Cardiovascular diseases (CVD´s) continue as the primary cause of death worldwide. During the past couple of years, and with the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, deaths linked to CVD´s were -slightly overshadowed by those deaths related to COVID-19, albeit during the highest peaks of the pandemic. The present study derived form understanding the correlation between both diseases, from the standpoint of patients already diagnosed with CVD´s (n = 41883) and what comorbidities had the highest influence on overall patient death (n = 3637). Obesity, hypertension, and diabetes are all linked to worsening the outcome of COVID-19 positive patients, hence they were considered when looking at the overview of all CVD positive patients. Our finding showed that 1697 deaths were related to diabetes (p < 0.001), 987 deaths were related to obesity (p < 0.001), and lastly 2499 deaths were attributed to hypertension (p < 0.001) individually. Using logistic regression modeling, we found diabetes (OR: 1.744, p < 0.001) and hypertension (OR: 2.179, p < 0.001) had a high impact on patient deaths. Hence, having a CVD diagnosis, with hypertension and/or diabetes seems to increase the likely-hood of complication leading to death in COVID-19 positive patients.

KLFs seem to associate with congenital heart disease-linked syndromes, malformations because of autosomal diseases, mutations that relate to protein instability, and/or loss functions such as atheroprotective activities. Ischemic damage also relates to KLF dysregulation because of differentiation of cardiac myofibroblasts or a modified fatty acid oxidation, related to the formation of a dilated cardiomyopathy; myocardial infarctions, left ventricular hypertrophy and diabetic cardiomyopathies. MicroRNA have been involved in certain regulatory loops of KLFs as they may function as critical modulators of vascular smooth muscle cells in atherosclerosis, in heart failure and as markers of endothelial damage in acute myocardial infarction.

Cardiac hypertrophy typically follows myocardial damage, a process known to involve members of the Krüppel-Like Factors (KLFs) which have pro-hypertrophic and anti-hypertrophic roles. Our study delved into the molecular mechanisms underlying KLFs-cardiac hypertrophy interplay post myocardial infraction. We induced myocardial dam-age in rats using isoproterenol. Total RNA was extracted from the left ventricle and Quantitative Real Time RT-PCR was conducted to assess the expression of KLFs, cardiac commitment genes, inflammatory markers, and certain conduction-related genes. We devel-oped a computational approach to construct a proteomic network centered on KLFs. Initial results revealed early expression (2-3 days post-induction) of KLF3, KLF4 and KLF6, followed by the subsequent expression of KLF11 and KLF15 (5-8 days after induction). In the maturation stage, KLF12 and KLF13 regulators were found upregulated. IL-6 was gradually found to be upregulated through. Interaction analysis revealed KLF3, KLF8 and KLF12 interacted with cardiac electrical functions. RT-PCR confirmed up-regulation in cardiac genes linked to electrical function and scar maturation. Our findings underscore the central role of KLFs during the modulation of the cardiac hypertrophic response. Dysregulation of KLF expression resulted in damaged myocardium, participating in the progression of abnormal hypertrophy, highlighting their potential as therapeutic targets for heart diseases.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiovascular diseases complication can give rise to myocardial infarction which produces cell death by blockage of blood flow, leading to loss of heart function. Current treatments directed at heart repair have several disadvantages such as the lack of donors for heart transplantation or the use of non-bioactive inert materials for replacement of the damage tissue. New treatment strategies involve stimulation of heart tissue regeneration with the use of bioactive materials like chitosan, in combination with cells and biochemical factors. Chitosan scaffolds have the necessary proprieties of biocompatibility, porosity, and biodegradation, that imitates the heart extracellular matrix. Chitosan scaffolds physical proprieties, such as electrical conductivity and mechanical proprieties, can be improved by different preparation techniques and by the functionalization with other materials.

The world is currently, subjected to the worst health crisis documented in modern history; an epidemic led by the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). At the epicenter of this crisis, healthcare professionals continue working to safeguard our well-being. To the regular high levels of stress, COVID new heights even more to healthcare professionals so depending on the area, specialty, and type of work. Here we investigated what are the tendencies, or areas most affected. Through an adaptation of the original COVID-stress scale, we developed a remote, fast test designed for healthcare professionals of the Northeastern part of Mexico, an important part of the country with economic and cultural ties to the US. Our results showed 4 key correlations as highly dependent: Work area – Xenophobia (p &lt; 0.045), Work with COVID patients - Traumatic stress (p &lt; 0.001) and Total number of COVID patients per day – Traumatic stress (p &lt; 0.027), and Total number of COVID patients - Compulsive checking and reassurance. Overall concluding that normal levels of stress have increased (mild – moderate). Additionally, we further determine that the fear of being an asymptomatic patient (potential to spread without knowing) continues being a concern.

Pancreatic cancer leads the most common lethal tumor in America. This lethality is related to limited treatment options. Conventional treatments involve a non-specific use of chemotherapeutical agents like 5-FU, capecitabine, gemcitabine, cisplatine, oxaliplatine, or irinotecan, that produce several side effects. This review we focus on the use of targeted nanoparticles as an alternative to the standard treatment for the pancreatic cancer. The principal objective of the use of nanoparticles is the reduction in side effects that conventional treatments produce, mostly because of their nonspecificity. Currently, several molecular markets of pancreatic cancer cells have been studied to target nanoparticles and improve the actual treatment. Therefore, properly functionalizated nanoparticles with specific aptamers or antibodies can be used to recognize pancreatic cancer cells and once cancer is recognized, these nanoparticles can attack the tumor by drug delivery, hyperthermia, or gene therapy.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leading infectious cause of brain defects and neurological dysfunctions, including sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). A targeted screening in neonates failing the hearing screen is currently recommended in Italy according to national guidelines. However, SNHL may not be present at birth; also, congenital CMV (cCMV) may manifest with subtle signs other than SNHL. Therefore, inclusion of additional criteria for cCMV screening appears clinically valuable. Starting January 2021, we have implemented an expanded targeted cCMV screening at our center, with testing in case of maternal CMV infection during pregnancy, inadequate antenatal care, maternal HIV infection or immunosuppression, birthweight and/or head circumference.

Gender parity, is an important standard to be achieved by a society in which men and women are treated equally. The distinctions in the treatment may arise from psychology, biology, or cultural norms constructed by society. Studies show the different experiences of genders across many areas including health, education, personality, life expectancy, sports, interests, political empowerment, and careers. However, we are still far from reaching the objective, because there are conducts such as gender discrimination and expressions such as the purplewashing. In relation to feminism, purplewashing is used to define a diversity of marketing and political strategies intended at promoting people, companies, associations, and other organizations through an appeal to gender equality: they use only some of the feminist values at their convenience and in its actions, they are not really supportive of gender equality. In this opinion we aimed to address some of the reasons for inequality of opportunities based on gender; purplewashing is described as an expression that takes away the visibility of women's struggle. Additionally, we touch on some actions that promote gender equality in the family, educational, and work environments. Global leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to build gender-sensitive societies and economies. The challenges facing women today are essentially the same as they were a long time ago. It is time to break the bias.

Colorectal cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer in males and in females, representing 8% of estimated new cases and the third cause of cancer-related death in both sexes, accounting for 9% of cancer deaths in men and 8% in women. About 20% of patients diagnosed with CRC present metastatic disease. Although lung metachronous or synchronous metastatic spread without other involved sites has been reported in only a small proportion of patients, considering that this tumor is frequently diagnosed, the clinical approach to CRC pulmonary metastases represents a major issue for thoracic surgeons and CRC oncologists. Among patients diagnosed with pulmonary metastases from CRC, about 9 – 12% are eligible for local treatments with radical intent, including surgical resection, SBRT and ablation therapy. Due to the lack of randomized controlled trials among different local strategies, there is no definitive evidence about the optimal approach, although surgical resection is considered the most effective therapeutic option in this clinical scenario. Oncological achievement of primary radical resection, the biology of primary tumor and metastatic sites, disease free interval and or progression free survival are independent prognostic factors which make it possible to define a cohort of patients which might significantly benefit from pulmonary metastasectomy.

The implementation of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is changing the scenario in the surgical treatment of early-stage cervical cancer and the oncologic safety of replacing bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy with SLN biopsy is currently under investigation. One of the undisputed values of SLN biopsy is its diagnostic accuracy in detecting low-volume metastases (LVM) via pathologic ultrastaging. In early-stage cervical cancer, the reported incidence of LVM ranges from 4 to 20%. The prognostic impact and the role of adjuvant treatment in patients with LVM is still unclear. Some non-prespecified analyses in prospective studies showed no impact on the oncologic outcomes compared to node-negative disease. However, the heterogeneity of the studies, the differences in the disease stage and the use of adjuvant treatment, and the concomitant pelvic lymphadenectomy (PLND) make any conclusion on this topic hard. Current guidelines suggest considering micrometastasis (MIC) as a node-positive disease, while isolated tumor cells (ITC) as a node-negative disease, with a low level of evidence. This review aims to highlight the unanswered questions about the definition, identification, prognostic and therapeutic role of LVM and underline the present and future challenges we are facing. We hope this review will guide further research, giving robust evidence on LVM and their impact on clinical practice.

Background: Chronic pelvic pain is a debilitating condition affecting quality of life. Endometriosis is one of the leading causes of CPP, but recent studies highlighted the role of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/PBS) in causing CPP. Only some studies addressed the coexistence between these two conditions, which seems more frequent than what is supposed, leading to diagnostic delays and unnecessary surgeries. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the estimate of the coexistence of endometriosis and IC/PBS. Methods: We performed a systematic review of the literature indexed on PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Cochrane using a combination of keywords and text words represented by “painful bladder syndrome”, “endometriosis”, “interstitial cystitis”, “bladder pain syndrome”. We performed a meta-analysis of the results. Results: Meta-analysis shows that the coexistence of endometriosis and IC/PBS in women with CPP ranges between 15,5-78,3%, which is higher than the prevalence of IC/PBS in the general population. Conclusions: Women with CPP need a multidisciplinary approach and a referral to centers with specific expertise. In cases of endometriosis unresponsive to treatment, other reasons for CPP need to be ruled out, above all in women not responsive to treatment.

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is a predictive biomarker of colorectal surgery (CRS) complications but has not been evaluated by comparing patients undergoing CRS with intracorporeal anastomosis (IA) or extracorporeal anastomosis (EA). Therefore, we aimed to describe postoperative CRP values between two groups of patients who underwent laparoscopic right hemicolectomy for right-side colon cancer with IA or EA. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of patients affected by right-side colon cancers who underwent laparoscopic right-hemicolectomy with ileo-colic IA or EA between January 2016 and December 2022. Results: A total of 340 patients underwent laparoscopic right hemicolectomy. EA was performed in 238 (70%) and IA in 102 (30%) cases. Patients with IA showed significantly higher values of CRP in the second, third and fourth postoperative days (15.2 mg/dL vs 9.5 mg/dL p=

Oral bone defects occur as a result of trauma, cancer, infections, periodontal diseases, and caries. Autogenic and allogenic grafts are the gold standard used to treat and regenerate damaged or defective bone segments. However, these materials do not possess the antimicrobial properties necessary to inhibit the invasion of the numerous deleterious pathogens present in the oral microbiota. In the present study poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp), and a commercial extract of Humulus lupulus L. (hops) were electrospun into polymeric matrices to assess their po-tential for drug delivery and bone regeneration. The fabricated matrices were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tensile analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), FT-IR assay, and in vitro hydrolytic degradation. The antimi-crobial properties were evaluated against the oral pathogens Streptococcus mutans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. The cytocompatibility was proved by the MTT assay. SEM analysis proved the nanostructured matrices have suitable fiber size. The present research provides new information about the interaction of natural compounds with ceramic and polymeric biomaterials. The hop extract and other natural or synthetic medicinal agents can be effectively loaded into PCL fibers and has the potential to be used in biomedical applications.

