aims to identify the generating function of modi…ed Apostol type q-Bernoulli polynomials. With the aid of this generating function, some properties of modi…ed Apostol type q-Bernoulli polynomials are given. It is shown that aforementioned polynomials are q-Appell. Hence, we make use of these polynomials to have applications on q-Umbral calculus. From those applications, we derive some theorems in order to get Apostol type modi…ed q-Bernoulli polynomials as a linear combination of some known polynomials which we stated in the paper.

The asymptotic behavior of the analytic solutions of a family of singularly perturbed q-difference-differential equations in the complex domain is studied. Different asymptotic expansions with respect to the perturbation parameter and to the time variable are provided: one of Gevrey nature, and another of mixed type Gevrey and q-Gevrey. This asymptotic phenomena is observed due to the modification of the norm established on the space of coefficients of the formal solution. The techniques used are based on the adequate path deformation of the difference of two analytic solutions, and the application of several versions of Ramis-Sibuya theorem.

School-aged children may benefit from education interventions focused on healthy eating and physical activity to improve their quality of life. This article aims to review scientific evidence on food and nutrition education (FNE) in Spanish-speaking countries for the prevention of overweight and obesity in school-aged children (6-12 y). Articles were searched between April and August 2021. The searches were conducted using MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and SciELO. The primary search for articles focused on the experience of FNE interventions in Spanish-speaking countries. Overall, 518 articles were found and 33 studies were eligible for data extraction. Forty-two percent of the studies had a focus on FNE and 64% were focused on describing the eating habits of schoolchildren. Nutritional assessments (anthropometric) were found frequently with 91% and 30% of the studies focused on physical activity. All interventions focused on preventing or reducing overweight and obesity in school-age children. Educational, cognitive, dietary, and physical activity practices were described, whit being educational the most frequent intervention. Interventions reported positive effects of FNE interventions to improve knowledge and practices of healthy lifestyles in school-age children.

Almost two decades ago, Ernesto P. Borges and Bruce M. Boghosian embarked on the intricate task of composing a manuscript to honor the profound contributions of Constantino Tsallis to the realm of statistical physics, coupled with a concise exploration of q-Statistics. Fast forward to Constantino Tsallis’ illustrious 80th birthday celebration in 2023, where Deniz Eroglu and Ugur Tirnakli delved into Constantino’s collaborative network, injecting renewed vitality into the project. With hearts brimming with appreciation for Tsallis’ enduring inspiration, Eroglu, Boghosian, Borges and Tirnakli proudly present this meticulously crafted manuscript as a token of their gratitude.

The application of graph theory in chemical and molecular structure research far exceeds people's expectations, and it has recently grown exponentially. In the molecular graph, atoms are represented by vertices and bonded by edges. Closed forms of multiplicative degree-based topological indices which are numerical parameters of the structure and determine physico-chemical properties of the concerned molecular compound. In this article, we compute and analyze many multiplicative degree-based topological indices of silicon-carbon Si₂C₃-I[p,q] and Si₂C₃-II[p,q].

Background: In the present study, cisplatin, artemisinin and oleanolic acid were evaluated alone and in combination, on human ovarian A2780, A2780ZD0473R and A2780cisR cancer cell lines with aim of overcoming cisplatin resistance and side effects. Methods: Cytotoxicity was assessed by MTT reduction assay. CI values were used as a measure of combined drug effect. MALDI TOF/TOF MS/MS and 2-DE gel electrophoresis were used to identify protein biomarkers in ovarian cancer and to evaluate combination effects. Results: Synergism from combinations was dependent on concentration and sequence of administration. Generally, bolus was most synergistic. 49 proteins differently expressed by 2 ≥ fold were: CYPA, EIF5A1, Op18, p18, LDHB, P4HB, HSP7C, GRP94, ERp57, mortalin, IMMT, CLIC1, NM23, PSA3,1433Z, and HSP90B were down-regulated, whereas hnRNPA1, hnRNPA2/B1, EF2, GOT1, EF1A1, VIME, BIP, ATP5H, APG2, VINC, KPYM, RAN, PSA7, TPI, PGK1, ACTG and VDAC1 were up-regulated, while TCPA, TCPH, TCPB, PRDX6, EF1G, ATPA, ENOA, PRDX1, MCM7, GBLP, PSAT, Hop, EFTU, PGAM1, SERA and CAH2 were not-expressed in A2780cisR cells. The proteins were found to play critical roles in cell cycle regulation, metabolism and biosynthetic processes and drug resistance and detoxification. Conclusion: Results indicate that appropriately sequenced combinations of cisplatin with ART and OA may provide a means to reduce side effects and circumvent platinum resistance.

A family of singularly perturbed q-difference-differential equations under the action of a small complex perturbation parameter is studied. The action of the formal monodromy around the origin is present in the equation, which suggests the construction of holomorphic solutions holding logarithmic terms in both, the formal and the analytic level. We provide both solutions and describe the asymptotic behavior relating them by means of q-gevrey asymptotic expansions of some positive order, with respect to the perturbation parameter. On the way, the development of a space product of Banach spaces in the Borel plane is needed to provide a fixed point for a coupled system of equations.

Electronic designers nowadays are facing two challenging demands for various applications: miniaturization and increased functionality. To satisfy these seemingly opposed requirements, reducing the number of mounted components—and thus solder joints—in PCB designs becomes an attractive approach by directly printing passive components such as embedded resistors into the circuit. This approach can also potentially increase the reliability, such as “mean time between failures” (MTBF), while reducing the circuit board size. With its unique capabilities for non-contact precision material deposition, the Aerosol Jet® direct-write technology has been enabling additive manufacturing of fine-feature electronics conformally onto flexible substrates of complicated shapes. The CAD/CAM controlled relative motions between substrate and print head allows convenient adjustment of the pattern and pile height of deposited material at a given ink volumetric deposition rate. To date in the printed electronics industry, additively printing embedded polymer-thick-film (PTF) resistors has mostly been done with screen printing using carbon-based paste inks. Here we demonstrate results of Aerosol Jet® printed PTF resistors of resistance values ranging from ~50 W to > 1 kW, adjustable (among several variable parameters) by the number of stacked layers (or print passes with each pass depositing a fixed amount of ink) between contact pads of around 1 mm apart with footprint line typically < 0.3 mm. In principle, any ink material that can be atomized into fine droplets of 1 to 5 microns can be printed with the Aerosol Jet® system. However, the print quality such as line edge cleanliness can significantly influenced by ink rheology which involves solvent volatility, solids loading, and so on. Our atomizable carbon ink was made by simply diluting a screen printing paste with a compatible solvent of reasonable volatility, which can be cured at temperatures below 200 ^oC. We show that Aerosol Jet® printed overlapping lines can be stacked to large pile height (to reduce the resistance value) without significant increase of line width, which enables fabricating embedded resistors with adjustable resistance values in a limited footprint space.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal X-linked recessive neuromuscular disease prevalent in 1 in 3500 to 5000 males worldwide. As a result of mutations that interrupt the reading frame of the dystrophin gene (DMD), DMD is characterized by a loss of dystrophin protein which leads to decreased muscle membrane integrity, which increases susceptibility to degeneration. CRISPR/Cas9 technology has garnered interest as an avenue for DMD therapy due to its potential for permanent exon skipping, which can restore the disrupted DMD reading frame in DMD and lead to dystrophin restoration. An RNA-guided DNA endonuclease system, CRISPR/Cas9 allows for the targeted editing of specific sequences in the genome. The efficacy and safety of CRISPR/Cas9 as a therapy for DMD has been evaluated by numerous studies in vitro and in vivo, with varying rates of success. Despite the potential of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing for the long-term treatment of DMD, its translation into the clinic is currently challenged by issues such as off-targeting, immune response activation, and sub-optimal in vivo delivery. Its nature as being mostly a personalized form of therapy also limits applicability to DMD patients, who exhibit a wide spectrum of mutations. This review summarizes the various CRISPR/Cas9 strategies that have been tested in vitro and in vivo for the treatment of DMD. Perspectives on the approach will be provided, and the challenges faced by CRISPR/Cas9 in its road to the clinic will be briefly discussed.

