Background and Objectives: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is highly prevalent world-wide. It progresses from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Fibrosis is often present during NAFLD progression; however, factors determining which subjects develop NASH or fibrosis are unclear. Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBP) is a family of secreted proteins involved in senescence and scarring mainly synthetized in the liver. Here we aimed to study the association of IGFBP and its induced senescence with the progression of NAFLD and liver fibrosis. Materials and Methods: 16 weeks old male C57BL/6 mice weighing 23 ± 3 g were fed either Methionine-Choline Deficient or control diet for 2, 8 or 12 weeks. Blood and liver samples were collected; histological assessment of NAFLD and fibrosis was performed. Fat contents were measured. Cellular senescence was evaluated in the liver. IGFBP levels were assessed in liver and serum. Data was expressed as Mean ± SD and analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed Tukey’s test. Lineal regression models were applied for NAFLD and fibrosis progression. p

Ludwigia octovalvis (Jacq.) P.H. Raven is widely used in traditional medicine for different illnesses included diabetes and hypertension. However, its impact on lipotoxicity and metabolic syndrome in vivo has not been addressed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of this plant on the metabolic syndrome parameters in a C57BL6J mouse hypercaloric diet model. L. octovalvis hydroalcoholic extract and its ethyl acetate fraction (25 mg/kg/day) were used for sub-chronic assessment (10 weeks). Also four subfractions (25 mg/kg) were evaluated in the postprandial triglyceridemia test in healthy C57BL6J mice. The hydroalcoholic extract and ethyl acetate fraction significantly decreased body weight gain (-6.9 g and -1.5 g), fasting glycemia (-46.1 and -31.2 mg/dL), systolic (-26.0 and -22.5mmHg) and diastolic (-8.1 and 16.2 mmHg) blood pressure, free fatty acid concentration (-13.8 and -8.0 μg/mL) and insulin-resistance (measured by TyG index, -0.207 and -0.18) compared to the negative control. Postprandial triglyceridemia test showed that the effects in the sub-chronic model are due, at least in part, to improvement in this parameter. L. octovalvis treatments, particularly the hydroalcoholic extract, improve MS alterations and decrease free fatty acid concentration. These effects are possibly due to high contents of corilagin and ellagic acid.

Naltrexone (NTX) is a potent opioid antagonist with good blood-brain barrier permeability, targeting different endogenous opioid receptors, particularly the mu-opioid receptor (MOR). Therefore, it represents a promising candidate for drug development against drug addiction. However, the details of the molecular interactions of NTX and its derivatives with MOR are not fully understood, hindering ligand-based drug discovery. In the present study, taking advantage of the high-resolution X-ray crystal structure of the murine MOR (mMOR), we constructed a homology model of the human MOR (hMOR). A solvated phospholipid bilayer was built around the hMOR and submitted to microsecond (µs) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to obtain an optimized hMOR model. NTX and its derivatives were docked into the optimized hMOR model and submitted to µs MD simulations in an aqueous membrane system. The MD simulation results were submitted to Molecular Mechanics Generalized-Born surface area (MMGBSA) binding free energy calculations and principal component analysis. Our results revealed that NTX and its derivatives showed differences in protein-ligand interactions; however, they shared contact with residues at TM2, TM3, H6, and TM7. The binding free energy and principal component analysis revealed the structural and energetic effects responsible for the higher potency of NTX compared to its derivatives.

Urban planning is recognized as an interaction between the state and society, which aims to articulate public policies in the territory, facilitating their administration in favor of greater development and well-being of society. However, this interaction becomes complex because consumption demands increase, and the needs of the community exceed the capacity of the urban ecosystem to supply them, hindering its sustainable functionality. With this panorama, it becomes relevant to study urban planning from a sustainable environmental planning perspective, based on four topics: urban planning, sustainability, resilience and smart cities. The methodology used is based on a bibliometric study through a PRISMA adjustment to 87 articles, supported by VOSviewer® to construct and visualize the co-occurrence networks of important terms extracted from a body of scientific literature. The main result is to consider cities with a complex systems approach that works like a gear, that is, there is a connective element between inter- and intra-urban processes. This relationship is the key factor that allows understanding their synchronization, stating that the deepening of each of these topics is crucial to the ideal of a territorial administration through time scales, by means of adaptive cycles, allowing to provide new tools to concepts such as carrying capacity and the measurement of the environmental footprint.