This work presents some characteristics of MoNet, a computerized platform for the modeling and visualization of complex systems. Emphasis is on the ideas that allowed the successful progressive development of this modeling platform, which goes along with the implementation of applications to the modeling of several studied systems. The platform has the capacity to represent different aspects of systems modeled at different observation scales. This tool offers advantages in the sense of favoring the perception of the phenomenon of the emergence of information, associated with changes of scale. Some criteria used for the construction of this modeling platform are included. The power of current computers has made practical representing graphic resources such as shapes, line thickness, overlaying-text tags, colors and transparencies, in the graphical modeling of systems made up of many elements. By visualizing diagrams conveniently designed to highlight contrasts, these modeling platforms allow the recognition of patterns that drive our understanding of systems and their structure. Graphs that reflect the benefits of the tool regarding the visualization of systems at different scales of observation are presented to illustrate the application of the platform.

The bacterial genus and species of Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis (Bti), is entomotoxic, used in the biological control of mosquito vectors of human diseases, such as malaria and dengue. Following the studies carried out in Mexico and Guatemala with ovillantas, in which the presence of larvae of both species of Anopheles albimanus W and Aedes aegypti L were observed, and with the intention of continuing to develop an ecologically friendly mosquito control, Bti was added to the ovillantas, to improve and already efficient method on the elimination of both types of mosquitoes. The objectives of this work were: to analyze the effectiveness of two commercial formulations of Bti, serovar H-14 (Bactimos) wettable powder, 3,500 ITU, from Biochem prods., and Vectobac, 2,000 ITU wettable powder, (Abbot Lab.) on second and third instars larvae of A. albimanus and Ae. aegypti (Diptera Culicidae). The two formulations were effective against A. albimanus W(higher concentrations), while Ae. aegypti L was very susceptible to Bti, therefore it is proposed for the best control of these genus and vector species of malaria and dengue at adequate concentrations.

Here we mathematically model black holes and the early universe following dynamics similar to RLC electrical models, focusing on their similarities at the singularity. We use this mathematically modelling to hypothesize the evolution of an expanding universe as the result of a black hole collapse followed by its evaporation. Or model consists of several steps defined by: (1) the formation of a black hole following general relativity equations; (2) growth of the black hole modelled as a resistance-capacitance-like electrical circuit; (3) expansion of space-time following the disintegration of the black hole, modelled by RLC-like dynamics. In updating this article, version 2, we will expand by presenting three additional examples related to the theory of the generalization Boltzmann's constant in curved space-time and the theory of general and especial relativity. We will calculate the critical mass to produce a black hole in the LHC, the existence of a high temperature Bose-Einstein condensate and finally we will demonstrate the existence of a tangential force to the repulsion force in the disintegration of subatomic particles. In the update of this article, version 3, we will expand to develop two examples. First, we will present the relationship between M-theory, extra dimensions with the theory of the generalization of Boltzmann's constant in curved space-time. Secondly, we will propose the idea of ​​updating the Lambda-CDM model, considering the primordial gravitational waves to correctly describe the evolution of the universe.

Matter grows and self-assembles to produce complex structures such as virus capsids, carbon fullerenes, proteins, glasses, etc. Due to its complexity, performing pen-and-paper calculations to explain and describe such assemblies is cumbersome. Many years ago, Richard Kerner presented a pen-and-paper path integral approach to understand self-organized matter. Although successfully addressed many important problems including the yield of fullerene formation, the glass transition temperature of doped chalcogenide glasses, the fraction of boroxol rings in B2O3 glasses, the first theoretical explanation for the empirical recipe of window and Pyrex glass and the understanding of virus capsid self-assembly, still is not the primary choice when tackling similar problems. The reason lies in the fact that it diverges from mainstream approaches based on the energy landscape paradigm and non-equilibrium thermodynamics. In this context, a critical review is presented, demonstrating that the Richard Kerner method is, in fact, a clever way to identify relevant configurations. Its equations are simplified, common physical sense versions to those found in the energy landscape kinetic equations. Subsequently, the utilization of equilibrium Boltzmann factors in the transition Markov chain probabilities is analyzed within the context of local two-level energy landscape models kinetics. This analysis demonstrates that their use remains valid when the local energy barrier between reaction coordinate states is small compared to the thermal energy. This finding places the Richard Kerner model on par with other more sophisticated methods and, hopefully, will promote its adoption as an initial and useful choice for describing the self-agglomeration of matter.

This document introduces methods and algorithms to characterize a series of values as patterns of repeating symbols or sequences selected with the criterion to maximize the information retrieved. The method converts a series of real-number values into texts. Then, it interprets the text from a point of view specified by several parameters. Located patterns are linked nested, with shorter sequences within longer ones. Texts are then synthesized and organized in a tree-like structure, substantially reducing entropy. The characterization of processes serves as the basis for constructing models to estimate likely projected values. Alternative ways to assess the multiscale complexity of unidimensional processes are applications of the results obtained here.

The Lower Rio Grande Valley, South Texas is considered one of the more vulnerable coastal areas to flooding related with abrupt climate changes. From 1980-2017, there were 7 flooding events, 57 severe storm events, and 8 tropical cyclone events with losses exceeding $1 billion in the State of Texas, according to NOAA NCEI. Coastal flooding is typically a result of storm surge and heavy rainfall produced by hurricanes and tropical storms. In this study, the two-dimensional hydrodynamic flow circulation model is developed to predict the Lower Rio Grande Valley coastal area inundation due to the hurricane storm surge, especially in the case of Hurricane Beulah, 1967. The tropical cyclone properties and tidal constituents were assigned to the updated watershed geographic information with the bottom bathymetric and roughness data. For model validation, the Hurricane Dolly 2008 storm surge due to Hurricane Beulah at the coast and the storm surge reaches up to approximately 40 kilometers west from the coast through a natural river channel. This model can be used for a reliable engineering tool for the coastal hazard emergency management and disaster mitigation.

Background: Recent reports on the national temporal trends of sepsis-related mortality in the United States (US) suggested outcome improvement in several race and ethnicity groups. However, it is unknown whether national data reflect state-level trajectories. Methods: We used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research Multiple Cause of Death dataset to identify all decedents with sepsis in the US during 2010-2019. Negative binomial regression models were fit to estimate national and state-level trends of age-adjusted sepsis-related mortality rates within race and ethnicity groups. Results: There were 1,852,610 sepsis-related deaths in the US during 2010-2019. Nationally, sepsis-related mortality rates decreased among Blacks and Asians, were unchanged among Hispanics and Native Americans, and rose among Whites. The percent of states with similar trends were 30.0% among Blacks, 32.1% among Asians, 74.3% among Hispanics, 75.0% among Native Americans, and 66.7%% among Whites, while trending in opposite direction from 3.6% among Asians to 15.0% among Blacks. Conclusions: National trends in sepsis-related mortality in the US did not represent state-level trajectories in race and ethnicity groups. Gains in sepsis outcomes among race and ethnicity groups at the national level were not shared equitably at the state level.

Cell therapy has used mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) which in cell culture are multipotent progenitors, capable of producing a variety of cells limited to the mesoderm layer. There are two types of MSCs sources: 1) adult MSCs, which are obtained from the bone marrow, adipose tissue, peripheral blood, and dental pulp; and 2) neonatal tissue-derived MSCs, obtained from extra-embryonic tissues such as the placenta, amnion, and umbilical cord. Until April 2023, there are 1,120 registered clinical trials using MSCs therapies worldwide, but there are only 12 MSCs therapies that have been approved by regulatory agencies for commercialization. Nine of the twelve approved MSCs products are from Asia, with South Korea being the country with the most approved therapies. In the future, MSCs will play an important role in the treatment of many diseases. However, there are many issues to deal with before their application and usage in medical practice. Some strategies have been proposed to face these problems with the hope of reaching the objective of applying these MSCs therapies at optimal therapeutic levels.

Here, using the theory of electrical-quantum modelling of the neutron and proton as a three-phase alternating current electrical generator, we will analyse the proton decay and the inverse neutron decay and determine the following subatomic particles, Dproton, Protoniu, Dneutron and Neutroniumd.

Here we will electrically-quantum model the neutron and proton as a three-phase alternating current electric generator, for this, we will use the theory of three-phase electric generators and vector or phasor diagrams. We will use this model to hypothesize how the quarks that form neutrons and protons with a combined mass of 10 MeV/c², can generate, through quarks-antiquarks-gluon interactions, a mass of 939.56 MeV/c² for the neutron and a mass of 938.27 MeV/c² for the proton. Using quantum mechanics and the theory of the generalization of the Boltzmann constant in curved space-time we will calculate the number of quarks-antiquarks-gluons and gravitons inside a neutron. We will also analyse βˉ decay using vector diagrams, we will calculate the tension of the string T₀ and the length of the string ℓs between quarks-antiquark and finally, we will model a black hole using a neutron equivalent model. In version 2 of this article, we will update the vector diagrams of the βˉ decay and theoretically calculate the energy of the W⁻ boson, the Z⁰ boson, and the Θ angle, Θ = arc cos (W⁻/Z⁰). We will demonstrate, through vector diagrams, that quarks-antiquarks-gluon interactions are the cause of the origin of the W⁻ boson and the Z⁰ boson. We will also demonstrate how the fine structure constant α originates. It is important to make clear, in future updates, we will describe the relationship that exists between the theory described in this paper and the Isospin theory, flavour and colour theory

We are going to demonstrate the origin of dark energy, using a Hardwire similarity, a test that is carried out in terrestrial seismic with vibroseis in the search for gas and oil. In the first instance, we are going to analyse the mathematical function of Dirac's delta and compare it with the detonation of an explosive that is carried out in the search for gas and oil. Let's understand that in both cases a frequency spectrum is produced. We will also explain the meaning of a non-causal, zero-phase system; a causal system, of minimum phase, in order to determine the mathematical behaviour that corresponds to the Big Bang. Next, following the line of seismic, we will analyse a Hardwire Similarity to demonstrate that a vibroseis source, which generates a sweep, produces, in addition to the ideal sweep of fundamental frequencies, spurious harmonic frequencies and additional noise. We will show that this additional energy generated by the spurious harmonic frequencies and additional noise adds to the energy of the fundamental frequency sweep in analogy as dark energy does.

The CACCC-box motif emerges as a pivotal cis-regulatory element implicated in diverse developmental processes and diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This study centers on the intricate interplay between the CACCC-box and its binding proteins such as: the Krüppel-like family (KLF) of transcription factors as primary effectors in the context of CVDs. Our analysis was through a bioinformatics approach, which reveal significant transcriptional activity among KLF subgroup 2, exhibiting the highest number of interactions focusing on the established roles: pluripotency, cancer, and cardiovascular development and diseases. Our analysis reveals KLF's interactions with GATA4, MEF2C, NKX2.5 and other ~ 90 potential genes that participate in the regulation of the hypertrophic environment (or CVD's Environment). Also, the GO analysis showed genes containing the motif CACCC were enriched for multiple CVD’s, in combination with STRING analysis these results pointed to a link between KLFs and these diseases. The analysis further identifies other potential CACCC-box binding factors, such as SP family members, WT1, VEZF1, and -SALL4, which are implicated in cardiac contraction, remodeling, and inflammation processes.

Here we mathematically model black holes following dynamics similar to RC electrical model, focusing on their similarities at the singularity. We use this mathematically modelling to hypothesize the origin and growth of a black Hole. Or model consists of several steps defined by: (1) the formation of a black hole following general relativity equations; (2) growth of the black hole modelled as a resistance-capacitance-like electrical circuit. Based on the mathematical modeling of a black hole following dynamics similar to an RC circuit, for a circular motion with constant acceleration, in which the condition is fulfilled, Vt = ω r, we are going to calculate the amount of dark matter in the Milky Way galaxies and the Andromeda galaxy and subsequently the rotation curve of both galaxies to compare them with observed or measured values.

Here we will model the curvature and contraction of space-time using as a basis the equation of state of an ideal gas and the Hawking´s equation for the temperature of a black hole. We will use this mathematical model to hypothesize that the Boltzmann´s constant depends on the state of matter, that is, there is a known Boltzmann´s constant for flat space-time and an effective Boltzmann´s constant for curved space-time. This model will allow us to quantify the structure of space-time and will serve as a basis to determine the origin of gravity and the origin of elementary particles. Using the Shannon-Boltzmann-Gibbs entropy relation, we will demonstrate that information is not lost and depends on the state of matter, the information is encoded and depends on the effective Boltzmann´s constant.

The Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT)3 and 5 are activated by many cytokine receptors to regulate specific gene expression and mitochondrial functions. Their role in cancer is largely context dependent as they can both act as oncogenes and tumor suppressors. We review here the role of STAT3/5 activation in solid cancers and summarize their association to survival in cancer patients. The molecular mechanisms that underpins the oncogenic activity of STAT3/5 signaling includes the regulation of genes that control cell cycle, cell death, inflammation and stemness. In addition, STAT3 mitochondrial functions are required for transformation. On the other hand, several tumor suppressor pathways act on or are activated by STAT3/5 signaling including the p19ARF/p53 pathway, tyrosine phosphatases, suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 and 3, the sumo ligase PIAS3, the E3 ubiquitin ligase TMF/ARA160 and the miRNAs miR-124 and miR-1181. Cancer mutations and epigenetic alterations may alter the balance between pro-oncogenic and tumor suppressor activities associated to STAT3/5 signaling explaining their context dependent association to tumor progression both in human cancers and animal models.

Intelligent systems are driven by the latest technological advances in so different areas as sensing, embedded systems, wireless communications or context recognition. This paper focuses on some of those areas. Concretely, the paper deals with wireless communications issues on embedded systems. More precisely, the paper combines the multi-hop networking with Bluetooth technology and a quality of service (QoS) metric, the latency. Bluetooth is a radio license free worldwide communication standard that makes low power multi-hop wireless networking available. It establishes piconets (point-to-point and point-to-multipoint links) and scatternets (multi-hop networks). As a result, many Bluetooth nodes can be interconnected to set up ambient intelligent networks. Then, this paper presents the results of the investigation on multi-hop latency with park and sniff Bluetooth low power modes conducted over the hardware test bench previously implemented. In addition, the empirical models to estimate the latency of multi-hop communications over Bluetooth Asynchronous Connectionless Links (ACL) in park and sniff mode are given. The designers of devices and networks for intelligent systems will benefit from the estimation of the latency in Bluetooth multi-hop communications that the models provide.

In modern mathematics, many concepts and ideas are described in terms of category theory. From this viewpoint, it is desirable to analyze what can be determined if, instead of the basic category of sets, we consider a similar category of fuzzy sets. In this paper, we describe a natural fuzzy analog of the category of sets and functions, and we show that, in this category, fuzzy relations (a natural fuzzy analogue of functions) can be determined in category terms -- of course, modulo 1-1 mapping of the corresponding universe of discourse and 1-1 re-scaling of fuzzy degrees.

Ultrasound is a well-known tool to produce thermal and non-thermal effects on cells and tissues. These effects require a correct application of ultrasound in terms of localization and acoustic energy delivered. This article describes a new device that combines ultrasound and Dry Needling treatments. The ultrasound transducer can rotate in 3D space mechanically to align itself in the direction of the needle. The transducer electronically focuses the acoustic pressure automatically on the needle tip and its surroundings. A computer, using graphical interface software, controls the angulation of the array and the focus position.

HPV51 belongs to group I high-risk HPV (hrHPV) genotypes with a high prevalence of infection in numerous epidemiological studies, although its occurrence varies across geographical regions. To better understand the presence of variants and genetic variation of HPV51, this study aimed to perform a phylogenetic analysis of the E6, E7 and L1 regions to detect the hrHPV variants circulating in women referred to colposcopy in two different Italian regions (Lombardy and Sardinia). Cervical samples were tested using Anyplex™ II HPV HR Detection. HPV51 positive samples were further analysed using previously described PCR protocols to obtain sequences of E6, E7 and L1. A positivity rate for HPV51 of 7.4% (26/351) and 13.6% (11/81) was found in Lombardy and Sardinia, respectively. The majority (34 out of 35) of the analyzed sequences clustered into the A lineage and only one sequence was grouped into B lineage. L1 capsid gene showed the presence of different mutations but none under positive selective pressure. Three nucleotide polymorphisms T6311G, A6312T and G6313A related to the two aminoacidic mutations V264G and G265S were found among all analysed sequences. This study contributes to implement data regarding the molecular epidemiology of HPV but additional analysis on a larger number of sequences is necessary to better understand the role of HPV variants in cervical lesions development.

Iturbide is located in the Northeast of Mexico, it has a rich native and exotic flora, however, there are no ethnobotanical records, therefore, it requires attention in the documentation of traditional practices and uses of its botanical resources. In 2021, twelve field trips were carried out, applying 110 semi-structured interviews. Plant samples were collected, identified and deposited in an herbarium. We used the Chi-square test to compare ethnobotanical uses with respect to others reported in Mexico. To determine the cultural importance, three ethnobotanical indices were applied (UVI, ICF and FL). We recorded 250 species with ethnobotanical uses associated with 121 genera and 83 families, including 140 native and 110 exotic species. The most common plant families were Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, and Fabaceae. The main uses were ornamental, medicinal and food. The species with the highest UVI values ​​were Lepidium peruvianum, Ocimum basilicum and Rosmarinus officinale. The multifunctionality of the native and exotic flora demonstrates the extensive knowledge associated with botanical resources. Examples, the role of ornamental plants, with a direct impact on human well-being, the resilience of healers and traditional inhabitants by using different species for the treatment of various ailments. or indigenous edible plants in the daily diet.

Bike sharing systems are a key element of a smart city as they have the potential for reducing pollutant emissions and traffic congestion thus substantially improving citizens’ quality of life. In these systems, bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a very short-term basis. They are rented in a station and returned in any other station with free docks. However, to achieve a satisfactory user experience, all the stations in the system must be neither overloaded nor empty. The occupancy level of the stations can be constantly monitored through IoT-based services. The goal of this work is to analyze occupancy level data acquired from real systems to discover situations of dock overload in multiple stations which could lead to service disruption. The proposed methodology relies on a pattern mining approach. A new pattern type, called Occupancy Monitoring Pattern (OMPs), is proposed to characterize situations of dock overload in multiple stations. Since stations are geo-referenced and their occupancy levels are periodically monitored, OMPs can be filtered and evaluated by considering also the spatial and temporal correlation of the acquired measurements. The results achieved on real Smart City data highlight the potential of these techniques in supporting domain experts in maintenance activities, such as periodic re-balancing of the occupancy levels of the stations, as well as in improving the user experience, such as suggesting alternative stations in the neighborhood.

Eight lesions were analyzed using some algorithms of Intelligence Artificial: basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), melanoma (MEL), actinic keratosis (AK), benign keratosis (BKL), dermatofibromas (DF), melanocytic nevi (NV), and vascular lesions (VASC). This manuscript presents the possibility of using concatenated signatures (instead of images) obtained from different integral transforms, such as Fourier, Mellin, and Hilbert, to classify skin lesions. Eleven other Artificial Intelligence models were applied so that eight skin lesions could be classified by analyzing the particular signatures of each lesion. The database was randomly divided into 80%–20% for the training and test datasets images, respectively. The metrics that are being reported are accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and precision. Each case was repeated 30 times to avoid bias, according to the central limit theorem in this work, and the average and ±standard deviation were reported. Although all the results were very satisfactory, the best average mark for the eight lesions analyzed was obtained using the Subspace KNN model, where the metrics for the test were 99.98% accuracy, 99.96% sensitivity, 99.99% specificity, and 99.95% precision.

Social networks have captured the attention of many people worldwide. However, these services have also attracted a considerable number of malicious users whose purpose is to compromise digital assets of other members by using messages as an attack vector to execute different variants of cyberattacks against them. Therefore, this work presents an approach based on Natural Language Processing tools and a Convolutional Neural Network architecture to detect and classify, on social network messages, four types of cyberattacks, such as malware, phishing, spam, and even one whose purpose is deceiving the user into spreading malicious messages to other users, which in this work is identified as bot attacks. One notable feature of this work is that it analyzes textual content without depending on any characteristics from a specific social network, making its analysis independent from particular data sources. Finally, this work was tested on real data, demonstrating its results in two stages. The first detects the existence of any of the four cyberattacks within the message, obtaining an accuracy value of 0.91. After detecting a message as a cyberattack, the next stage is to classify it into one of the four types of cyberattack, achieving an accuracy value of 0.82.

This comprehensive review delves into the multifaceted aspects of ERK signaling and the intricate mechanisms underlying distinct cellular fates. ERK1 and ERK2 (ERK) govern proliferation, transformation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, differentiation, senescence, or cell death, con-tingent upon activation strength, duration, and context. The biochemical mechanisms underlying these outcomes are inadequately understood, shaped by signaling feedback and the spatial localization of ERK activation. Generally, ERK activation aligns with the Goldilocks principle in cell fate determination. Excessive or insufficient ERK activity inhibits growth, whereas moderated activation supports proliferation and survival. Unraveling the intricacies of how the degree of ERK activation dictates cell fate requires deciphering mechanisms encompassing protein stability, transcription factors downstream of ERK, and the chromatin landscape.

Popped amaranth is a nutritious food consumed since pre-Hispanic times, currently its consumption has been associated with recovery of malnourished children. However, there is no information on the impact that popped amaranth consumption has on gut microbiota composition. A non-randomized pilot trial was conducted to evaluate the changes on composition, structure, and function of gut microbiota of stunted children who received four grams of popped amaranth daily for three months. Stool and serum were collected at the beginning and at the end of the trial. Short-chain-fatty acids were quantified and gut bacterial composition was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Biome-try and hematology results showed that children have no other pathology more than to be low-height-for age. Increase of total SCFAs levels in feces was ob-served as well as a decrease in relative abundance of Alistipes putredinis, Bac-teroides coprocola, and Bacteroides stercoris, bacteria related with inflammation and colitis. On the contrary, an increase in relative abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila and Streptococcus thermophiles, bacteria associated with health and longevity, was observed. Results have proven that popped amaranth, a nutri-tious food, help to combat children malnutrition through gut microbiota modu-lation.

We studied the link between carbon and water fluxes to understand the response of net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) to water availability conditions of three different potato water regimes cropping systems [full irrigation (FI), deficit irrigation (DI) and rainfed (RF)]. Through the eddy covariance technique, we measured CO₂ and water vapor exchanges and determined surface resistances, omega factor, and inherent water use efficiency (IWUE). Additionally, continuous plant growth determinations of leaf area index (LAI) and specific leaf area (SLA) were made over the three cropping systems. The RF potato was a net carbon source (NEE = 187.21 ± 3.84 g C m⁻²), while both, FI (NEE= −311.96 ± 12.82 g C m⁻²) and DI (−17.3 ± 4.6 g C m⁻²) were a net carbon sink. Greater sink activity is due to high fluxes of gross primary productivity (GPP) [where the GPP > ecosystem respiration (R_eco)] and evapotranspiration (ET), and the high efficiency in the exchange of carbon and water. Without water limitations, the larger canopy, with greater photosynthetic activity (GPP/R_eco > 2) as well as with low internal resistance offers a greater area for water and carbon exchange, and the highly coupled and synchronized ET – GPP fluxes are primarily controlled by the radiative environment. The lower sink capacity of the DI potato crop and the carbon source activity from the RF, are consequences of a smaller area for water and carbon exchange due to the smaller canopy, and a low IWUE from decoupled and desynchronized carbon and water exchange caused by unbalanced restrictions on ET and GPP fluxes. Specifically, at DI potato, ET remained at a high rate, while GPP was reduced by means of non-stomatal limitations. In the rainfed potato, vapor pressure deficit (VPD) played a significant role increasing midday canopy resistance (Rc) up to 13 times compared to irrigated sites, when VPD was around 0.8 kPa. In consequence, ET and GPP fluxes decreased together, but GPP decreased more than ET because of stomatal and non-stomatal limitations.

To mitigate the COVID-19 infection, many world governments endorsed the cessation of non-essential activities, such as the school attendance. Thereby, forcing the evolution of the teaching model to the virtual classroom. In the present work we show the application of a modified version of the adapted COVID-19 stress scales (ACSS) which also included teaching anxiety and preparedness, and resilience for academic professionals in Mexico, during the unprecedented transformation of the education system undergone in the COVID-19 quarantine. Most of the studied variables: gender, age, academic degree, household occupants, having a disease, teaching level, teaching mode, work hours, resilience, teaching anxiety and preparedness, and fear of being an asymptomatic patient (FOBAP), showed significant statistical correlation between each other (p<0.050) and to the 6 areas of the ACSS (danger, contamination, social economical, xenophobia, traumatic stress and compulsive checking). Our results further showed that the perceived stress and anxiety, fell into the category of absent to mild with only the danger section of the ACSS falling into the moderate category. Finally, resilience generated throughout the quarantine, seems to be a predictor of the adaptation the academic professional has undergone to cope with stress.