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is an inherited disorder characterized by renal tubular cystic dilatations. The cysts can develop anywhere along the nephron and over time the cystic dilatation lead to kidney enlargement. On the other hand, the cysts begin to reduce the number of functional nephrons as a consequence of cystic expansion that further contributes to the decline in renal function over the years. The pressure exerted by the dilated cysts lead to compensatory mechanisms that further contribute to the decline in renal function. These structural changes are responsible of glomerular hyperfiltration states, albuminuria, proteinuria, and haematuria. However, the presentation of ADPKD varies in children from a completely asymptomatic child with incidental ultrasound detection of cysts to a rapidly progressive disease. There have been reports of early onset of ADPKD in children younger than 2 years that showed a more rapid decline in renal function. ADPKD is caused by mutation in PKD1 and PKD2 genes. Today, the PKD1 gene mutation seems to account for up to 85% of the cases worldwide, and it is associated with worse renal outcomes. Individuals with PKD2 gene mutation seem to present a milder form of the disease, with a more delayed onset of end stage kidney disease. The cardinal sign of ADPKD is the presence of renal cysts during renal ultrasound. The current guidelines provide the clinicians the recommendations for genetic testing in children with a positive family history. Given that the vast majority of children with ADPKD present with normal or supra normal kidney function we explored the glomerular filtration rates dynamics and the renal ultrasound adjusted percentiles. 14 out of 16 patients had kidney percentile over 90%. The gene mutations were equally distributed among our cohort. In addition, we compared the modified Schwartz formula to the quadratic equation after adjusting the serum creatinine measurements. It seems that even though children with ADPKD have enlarged kidneys, the renal function is more likely normal or near normal when the quadratic estimation of glomerular filtration rate is used (qGFR tended to be lower, 111.95 ± 12.43 ml/min/1.73m2 compared to Schwartz eGFR 126.28 ± 33.07ml/min/1.73m2, p=0.14). Also, when the quadratic equation was employed, not even a patient reached the glomerular hyperfiltration thresholds. The quadratic formula showed that glomerular filtration rates are linear or slightly decreasing after 1-year of follow-up (Quadratic ΔeGFR=0.32±5.78ml/min/1.73m2) as opposed to Schwartz formula that can falsely classify children in a hyperfiltration state ΔeGFR=7.51±19.46ml/min/1.73m2), p=0.019.

This article seeks to provide an improved and more comprehensive understanding of the concept and theories on wasteland. It achieves this by focusing on the Indian context allowing us to unpack the importance of including multiple perspectives of wasteland narratives; this means including more positive narratives of the potential of wasteland to inform and improve prospects for land policies in the global south. Wasteland is commonly recognized as an underutilized category of land that may transform into a valuable resource base with proper management measures. The term waste has multiple angles that carry different notions ranging from fallow to agroforestry land in the global south and Brownfield to green space in the global north. We conduct a narra-tive review approach to qualitatively analyze the concept wastelands studied in pre-existing lit-erature from 1970 to present. The unsystematic literature review approach incorporates multiple elements of wasteland discourse, like understanding the meaning of the term on a global scale, setting out the meaning of the term waste into multiple perspectives explicitly in the Indian con-text, along with different classes and management approaches of wasteland from a national per-spective. The multiple perspectives of wasteland not only generate misconception on land resource but spawn difficulties in land use policy particularly for Indian scenario. For sustainable land use policy, reclaiming wasteland would be the best possible way for India and other countries in Global South, which requires a comprehensive methodological overview on wasteland narrative.

In this paper, we study the p-adic integral representation on Z_p of q-Bernoulli numbers arising from two variable q-Bernstein polynomials and investigate some properties for the q-Bernoulli numbers. In addition, we give some new identities of q-Bernoulli numbers.

In this paper we establish information theoretical bridges between 1) Thermal Heisenberg uncertainties $\Delta x \Delta p$ (at temperature $T$), and 2) LMC structural quantifiers. After having achieved such purpose, we determine to what an extent our bridges can be extended to both the semi classical and classical realms. Also, we find a strict bound relating a special LMC structural quantifier to quantum uncertainties.

Deciding when to replace dairy bulls presents a complex challenge for artificial insemination (AI) companies. These decisions encompass multiple factors, including a bull's age, predicted semen production, and estimated genetic merit. This study's purpose was to provide a practical, objective tool to assist in these decisions. We utilized a Markov Chain model to calculate the economic valuation of dairy bulls, incorporating key factors such as housing costs, collection and marketing expenses, and the bull's probable tenure in the herd. Data from a leading AI company were used to establish baseline values. The model further compared a bull's net present value to that of a potential young replacement, establishing a relative valuation (BullVal$). The range of BullVal$ observed spanned from -$316,748 to $497,710. Interestingly, the model recommended culling for 49% of the bulls based on negative BullVal$. It was found that a bull's net present value was primarily influenced by market allocation and pricing, coupled with the interaction of semen production and genetic merit. This study offers a robust, data-driven model to guide bull replacement decisions in AI companies. Key determinants of a bull's valuation included market dynamics, semen production rates, and genetic merit.

The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a new class of $q$-Hermite-Fubini numbers and polynomials by combining the $q$-Hermite polynomials and $q$-Fubini polynomials. By using generating functions for these numbers and polynomials, we derive some alternative summation formulas including powers of consecutive $q$-integers. Also, we establish some relationships for $q$-Hermite-Fubini polynomials associated with $q$-Bernoulli polynomials, $q$-Euler polynomials and $q$-Genocchi polynomials and $q$-Stirling numbers of the second kind.

In this paper, we investigate a new $q$-analogue of the higher order degenerate Changhee polynomials and numbers, which are called the Witt-type formula for the $q$-analogue of degenerate Changhee polynomials of order $r$. We can derive some new interesting identities related to the degenerate $(h,q)$-Changhee polynomials and numbers.

In this paper, we investigate a new $q$-analogue of the higher order degenerate Changhee polynomials and numbers, which are called the Witt-type formula for the $q$-analogue of degenerate Changhee polynomials of order $r$. We can derive some new interesting identities related to the degenerate $(h,q)$-Changhee polynomials and numbers.

In the present paper, we introduce (p, q)-extension of Apostol type Frobenius-Euler polynomials and numbers and investigate some basic identities and properties for these polynomials and numbers, including addition theorems, difference equations, derivative properties, recurrence relations and so on. Then, we provide integral representations, explicit formulas and relations for these polynomials and numbers. Moreover, we discover (p, q)-extensions of Carlitz's result [L. Carlitz, Mat. Mag., 32 (1959), 247–260] and Srivastava and Pintér addition theorems in [H. M. Srivastava, A. Pinter, Appl. Math. Lett., 17 (2004), 375–380].

In this paper, we use a machine learning method, known as Nonnegative Matrix Factorization, to extract from a given image some new information obtained from a number of color space representations. Such kind of information, termed ``metacolor'', can be considered as a particular color space representation of the image, which can be used to obtain a binary segmentation of the investigated image by distinguishing foreground and background pixels. Some numerical experiments prove that the proposed method shows improved results when compared with common simpler thresholding algorithms.

We investigate the physics of a medium-size quantum particle' gases, of the order of hundreds or thousands of fermions/bosons (far below the thermodynamic limit $N \, \rightarrow \, 10^{24}$). Appeal to microcanonical ensemble becomes then unavoidable. The so-called statistical complexity is our protagonist. Interesting facts are uncovered, both for fermions and bosons, yielded by statistical quantifiers.

The goal of this work is to develop a sustainable value chain of carbonaceous adsorbents that can be produced from the solid fibrous digestate (SFD) of biogas plants and further applied in integrated desulphurisation-upgrading (CO2/CH4 separation) processes of biogas to yield high purity biomethane. On this purpose, physical and chemical activation of the SFD derived biochar was optimised to afford micro-mesoporous activated carbons (ACs) of high BET surface area (590-2300 m2g−1) and enhanced pore volume (0.57-1.0 cm3g−1). Gas breakthrough experiments from fixed bed columns of the obtained ACs, using real biogas mixture as feedstock, unveiled that the physical and chemical activation conclude to different types of ACs which are sufficient for biogas upgrade and biogas desulphurisation respectively. Performing breakthrough experiments at three temperatures close to ambient it was possible to define the optimum conditions for enhanced H2S/CO2 separation. It was also concluded that the H2S adsorption capacity is significantly affected by restriction to gas diffusion. Hence, the best performance was obtained at 50 oC and the maximum observed in the H2S adsorption capacity vs the temperature is attributed to the counterbalance between adsorption and diffusion processes.