Air pollution has created a lot of problems in the developed and developing countries. To avoid or reduce these problems, constant monitoring of the air should be ensured. The conventional techniques is costly because it requires a lot of money and time consuming. Biomonitoring has been the alternative method. Moss, lichens and plants are biomonitors available to entrap air pollutants. The aim of this paper is to discuss one of the ways of monitoring air pollution – Moss bag technique. To do this, types, choice, preparation, handling of bags after preparation of moss were discussed. From the literatures consulted, it was discovered that there were differences in the techniques used by the researchers. In all, the use of mosses with emphasis on the employment of moss bag have proved to be a powerful tool in airborne particulate and toxic elements. To conclude, developing countries should focus more on this technique because it will reduce cost of air monitoring.

Risk attitudes are relevant factors affecting the production and investment decisions at farm level. They are key factors that are related to farmers’ attitudes towards environment and climate change. Several methodological approaches are available to measure the level of stated risk of an economic agent. The Multiple Price List (MPL) method is one of the methods that is gaining relevance. In this study we apply the MPL and relate the risk outcomes with farmers’ characteristics and their perception towards environment and climate change. Data was collected using a face to face survey carried out for a group of 370 agricultural producers of the irrigation district located in northwest of Mexico. Results showed an average risk of about 0.32, locating the agricultural producers of the region in a group with risk aversion, according to the MPL scale. The heterogeneity analysis showed that the socioeconomic factors and the perceptions towards climate change are related to the farmers´ stated risk level. Farmers who are young women with propensity to use public support to invest were shown to be greater risk lovers. Farmers in the region have perceived climate change to a greater extent like floods, hail, diseases and pests, and changing vegetation.

We argue that a very large class of quantum pure states of isolated macroscopic bodies have sharply peaked energy distributions, with their width relative to the average scaling between $\sim N^{-1}$ and $\sim N^{-1/2}$, with $N \gg 1$, the number of atoms conforming the body. Those states are dense superpositions of energy eigenstates within arbitrary finite or infinite energy intervals that decay sufficiently fast. The sharpness of the energy distribution implies that closed systems in those states are {\it microcanonical} in the sense that only energy eigenstates very near to the mean energy contribute to their thermodynamic evolution. Since thermodynamics accurately describes processes of macroscopic bodies and requires that closed systems have constant energy, our claim is that these pure states are typical of macroscopic systems. The main assumption beneath the energy sharpness is that the isolated body can reach thermal equilibrium if left unaltered. We argue that such a self-sharpness of the energy in macroscopic bodies indicates that the First Law of Thermodynamics is statistical in character.

Based on the foundations of thermodynamics and the equilibrium conditions for the coexistence of two phases in a magnetic Ising-like system, we show, first, that there is a critical point where the isothermal susceptibility diverges and the specific heat may remain finite, and second, that near the critical point the entropy of the system, and therefore all free energies, do obey scaling. Although we limit ourselves to such a system, we elaborate about the possibilities of finding universality, as well as the precise values of the critical exponents using thermodynamics only.

Background Homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) evolved into a major diagnostic marker in high grade ovarian cancer (HGOC) predicting the response to poly (Adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) and also platinum-based therapy. In addition to HRD, the type of peritoneal tumor spread influences treatment response and patient survival; miliary type tumor spread has poorer predicted outcome than non-miliary type tumor spread. Methods Known methods for HRD assessment were adapted for our technical requirements and the Predictive-value Integrated Genomic Instability Score (PIGIS) for HRD assessment evolved as an outcome. PIGIS was validated in HGOC samples from 122 patients. We used PIGIS to analyze whether the type of tumor spread correlated with HRD status and whether this had an impact on survival. Results We demonstrated that PIGIS can discriminate HRD positive from HRD negative samples. Tumors with miliary tumor spread are HRD negative and have a very bad prognosis with a progression free survival (PFS) of 15.6 months and an overall survival (OS) of 3.9 years. However, HRD negative non-miliary spreading tumors in our cohort had a much better prognosis (PFS 35.4 months, OS 8.9 years), similar to HRD positive tumors (PFS 34.7 months, OS 8.9 years). Conclusions Our results indicate that in a predominantly PARPi naïve cohort the type of tumor spread might be a better predictor of response to platinum sensitivity than HRD. It remains to be determined, whether this also applies for sensitivity to PARPi.