Alzheimer's disease still holds many mysteries that are yet to be revealed. Exploring the reasons behind the increase in suicidal behavior in patients undergoing promising treatments for Alzheimer's disease is a scientific endeavor. Research practices must be built upon strong theoretical frameworks that can guide the investigation. Throughout decades of professional experience in caring for suicidal individuals and elderly people with cognitive disorders, we have noticed a connection that requires further exploration. It seems that existential distress may trigger various outcomes. At one end of the spectrum, we observe individuals who strongly resist adverse situations, making them more prone to developing suicidal behaviors. At the other end, we see individuals who exert great biological effort to adapt to the ongoing stresses of life, with Alzheimer's disease being a neurological consequence of this adaptation. To develop our understanding, we conducted an existentialist analysis to conceptualize the underpinnings of the human experience in a stress-filled world.

Based on a measuring system to determine the statistical heterogeneity of individual polygons we propose a method to use polygonal shape patterns as a source of data in order to determine the Shannon entropy of biological organizations. In this research, the term entropy is a particular amount of data related with levels of spatial heterogeneity in a series of different geometrical meshes and sets of random polygons. We propose that this notion of entropy is important to measure levels of information in units of bits, measuring quantities of heterogeneity in geometrical systems. In fact, one important result is that binarization of heterogeneity frequencies yields a supported metric to determine geometrical information from complex configurations. Thirty-five geometric aggregates are tested; biological and non-biological, in order to obtain experimental results of their spatial heterogeneity which is verified with the Shannon entropy parameter defining low particular levels of geometrical information in biological samples. Geometrical aggregates (meshes) include a spectrum of organizations ranging from cell meshes to ecological patterns. Experimental results show that a particular range (0.08 and 0.27) of information is intrinsically associated with low rates of heterogeneity. We conclude it as an intrinsic feature of geometrical organizations in multi-scaling biological systems.

Here, applying the theory of the generalization of the Boltzmann constant in curved space-time, we will model the mechanism by which elementary particles are formed. We will determine the relationship between gravity and each of the elementary particles that form the standard model following analogies to that of stellar bodies. In order to achieve our goal, we will propose new models for photons, quarks and gluons; with this, we will demonstrate why there are stable and unstable elementary particles; why the first family of elementary particles forms hadrons and why the second and third families cannot form hadrons; why the fermions comply with the Pauli exclusion principle and why the bosons do not comply with the Pauli exclusion principle, etc. Finally, we will analyse the generalization of the ADS/CFT correspondence and propose a theory of everything (T.O.E.).

Fatigue fractures in materials are the main cause of approximately 80% of all material failures, and it is believed that such failures can be predicted and mathematically calculated in a reliable manner. It is possible to establish prediction modalities in cases of fatigue fracture, according to three fundamental variables in fatigue, such as volume, number of fracture cycles, as well as applied stress, with the integration of Weibull constants (length characteristic). This investigation was carried out mechanical fatigue tests on specimens smaller than 4 mm2 in section of different industrial materials for their subsequent analysis through precision computed tomography in search of microfractures. The measurement of these microfractures, along with their metrics and classifications, was recorded. A convolutional neural network trained with deep learning was used to achieve the detection of microfractures in image processing. The detection of microfractures in images with 480x854 or 960x960 pixels is the primary objective of this network, and its accuracy is above 95%. Images that have microfractures and those that do not are classified by the network. Subsequently, by means of image processing, the microfracture is isolated. Finally, the images that do contain this feature are interpreted by image processing to obtain their area, perimeter, characteristic length, circularity, orientation, and type microfracture metrics. All values will be obtained in pixels and converted to metric units (μm) through a conversion factor based on image resolution.

Access to broadband communications in different parts of the world has become a priority for some governments and regulatory authorities around the world in recent years. Building new digital roads and pursuing a connected society includes looking for easier access to the Internet. In general, not all the areas where people congregate are fully covered, especially in rural zones, thus restricting access to data communications and bringing inequality. In the present review article, we have comprehensively surveyed the use of three platforms to deliver broadband services to such remote and low-income areas are proposed: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Altitude Platforms (APS), and Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These novel strategies support the connected and accessible world hypothesis. Hence UAVs are considered a noteworthy solution since their efficient maneuverability can aboard the rural coverage issues or not-spots.

This study investigated the development of Aedes aegypti density in houses of the urban locality of Poblado Miguel Alemán Valdes, in the Sonora state of Mexico, after application of 1% propoxur paint as full wall coverage (IP) and targeted indoor painting (IP 1m) in comparison to IRS with propoxur 70% WP (full wall coverage). The 1% propoxur paint was applied by the homeowners by brushing and rolling at the recommended dose of 1L/8 m², equivalent to 1.5 g a.i./m², while IRS was conducted by professionals with Propoxur 70% WP at a dose of 1 g a.i./m². Adult mosquito surveys were conducted in a random sample of houses in each block one week before the interventions and at week 1, month 1 to 4, month 6, month 9 and month 12 post-interventions. All three propoxur based treatments provided similar reductions (43.7%, 44.9% and 41.3% for IP, IP 1m and IRS respectively) in the fraction of houses positive in female Aedes aegypti resting indoor and outdoor as one year average of 8 follow up surveys. Indoor resting density of Aedes females during the one-year evaluation was reduced by 77.5% through IP followed by IP 1m with 64.2% reduction and 30% reduction with IRS. Culex mosquitoes’ interior density was affected as well by the insecticide treatments with similar average reductions for IP 1m (50.0%) and IRS (57.8%) in comparison with control. Aedes breeding was impacted by the insecticide paint in similar extent for both interventions, expressed by a substantial reduction of the House Index (20.1% IP, 31.2% IP 1m) and especially the Container Index (51.8% IP, 61.7% IP 1m) during the one-year surveys in comparison to control. In contrast, IRS treated block experienced an increase in both indexes. However, despite IP and IP 1m impacted in Aedes adult and immature indexes with noticeable reductions, the differences in all cases were not significative among the different insecticide treatments. The low sample size and mosquito population levels may have influenced the statistical outcomes. More than 80% of the interviewed residents were satisfied with the effectiveness of the paint and IRS treatments. The determination of the blood cholinesterase activity of tested individuals after the use of the carbamate paint and IRS in this study did not exceed acceptable inhibition limits. This study suggests that the application of propoxur paint by homeowners as full house coverage or as targeted indoor painting can be a safe and accepted intervention method for density reduction of Aedes aegypti populations in urban environments.

Tumid Lupus Erythematosus has been the subject of heated debate as to its correct nosographic classification. In particular, its definition has changed over time, depending on the different studies performed. In this review we address the initial definition of TLE, the changes that have taken place in the understanding and placement within the classification of Lupus Erythematosus (LE), and focus on clinical, histopathological, immunophenotypical and differential diagnosis aspects.

Lichen Amyloidosis (LA) is a type of cutaneous amyloidosis characterized by brownish hyperkeratotic and itchy papules on the lower leg, back, forearm or thigh. It is associated with itching and Atopic Dermatitis (AD) according to an etiopathogenetic mechanism that has not yet been fully elucidated. Currently, available therapies for this condition include oral antihistamines, laser, cyclosporine, topical corticosteroids and phototherapy, but in light of the overlap with AD, Dupilumab may also be indicated. We report the case of a female, 52 years old, suffering from AD and LA for about 27 years. She had lesions attributable to both diseases on the trunk and lower limbs associated with severe itching and had proved resistant to cyclosporine therapy. It was decided to opt for Dupilumab with induction of 2 fl of 300 mg and maintenance with 1 fl every other week. The therapy proved effective, returning a total resolution of both diseases one year after the beginning of the treatment. Dupilumab demonstrated efficacy and safety in LA related to AD and led to clinical and quality of life improvement in this patient. Therefore, Dupilumab should be considered when treating LA. Further studies should be conducted focusing on the efficacy of the drug on LA (whether or not related to AD), changes in skin lesions after discontinuation, and the safety of long-term application.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a severe personality disorder whose neural bases are still unclear. Indeed, previous studies reported inconsistent findings concerning alterations in cortical and subcortical areas. In the present study we applied for the first time an unsupervised machine learning approach known as mCCA+jICA, in combination with a supervised machine learning approach known as Random Forest, to possibly find covarying GM-WM circuits that separate BPD from controls and that are also predictive of this diagnosis. To this aim, we analyzed the structural images of patients with BPD and matched HCs. Results showed that two GM-WM covarying circuits, including basal ganglia, amygdala, and portions of the temporal lobes and of the orbitofrontal cortex, correctly classified BPD against HC. Notably, these circuits are affected by specific child traumatic experiences (emotional and physical neglect, and physical abuse) and predict symptoms severity in the interpersonal and impulsivity domains. These results support that BPD is characterized by anomalies in GM and WM circuits related to early traumatic experiences and specific symptoms.

Cobalt, like other critical elements, is gaining in importance today. The great technological advances and the deep knowledge of the physical and chemical properties of this element have allowed to enhance its applications in various fields, such as: catalysts, paints, alloys for the mechanical and aerospace industries, as well as the medical sector and in recent times, its use within the rechargeable battery industry. The main exploitable deposits are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which have economic potential due to a strong influence on their mineralization processes. However, the growing demand for cobalt and the search for less dependence on African deposits leads to targeting other regions, so it is necessary to carry out exhaustive exploration to find out the potential of its reserves for a subsequent benefit of the mineral. Generally, cobalt comes as a by-product of the extraction of other metallic minerals, mainly from Cu-Co, Ni-Co, Ni-Cu-Co deposits. From the above, a first review is carried out on the differences that exist in the geochemical, mineralogical and forecast properties that exist within the different deposits that harbor cobalt. As a second review topic, it delves into efficient processing for cobalt recovery, which is generally carried out by flotation, acid leaching, in addition to its recovery from secondary sources, such as batteries and metallurgical waste. However, generally speaking there is still a vast lack of fundamental knowledge about the processability of cobalt. Said processing has been affected from the point of view of mineralogy, that is, understanding and knowing the cobalt-bearing minerals, as well as gangue mineralogy, these aspects exercise significant control during their processing and selection of the most appropriate route. suitable for cobalt extraction (leaching and/or flotation). In this context, the document concludes with a vision of the challenges that the mining industry must implement to enter circular economy models, mainly in the creation of sustainable processes from secondary sources.

Background. COVID-19 efforts were often ineffective in controlling the spread of the pandemic. Identifying ineffective controls during a pandemic is thus vital. Method. Utilizing publicly available data on COVID deaths in the counties of US states, we create an index to capture and interpret ineffectiveness in the efforts to reduce the spread of the pandemic in US counties. This index is based on the Intervened Poisson Distribution (IPD) introduced originally by Shanmugam. Motivation for the research idea occurred while we noticed the data dispersion of the COVID deaths is smaller than the average only in some counties. Under-dispersed data is common in statistical modeling. A novel approach we adapted in this article includes the estimation of an intervention parameter estimated through iterative non-linear optimization. Results. Twenty-five counties in California, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, and Utah were found to be ineffective in controlling for fatalities based on the expected probability distribution. A review of the policies enacted in these areas would provide insight into ineffective prevention efforts, and some of these issues are documented in current literature. Conclusion. The IPD index an innovate way to document efficacy of interventions during pandemics. The IPD may identify ineffective efforts prior to statistical models intended to evaluate efficacy of efforts.