Here, we describe the bicomplex (p,q)- Fibonacci numbers and the bicomplex (p,q)- Fibonacci quaternions that are based on these numbers and give some of their equations, including the Binet formula, generating function, Catalan, Cassini, d’Ocagne’s identities, and some summation formulas for both of them. Finally, we create a matrix for bicomplex (p,q)- Fibonacci quaternions, and we obtain a determinant of a special matrix that gives the terms of that quaternion.

We propose a notion of $(q,\sigma,\tau)$-differential graded algebra, which generalizes the notions of $(\sigma,\tau)$-differential graded algebra and $q$-differential graded algebra. We construct two examples of $(q,\sigma,\tau)$-differential graded algebra, where the first one is constructed by means of generalized Clifford algebra with two generators (reduced quantum plane), where we use a $(\sigma,\tau)$-twisted graded $q$-commutator. In order to construct the second example, we introduce a notion of $(\sigma,\tau)$-pre-cosimplicial algebra.

This paper presents experimental results of static and dynamic obstacle avoidance methods for a two-wheel mobile robot with independent control using a deep Q-learning (DQL) reinforcement learning algorithm. This is an alternative method that combines the Q-learning (QL) algorithm with a neural network. Neural networks in the DQL algorithm act as Q matrix table approximators for each pair (State - Action). The effectiveness of the proposed solution was verified through simulations, programming, and experimentation. This DQL algorithm is compared to the QL algorithm. First, the mobile robot communicated with the control script using the robot operating system (ROS). The mobile robot is code programmed using a Python in the ROS operating system combined with the DQL controller in Gazebo software. The mobile robot then performed experiments in a workshop with many different experimental scenarios. This DQL controller is improved in term of the computation time, convergence time, planning trajectory accuracy, and obstacles avoidance. Therefore, the DQL controller solved the path optimization problems for mobile robots better than the Q-learning controller.

Water resources management is one of the most important challenges worldwide because water represents a vital resource for sustaining life and environment. In the aim of sustainable groundwater management, the identification of aquifer recharge areas is a useful tool for water resources protection. In a well-developed karst aquifer, environmental isotopes provide support for identifying aquifer recharge areas, residence time and interconnections between aquifer systems. This study deals the use of environmental isotopes to identify the main recharge area of a karst aquifer in the Upper Valley of Aniene River (Central Italy). The analysis of 18O/16O and 2H/H values and their spatial distribution in the aquifer, make it possible to trace back groundwater recharge areas based on average isotope elevations. The Inverse Hydrogeological Balance Method was used to validate spring recharge elevations obtained by the use of stable isotopes. Areas impacted by direct and rapid rainfall recharge into the study area were delineated, showing groundwater flowpaths from the boundaries to the core of the aquifer. The results of this study demonstrate the contribution that spatial and temporal isotope changes can provide to the identification of groundwater flowpaths in a karst basin, taking into account the hydrogeological setting

In this paper, we derive multifarious relationships among the two types of higher order q-Daehee polynomials and p-adic gamma function via Mahler theorem. Also, we compute some weighted p-adic q-integrals of the derivative of p-adic gamma function related to the Stirling numbers of the both kinds and the q-Bernoulli polynomials of order k.

For evaluating probabilities of arbitrary random events with respect to a given multivariate probability distribution, specific techniques are of great interest. An important two-dimensional high risk limit law is the Gauss-exponential distribution whose probabilities can be dealt with based upon the Gauss-Laplace law. The latter will be considered here as an element of the newly introduced family of (p,q)-spherical distributions. Based upon a suitably defined non-Euclidean arc-length measure on (p,q)-circles we prove geometric and stochastic representations of these distributions and correspondingly distributed random vectors, respectively. These representations allow dealing with the new probability measures similarly like with elliptically contoured distributions and more general homogeneous star-shaped ones. This is demonstrated at hand of a generalization of the Box-Muller simulation method. En passant, we prove an extension of the sector and circle number functions.

COVID19 is a current pandemic disease due to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The scientific community mounted a strong response by accelerating research and innovation, and rapidly setting the basis to the understanding of molecular determinants of the disease for the development of targeted therapeutic interventions. The replication of the viral genome within the infected cells is a key step of SARS-CoV2 life cycle. It is a complex process involving the action of several viral and host proteins in order to perform RNA polymerization, proofreading and final capping. This review provides an update of structural and functional data on key actors of the replicatory machinery of SARS-CoV-2, filling the gaps in the current availability of structural data using homology modelling. Moreover, learning from similar viruses, we collect literature data to reconstruct the pattern of interactions among protein actors of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase machinery. In this pattern, an important role is played by co-factors, like Nsp8 and Nsp10, not only as allosteric activators but also as molecular connectors holding the entire machinery together to enhance the efficiency of RNA replication.

Microalgae biomass is considered a promising alternative feedstock for biodiesel production due to its high productivity of neutral lipids, specially under abiotic stress conditions. Among the unicellular microalgae that show this characteristic, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii appears as one of the most important model species that have increased lipids production under abiotic stress conditions. In this study, we show that cells cultivated under mixotrophic condition supplemented with 0.1 M of NaCl rapidly raises their amount of neutral lipids in C. reinhardtii without reduction of their cellular growth rate, being therefore a promising condition for biomass towards bioenergy production. The nuclear proteome of these cells was investigated where we identified 323 proteins with an enrichment of almost 60% of nuclear proteins in the total dataset. We found 61 proteins differentially regulated upon salt treatment, including proteins annotated in functional categories related to translation and nucleosome assembly functions, among others. Additionally, we identified Transcription factor proteins (TFs) and analyzed their likely Transcription factors-binding regulatory elements identifying target genes related to lipids metabolism and kinase functions, indicating possible regulatory pathways of lipids biosynthesis. Together these data can help understand regulatory nuclear mechanisms leading to an increase of lipids in the first 24h of salt stress 0.1M NaCl.

This paper aims to unify q-derivative/q-integral and h-derivative/h-integral in a single definition, this will be called q−h-derivative/q−h-integral. These notions are further extended on finite interval [a,b] in the form of left and right q−h-derivatives and q−h-integrals. Some inequalities are studied for q−h-integrals which are directly connected with well known results. In diverse fields of science and engineering the theory based on q-derivatives/q-integrals and h-derivatives/h-integrals can be unified by using the concept of q−h-derivative/q−h-integral.

In this paper, we consider the zero distributions of q-shift monomi-als and difference polynomials of meromorphic functions with zero order, that extends the classical Hayman results on the zeros of differential poly-nomials to q-shift difference polynomials. We also investigate problem of q-shift difference polynomials that share a common value.

A linear Cauchy problem with polynomial coefficients wich combines q-difference operators for q>1 and differential operators of irregular type is examined. A finite set of sectorial holomorphic solutions w.r.t the complex time is constructed by means of classical Laplace transforms. These functions share a common asymptotic expansion in the time variable which turns out to carry a double layers structure which couples q-Gevrey and Gevrey bounds. In the last part of the work, the problem of confluence of these solutions as q tends to 1 is investigated.

The metastatic disease is a complex and sequential process that involves the migration of tumor cells from the primary site to distant areas. This metastatic pathway is not always predictable. Therefore, this paper presents three rare cases of unusual metastases, due to their primary site: two metastases of a clear cell renal cell carcinoma, one gingival and one nasal, as well as a mandibular metastasis of a hepatocellular carcinoma. In all cases, an incisional biopsy was performed in order to sign out the diagnosis. After microscopical examination of morphological Hematoxylin and Eosin stained slides, for all cases, immunohistochemical reactions were performed to support the primary tumor site. Two cases had a previous histopathological diagnosis of a primary tumor, while for the third case, the metastatic lesion represented the first manifestation of the neoplastic disease, with an unfavorable prognosis.