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

The article presents several innovative systems developed through student laboratory projects, including two autonomous vehicles, a four-legged walking robot, an active ankle-foot orthosis, a ball on beam balancing mechanism, a ball on plate system, and a manipulator arm—all powered by pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs). Fluidic muscles offer significant potential in various mechatronic systems, robots, and manipulators due to their flexible, lightweight nature and compliance. Their ability to produce smooth and adaptable motions is particularly beneficial in applications requiring natural and human-like movement, such as rehabilitation and assistive devices. Although PAMs powered control systems face challenges with nonlinear phenomena, their biologically inspired design holds promise for future applications across various industries. These may include innovative applicability in industrial, automotive, and aerospace sectors, as well as use in sports, medical aids, entertainment, and animatronics. Incorporating self-made laboratory systems actuated by PAMs into control systems education offers a comprehensive learning opportunity that combines theoretical concepts with hands-on experience. This approach develops the necessary skills of future engineers, expanding their understanding of technical principles and preparing them for future challenges in engineering practice.

Decoherence with recurrences appear in the dynamics of the one-body density matrix of an $F = 1$ spinor Bose-Einstein condensate, initially prepared in coherent states, in the presence of an external uniform magnetic field and within the single mode approximation. The phenomenon emerges as a many-body effect of the interplay of the quadratic Zeeman effect, that breaks the rotational symmetry, and the spin-spin interactions. By performing full quantum diagonalizations very accurate time evolution of large condensates are analyzed, leading to heuristic analytic expressions for the time dependence of the density matrix, in the weak and strong interacting regimes. We are able to find accurate analytical expressions for both the decoherence and the recurrence times, in terms of the number of atoms and strength parameters, that show remarkable differences depending on the strength of the spin-spin interactions. We discuss the nature of these limits in the light of the thermodynamic limit.

High hopes were associated with the new anti-angiogenic medicament, bevacizumab, which due to the possibility of binding to isoform A of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), inhibited the creation of new blood vessels. However, not only blood vessels are responsible for the tumor cells' spread. During the process of tumor growth, lymphangiogenesis is mediated by other isoforms of the VEGF family, specifically VEGF-C and VEGF-D, which are independent of the bevacizumab action. Therefore, based on the mechanism of bevacizumab action and the processes of angio- and lymphangiogenesis, we formed three hypotheses: 1) if the lymph nodes in the primary ovarian cancers are metastatic, the outcome of bevacizumab treatment is worsened; 2) concerning the second-line treatment, bevacizumab will act in a weakened manner if the recurrence occurs in lymph nodes compared to local recurrences; 3) patients treated by bevacizumab are more likely to have recurrences in lymph nodes. These hypotheses raise the issue of the existing gap of knowledge, which concerns the effect of bevacizumab on the metastatic lymph nodes.

Scientific studies on the impact of wood species on solid fuel production, performance, and sustainability are grossly inadequate. The knowledge of this is imperative as users of solid fuels are increasing rapidly, especially in Africa. On this note, it becomes necessary to explore measures that will improve its efficiency and sustainability as an energy source. This study investigates some properties of selected wood species used as an energy source in Nigeria and their pelleting potential. Nine (9) samples were characterized and assessed for suitability of pelleting following four wood pellet quality standards. The findings revealed Anogeissus leiocarpus as the species with the best rating score in terms of fuel properties while Vitellaria paradoxa as the lowest. However, in terms of conformity with the four wood pellets standards, Khaya senegalensis, Parkia biglobosa and Anogeissus leiocarpus having presented density, calorific value, sulfur, arsenic, cadmium, and lead within the limits of the wood pellet quality standards were considered the best wood species in terms of fuel suitability and pelleting potential. The findings therefore suggest that not all wood species are suitable as fuel. Thus, for species that do not meet the standard wood pellet requirements, alternatives such as the use of biomass blends, additives, or process adjustments can be employed to adapt the quality to the standards or by using the fuels in improved cookstoves.