In traditional databases, the entity resolution problem (which is also known as deduplication), refers to the task of mapping multiple manifestations of virtual objects to its corresponding real-world entity. When addressing this problem, in both theory and practice, it is widely assumed that such sets of virtual object appear as the result of clerical errors, transliterations, missing or updated attributes, abbreviations, and so forth. In this paper, we address this problem under the assumption that this situation is caused by malicious actors operating in domains in which they do not wish to be identified, such as hacker forums and markets in which the participants are motivated to remain semi-anonymous (though they wish to keep their true identities secret, they find it useful for customers to identify their products and services). We are therefore in the presence of a different, even more challenging problem that we refer to as adversarial deduplication. In this paper, we study this problem via examples that arise from real-world data on malicious hacker forums and markets arising from collaborations with a cyber threat intelligence company focusing on understanding this kind of behavior. We argue that it is very difficult---if not impossible---to find ground truth data on which to build solutions to this problem, and develop a set of preliminary experiments based on training machine learning classifiers that leverage text analysis to detect potential cases of duplicate entities. Our results are encouraging as a first step towards building tools that human analysts can use to enhance their capabilities towards fighting cyber threats.

Natural carotenoids are secondary metabolites that exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. These types of compounds are in high demand by pharmaceutical, cosmetic, textile and food industries, leading to the search for new natural sources of carotenoids. In recent years, the production of carotenoids from bacteria has become of great interest for industrial applications. In addition to carotenoids with C40-skeletons, some bacteria have the ability to synthesize characteristic carotenoids with C30-skeletons. In this regard, a great variety of methodologies for the extraction and identification of bacterial carotenoids has been reported and this is the first review that condenses much of this information. To understand the diversity of these carotenoids, we present their biosynthetic origin in order to focus on the methodologies employed in their extraction and characterization. Special emphasis has been made on high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) for the analysis and identification of bacterial carotenoids. We end up this review showing their potential commercial use of bacterial carotenoids. This review is proposed as a guide for the identification of these metabolites, which are frequently reported in new bacteria strains.

: The effect that the microstructure exerts on the TRIP phenomenon and on the mechanical properties in a multiphase steel was studied. Samples of an initially cold-rolled ferrite-pearlite steel underwent different intercritical annealing treatments at 750 °C until an equal fractions of austenite/ferrite was reached; the intercritical treatment was followed by isothermal bainitic treatments before cooling the samples to room temperature. Samples in the first treatment were heated directly to the intercritical temperature, whereas other samples were heated to either 900 or 1100 °C to obtain a fully homogenized, single phase austenitic microstructure prior to the conducting the intercritical treatment. The high temperature homogenization of austenite resulted in the decrease in its stability, so a considerable austenite fraction transformed into martensite by cooling to room temperature after the bainitic heat treatment. Most of the retained austenite transformed during the tensile tests, and as a consequence, the previously homogenized steels showed the highest UTS. In turn, the steel with a ferritic-pearlitic initial microstructure, exhibited higher ductility than the other steels and texture components that favor forming processes.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) is a metabolic disorder related with a chronic lipid accumulation within the hepatocytes. This disease is the most common liver disorder worldwide and it is estimated that is present in up to 25% of the world's population. However, the real prevalence of this disease and the associated disorders is unknown mainly because reliable and applicable diagnostic tools are lacking. It is known that the level of albumin, a pleiotropic protein synthetized by hepatocytes, is correlated with the correct function of the liver. The development of a complementary tool that allow the direct, sensitive, and label-free monitoring of albumin secretion in hepatocyte cell culture can provide insight about the mechanism and drugs action in NAFLD. With this aim, we have developed a simple integrated plasmonic biosensor based on gold nanogratings from periodic nanostructures present in commercial Blu-ray optical disc. This sensor allows the direct and label-free monitoring of albumin in a 2D fatty liver disease model under flow conditions using highly specific polyclonal antibody. This technology avoids both the amplification and blocking steps showing a limit of detection within pM range (≈ 0.39 ng/mL). Thanks to this technology, we identified the optimal fetal bovine serum (FBS) concentration to maximize the lipid accumulation within the cells. Moreover, we discovered that at third day from lipids challenge, the hepatocytes increased the amount of albumin secreted. These data demonstrate the ability of hepatocytes to respond to the lipid stimulation releasing more albumin. Further investigation needed to unveil the biological significance of that cell behaviour.

Nowadays, the research and development of on-chip LiDAR sensors for vehicle collision avoidance is growing very fast. Therefore, the assessment of the reliability in obstacle detection using the information provided by LiDAR sensors has become a key issue to be explored by the scientific community. This paper presents the design and implementation of a self-tuning method in order to maximize the reliability of an Internet-of-Things sensors network and to minimize the number of sensors to localize with the required accuracy obstacles by a detection threshold. In order to achieve this goal, models that predict accuracy (i.e., prediction error) for object localization using data collected by LIDAR sensors are designed and implemented in Webots Automobile 3D simulation tool. The approach is based on combining different techniques. Firstly, point-cloud clustering technique and an error prediction model library composed by a multilayer perceptron neural network with backpropagation, k-nearest neighbors and linear regression are explored. Secondly the above-mentioned techniques for modeling are also combined with a supervised and reinforcement machine learning technique, Q-learning in order to minimize the detection threshold. In addition, a IoT driving assistance simulated scenario with a LiDAR sensor network is designed in order to validate the prediction model and the optimal configuration of the sensor network to guarantee reliability in obstacle localization. The results demonstrate that the self-tuning method is appropriate to increase the reliability of the sensor network whereas minimizing the detection threshold

Based on a measuring system to determine levels of spatial organization in 2D polygons (homogeneous or heterogeneous partition of defined areas) lying on principles of regularity, we propose the entropy term linked to the concept of “information”, from the “information theory field”, in order to obtain an information measurement regarding a quantity of or amount of information in the architecture of complex 2D biological organizations. The term “quantity” does not refer to the amount of data (size), but to the probability of a geometrical basic pattern within a set of possible statistical configurations regarding levels of homogeneity and heterogeneity. It is this notion of information that is important in information theory, and measures of information in units of bits, what we propose to use for measuring quantities of organization in the architecture of complex geometrical systems. Two complex systems are tested, biological and non biological in order to obtain experimental results, which are verified with the evaluation criteria “entropy”. Experimental results show that the lowest levels of information and entropy, in addition with low rates of heterogeneity and high rates of homogeneity are particular features of geometrical organizations in biological systems.

An impaired healing response underlies diabetic foot wounds chronicity, frequently translating in amputation, disability, and early mortality. In addition, diabetics frequently suffer of the underappreciated episode of post-epithelization ulcer recurrence. Recurrence epidemiological data are alarmingly high; so that the ulcer is considered in “remission” and not healed for the time it remains epithelialized. Recurrence may result from the conspiracy of behavioral and biological factors. Although the damaging role of behavioral, clinical predisposing factors is undebatable, the role of endogenous biological signalers that prime the residual scar tissue to recurrence has remained elusive. We propose that ulcer recurrence is deeply impinged by chronic hyperglycemia and its downstream biological effectors, which originate epigenetic drivers that enforce abnormal pathologic phenotypes to dermal fibroblasts, and keratinocytes as memory cells. Hyperglycemia-derived cytotoxic reactants accumulate and modify dermal proteins, reduce scar tissue mechanical tolerance, and disrupt fibroblasts-secretory activity. Accordingly, the combination of epigenetic and local and systemic cytotoxic signalers, induce the onset of “at-risk phenotypes” as premature skin cells aging, dysmetabolism, inflammatory, pro-degradative, and oxidative programs that may ultimately converge to scar cells demise. Unfortunately, post epithelialization recurrence rates data are missing in clinical studies of accepted ulcer healing therapies during follow-up periods. Intra-ulcer infiltration of epidermal growth factor exhibits the most consistent remission data with the lowest recurrences during 12-month follow-up. Recurrence data should be regarded as a valuable clinical endpoint during the investigational period for each emergent healing candidate.

The main commercial variety of coffee is the Coffea arabica specie, however, it is very susceptible to damage caused by nematodes, for this reason scions of the C. arabica specie are used on ro-busta (Coffea canephora) rootstocks to improve tolerance to these microorganisms, because they modify the organoleptic, nutraceutical and nutritional characteristics. The objective of this work was to assess the effect of five roasting degrees on commercial beans (light, medium light, medi-um, medium, medium dark and dark) in two varieties of Coffea arabica species (Colombia and Costa Rica) and their respective scions on C. canephora of the Romex variety. The scion of the Co-lombia variety with the medium dark roast had the highest concentration of caffeine, while the coffee beans of the Costa Rica variety with the light roast grade had the highest concentration of chlorogenic acid (5-CQA), while the highest acrylamide content was found in the scion of the Co-lombia variety with the medium light roast beans and nutritional content differs considerably between varieties, however, there is similarity between roasting degrees. The degree of roasting, variety and scion of coffee influences the organoleptic, nutraceutical and nutritional content of the coffee infusion.

The heavy-metal-associated (HMA) proteins are a class of PB1-Type ATPases related to the intracellular transport and detoxification of metals. However, due to a lack of information regarding the HMA gene family in the Cucurbitaceae family, a comprehensive genome-wide analysis of the HMA family was performed in ten Cucurbitaceae species: Citrullus amarus, Citrullus colocynthis, Citrullus lanatus, Citrullus mucosospermus, Cucumis melo, Cucumis sativus, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita pepo, and Legenaria siceraria. We identified 103 Cucurbit HMA proteins with various members, ranging from 8 (Legenaria siceraria) to 14 (Cucurbita pepo) across species. The phylogenetic and structural analysis confirmed that the Cucurbitaceae HMA protein family could be further classified into two major clades: Zn/Co/Cd/Pb and Cu/Ag. GO annotation-based subcellular localization analysis predicted that all HMA gene family members were localized on membranes. Moreover, the analysis of conserved motifs and gene structure (intron/exon) revealed the functional divergence between clades. Interspecies microsynteny analysis demonstrated that maximum orthologous genes were found between species of the Citrullus genera. Finally, nine candidates HMA genes were selected, and their expression analysis was carried out via qRT-PCR in root, leaf, flower, and fruit tissues of C. pepo under arsenic stress. The expression pattern of the CpeHMA genes showed a distinct pattern of expression in root and shoot tissues, with a remarkable expression of CpeHMA6 and CpeHMA3 genes from the Cu/Ag clade. Overall, this study provides insights into the functional analysis of the HMA gene family in Cucurbitaceae species and lays down the basic knowledge to explore the role and mechanism of the HMA gene family to cope with arsenic stress conditions.

Collision avoidance is an important feature in advanced driver-assistance systems, aiming at providing correct, timely and reliable warnings before an imminent collision (objects, vehicles, pedestrians, etc.). A co-simulation framework is proposed in this paper to address the design and evaluation of collision avoidances in a cyber-physical system. The co-simulation framework is supported on the interaction between SCANeR and Matlab/Simulink. From the best of authors’ knowledge, two main contributions are reported in this paper. Firstly, the modelling and simulation of virtual on-chip LIDAR sensors in a cyber-physical system (CPS) considering traffic scenarios is presented. The CPS is designed and implemented in SCANeR. Secondly, an obstacle recognition library with three specific Artificial Intelligence-based methods is also designed based on sensory information database provided by SCANeR. Three methods for collision avoidance detection are considered, i.e.; a multi-layer perceptron neural network, a self-organization map and a support vector machine. Finally, a comparison among these methods for detecting obstacles before different weather conditions is done with very promising results in terms of accuracy. The best results are achieved using the multi-layer perceptron in sunny and fog conditions, the support vector machine in rainy and self-organized map in snowy conditions.

Malignant gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors in adults up to an extent of 78% of all primary malignant brain tumors. However, total surgical resection is almost unachievable due to considerable infiltrative ability of glial cells. The efficacy of current multimodal therapeutic strategies is, furthermore, limited by the lack of specific therapies against malignant cells, and, therefore, the prognosis these in patients is still very unfavorable. The limitation of conventional therapies, which may result from inefficient delivery of the therapeutic or contrast agent to brain tumors are major reasons for this unsolved clinical problem. The major problem in brain drug delivery is the presence of the blood brain barrier which limits the delivery of many chemotherapeutic agents. Nanoparticles, thanks to their chemical configuration, are able to go through the blood-brain barrier carrying drugs or genes targeted against gliomas. Carbon nanomaterials show distinct properties including electronic properties, penetrating capability on the cell membrane, high drug-loading and pH-dependent therapeutic unloading capacities, thermal properties, large surface area and easy modification with molecules, which render them as a suitable candidate to deliver drugs. In this review we will focus on the potential effectiveness of the use of carbon nanomaterials in the treatment of malignant gliomas discussing the current progress of in vitro and in vivo researches of carbon nanomaterials-based drug delivery to brain.