It was the aim of this study to examine whether the usage of the vaccine COXEVAC® (Ceva Santé Animale) could reduce the consumption of antibiotics in Q-fever-positive dairy farms. Additionally, the effects of other herd-level factors on the consumption of antibiotics were investigated. In this longitudinal cohort study, 36 farms with vaccination and 13 farms without vaccination participated. In all herds, Coxiella burnetii had been directly or indirectly diagnosed. To compare the treatment frequency of antibiotics between the vaccinated group and the non-vaccinated group, the consumption of antibiotics for each farm was collected using the veterinary documents about the application and delivery of antibiotics. To gather detailed information about herd data, nutrition, milking management, housing, and animal health, the farmers were interviewed with the help of a questionnaire. The results suggest that there might be an association between the vaccination against Q fever and a reduced consumption of antibiotics. Neither herd size nor milk yield level influenced the consumption of antibiotics in the study herds. Type of flooring and udder cluster disinfection while milking were associated with a lower and higher therapy frequency, respectively. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the cause-effect relationship between vaccination and the consumption of antibiotics.

Groove pancreatitis represents a chronic focal form of pancreatitis affecting the zone between the pancreatic head and the duodenal „C” loop, known as the groove area. This is a rare condition that affects the pancreatic periampullary part, including the duodenum and the common bile duct, associated usually with long-term alcohol and tobacco misuse and being more frequent in men than in women. The most common clinical symptoms of groove pancreatitis include weight loss, acute abdominal pain, nausea, and jaundice. This report is about a 66 year old woman with a history of heavy smoking, presenting with weight loss, nausea, and upper abdominal pain. Contrast enhanced computed tomography revealed the existence of a chronic pancreatitis as well as the dilatation of the main pancreatic duct, a cyst of the pancreatic head and enlargement of the biliary tract. Conservatory treatment was initiated but with no improvement of symptoms. Since there was no indication for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, we decided to perform a pancreatoduodenectomy, as surgery appears to be the single effective treatment.

This present work explores the performance of a thermal-magnetic engine of Otto type, considering as a working substance an effective interacting spin model corresponding to the q− state clock model. We obtain all the thermodynamic quantities for the q = 2, 4, 6, 8 cases in a small lattice size (3×3 with free boundary conditions) by using the exact partition function calculated from the energies of all the accessible microstates of the system. The extension to bigger lattices was performed using the mean-field approximation. Our results indicate that the total work extraction of the cycle is highest for the q=4 case, while the performance for the Ising model (q=2) is the lowest of all cases studied. These results are strongly linked with the phase diagram of the working substance and the location of the cycle in the different magnetic phases present, where we find that the transition from a ferromagnetic to a paramagnetic phase extracts more work than one of the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless to paramagnetic type. Additionally, as the size of the lattice increases, the extraction work is lower than smaller lattices for all values of q presented in this study.

In this brief paper a quantum algorithm to calculate the Hamming distance of two binary strings of equal length (or messages in theory information) is presented. The algorithm calculates the Hamming weight of two binary strings in one query of an oracle. To calculate the hamming distance of these two strings we only have to calculate the Hamming weight of the xor operation of both strings. To test the algorithms the quantum computer prototype that IBM has given open access to on the cloud has been used to test the results.

In this paper, we introduce a new generalization of the Hermite polynomials via (p, q)-exponential generating function and investigate several properties and relations for mentioned polynomials including derivative property, explicit formula, recurrence relation, integral representation. We also de…ne a (p, q)-analogue of the Bernstein polynomials and acquire their some formulas. We then provide some (p, q)-hyperbolic representations of the (p, q)-Bernstein polynomials. In addition, we obtain a correlation between (p, q)-Hermite polynomials and (p, q)-Bernstein polynomials.

Aquaculture production is under pressure to increase its production to meet the growing demand for food from a growing population. In the Philippines, aquaculture has experienced the shift from milkfish to prawn with its attractive marketable price. Its intensification has led to negative and positive impacts making its collapse inevitable in the mid-1990s and raised a range of environmental and socioeconomic problems. This paper reviewed the environmental impacts, challenges, and disease outbreaks that overtook the industry using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. We examined gaps and changes required to revitalize the industry to properly take-off. It considers and gives details on the impacts of shrimp culture on the environment e.g. shrimp farm management, marine pollution, disease outbreaks, climate change impacts, and socioeconomic impacts. Moreover, the presence of viral diseases such as White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), Monodon Baculovirus (MBV), Infectious Hypodermal and Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHHNV), Hepatopancreatic Parvovirus (HPV), and Yellow Head Virus (YHV), have caused socioeconomic impacts with approximate losses of 40,080 mt in 1997 to 51,000 mt in 2014 in the shrimp industry. Recommended strategies were considered to improve the environmental management of shrimp aquaculture, including disease management, and priorities that were highlighted for future research. This management relates to adopting good aquaculture practices on shrimp culture, proper environmental monitoring and sustainable practices at the farm level.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate and compare sleep quality between patients with chronic temporomandibular disorder and healthy controls, and to analyze the association of sleep quality with disease characteristics, obstructive sleep apnea risk factors, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Methods: Chronic temporomandibular disorder patients (n=503) and 180 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included, who completed well-organized clinical report and answered questions on sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), sleep apnea risk factors (STOP-Bang questionnaire), and excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth sleepiness scale). Results: Mean global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores were significantly higher in the patients (6.25±2.77) than in healthy controls (6.25±2.77) (p&lt;0.001). Poor sleep was significantly more prevalent in the patient group (56.9%) than in healthy controls (22.2%) (p&lt;0.001). Compared with healthy controls, chronic temporomandibular disorder patients had a higher likelihood of obstructive sleep apnea. (STOP-Bang total score ≥3; 7.2% vs. 16.1%; p&lt;0.01) and higher excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth sleepiness scale score ≥10; 12.8% vs. 19.7%; p&lt;0.05). Age (odds ratio=2.551; p&lt;0.001), female sex (odds ratio=1.885; p=0.007), total Epworth sleepiness scale score (odds ratio=1.839; p=0.014), and headache attributed to temporomandibular disorder (odds ratio=1.519; p=0.049) were the most powerful predictors of poor sleep (global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score ≥5) in chronic temporomandibular disorder patients. Conclusion: Chronic temporomandibular disorder patients had sleep quality impairment. Various factors, including peripheral and central factors, affect the patient's sleep quality. Therefore, in addition to sleep quality and sleep-related problems, the underlying central mechanism for poor sleep quality should be assessed when treating chronic temporomandibular disorder patients.

In this paper, we investigate p-adic q-integral (q-Volkenborn integral) on Z_p of p-adic gamma function via their Mahler expansions. We also derived two q-Volkenborn integrals of p-adic gamma function in terms of q-Daehee polynomials and numbers and q-Daehee polynomials and numbers of the second kind. Moreover, we discover q-Volkenborn integral of the derivative of p-adic gamma function. We acquire the relationship between the p-adic gamma function and Stirling numbers of the first kind. We finally develop a novel and interesting representation for the p-adic Euler constant by means of the q-Daehee polynomials and numbers.

We examine a family of nonlinear q-difference-differential Cauchy problems obtained as a coupling of linear Cauchy problems containing dilation q-difference operators, recently investigated by the author, and quasi-linear Kowalevski type problems that involve contraction q-difference operators. We build up local holomorphic solutions to these problems. Two aspects of these solutions are explored. One facet deals with asymptotic expansions in the complex time variable for which a mixed type Gevrey and q-Gevrey structure is exhibited. The other feature concerns the problem of confluence of these solutions as q tends to 1.

In this paper, we investigate p-adic q-integral (q-Volkenborn integral) on ℤ_{p} of p-adic gamma function via their Mahler expansions. We also derived two q-Volkenborn integrals of p-adic gamma function in terms of q-Daehee polynomials and numbers and q-Daehee polynomials and numbers of the second kind. Moreover, we discover q-Volkenborn integral of the derivative of p-adic gamma function. We acquire the relationship between the p-adic gamma function and Stirling numbers of the first kind. We finally develop a novel and interesting representation for the p-adic Euler constant by means of the q-Daehee polynomials and numbers.