This review focuses on the role of small extracellular vesicles in the pathophysiological mechanisms of retinal degenerative diseases. Many of these mechanisms are related or modulated by the oxidative burden of the retinal cells. It has been recently demonstrated that cellular communication in the retina involves extracellular vesicles and that their rate of release and cargo features might be affected by the cellular environment and in some instances also mediated by autophagy. The fate of these vesicles is diverse, and could end up in the circulation and be used as markers, or target neighbour cells modulating gene and protein expression and eventually also angiogenesis. Neovascularization in the retina promotes vision loss in diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. The importance of micro RNAs, either as small extracellular vesicles’ cargo or free circulating, on the regulation of retinal angiogenesis is also discussed.

The high level of dengue virus (DENV) seroprevalence in areas where Zika virus (ZIKV) is circulating and the cross-reactivity between these two viruses have raised concerns on the risk of increased ZIKV disease severity for patients with a history of previous DENV infection. To determine the role of DENV pre-immunity in ZIKV infection, we analysed the T and B cell responses against ZIKV in donors with or without previous DENV infection. Using PBMCs from donors living in an endemic area in Colombia, we have identified, by interferon (IFN)-γ enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay, most of the immunodominant ZIKV T-cell epitopes in the non-structural proteins NS1, NS3 and NS5. Analyses of the T and B-cell responses in the same donors revealed a stronger T-cell response against peptides conserved between DENV and ZIKV, with a higher level of ZIKV-neutralizing antibodies in DENV-immune donors, in comparison with DENV-naïve donors. Strikingly, the potential for antibody mediated enhancement of ZIKV infection was reduced in donors with sequential DENV and ZIKV infection in comparison with donors with DENV infection only. Altogether, these data suggest that individuals with DENV immunity present improved immune responses against ZIKV.

The Upper Hunter Valley is a major coal mining area containing approximately 40% of the currently identified total coal reserves in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Due to the ongoing increase of mining activities, PM10 (air-borne particle with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 micrometres) pollution has become a major air quality concern in local communities. This paper summarises the spatial and temporal variability modes of PM10 pollution in the region, based on long-term multi-site monitoring data and the application of the rotated principal component analysis (RPCA) and wavelet analysis techniques. RPCA identified two distinct air quality clusters/subregions in the valley, one in the west/northwest, the other in the southeast. Wavelet analysis revealed the annual cycle to be most persistent temporal mode of PM10 variability in both subregions, with intermittent signals observed at time scales of around 120, 30~90 and under 30 days. How these variation modes are related to the effects of local PM10 emissions and the influence of meteorology at different time scales deserves further attention in future work. The findings will be used in air quality reporting and forecasting in NSW. The methodology and results can also be useful for air quality research in similar regions elsewhere.

The broad emission bump in the electromagnetic spectra observed following the detection of gravitational waves created during the kilonova event of merger of two neutron stars in August 2017, GW170817, has been linked to the heavy elements of lanthanides (Z=57-71), and a new understanding of creation of heavy elements in the r-process. The initial spectral emission bump has a wavelength range of 3000 - 7000 \AA, thus covering the region of ultraviolet (UV) to optical (O) wavelengths, and is similar to those seen for lanthanides. Most lanthanides have large number of closely lying energy levels which introduce extensive sets of radiative transitions which often form broad region of lines of significant strength. The current study explores these broad features through photoabsorption spectroscopy of 25 lanthanides ions, Ho I-III, Er I-IV, Tm I-V, Yb I-VI and Lu I-VII. With excitations only to a few orbitals up beyond the ground configurations, we find most of these ions cover large number of bound levels with open $4f$ orbital and produce tens to about hundred thousands lines that may form one or multiple broad features in X-ray to UV, O, and infrared (IR) regions. Spectrum of each of 25 ions is presented indicating presence, shape and wavelength region of the features. Accuracy of atomic data to interpret the merger spectra has been a outstanding problem. The present study aims at providing improved atomic data for energies and transition parameters obtained using relativistic Breit-Pauli approximation implemented in the atomic structure code SUPERSTRUCTURE. The present data have been benchmarked with available experimental data for energies and transition parameters. The study finds that number of ions under the present study are possible contributors of the emission bump of GW170817. All atomic data will be made available online at NORAD-Atomic-Data database.