The increasing occurrence of widespread drought phenomena is a global environmental emergency, especially for the effects of ongoing climate change on groundwater availability. Dry years and extreme temperatures are common drivers of current climate impacts all over the world, including, for example, freshwater supply for drinking and agriculture purposes, ecosystems, forestry, health, etc.. In this frame, to ensure temporal water availability in water-stressed areas, a sustainable groundwater management is an increasing challenge. Most of groundwater in the South-East Latium Region, Central Italy, as in the whole Apennine Mountains chain, is stored in karst aquifers. In this area important water resources are present, but even here in the last decades they are affected by groundwater depletion as a consequence of occurring drought events, the upward trend in the globally average temperature and the increasing of anthropogenic activities. Due to the lack of flow rates data of springs in many areas of Italy, the spring response modeling could be a useful tool for supporting a proper water resource management. Several research studies proposed methods based on relationships between spring discharges and rainfall data. The goal of this paper is to propose a model, based on rainfall-discharges cross correlations, in order to assess the spring flow rate patterns of Capodacqua di Spigno Spring, which is the main one in the study area. The results obtained using the developed model has been compared to an existing method that uses the SPI index for the estimation of the minimum annual spring discharge.

Introduction. Autopsy is a medical procedure that consists of the corpse’s examination to determine the cause of death and obtain information on pathological conditions or injuries present in the body. In recent years there has been a reduction in hospital autopsies and an increase in forensic autopsies. Material and methods. A retrospective observational study was conducted on the reports of all the 645 hospital autopsies performed at Polyclinic of Bari from 2006 to 2021.Results. Group A, 2006-2009, 174 cases were studied: 58% male, 58% adults, 55% neonatology, pulmonary disease was the cause of death in 23%, and 55% of discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnosis. Group B, 2010-2013, comprised 119 cases: 52% male, 46% infants, 48% neonatology, pulmonary disease was the cause of death in 25%, and 56% of discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnosis. Group C, 2014-2017, comprised 168 cases: gender equality, 37% infants, 25% gynecology, pulmonary disease was the cause of death in 24%, and 58% of discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnosis. Group D, 2018-2021 comprised 184 cases: 56% male, 38% adult, 32% gynecology, pulmonary disease was the cause of death in 27%, and 58% discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnosis.Conclusion. The study of hospital autopsies at the Polyclinic of Bari shows that the discrepancy between clinical and autopsy diagnosis is around 56.75%. Thus, the hospital autopsy is helpful in the modern age, especially for diagnosing fetal and neonatal diseases.

Since the requirements in terms of power of the electronic applications range wide, the developed Energy Harvesting (EH) systems limit their availability to the less power demanding applications. However, this paper focuses on increasing the energy levels collected in the EH system so that it can be included in more demanding applications in terms of power. Therefore, an electronic system capable of grouping many single harvesting channels into one single system is analyzed in this paper. This multi-harvester electronic system is able to manage efficiently the energy collected by multiple vibratory transducers. The paper includes a comparison of its performance against some of the State-of-the-Art EH energy management circuits that interface the transducers. The method employed to demonstrate the intrinsic efficiency of each of the electronic circuits tested was based on experimental tests, where the average power transferred from several identical and simultaneous electric sources to a single storage element was measured. It was found out that only one energy management circuit was able to increase the transferred energy in a linear way while new input electric sources were added.

Background: Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus is a syndrome with neuroradiological findings and clinical pattern characteristic but not specific for the pathology. Since the prevalence is growing due to the rapidly aging society, standardized and validated protocol for diagnosis is needed, also because this condition may mimic other disorders among elderly such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Material and methods: We analysed data from 44 patients with suspect diagnosis of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus with age > 60 years, clinical triad and neuroradiological pattern examined in our ward from November 2018 to November 2022. Neu-ropsychological assessment includes Mini Mental State Examination and Mental Deterioration Battery. Motor scores were collected from gait and balance tests. The evaluation was performed before and after an extended lumbar drainage last 48h. Patients who has scores improvement after the extended lumbar drainage, undergo ventriculoperitoneal shunt with a programmable valve. Results: All patients undergo neuropsychological assessment and motor tests, only 2 patients were unable to perform motor tests because bedridden. 16 patients showed no benefit from the tests, in 2 cases even a worsening of cognitive performance. 28 patients showed an improvement in their performances, but in most cases the improvement involved only the neuropsychological as-sessment. All patients underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunt have had a typical answers pattern in Mental Deterioration Battery test. We performed 9 ventriculoperitoneal shunt and 1 ventricu-lo-atrial shunt. Conclusions: Qualitative neurocognitive tests come out to be more sensitive compared to quantitative neurocognitive tests in identifying patients with suspected idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus benefiting from extended lumbar drainage test and then un-derwent surgical treatment. This could be considered a valid screening in elderly patients with suspected idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus in order to minimize the number of invasive procedures. More studies are necessary to validate this tool.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the glycemic index and the satiety response of three Mexican kinds of honey. The values of fructose ranged from 272.40-395.10 g/kg, while the glucose value ringed 232.20-355.50 g/kg. The ratio F/G of sample honey was 1.45, 1.00, and 1.17 for Highland, Multifloral, and Avocado honey, respectively. Twenty-six participants completed this study, which was previously approved by the ethics committee of the Facultad de Salud Pública y Nutrición (CE 2/2018-19). Highland and Avocado honey is classified as medium-GI (69.204.07 and 66.365.74, respectively), while Multifloral honey is classified as high-GI (74.245.98). The Highland honey presented the best satiety response. The difference in IG values and the effect of the satiety response of Highland honey could be explained by the different fractions of carbohydrates in samples and other components such as phytochemicals.

Arthropod-borne viruses belonging to the flavivirus genus possess an enormous relevance in public health. Neotropical non-human primates (NPs) have been proposed to be infected more frequently with flaviviruses due to their arboreal and diurnal habits, their genetic similarity to humans and their relative closeness to humans. However, the only known flavivirus in America that is maintained by sylvatic cycles involving NPs is Yellow Fever virus (YFV), and the NPs role as potential hosts of flaviviruses is still unknown. Here, we examined flavivirus exposure in 86 free range and captive NPs of Costa Rica to evaluate their involvement in flavivirus transmission cycles and their potential as flavivirus hosts. We used a highly-specific micro plaque reduction neutralization test (micro-PRNT) to determine the presence of antibodies against YFV, Dengue virus 1-4 (DENV), Zika virus, West Nile Virus (WNV) and Saint Louis Encephalitis virus (SLEV). We found evidence of seropositive NPs to DENV-1 8.2% (homotypic –3/86, heterotypic – 4/86), SLEV 15.1% (homotypic – 10/86, heterotypic – 2/86), WNV 2.3% (homotypic – 2/86) and 8.1% (7/86) undetermined Flavivirus species. No antibodies against YFV or ZIKV were found. This work provides compelling serological evidence of exposure in NPs of flaviviruses associated with urban cycles, i.e. DENV, and confirms decades of circulation of SLEV in the same environments. Also, the range of years of sampling and the socioeconomic region was statistically significant for the presence of Dengue and Flavivirus undetermined seropositive individuals, respectively. Both the years and socioeconomic regions with greater seroprevalence coincide with the years and socioeconomic regions with high numbers of Dengue human cases for the country. Our work suggests bidirectional? circulation of different flaviviruses between humans and wildlife with public health importance and underscores the necessity of further surveillance for flaviviruses in the humans/wildlife interface in Central America.

With the growing demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) in the face of the pandemic events caused by SARS-COV-2, the opportunity arises for the development of materials with characteristics such as antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal activity, etc. The use of polymeric nanocomposites based on polyester/copper offers an alternative of great interest due to the versatility of the raw material and the high efficiency of copper as an antimicrobial additive. In this study, textile fibers prototypes with different Cu nanoparticles (CuNP) content were produced using melt-spinning to obtain bi-component multifilament fibers, and melt-blowing to obtain non-woven fabrics. The prototypes were tested against different pathogenic microorganisms such as S. aureus, E. coli, and C. albicans. It was shown that bi-component fibers offer more excellent protection against pathogens, while non-woven fabric only shows activity against E. coli. It was possible to identify that the CuNP were confined exclusively in the outer cover of the bi-component fibers, using different analytical techniques, which may be associated with the increase in antimicrobial activity, compared to the fibers present in the non-woven fabric, even when they present the same CuNP content.

The article reports on a patient who required a cranial protection system.Using additive manufacturing techniques and surgical planning with the help of bio-models, a patient-specific bone implant solution was proposed that allows aesthetic restoration of the affected area and provides an adequate level of protection. In addition, through a comparative analysis with finite elements, the mechanical response to external actions of the medical device, printed with two materials: polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK), is simulated. The tested materials have recognized biocompatibility properties, but their costs on the market differ significantly. The results obtained demonstrate the similarities in the responses of both materials. It offers the possibility that low-income people can access these devices, guaranteeing adequate biomechanical safety, considering that PMMA is a much cheaper material than PEEK.

The dynamics of many complex systems can be classified as ordered, chaotic, or critical. Order offers stability and robustness, while chaos allows for change and adaptability. Criticality, then, is often seen as a balance required by living systems at different scales. In classical models, however, criticality is only found near phase transitions, restricting the parameter space (and thus the likelihood) of critical dynamics, as most parameters yield ``undesirable'' solutions. Here we show that this limitation is due to the homogeneity built-in these models, i.e., all elements sharing parameter values. By exploring heterogeneous versions of archetypal models in physics and computer science, we observe critical dynamics in a broader range of parameters, and thus could be more common than previously thought.

Currently, with the rapid growth of the population, the demand for metals has increased, especially for the manufacture of electronic devices such as cell phones, computer equipment, among others. Once these devices stop working, most are sent to landfills, which represents a danger since these wastes contain metals and other materials that must be properly managed to prevent them from having a negative effect on the environment and the human being. On the other hand, e-waste contains valuable metals such as copper, gold, and silver, the concentration of which in these materials makes it cost-effective to recover. This paper presents a review of the extraction and recovery of valuable metals from electronic waste by hydrometallurgical methods, as well as patents and industrial processes related to the management and treatment of this waste.

The urban heat island (UHI) is mostly due to urbanization. This phenomenon in concert with the high temperatures caused by global climate change may profoundly affect human thermal comfort, which can influence human productivity and morbidity especially in spring/summer period. The main objective of this investigation was to determine changes in degree of thermal comfort of Mexico City’s inhabitants and compare it with the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) to evaluate whether PET and its categorization are adequate to be applied in Mexico City. A series of microclimatological measurements to estimate PET were made in four sites including the city´s center. Concomitantly, a series of surveys of thermal perception were applied to 1300 passersby. The results show that PET has increased from 1990 to 2020 from 0.1208 °C/year to 0.1498 °C/year in the study sites, besides overestimating the degree of thermal comfort of people according to the stablished categories or classes. It is concluded that it is necessary to adjust thermal stress categories. Knowing the percentage of people without thermal comfort will lead us to determine different ranges in environmental parameters to define an acceptable environment for most people.

Southern highbush blueberry plantations have been expanded into worldwide non-traditional growing areas with elite cultivars and improved horticultural practices. This article presents a comprehensive review of current production systems – alternatives to traditional open field production – such as production in protected environments, high-density plantings, evergreen production, and container-based production. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each system and compare their differences to the open field production. In addition, potential solutions have been provided for some of the disadvantages. We also highlight some of the gaps existing between academic studies and production in industry, providing a guide for future academic research. All these alternative systems have shown the potential to produce high yields with high quality berries. Alternative systems, compared to the field production, require higher establishment investments and thus create an entry barrier for new producers. Nevertheless, with their advantages, alternative productions have potential to be profitable.