In this paper, we introduce a new class of $(p,q)$-analogue type of Fubini numbers and polynomials and investigate some properties of these polynomials. We establish summation formulas of these polynomials by summation techniques series. Furthermore, we consider some relationships for $(p,q)$-Fubini polynomials associated with $(p,q)$-Bernoulli polynomials, $(p,q)$-Euler polynomials and $(p,q)$-Genocchi polynomials and $(p,q)$-Stirling numbers of the second kind.

In this paper, we revisit the q-states clock model for small systems. We present results for the thermodynamics of the q-states clock model from $q=2$ to $q=20$ for small square lattices $L \times L$, with L ranging from $L=3$ to $L=64$ with free-boundary conditions. Energy, specific heat, entropy and magnetization are measured. We found that the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT)-like transition appears for $q>5$ regardless of lattice size, while the transition at $q=5$ is lost for $L<10$; for $q\leq 4$ the BKT transition is never present. We report the phase diagram in terms of $q$ showing the transition from the ferromagnetic (FM) to the paramagnetic (PM) phases at a critical temperature T$_1$ for small systems which turns into a transition from the FM to the BKT phase for larger systems, while a second phase transition between the BKT and the PM phases occurs at T$_2$. We also show that the magnetic phases are well characterized by the two dimensional (2D) distribution of the magnetization values. We make use of this opportunity to do an information theory analysis of the time series obtained from the Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, we calculate the phenomenological mutability and diversity functions. Diversity characterizes the phase transitions, but the phases are less detectable as $q$ increases. Free boundary conditions are used to better mimic the reality of small systems (far from any thermodynamic limit). The role of size is discussed.

The prim objective of commenced article is to determine q-sumudu transforms of a product of unified family of q-polynomials with basic (or q-) analogue of fox’s H-function and q-analog of I-functions. Specialized cases of the leading outcome are further evaluated as q-sumudu transform of general class of q-polynomials and q-sumudu transforms of the basic analogues of Fox’s H-function and I-functions.

The main goal of the present paper is to construct some families of the Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials and numbers. We firstly introduce the modified Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials and numbers with weight (α, β) and investigate their some explicit properties and identities arising from the bosonic q-Volkenborn integral on ℤ_p. We then define the modified degenerate Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials and numbers with weight (α, β) and obtain some recurrence relations and other identities. Moreover, we derive some correlations with the modified Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials with weight (α, β), the modified degenerate Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials with weight (α, β), the Stirling numbers of the first kind and second kind.

Astrocytes have been implicated in a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases, with the literature indicating harmful or beneficial roles on a case-by-case basis. On such conditions, these cells are capable of secreting several inflammatory factors and also promote synapse elimination and remodeling. These responses are possible because they sense their surroundings via several receptors, including metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR5). However, mGluR5 activation in astrocytes under neuroinflammatory conditions can be neuroprotective or have the opposite effect. In this work, we investigated the role of mGluR5 in hiPSC-derived astrocytes subjected to pro-inflammatory stimulation by recombinant TNF-α (rTNF-α). Our results show that mGluR5 blockade by CTEP is capable of reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α) release in rTNF-α-stimulated astrocytes, but, in contrast, leads to an augmented expression of the pan-reactive marker SERPINA3. Additionally, CTEP enhances synaptoneurosomes phagocytosis by astrocytes in both non-stimulated and TNF-α-stimulated conditions, indicating that mGluR5 blockade alone is enough to drive synaptic material engulfment. Finally, mGluR5 antagonism as well as rTNF-α stimulation leads to a reduction in the expression of synaptogenic molecules. Altogether, these data suggest a complex role for mGluR5 in human astrocytes, since its blockage may have beneficial and detrimental effects under inflammatory conditions.

Adiposity is associated with adverse health conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The combination of resistance exercise and creatine supplementation has been shown to decrease body fat % in adults ≥ 50 years of age. However, the effects in adults < 50 years of age is unknown. To address this limitation, we systematically reviewed the literature and performed several meta-analyses comparing studies that included resistance exercise and creatine supplementation to resistance exercise and placebo. Twelve studies were included involving 266 participants. Adults (< 50 years of age) that supplemented with creatine and performed resistance exercise experienced a significant reduction in body fat % (-1.19%, p=0.006) and a non-significant reduction in absolute fat mass (-0.09 kg, p=0.88). Collectively, the combination of resistance exercise and creatine supplementation produces a very small reduction in body fat % in adults < 50 years of age.

We attempted to establish an objective method to accurately evaluate the motility of bull sperm and examined the effects of media for sperm suspensions and frame rates on data of computer-assisted sperm motility analysis (CASA). Sperm incubated in Brackett and Oliphant medium (BO) more clearly showed hyperactivation-like motility than those in synthetic oviductal fluid. Sperm images captured at 150 frames per second (fps) showed a trajectory that was closer to the real pathway than those at other frame rates (30, 50, and 75 fps). We then examined the characteristics of sex-sorted and non-sorted semen using a cluster analysis followed by a discriminant analysis of sperm motility in BO at 150 fps. The results indicated that sex-sorted semen contained sperm with hyperactivation-like motility as the main subpopulation immediately after thawing and this subpopulation decreased after 2-h incubation. The main subpopulation in non-sorted semen had progressive motility that was maintained during incubation. In conclusion, usage of BO for sperm suspensions and capturing sperm motility at 150 fps by CASA were appropriate for evaluating bovine sperm motility. A discriminant analysis using data from a cluster analysis of motile sperm has the ability to accurately describe differences in the structures of sperm motility subpopulations.

This study explores the complexities involved in the extraction and purification of catechins, prominent bioactive compounds found in plant extracts and tea. It addresses challenges arising from the intricate molecular structure of catechins and their inherent variability across botanical sources. Despite these obstacles, catechins present significant potential, particularly in healthcare. Their potent antioxidant properties have been extensively investigated and associated with numerous health benefits, positioning them as promising therapeutic agents for combating chronic diseases. Furthermore, catechins have diverse applications across various industries, including food and beverage, cosmetics, agriculture, and materials science. This abstract emphasizes the importance of continued research and innovation in catechin extraction and utilization, which hold promise for advancing human health and technological progress across multiple domains.

Large volume bone defect regeneration is complex and demands time to complete. Several regeneration phases with unique characteristics including immune responses follow, overlap, and interdepend on each other and, if successful, lead to the regeneration of the organ bone's form and function. However, during traumatic, infectious, or neoplastic clinical cases, the intrinsic bone regeneration capacity may exceed, and surgical intervention is indicated. Scaffold-guided bone regeneration (SGBR) has recently shown efficacy in preclinical and clinical studies. To investigate different SGBR strategies over periods of up to 3 years we have established a well characterized large segmental tibial bone defect ovine model, for which we have developed and optimized immunohistochemistry (IHC) protocols. We present an overview of the immunohistochemical characterization of different experimental groups in which all ovine segmental defects were treated with a bone grafting technique combined with a three-dimensionally printed medical-grade polycaprolactone-tricalcium phosphate (mPCL-TCP) scaffold. The qualitative data set is based on osteoimmunological findings gained from IHC analyses of over &gt;350 sheep surgeries over the past two decades. Our systematic and standardized IHC protocols enabled us to gain further insight into the complex and long-drawn-out bone regeneration processes, which ultimately proved to be a critical element for successful translational research.

Precipitation patterns are critical for understanding the hydrological and climatological dynamics of any region. Sicily, the largest island of the Mediterranean sea, with its diverse topography and climatic conditions, serves as an ideal case study for analyzing precipitation data to gain insights into regional water resources, agricultural productivity, and climate change impacts. This paper employs advanced statistical physics methods, particularly Tsallis q-statistics, to analyze sub-hourly precipitation data from 2002 to 2023, provided by the Sicilian Agrometeorological Informative System (SIAS). We investigate several critical variables related to rainfall events, including duration, depth, maximum record, and inter-event time. The study spans two decades (2002-2012 and 2013-2023), analyzing the distributions of relevant variables. Additionally, we examine the simple returns of these variables to identify significant temporal changes, fitting these returns with q-Gaussian distributions. Our findings reveal the scale-invariant nature of precipitation events, the presence of long-range interactions and memory effects, characteristic of complex environmental processes.