The study of the impact of polyQ expansion driven proteotoxicity on cell metabolism has evi-denced NAD molecule as a central player in regulating metabolic response and cell repair in neurodegeneration. The decline in NAD intracellular levels represents a hallmark of ageing aris-ing from a dysregulation between NAD-consuming and biosynthetic enzymatic reactions in which NMNAT plays a key role. By an integrated bioanalytical and proteomic experimental design, the derangement of NAD metabolism deriving from the accumulation of polyQ-Htt protein has been analysed in Saccha-romices cerevisiae harbouring a 103Q-Htt and compared with wild-type Htt, in absence and in presence of a phenolic extract from EVOO, as a source of antioxidant bioactive compounds. Quantification of NAD and its precursors and proteomic analysis of the differential protein ex-pression has been performed by LC-DAD-MS. Chronological lifespan and NAD homeostasis was strongly impaired by proteotoxic polyQ-Htt, eliciting a depletion of NAD levels and accumulation of NaMN. In parallel a downregulation of Sirt2 expression levels has been observed. Phenolic extract administration had no meaningful ef-fects on NAD replenishment to prevent proteotoxicity. NaMN can represent a biomarker of accel-erated aging, and/or a signaling molecule for cell repair.

Multigranulation is a new approach to the Rough Set Theory, where several separability relationships are used to obtain different granulations of the universe. The Multigranulation starts from the existence of different contexts or subsets of features to characterize the objects of the universe. In this paper, a method for the generation of contexts from the construction of similarity relations is proposed.The proposed solution was evaluated in an international database using the KNN classifier. It was also applied in the solution of a real problem in Civil Engineering specifically in Traffic Engineering, the contexts generated from the proposal used to determine the features of higher incidence in the service level of the road. The results achieved both in the international database and in the proposed application demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method.

This article presents the development and validation of a new instrument measuring social, cultural, and behavioral factors influencing exposure to occupational zoonoses in agricultural settings. The Social Ecological Model (SEM) and the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing were used as guiding frameworks to ensure the instrument's validity. The instrument's content was compiled by combining the results of a scoping literature review and an expert qualitative study. The instrument items were drafted, organized, and underwent a meticulous process of revision and adjustment. It was translated into Spanish and tested in one-to-one cognitive interviews with five volunteer agricultural workers. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted for construct discrimination, and bivariate regression analyses were conducted to explore the association with exposure indicators. Evidence of validity was obtained from four out of five sources of validity evidence according to the AERA/APA’s Standards of Educational and Psychological Testing. The Social Ecology of Occupational Zoonoses (SEOZ) was successfully used to determine social and behavioral factors associated with a higher risk of exposure to occupational zoonoses. Further use of the SEOZ can provide valuable insights into developing effective interventions to improve the health and well-being of agricultural workers.

Crystalline silver thin layers were obtained by high-energy pulsed laser ablation without heating of the deposition substrate. The fluid Plateau-Rayleigh (PRI), Rayleigh – Taylor (RTI) and Richtmyer – Meshkov (RMI) instabilities, as well as crown splash induced during pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in high energy regime, resulting in ring and pearl shaped structures, offer the benefit of increased sorption surface. These morphological structures obtained for the silver thin layers make them of interest for catalytic applications. The study presented with this work addresses both the fundamental and applied issues on the morphological structures obtained for the silver thin layer and their catalytic function in organic processes. In this sense, the catalytic action of the thin silver layer was highlighted by modifications of the Reactive Blue 21 dye (C.I.) in aqueous solution with sodium bicarbonate. Specific investigations and analyzes were carried out by electron microscopy and elemental analysis (SEM-EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and profilometry, mass spectrometry, ablation plasma diagnosis, diffractograms (XRD), as well as IR spectroscopy (FTIR). In addition to the experimental investigation and analyzes, simulation of the ionization energy threshold was conducted in COMSOL for complementary evaluation on the involved processes and phenomena.