This paper presents new above-ground biomass (AGB) and biomass components equations for seventeen forest species in the temperate forests of northwestern Mexico. A data set corresponding to 1336 destructively sampled oak and pine trees was used to fit the models. Generalized method of moments was used to simultaneously fit systems of equations for biomass components and AGB, to ensure additivity. Additionally, the carbon content of each tree component was calculated by the dry combustion method, in a TOC analyser. The fitted equations accounted for on average 91, 83, 84 and 78% of the observed variance in stem wood and stem bark, branch and foliage biomass, respectively, whereas the total AGB equations explained on average 93% of the total observed variance in AGB. The inclusion of h or d²h as additional predictor in the d-only based equations systems slightly improved estimates of stem wood, stem bark and total above-ground biomass, and greatly improved the estimates produced by the branch and foliage biomass equations. The fitted equations were used to estimate AGB stocks at stand level from a database on growing stock from 429 permanent sampling plots. Three machine-learning techniques were used to model the estimated stand level AGB and carbon contents; the selected models were applied to map the AGB and carbon distributions in the study area, which yielded mean values of 129.84 Mg ha^-1 and 63.80 Mg ha^-1, respectively.

Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum, is a variety of wild chili pepper belonging to the family Solanaceae and is considered as the origin for all cultivated chili species of the world. This species is an important genetic resource for agriculture and food, is widely distributed in northeastern Mexico in altitudes from 0 – 1200 m.a.s.l. This species grows mainly at low altitudes and its upper limit reaches 1000m., it prefers temperatures above 18.3^O C and its production and harvest may ocurr at two seasons, one during the beginning of the summer and the main one ocurring in the middle of the autumn in northeast México. It is estimated that the main production occurs in the state of Tamaulipas with 84 tons per year and is harvested from 23 municipalities. Concentration of capseicins and dihydrocapsaicine from wild populations may vary considerably from one location to another in the municipalities, ecotypes and diverse climatic conditions from this wide geographic zone. The high demands of wild chili as well as the variability on concentration of capseicins in fruits are considered as some of the main reasons why intensive cultivation of this species should be carried out in Northeastern Mexico.

In this work, we study the equation of the catenary curve in the context of the Caputo derivative. We solve this equation and compare the solution with real physical models. From the experiments, we find that the best approximation is achieved in the classical case. Therefore, introducing a fractional parameter arbitrarily can be detrimental. However, we observe that when adding a certain weight to the chain, fractional calculus produces better results than classical calculus for modeling the minimum height.

Reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is the first step in calculating crop irrigation demand, and numerous methods have been proposed to estimate this parameter. FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM) is the only standard method for defining and calculating ET0. However, it requires radiation, air temperature, atmospheric humidity, and wind speed data, limiting its application in regions where these data are unavailable; therefore, new alternatives are required. This study compared the accuracy of ET0 calculated with the Blaney-Criddle (BC) and Hargreaves-Samani (HS) methods versus PM using information from an automated weather station (AWS) and the NASA-POWER platform (NP) for different periods of time. The information collected corresponding at Module XII of the Lagunera Region Irrigation District 017, a semi-arid region in the North of Mexico. The HS method underestimated by 5.5 % the reference evapotranspiration (ET0) compared to the PM method during the period from March to August, and yielded the best fit in the different evaluation periods: daily, average, and 5-day cumulative; the latter showed the best values of inferential parameters. The information about maximum and minimum temperatures from the NP platform was suitable for estimating ET0 using the HS equation. This data source is a timely alternative, particularly in semi-arid regions where no data from weather stations are available.

Secondary metabolites from Hibiscus sabdariffa have been used to prevent different diseases. Roselle Hibiscus is known for being rich in phenolic bioactive compounds. The extraction conditions are directly related to the chemical composition and then to the overall bioactivity of the extract. In this study, a Box Behnken experimental design has been used to optimize the antioxidant activity, considering four variables: the ethanol:water ratio, the temperature, the extraction time, and the solvent:solid ratio. The experiment comprises 27 experiments and 3 repetitions at the central point. The results are described by surface response analysis and a second-degree polynomial equation. The model explains 87% of the variation in the response. The maximum antioxidant activity is yielded when 1% solids are extracted in 35.5% ethanol at 60°C for 33 min. Finally, a nutritional functional supplement of 495 µmol Trolox Equivalent (TE) antioxidant capacity was prepared with the optimized extract.

Impact in the form of innovation and commercialisation is an essential component of publicly funded research projects. PHUSICOS, an H2020 Innovation Action project, aims at demonstrating the use of nature-based solutions for mitigating hydrometeorological hazards in rural and mountainous areas. The work program is built around key innovation actions, and each WP leader specifically responsible for nurturing innovation processes, maintaining market focus and ensuring relevance for the intended recipients of the project results. Key success criteria for PHUSICOS include up-scaling and mainstreaming of NBS to reach broader market access. An innovation strategy and supporting tools for implementing this within PHUSICS has been developed and key concepts forming the basis for this strategy are presented in this research note.

Banana (Musa spp.) is an important crop to the economies of many developing countries. In the north of Argentina, a sub-tropical region, banana plants grow in a suboptimal environment that limits yield because only one harvest per year is achieved. The objective of this work was to characterize the agroecological aptitude of Formosa, Argentina, for banana production, through the behavior of three varieties of international use: Willians, Jafa and Gran Enano, evaluated during five consecutive campaigns. The three-way data analysis technique called Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) was used for evaluating varieties’ performances across cycles of production. The results allowed inferring the existence of genotype x environment (GEI) interaction, corroborated by two-way factorial ANOVA. In order to determine how this suboptimal environment affects the development of each genotype of this perennial crop, Dual Multiple Factor Analysis (DMFA) was applied to jointly analyze the correlation structure among traits contributing to the performance of each variety at each campaign. The correlation structures between variables were different in each population and varied among campaigns. All traits showed a great variation across years and genotypes, the fruit peel thickness being the most discrepant throughout the campaigns. However, Formosa appeared as a promising subtropical agroecological environment to produce banana because varieties’ performances were acceptable for large scale production systems. In addition to evaluating the adequate aptitude for cultivating banana in Formosa considering the significant effect of GEI, this research makes a methodological contribution by proposing the use of three-way data analysis MFA and DMFA in Agronomy Science.

This paper presents a) the novel hybrid learning method to train the type-1 non-singleton interval type-3 (IT3) fuzzy logic systems (IT3 NSFLS-1) and b) the novel method named enhanced Wagner-Hagras (EWH) IT3 NSFLS-1 fuzzy systems which includes the level alpha 0 output to calculate the output y alpha using the average of the outputs y alpha k instead of their weighted average. The development of the proposed methodology uses the orthogonal least square (OLS) method to train the consequent parameters and the back propagation (BP) method to train the antecedent parameters. This proposal dynamically changes the parameters of only the level alpha 0 minimizing some criterion function as new information becomes available to each level alpha k. The antecedent sets are type-2 fuzzy sets, the consequent sets are fuzzy centroids, the inputs are type-1 non-singleton fuzzy numbers with uncertain standard deviations, and the secondary membership functions are modeled as two Gaussians with uncertain standard deviation and the same mean. Based on the firing set of the level alpha 0, the proposed methodology calculates each firing set of each level alpha k to dynamically construct and update the EWH IT3 NSFLS-1 (OLS-BP) system. The algorithm was tested in a hot strip mill facility to predict the transfer bar surface temperature showing its superior capability to obtain the industrial pyrometer’s knowledge uncertainty for tuning and its better performance when compared with IT2 SFLS, IT2 NSFLS-1, GT2 SFLS, GT2 NSFLS-1, IT3 SFLS, and IT3 NSFLS-1 trained with the BP-BP algorithm.

The organic extract of the Caribbean sponge Smenospongia aurea has been shown to contain an array of novel chlorinated secondary metabolites derived from a mixed PKS-NRPS biogenetic route, such as the smenamides. Here we report the presence of a biogenetically different compound, smenopyrone (1), a polypropionate containing two -pyrone rings. The structure of smenopyrone, including its relative and absolute stereochemistry, was determined by spectroscopic analysis (NMR, MS, ECD) supported by comparison with model compounds from the literature. Pyrone polypropionates are unprecedented in marine sponges, but are commonly found in marine mollusks, where their biosynthesis by symbiotic bacteria has been hypothesized and at least in one case demonstrated. As pyrones have recently been recognized as bacterial signaling molecules, we speculate that smenopyrone could mediate inter-kingdom chemical communication between S. aurea and its symbiotic bacteria.

In Mexico, it is estimated that due to the economic system the overexploitation of natural resources, environmental impacts and health have been generated, with high rates of overweight and obesity. This review analyzes the impacts on food safety, environmental health, and the economy in Mexico before and during the COVID-19 contingency. Derived from the analysis, among the lessons learned we can include: the health contingency due to COVID-19 had negative repercussions on food security, environmental health and the economy, which require the promotion of public policies (health, environment and economy) and migrate to a health prevention system and an agroecological model, which includes multidisciplinary and intersectoral interventions (government, academia, researchers, civil society organizations, business groups and citizens themselves) to reform and enforce the right to enjoy adequate food and a healthy environment. The contingency due to COVID19 has shown us that this must go from an ideology to being a reality and the lessons learned will have to focus on promoting an innovative and ethical culture of generating an economy, with a gender balance, resilience to climate change, management transparent technology and a priority in health and this will lead to progress in the food security of the population.

Background: The coexistence of HIV infection and latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) presents a significant public health concern due to the increased risk of tuberculosis (TB) reactivation and progression to active disease. The multicenter observational cohort study, TUBHIVIT, conducted in Italy from 2017 to 2023, aimed to assess the prevalence of LTBI among people living with HIV (PLHIV) and their outcomes following LTBI screening and therapy initiation. Methods: We performed a prospective study in 5 referral centers for HIV care in Italy. PLHIV who consented to participate underwent QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus and clinical, microbiological, and radiological assessments to exclude subclinical tuberculosis, as opportune. PLHIV diagnosed with LTBI that started chemoprophylaxis were followed until the ending of therapy. Results: A total of 1105 PLHIV were screened for LTBI using the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus test, revealing a prevalence of 3.4% of positive results (38/1105). Non-Italy-born individuals exhibited a significantly higher likelihood of testing positive. Thirty-one were diagnosed with LTBI, 1 showed active subclinical TB, 6 were lost to follow-up before discriminating between latent and active TB. Among PLHIV diagnosed with LTBI, 83.9% (26/31) started chemoprophylaxis. Most individuals received 6-9 months of isoniazid-based therapy. Of the 26 PLHIV commencing chemoprophylaxis, 18 (69.2%) completed the therapy, while 3 discontinued it and 5 were still on treatment at the time of the analysis. Adverse events were observed in two cases, while in one case the patient refused to continue the treatment.

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

A synoptic compendium of the legumes of the Mimosoideae clade in northeastern Mexico is presented for the first time, including changes in their botanical nomenclature and retypification of genera. Furthermore, based on new information recently published, the taxonomic limits of several new genera segregated from Acacia (Acaciella, Mariosousa, Senegalia and Vachellia) and Prosopis (Neltuma and Strombocarpa) are clarified and included. Based on field work, collecting botanical samples during the last 30 years, a review of botanical materials and database in national and international, we have completed the diversity of legumes of the Mimosoideae clade of northeastern Mexico. Three tribes (Acacieae, Ingeae and Mimosaeae), 22 genera and 92 species, and 19 infraspecif categories were recorded. Only the genus Painteria is endemic to Mexico. Eighty-eight species are native to Mexico, and four are exotic, Acacia salicina, Neptunia prostrata, Neltuma chilensis and Albizia lebbeck. Twenty-eight species are endemic to Mexico, nine species are endemic of northeastern Mexico, and four species endemic to only one state in Mexico. The 22 registered genera represent 44% and 65% of the generic flora of the Mimosoideae clade for Mexico and the planet respectively while the 92 species registered represent 3% and 18% of the species of the Clade Mimosoideae for the planet and Mexico respectively. According to the new nomenclature of legumes, the number of genera in the Mimosoideae clade in northern Mexico has been increased from 19 to 24.

Chronic diseases affect a disproportionate number of United States (U.S.) Veterans, causing significant long-term health issues and affecting entitlement spending. This longitudinal study examined the health status of U.S. Veterans as compared to non-Veterans pre- and post-COVID utilizing the annual Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey data. Age-adjusted descriptive point estimates were generated independently for 2003 through 2021, while complex weighted panel data were generated from 2011 and onward. General linear modeling revealed that the average U.S. Veteran reports a higher prevalence of disease conditions except for mental health disorders when compared to the non-Veteran. These findings were consistent with both pre- and post-COVID, however, both groups reported a higher prevalence of mental health issues during the pandemic years. The findings suggest that there have been no improvements in reducing Veteran comorbidities to non-Veteran levels and that COVID adversely affected the mental health of both populations.