Although nanotechnology is a new and rapidly growing area of science, the impact of nanomaterials on living organisms is unknown in many aspects. In this regard it is extremely important to perform toxicological tests, but complete characterization of all varying preparations is extremely laborious. The computational technique called quantitative structure-activity relationship, or QSAR, allows reducing the cost of time- and resource-consuming nanotoxicity tests. In this review, (Q)SAR cytotoxicity studies of the past decade are systematically considered. We regard here five classes of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs): metal oxides, metal-containing nanoparticles, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, and silica nanoparticles. Some studies reveal that QSAR models are better than classification SAR models, while other reports conclude that SAR is more precise than QSAR. The quasi-QSAR method appears to be the most promising tool, as it allows accurately taking experimental conditions into account. However, experimental artifacts are a major concern in this case

In this article, a new class of $q$-Hermite based unified Apostol type polynomials is introduced by means of generating function and series representation. Several important formulas and recurrence relations for these polynomials are derived via different generating methods. We also introduce $q$-analog of Stirling numbers of second kind of order $\nu$ by which we construct a relation including aforementioned polynomials.

We introduce the Hermite based poly-Bernoulli polynomials with a q parameter and give someof their basic properties including not only addition property, but also derivative properties and integralrepresentations. We also de.ne the Hermite based λ -Stirling polynomials of the second kind, and thenprovide some relations. Moreover, we derive several correlations and identities including the Hermite-Kampéde Fériet (or Gould-Hopper) family of polynomials, the Hermite based poly-Bernoulli polynomials with a qparameter and the Hermite based λ -Stirling polynomials of the second kind.

Satellite-based monitoring can retrieve ground-level PM_2.5 concentrations with higher-resolution and continuous spatial coverage to assist in making management strategies and estimating health exposures. The Sichuan Basin has a complex terrain and several city clusters that differ from other regions in China: it has an enclosed air basin with a unique planetary boundary layer dynamic which accumulates air pollution. The spatiotemporal distribution of 1-km resolution Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) in the Sichuan Basin was retrieved using the improved dark pixel method and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data in this study. The retrieved seasonal AOD reached its highest values in spring and had the lowest values in autumn. The higher correlation (r = 0.84, N = 171) between the ground-based Lidar AOD and 1-km resolution MODIS AOD indicated that the high-resolution MODIS AOD could be used to retrieve the ground-level PM_2.5 concentration. The Lidar-measured annual average extinction coefficient increased linearly with the Planetary Boundary Layer Height (PBLH) in the range of 100 ~ 670 m, but exponentially decreased between the heights of 670 ~ 1800 m. Both the correlation and the variation tendency of simulated PBLH from WRF_SHIN/CALMET were closer to the Lidar observation than that of three other Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) schemes (the Grenier-Bretherton-McCaa (GBM) scheme, the he Total Energy-Mass Flux (TEMF) scheme and the University of Washington (UW) scheme), which suggested that the simulated PBLH could be used in the vertical correction of retrieval PM_2.5. Four seasonal fitting functions were also obtained for further humidity correction. The correlation coefficient between the aerosol extinction coefficient and the fitted surface-level PM_2.5 concentration at the benchmark station of Southwest Jiao-tong University was enhanced significantly from 0.62 to 0.76 after vertical and humidity corrections during a whole year. During the evaluation of the retrieved ground-level PM_2.5 with observed values from three cities, Yibin (YB), Dazhou (DZ), and Deyang (DY), our algorithm performed well, resulting in higher correlation coefficients of 0.78 (N = 177), 0.77 (N = 178), and 0.81 (N = 181), respectively.

By utilizing a generalized version of the Madelung quantum-hydrodynamic framework that incorporates noise, we derive a solution using the path integral method to investigate how a quantum superposition of states evolves over time. This exploration seeks to comprehend the process through which a stable quantum state ultimately emerges in the presence of fluctuations induced by the noisy gravitational background. The model defines the conditions that give rise to a limited range of interaction for the quantum potential, allowing for the existence of coarse-grained classical descriptions at a macroscopic level. The theory uncovers the smallest attainable level of uncertainty in an open quantum system and examines its consistency with the localized behavior observed in large-scale classical systems. The research delves into connections and similarities with decoherence theory and the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Additionally, it assesses the potential consequences of wave function decay on the measurement of photon entanglement. To validate the proposed theory, an experiment involving entangled photons transmitted between detectors on the Moon and Mars is discussed. Finally, the findings of the theory are applied to the creation of larger Q-bits systems at elevated temperatures.

We propose a new statistical analysis of the Acoustic Emissions (AE) produced in a series of triaxial deformation experiments leading to fractures and failure of two different rocks, namely, Darley Dale Sandstone (DDS) and AG Granite (AG). By means of q-statistical formalism, we are able to characterize the pre-failure processes in both types of rocks. In particular, we study AE inter-event time and AE inter-event distance distributions. Both of them can be reproduced with q-exponential curves, showing universal features which are observed here for the first time and could be important in order to understand more in detail rock fractures dynamics.

In this paper we propose the explicit formulas of Average Run Length (ARL) of Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) control chart for Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average: ARIMA (p,d,q) (P, D, Q)_L process with exponential white noise. To check the accuracy, the ARL results were compared with numerical integral equations based on the Gauss-Legendre rule. There was an excellent agreement between the explicit formulas and the numerical solutions. Additionally, we compared the computational time between our explicit formulas for the ARL with the one obtained via Gauss-Legendre numerical scheme. The computational time for the explicit formulas was approximately one second that is much less than the numerical approximations. The explicit analytical formulas for evaluating ARL0 and ARL₁ can produce a set of optimal parameters which depend on the smoothing parameter (λ) and the width of control limit (H), for designing an EWMA chart with a minimum ARL₁.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal X-linked recessive neuromuscular disorder most commonly caused by mutations disrupting the reading frame of the dystrophin (DMD) gene. DMD codes for dystrophin, which is critical for maintaining the integrity of muscle cell membranes. Without dystrophin, muscle cells receive heightened mechanical stress, becoming more susceptible to damage. An active body of research continues to explore therapeutic treatments for DMD as well as to further our understanding of the disease. These efforts rely on having reliable animal models that accurately recapitulate disease presentation in humans. While current animal models of DMD have served this purpose quite well, each comes with their own limitations. To help overcome this, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based technology has been extremely useful in creating novel animal models for DMD. This review focuses on animal models developed for DMD that have been created using CRISPR, their advantages and disadvantages as well as their applications in the DMD field.

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is the main severe complication of the ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. The aim of the current study was to identify the interventions for prevention of and reduction in the incidence and severity of OHSS in patients who undergo IVF not included in systematic reviews with meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), assess and grade their efficacy and evidence base. The best available evidence for each specific intervention was identify, analyzed in terms of safety/efficacy ratio and of risk of bias, and graded using Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) hierarchy of evidence. A total of 15 interventions to prevent OHSS were included in the final analysis. In IVF population not at high risk for OHSS, follitropin delta for ovarian stimulation may reduce the incidence of early OHSS and/or preventive interventions for early OHSS. In high-risk patients, inositol pretreatment, ovulation triggering with low doses of urinary hCG, and the luteal phase administration of GnRH antagonist may reduce the OHSS risk. In conclusion, even if not supported by systematic reviews with homogeneity of the RCTs, several treatments/strategies to reduce the incidence and severity of OHSS have shown to be promising.

The use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in education brings up new possibilities of promoting the learning and health experiences. In this sense, education contexts of 21st century must consider these two areas of knowledge, especially their integration. This article presents learning practices developed with mobile devices and games, in order to improve learning and well-being in children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatment in non-formal educational setting. The methodology is based on qualitative case studies with content-based data analysis, involving informal interviews and observation methods. The study considers data from 5 patients who participated in the research between 2015 and 2019. The results demonstrate a positive influence of the practices with mobile technologies and games in terms of learning and in the well-being feeling of patients during the treatment.