“Pecorino” is a typical semi-hard cheese obtained with raw or heat-treated sheep milk using procedures to valorize the raw material's chemical and microbiological properties. In the present study, using a high throughput method of 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we assessed the evolution of the microbiome composition from milk to Pecorino cheese in artisanal processes using milk from Comisana and Lacaune sheep breeds. The comparative analysis of the bacterial com-munity composition revealed significant differences in the presence and abundance of specific taxa in the milk microbiome of the Comisana and Lacaune breeds. NGS analysis also revealed differences in the curd microbiome related to dairy farming practices, which have a relevant effect on the final structure of the Pecorino-cheese microbiome.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the prediction of facial age due to its diverse applications in fields such as security, entertainment, and healthcare. The current scourge of underaged voting in Nigeria is a problem and this research delves into the realm of facial age prediction by employing four well-known convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures, namely VGG16, ResNet50, Mobile Net, and VGG19 to predict chronological ages from facial pictures of person. The objective is to achieve precise age estimation from facial images, utilizing two datasets: UTKFace and CASIA African Facial Datasets. The results of this investigation are noteworthy. Specifically, the VGG16 model which demonstrated remarkable performance, yielding a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 1.76 when applied to the UTK-Face dataset. Additionally, when utilizing Mobile-Net, an unprecedented MAE of 1.10 was achieved for the Casia Africa Face Dataset. Notably, this marks the first instance of employing the dataset for facial age detection with CNNs, and this approach outperformed previous works, yielding the lowest MAE among all the studies reviewed.

DIEP-based breast reconstruction necessitates wide undermining at the abdominal donor-site, creating large wound areas. Flap harvesting is usually conducted using electrosurgical dissection devices. This study sought to compare the clinical outcomes in patients after using the PEAK PlasmaBlade (PPB) versus monopolar electrocautery (MPE). This retrospective cohort study included 128 patients with DIEP-based breast reconstruction. Patient characteristics as well as information on the postoperative course were collected and a comparative evaluation was conducted. The MPE group exhibited significantly (p* = 0.0324) higher abdominal drainage volume (351.11 ± 185.96 ml) compared to the PPB group (279.38 ± 183.38 ml). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that PPB significantly reduced postoperative wound fluid in patients with BMI > 30 kg/m² (p* = 0.0284), without prior neoadjuvant chemotherapy (p** = 0.0041), and among non-smokers (p = 0.0046). Furthermore, postoperative pain was significantly (p**** < 0.0001) lower in the PPB cohort. This study confirms the non-inferiority of the PEAK PlasmaBlade to conventional electrocautery for abdominal flap harvesting. The PPB demonstrated advantages, notably reduced drainage volume and lower postoperative pain levels. Recognizing patient subsets that benefit more from the PPB highlights the importance of personalized device selection based on patient characteristics.

The wastewater circular economy (WW-CE) promises a solution to improve water and sanitation management worldwide. However, the transition from conventional to circular wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) requires facilitation to aid in decision makers understanding of integral sustainability impacts of alternative WW-CE configurations. This research implemented Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), combining Life Cycle Assessment, Social Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing with a Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) model to quantify environmental, socio-cultural, and economic impacts of conventional WWTPs with the WW-CE. Two real WWTPs in Chile have embraced the WW-CEs and adopting the title of Biofactories. These were considered as case studies, compared under three scenarios to demonstrate the sustainability trade-offs of the transition from no sanitation to conventional WWTPs and Biofactory WW-CE configurations. Results demonstrated that the transition to WW-CEs improved integral sustainability according to the LCSA model implemented in both WWPTs. This study highlights the urgent need to adopt sustainable decision-making models to not only improve sanitation coverage, but also improve sustainability performance of the sanitation industry across the globe.