A teratoma is a neoplasm composed of cell populations or tissues that remind, in their appearance, normal elements derived from at least two embryonic layers. Fetal mature teratomas are normally benign, cystic, and typically occur along the midline, while they are rare in the posterior mediastinum. Teratomas are frequently solitary, however they may sometimes be associated with other congenital anomalies and/or with chromosomal abnormalities. Clinically, they are often asymptomatic but can occasionally cause compression symptoms. Prenatal diagnoses are uncommon and made with ultrasonography; differential diagnosis with other congenital conditions is mandatory. We report the case of a 21 weeks of gestational age-old fetus with a Mature Triphyllic Fetal Cystic Teratoma, grade 0, located in the right posterior mediastinum.

Onions are known not only for their culinary importance but also for their nutritional and health-promoting properties. Both properties are closely linked to its content of organosulfur compounds, which account for up to 5% of the dry weight of an onion. Given the importance of these compounds, suitable analytical methods are required for their study. Two techniques should be highlighted in this context: gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). In this study, eight different onion varieties were analyzed using two distinct analytical techniques: direct thermal desorption–gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (DTD-GC-MS) and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) on an LC-ESI-QqTOF instrument. Each method identified 18 different organosulfur compounds, with LC-HRMS targeting non-volatile compounds, such as cysteine sulfoxides, and GC-MS targeting volatiles, such as disulfides and trisulfides. The results obtained were studied using Pearson correlations and principal component analysis. No precise correlation was found between the initial organosulfur compounds in onions and their hydrolysates. Consequently, although GC is one of the most employed techniques in the scientific literature, the use of LC-HRMS or a combination of both techniques may offer a more comprehensive and accurate description of the metabolomic profile of onions.

This work demonstrates the antimycotic activity and structural damage of stingless bee propolis against Malassezia pachydermatis,causative agent of canine otitis.Two propolis ethanolic extracts(EEP) derived from the stingless bees, Scaptotrigona mexicana and Tetragonisca angustula were tested against three clinical strains of Malassezia pachydermatis and one of reference (ATCC 14522). Each ethanolic extract of propolis was analyzed by Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry(GC-MS). Antimycotic activity was evaluated by plate microdilution. To evaluate the induced changes in yeasts, by fluorescence microscopy, stains were performed with chalcofluor white and propidium iodide. For both propolis, sesquiterpenes were the main components determined by GC-MS. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 32 mg/mL and a minimum fungicidal concentration of 64 mg/Ml were determined in both extracts. EPP of Scaptotrigona mexicana and Tetragonisca angustula caused significant damage to yeast morphology. Propidium iodide penetration was observed, indicating damage to the yeast and with calcofluor-white stain, only morphology deformation was observed..The antimycotic activity and structural damage of propolis from Scaptotrigona mexicana and Tetragonisca angustula against Malassezia pachydermtais was demonstrated .This probably being the first scientific report that demonstrates structural damage in Malassezia pachydermatis of Mexican stingless bee propolis

The need for solvating and encapsulating hydro-sensitive molecules drives noticeable trends in the applications of cyclodextrins in pharmaceutical industry, food, polymer, materials, and agricultural science. Among them, β-cyclodextrin is one of the most used for the entrapment of phenolic acid compounds to mask the bitterness of wheat bran. In this regard, there is still a need for a good predictive model that assesses β-cyclodextrin bitterness masking capabilities for various phenolic compounds. This study uses a dataset of 20 phenolic acids docked to the β-cyclodextrin cavity to generate three different binding constants. The data from docking study were combined with topological, topographical and quantum-chemical features from the ligands in a machine learning-based structure-activity relationship study. Three different models for each binding constant were computed using a combination of Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) approaches. The developed ML/QSAR models showed a very good performance, with high predictive ability and correlation coefficients of 0.969 and 0.984, for training and test sets, respectively. The models revealed several factors responsible for a binding with cyclodextrin, showing positive contributions toward the binding affinity values, including such features as presence of six-membered rings in the molecule, branching, electronegativity values, and polar surface area.

An efficacious treatment of H. pylori infection is cornerstone for the global control of the diseases caused by this bacterium. Continuous epidemiologic surveillance of susceptibility of H. pylori to the antibiotics recommended for its eradication is highly recommended. This study aimed to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of 651 isolates from five different collections isolated between 1996 to 2008 in México City. The susceptibility profile of H. pylori isolates was determined by the E-test strips for each antibiotic (amoxicillin, clarithromycin, metronidazole, and tetracycline). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed a very high proportion of H pylori strains susceptible to amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and tetracycline (94.5%, 95%, and 99.5 %, respectively). In contrast, a high proportion (95%) of isolates was resistant to metronidazole. Notably, the proportion of susceptible/resistant strains to the 4 antibiotics over 5 consecutive time periods remained stable over time. Despite a wide use of amoxicillin and clarithromycin in the general population, the H pylori high susceptibility to these 2 antibiotics has been preserved during more than a decade. The high prevalence of resistance to metronidazole in H. pylori strains in our population compromises its use in the empirical treatment of H. pylori infection.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that involves the intricate interplay of different immune cells going awry leading to inflammation, demyelination, and neurodegeneration. Its diagnosis is quite arduous because of the baffling number of symptoms it elicits and the varied clinical manifestation it presents. The simplified criteria (in form of Macdonald’s Criteria) which have got modified several times is now the single most important criteria accepted by neurology bodies for diagnosing MS. Biomarkers from time to time have been explored to simplify the diagnosis and prognosticate MS along with anecessity to monitor treatment outcome. In recent years, research on biomarkers has advanced rapidly due to their ability to be easily and rapidly measured, their specificity, safety, and their ability to yield precise results. Biomarkers are classified into various categories including predictive, diagnostic, prognostic, related to disease activity, and monitoring treatment outcome. Each representative of the disease activity category reflects a variety of pathological processes of MS such as neuroaxonal loss, gliosis, demyelination, disability progression, remyelination, etc. This review discusses several promising serum and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and imaging biomarkers used in clinical practice. Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody disease which is recently recognized as a definite disease will also be discussed. Furthermore, it sheds light on the criteria and the challenges a biomarker faces to be considered as a standard one.

Caribbean sponges of the genus Smenospongia are a prolific source of chlorinated secondary metabolites. The use of molecular networking as a powerful dereplication tool revealed the presence in the metabolome of S. aurea of two new members of the smenamide family, namely smenamide F (1) and G (2). The structure of smenamide F (1) and G (2) was determined by spectroscopic analysis (NMR, MS, ECD). The relative and the absolute configuration at C-13, C-15, and C-16 was determined on the basis of the conformational rigidity of a 1,3-disubstituted alkyl chain system (i.e. the C-12/C-18 segment of compound 1). Smenamide F (1) and G (2) were shown to exert a selective moderate antiproliferative activity against cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, while being inactive against MG-63.

A basic pattern in the body plan architecture of many animals, plants and some molecular and cellular systems is five-part units. This pattern has been understood as a result of genetic blueprints in development and as a widely conserved evolutionary character. Despite some efforts, a definitive explanation of the abundance of pentagonal symmetry at so many levels of complexity is still missing. Based on both, a computational platform and a statistical spatial organization argument, we show that five-fold morphology is substantially different from other abundant symmetries like three-fold, four-fold and six-fold symmetries in terms of spatial interacting elements. We develop a measuring system to determine levels of spatial organization in 2D polygons (homogeneous or heterogeneous partition of defined areas) based in principles of regularity in a morphospace. We found that spatial organization of five-fold symmetry is statistically higher than all other symmetries studied here (three to ten-fold symmetries) in terms of spatial homogeneity. The significance of our findings is based on the statistical constancy of geometrical constraints derived from spatial organization of shapes, beyond the material or complexity level of the many different systems where pentagonal symmetry occurs.

Nitrogen and phosphorous loading drives eutrophication of aquatic systems. Lakes and reservoirs are often effective N and P sinks, but information is needed on the variability of their biogeochemical dynamics, especially for tropical systems. A long-term N and P mass balance (2003-2018) in a small tropical eutrophic reservoir lake, Valle de Bravo (VB), Mexico, showed it is a net sink of N (-41.7 g N m-2 y-1), and P (-2.7 g P m-2 y-1), mainly through net sedimentation, equivalent to 181% and 68% of their respective loading (23.0 g N m-2 y-1 and 4.2 g P m-2 y-1). N mass balance showed that VB has a high net N atmospheric influx (31.6 g N m-2 y-1), which was 1.3 times the external load, and likely dominated by N2 fixation. During a period of high water level fluctuations (WLF), the net N atmospheric flux decreased by half compared to high level years. WLF can be a useful management tool to improve the trophic status of water bodies by decreasing anoxic conditions and net atmospheric fluxes, possibly through decreasing nitrogen fixation and/or promoting denitrification and other microbial processes that alleviate the N load.

Background and objective: Addressing the global morbidity associated with pulmonary disease is an important need for the respiratory community. However, there is also a growing momentum to show the efficacy of new tools of diagnosis. Despite this, there are few physiotherapeutic tools that help identify and categorize these conditions. The aim was to analyze the variables of physiotherapy index of the ventilatory workload (PIVW) in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) during stability and exacerbation in an outpatient setting. Material and Methods: Analyzed retrospectively of 198 clinical records were reviewed. The PIVW was extracted in stability and exacerbation of these patients with COPD. After applying the exclusion and inclusion criteria; 54 patients were classified. Through the statistical analysis of chi-square, a significant association was reported for each of the variables and the total PIVW score. Results: when analyzing the baseline with the peak of PIVW, there was a significant increase in patients COPD exacerbation. Similarly, the variables that constitute the loads, translations and supports underwent a significant increase from baseline to exacerbation (p<0.0001), except for the additional oxygen contribution, where the frequency of patients was the same in basal and exacerbation as well. Conclusions: the PIVW, serves to determine ventilatory problemas in outpatients, characterizing the specific changes of loads, translators or assistance.

Urban air quality is increasingly being studied as a fraction of the world's population is now living in megacities. In this study, particulate matter (PM) along Taft Avenue, Manila, Philippines, is investigated in terms of its ability to induce genetic damage on human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). Size-segregated roadside air samples were obtained from 2015-2016 near the university gate and analyzed using in vitro micronucleus and cytokinesis-block proliferation tests. While cellular proliferation was unaffected by 0 – 0.1 kg·m-3 of PM1.0 and PM2.5, PBL cells treated with PM2.5 displayed significantly higher micronucleus count (p = 0.03) compared to the cells treated with PM1.0. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy revealed greater amounts of Cd, Ca, Pb, K, Na, and Zn in PM2.5 compared to PM1.0. The results indicate the differences in composition of the two size fractions of air particulates are associated with their genotoxicities.

Chemotherapy represents the most applied approach to cancer treatment. Owing to the frequent onset of chemoresistance and tumor relapses, there is an urgent need to discover novel and more effective anticancer drugs. In search for therapeutic alternatives to treat the cancer disease, a se-ries of hybrid pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(5H)-ones tethered with hydrazide-hydrazones, 5a-h, was synthesized from condensation reaction of pyrazolopyrimidinone-hydrazide 4 with a series of arylaldehydes in EtOH, in acid catalysis. In vitro assessment of antiproliferative effects against MCF-7 breast cancer cells, unveiled that 5a, 5e, 5g, and 5h were the most effective compounds of the series and exerted their cytotoxic activity through apoptosis induction and G0/G1 phase cell-cycle arrest. To explore their mechanism at a molecular level, 5a, 5e, 5g, and 5h were evalu-ated for their binding interactions with two well-known anticancer targets, namely the epider-mal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the G-quadruplex DNA structures. Molecular docking simulations highlighted high binding affinity of 5a, 5e, 5g, and 5h towards EGFR. CD experi-ments suggested 5a as a stabilizer agent of the G-quadruplex from the KRAS oncogene promot-er. In the light of these findings, we propose the pyrazolo-pyrimidinone scaffold bearing a hy-drazide-hydrazone moiety as a lead skeleton for designing novel anticancer compounds.