The current paper presents a case of a 33-year-old female with an uncommon localization of a leiomyoma in the oral cavity - the anterior palatal fibromucosa and the incisive papilla. The patient referred to the Oro-Maxillo-Facial Surgery Clinic of the Emergency City Hospital Timisoara, Romania accusing a slight discomfort in the act of mastication and the occurrence and persistence of a diastema between the upper central incisors, due to the presence of a tumoral mass located in the anterior palatal mucosa, between the upper central incisors, without any changes of the subjacent bone structure in the anterior hard palate visible on the cone beam computed tomography image (CBCT). The tumor was removed by a surgical excisional biopsy and a histopathological examination was performed using morphological Hematoxylin–Eosin (HE) staining and additional immunohistochemical (IHC) reactions, in order to confirm the diagnosis. On microscopic examination, there were found bundles of spindle cells with eosinophilic cytoplasm and vesicular nuclei, with finely granular chromatin. The immunohistochemically staining found positive results for smooth muscle actin (SMA) and desmin and negative result for vimentin. The treatment of choice for leiomyoma of the oral cavity is surgical excision with clear margins, followed by periodical clinical monitoring.

We present atomic structures and nonequilbrium synthesis of new class of materials, where the basic structural unit is a diamond tetrahedron. When units of one, two, and three tetrahedra are randomly packed, we create distinct phases of amorphous Q-carbon. Four tetrahedra in two adjacent layers lead to crystalline diamond lattice, which has four missing tetrahedra alternately. When these four missing tetrahedra are filled, we create subunit cell of crystalline Q-diamond. Theoretical calculations show that superconducting transition temperature (Tc) in 50 atomic % B-doped Q-diamond can reach near room temperature at ambient pressures. This is consistent with our earlier results using low-loss EELS measurements in 50 atomic % B-doped Q-carbon, which had mostly amorphous QB3 phase mixed with some crystalline Q-diamond phase. These EELS results showed that the Tc for these samples was in between 90K and 300K. Theoretical calculations of density of states, Eliashberg function, electron-phonon interaction parameter, and root-mean-square and logarithmic average of frequency in crystalline Q-diamond show Tc in the range of 268K to 300K, which is in a complete agreement with our EELS results in QB3.

In this paper, a new class of q-Hermite based Frobenius type Eulerian polynomials is introduced by means of generating function and series representation. Several fundamental formulas and recurrence relations for these polynomials are derived via different generating methods. Furthermore, diverse correlations including the q-Apostol-Bernoulli polynomials, the q-Apostol-Euler poynoomials, the q-Apostol-Genocchi polynomials and the q-Stirling numbers of the second kind are also established by means of the their generating functions.

In this paper, we develop the theory of the multiple q-analogue of the Heine’s binomial formula, chain rule and Leibnitz’s rule. We also derive many useful definitions and results involving multiple q-antiderivative and multiple q-Jackson’s integral. Finally, we list here multiple q-analogue of some elementary functions including trigonometric functions and hyperbolic functions. This may be a good consideration in developing the multiple q-calculus in combinatorics, number theory and other fields of mathematics.

In this paper, we introduce a new generalization of the r-Stirling numbers of the second kind based on the q-numbers via an exponential generating function. We investigate their some properties and derive several relations among q-Bernoulli numbers and polynomials, and newly de…ned (q, r, w)-Stirling numbers of the second kind. We also obtain q-Bernstein polynomials as a linear combination of (q, r, w)-Stirling numbers of the second kind and q-Bernoulli polynomials in w.

Aquaculture is growing rapidly as a food-producing sector and in recent years, fishmeal prices have climbed by more than twofold on a global scale. This review of previous studies was performed to contribute to the extant literature on the aquaculture sector to aid cost reduction of aquafeeds by identifying substitute protein that can replace fishmeal. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) using the SCOPUS and WOS (Web of Science), DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), Academia, and Pubmed Central databases with the following search terms: “fishmeal,” “alternative protein source” and “aquafeeds.” This resulted in 5,331 articles from the SCOPUS and WOS databases. Finally, the titles and abstracts of the articles were screened, giving a total of 162 articles that were used in the study; another 58 articles came from open databases. Results have shown that 100% replacement of fishmeal with blood meal did not affect the growth of fish as well as 75% to 100% combination of poultry-by-product (PBM), feather meal (FEM), and blood meal (BM). Moreover, a 10% replacement of fishmeal using seaweed (Gracilaria arcuata) has no adverse effect on feed efficiency and growth performance of tilapia, a 50% replacement of fishmeal using black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), and 25% replacement using soybean (Glycine max) also showed better results for fish growth. With that, this review shows that alternative protein can be a great alternative to the aquaculture sector in reducing the cost of aquafeeds since alternative proteins are much cheaper than the usual fishmeal.

Kinetic estimation of glomerular filtration rate (KeGFR) proved its utility in predicting acute kidney injury (AKI) in both adults and children. Our objective is to assess the clinical utility of KeGFR in predicting AKI severity and progression to acute kidney disease (AKD) in patients already diagnosed with AKI and to examine major adverse kidney events at 30 days (MAKE30). We retrospectively calculated the KeGFR in the first 24 hours of identified AKI (KeGFR1) and in the 24 hours prior to AKD (KeGFR2) in all admitted children under 18 years old. The cohort consisted of 803 patients with AKI. We proposed a new classification of KeGFR stages, from 1 to 5, and assessed the predictive value of KeGFR stages for AKD development and MAKE30. AKI severity was associated with lower KeGFRs. KeGFR1 and KeGFR2 predicted AKD with AUC values between 0.777 and 0.841 respectively, p<0.001. KeGFR2 had the best performance in predicting MAKE30 (AUC of 0.819) with a sensitivity of 66.67% and specificity 87.7%. KeGFR1 stage 3, 4 and 5 increased the risk of AKD by 3.07, 6.56 and 28.07 times respectively while KeGFR2 stage 2, 3, 4 and 5 increased the risk of AKD 2.79, 3.58, 32.75 and 80.14 times fold. Stage 5 KeGFR1 and KeGFR2 stages 3, 4 and 5 increased the risk of MAKE30 by 7.77, 4.23. 5.89 and 69.42 times in the adjusted models. KeGFR proved to be a useful tool in AKI settings. KeGFR dynamics can predict AKI severity, duration and outcomes.

For paramagnetic and elastic materials in the presence of quasi-static magnetic field, there is correspondingly quasi-static magnetic pressure, in contrast to the radiational electromagnetic pressure associated with electromagnetic momentum density. A thermodynamic pressure demagnetization is demonstrated. For the elastic dielectrics in the presence of quasi-static electrical field, its dual effect can be easily obtained by variable transformation.

Plant loss in experimental plots occurs occasionally in field experiments with coffee crops. In breeding programmes, such loss can be extremely harmful, especially when the statistical analysis methods used are not consistent with the data generated in the experiments. In this study, we analysed a set of productivity data to determine whether the compensatory effect occurs in coffee crops, analyse the need for correcting the number of failures in experiments, and identify the best stand correction method to use. Productivity data from six harvests of 11 experiments with Coffea arabica plants were used. The experiments were implemented in a randomised block design, with four replications and six plants per plot. The following stand correction methods were evaluated: rule of three, Zuber [1], Vencovsky and Cruz [2]covariance of the average or ideal stands, and Cruz [3] and compared to data without correction adjustments. The most adequate correction methods were chosen based on the existence of genetic variance, selective accuracy, and progeny ordering. The compensatory effect was evident from the analysed data, with stand correction shown to be beneficial in progeny competition experiments. The covariance methods using average or ideal stands presented the best results, followed by the method proposed by Cruz [3]. The rule of three and Zuber [1] methods showed unsatisfactory results and are not recommended for stand correction in progeny competition experiments with coffee crops

Several methods can be used to evaluate antibody avidity, one of which is the modified ELISA, in which a chaotropic agent is added to disrupt the binding between the antigen and the antibody. Although the avidity index provides relevant information about the functionality of antibodies, it does not allow us to characterize which antigens the antibodies are strongly bound to. To this end, we adapted the Immunoblot and Dot-Blot techniques by adding potassium thiocyanate (KSCN) after incubating nitrocellulose membranes with serum from mice immunized with Neisseria meningitidis outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) or serum from mice immunized with recombinant receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2, with different adjuvants for each antigen. In terms of results, when standardizing the incubation time of sera with KSCN, we observed that 5 minutes was the ideal time for both assays, however, when using different dilutions of serum from mice immunized with RBD, there was an influence on the strength of antigen-antibody binding. For the N. meningitidis assay, the antibodies maintained high avidity for the antigens present in the OMVs, PorA, NadA, and Opa, especially in the presence of the aluminum hydroxide adjuvant. The research showed that standardizing the Immunoblot and Dot-Blot in the same assay optimizes time and resources, allowing qualitative analysis for two different antigens, and resulting in more robust information for immunization studies against these pathogens.