Pumpo is a Simmental breed and an essential livestock resource in the nucleus genetic cattle of Peru. This study provides a draft genome sequence of a top bull using a de novo assembly approach on the Illumina Novaseq X platform, yielding 208 GB of raw sequencing data with 150 bp paired-end reads. The final genome assembly resulted in a size of 2.06 Gb with an N50 contig length of 108 Mb and a completeness of 95.7% according to BUSCO analysis. A total of 973,925 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified, with a predominance of mononucleotide repeats. The genome showed low heterozygosity (0.568%) and moderate repeatability (11.5%), aligning with other Bos taurus genomes. Reference-guided scaffolding improved the assembly quality significantly, producing an N50 scaffold value of 108 Mb. The SSR analysis of the Pumpo genome identified 973,925 SSRs with a frequency of 2,808 SSRs per kilobase, predominantly mononucleotide repeats, and 85,453 found in compound formations. Obtaining knowledge of the genome of a breeding Simmental bull is essential to optimize breeding programs and improve productivity.

Drosophila melanogaster serves as a important research model both for genetic investigations and for the study of metal toxicity, facilitating the elucidation of physiological mechanisms comparable to those of human organisms. In our research, we evaluated the toxicity effect resulting from exposure to various concentrations of lead and copper on the prolificity rates throughout the life cycle (egg-adult) of four genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster: wild-type (control), white, brown, and white-vestigial. During our study, the prolificity rates were examined across three repetitions under the impact of exposure to concentrations of 0.50, 1.00, 2.00, and 4.00 mM of copper (CuSO₄) and lead (Pb(C₂H₃O₂₎₂). Prolificity rates throughout the life cycle exhibited variations as a direct consequence of genetic factors, the concentration of exposure, and the specific type of metal, either copper or lead. The mutant white-vestigial genotype revealed an IC₅₀ concentration for prolificity inhibition at lower doses of 2.00 mM for copper and 4.00 mM for lead, in contrast to the control genotype (wild-type), which exhibited an inhibition concentration rate >IC₅₀ of 4.00 mM only in the case of copper. Our results concluded that the (i) dose influences the prolificity rate in a directly proportional manner, (ii) comparative analyses between copper and lead revealed that copper displayed toxicity across all genotypes within the concentration range of 0.50 mM to 2.00 mM. In contrast, lead exhibited toxicity within the concentration range of 1.00 mM to 4.00 mM, highlighting a (iii) more acute toxicity characteristic in the case of copper. Thus, the results of this research reflect the importance of using Drosophila melanogaster as a genetic model in the comparative study of the interaction between genetic factors and the toxicity of metals, offering significant insights into monitoring their impact and defining the maximum permissible doses on organisms.

The discovery of more bioactive compounds for non-invasive administration has been the goal of research groups focused on pharmacotherapy. Phytonutrients have always been attractive for researchers because they are a significant source of bioactive phytochemicals, but it is challenging to determine which components show high biomedical activity. However, based on the chemical structure of these active compounds, their physicochemical properties can be calculated to predict the probability of gastrointestinal (GI) absorption after oral administration. Indeed, different researchers have proposed several rules (e.g., Lipinski's, Veber's, Ghose's, and Muegge's rules) to attain these predictions for synthetic compounds. Most phytochemicals do not fully comply with these rules even though they show high bioactivity and high GI absorption experimentally. Here, we provide a detailed methodology using web-based platforms to determine the physicochemical properties of five phytochemicals in the phytonutrients ginger, echinacea, and tobacco. Furthermore, we analyzed the calculated data and established a protocol based on the combination and integration of these rules, plus other extended parameter ranges, to reliably predict the GI absorption of natural compounds. The presented data and methodology can be beneficial for evaluating bioactive natural compounds as potential drug candidates and predicting their oral bioavailability in patients.