Fatal hemoptysis secondary to severe pulmonary veins stenosis is an exceptional late complication of radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation. We report the case of a 53-year-old male with a history of atrial fibrillation treated by radiofrequency ablation and admitted in our center 6 months after the initial procedure because of aggravating dyspnea and fatigability. Transthoracic echocardiography showed moderate dilation of right heart cavities, severe pulmonary hypertension, and a turbulent flow in superior pulmonary veins. The cardiologist suspected pulmonary vein(s) stenosis and cardiac computed tomography (CT) angiography was performed with findings of severe stenosis of the right superior, right inferior and left inferior pulmonary veins, near-occlusion of the left superior pulmonary vein and the vein draining the apical segment of the right lower lobe. The CT scan also revealed soft tissue attenuation of the mediastinum posterior to the left atrium suggesting fibrosing mediastinitis together with parenchymal findings consistent with pulmonary venooclusive disease and an area of hemorrhagic infarction. Fatal hemoptysis occurred 3 days after the evaluation before any treatment was attempted. In conclusion, severe pulmonary stenosis remains a rare but severe complication of radiofrequency ablation. Prevention is the key element together with an early diagnosis as the entity is potentially life-threatening.

Although ovarian cystic teratoma is the most common ovarian tumor, complications are quite rare. However, it is important to be recognized by the radiologist in order to avoid inaccurately diagnosing them as malignant lesions. This case report describes a 61-year-old postmenopausal woman, who presented to the emergency room with abdominal pain following a minor blunt abdominal trauma. In this context, a CT scan was performed, which showed the presence of round, hypodense masses randomly distributed in the peritoneum, with coexisting ascites in moderate amount; ovarian carcinoma with peritoneal carcinomatosis was suspected. The patient was hospitalized and an MRI of the abdomen and pelvis was recommended for a more detailed lesion characterization. Following this examination, the patient was diagnosed with mature cystic ovarian teratoma complicated by rupture. Surgery was performed, and the outcome was favorable. The cases of ruptured cystic teratomas are rare, and to our knowledge, this is the first occurrence described in literature. Special attention must be paid when confronting with such a case in medical practice, since it can easily misdiagnosed as peritoneal carcinomatosis

A homogenized, supersaturated Al-Zn-Mg-Zr alloy was processed by severe plastic deformation (SPD) using high-pressure torsion (HPT) technique for different revolutions at room temperature to get ultrafine-grained (UFG) microstructure. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the UFG samples were then studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), as well as by tensile and hardness measurements. Emphasis was placed on the effect of shear strain on the evolution of microstructure of the investigated alloy. Experimental results have shown a very interesting evolution of the decomposed microstructure in a wide range of shear strains imposed by HPT. While the global properties, such as the average grain size (~200 nm) and hardness (~2.2 GPa) appeared unchanged, the local microstructure was continuously transformed. After 1 turn of HPT, the decomposed UFG structure contains relatively large precipitates inside grains. In the sample processed by 5 turns in HPT, segregation of Zn atoms into grain boundaries (GBs) can also be observed. After 10 turns, more Zn atoms have segregated into GBs and only smaller size precipitates can be observed inside grains. The intensive segregation of solute atoms into GBs may significantly affect the ductility of the materials, leading to its ultralow-temperature superplasticity. Our findings pave the way for achieving advanced microstructural and mechanical properties in nanostructured metals and alloys by engineering their precipitation and segregation by means of applying different HPT regimes.

The mobile devices caused a constant struggle for the pursuit of data privacy. Nowadays, it appears that the number of mobile devices in the world is increasing. With this increase and technological evolution, thousands of data associated with everyone are generated and stored remotely. Thus, the topic of data privacy is highlighted in several areas. There is a need for control and management of data in circulation inherent to this theme. This article presents an approach of the interaction between the individual and the public environment, where this interaction will determine the access to information. This analysis was based on a data privacy management model in public environments created after reading and analyzing the current technologies. A mobile application based on location via Global Positioning System (GPS) was created to substantiate this model, which it considers the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to control and manage access to the data of each individual.

Abstract: Background: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a form of non-thermal ablation that delivers pulses of high voltage electrical current between electrodes. The role of IRE in the treatment of colorectal hepatic metastases is unestablished. This study is an international ques-tionnaire survey of the use of IRE for colorectal hepatic metastases. Methods: A questionnaire addressing views on the use of IRE for colorectal liver metastases was circulated to clinicians with an interest and/or expertise in this technique. Results: 64 clinicians from 17 different countries replied to the questionnaire. Thirty-six (56%) had experience of treating patients with colorectal liver metastases with IRE. The preferred mode of delivery of IRE was percutaneous treatment under CT guidance. Thirty-three (70% respondents) used IRE exclusively for lesions in proximity to inflow or outflow structures. Twenty (43% respondents) used IRE as their sole ablative treat-ment whilst 19 (40% respondents) used IRE in combination with thermal ablation. The maximum number of lesions that could be treated by IRE was two and preferred size of lesion was

The response of a single tin oxide nanowire was collected at different temperatures to create a virtual array of sensors working as a nano-electronic nose. The single nanowire, acting as a chemiresistor, was first tested with pure ammonia and then used to determine the freshness status of trout fish (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in a rapid and non-invasive way. The gas sensor reacts to total volatile basic nitrogen, detecting the freshness status of the fish samples in less than 30 seconds. The sensor response at different temperatures correlates well with the total viable count (TVC), demonstrating that it is a good (albeit indirect) way of measuring the bacterial population in the sample. The nano-electronic nose is able to classify the samples according to their degree of freshness, but also to quantitatively estimate the concentration of microorganisms present. The system was tested with samples stored at different temperatures, managing to classify them perfectly (100%) and estimating their log(TVC) with an error lower than 5%.

Read-Across Structure-Activity Relationship (RASAR) is an emerging cheminformatic approach that combines the usefulness of a QSAR model and similarity-based Read-Across predictions. In this work, we have generated a simple, interpretable, and transferable quantitative-RASAR (q-RASAR) model which can efficiently predict the cytotoxicity of TiO2-based multi-component nanomaterials. The data set involves 29 TiO2-based nanomaterials which contain specific amounts of noble metal precursors in the form of Ag, Au, Pd, and Pt. The data set was rationally divided into training and test sets and the Read-Across-based predictions for the test set were generated using the tool Read-Across-v4.1 available from https://sites.google.com/jadavpuruniversity.in/dtc-lab-software/home. The hyperparameters were optimized based on the training set data and using this optimized setting, the Read-Across-based predictions for the test set were obtained. The optimized hyperparameters and the similarity approach, which yields the best predictions, were used to calculate the similarity and error-based RASAR descriptors using the tool RASAR-Desc-Calc-v2.0 available from https://sites.google.com/jadavpuruniversity.in/dtc-lab-software/home. These RASAR descriptors were then clubbed with the physicochemical descriptors and were subjected to features selection using the tool Best Subset Selection v2.1 available from https://dtclab.webs.com/software-tools. The final set of selected descriptors was used to develop multiple linear regression based q-RASAR models, which were validated using stringent criteria as per the OECD guidelines. Finally, a random forest model was also developed with the selected descriptors. The final machine learning model can efficiently predict the cytotoxicity of TiO2-based multi-component nanomaterials superseding previously reported models in the prediction quality.