Uterine fibroid (UF) is a tumour in some parts of the uterus, which introduces health challenges or death due to failed surgery among women globally. This study was designed to ascertain the involvement of micro-nutrients, inflammation, and antioxidant enzymes in the UF development to gain further insights and provide a strategy for managing the disease. One hundred ninety reproductive-aged women were recruited and classified equally into case and control subjects. The supernatant obtained from excised tissues from the fibroid and the normal samples from the adjacent myometrium were assessed for the selected biochemical parameters with standard methods. The levels of vitamin A and sodium between 26-35 years; vitamins D, E, zinc, and selenium between 46-55 years; and vitamin E at 56 years and above significantly decreased (p&lt;0.05). Interleukin-2 (IL-2) level significantly increased (P &lt; 0.05) among the case between 36-45 years. An increase in the activity of glutathione-s-transferase and the reduction in glutathione peroxidase activity and vitamin A level in the uterus between 26-45 years were the most pronounced significant findings (p&lt;0.05) recorded. Prolonged vitamin A deficiency coupled with excess sodium salts facilitating inflammation induced by IL-2 are critical factors for UF development.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a neurotropic virus that, occasionally, may spread to the central nervous system (CNS), being the most common cause of sporadic encephalitis. One of the main neurovirulence factors of HSV-1 is the protein ICP34.5 that, although initially seemed to be relevant only in neuronal infections, it can also promote viral replication in non-neuronal cells. New ICP34.5 functions have been discovered during the recent years, and some of them have been questioned. This review describes the mechanisms of ICP34.5 to control cellular antiviral responses and debates its most controversial functions. One of the most discussed roles of ICP34.5 is autophagy inhibition. Although autophagy is considered a defense mechanism against viral infections, current evidence suggests that this antiviral function is only one side of the coin. Different types of autophagic pathways interact with HSV-1 impairing or enhancing the infection, and both the virus and the host cell modulate these pathways to tip the scales in its favor. In this review, we will summarize the recent progress on the interplay between autophagy and HSV-1, focusing on the intricate role of ICP34.5 in the modulation of this pathway to gain the battle against cellular defenses.

Background. The measurement of physical performance constitutes an indicator of physical functional capacity and allows the design of physical exercise programs adapted to the individual abilities and needs of older adults with and without frailty. Aim. To present a synthesis of knowledge on the effect of exercise programs on physical performance in older adults with and without frailty in the community. Method. A systematic review was carried out in accordance with the PRISMA-2020 criteria. The search for articles was made until May 4, 2023 in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, SciELO and LILACS. The outcome variable was physical performance, measured through the SPPB (Short Physical Performance Battery). The mean difference (MD) was estimated to evaluate the effect. Results. We found 2,483 studies, of which 12 met the eligibility criteria for the systematic review and 9 for the meta-analysis. The effect of exercise on SPPB score was significantly higher in the exercise group compared to control in non-frail older adults with MD=0.51 [95% CI, 0.05 to 0.96, p&lt;0.05]. Likewise, in older adults with frailty, the effect of exercise on the global SPPB score was significantly higher in the exercise group compared to the control with an MD=0.66 [95% CI, 0.09 to 1.24, p&lt;0.05 ]. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that exercise programs are effective in increasing and/or maintaining physical performance in older adults with and without frailty, whose effect is more evident in older adults with frailty, probably due to the greater margin of recovery of intrinsic capacity.

In Nigeria, desertification has become one of the most pronounced ecological disasters, with the impacts mostly affecting eleven frontline States. This has been attributed to a range of both nat-ural and man-made factors. This study applied a remote sensing-based change detection and indicator analysis to explore land use/land cover changes and detect major conversions from ecologically active land covers to sand dunes. Results indicate that areas covered by sand dunes (a major indicator of desertification) have doubled over the 25 years under consideration (1990 to 2015). Although about 0.71 km2 of dunes have been converted to vegetation, indicative of the success of various international, national, local, and individual afforestation efforts, conversely about 10.1 km2 of vegetation were converted to sand dunes, implying around 14 times more de-forestation compared to afforestation. Juxtaposing the progression of sand dune with climate records of the study area and examining the relationship between indicators of climate change and desertification suggested a mismatch between both processes as increasing rainfall and lower temperatures observed in 1994, 2005, 2012, and 2014 did not translated into positive feedbacks for desertification in the study area. On average, our results reveal that sand dune is progressing at a mean annual rate of about 15.2 km2 in the study area. Based on this study’s land cover change, trend and conversion assessment, visual reconciliation of climate records with land cover data, statistical analysis, observations from ground-truthing, as well as previous literature, it can be inferred that desertification in Nigeria is less a function of climate change, but more a product of human activities driven by poverty, population growth and failed government policies. Further projections by this study also reveal a high probability of more farmlands being converted to sand dunes by the year 2030 and 2045 if current practices prevail.

(1) Background: Psychological well-being (PWB) and female sexual health are two important areas for women’s quality of life and research, and they are closely related. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the existing literature to explore the association between PWB and sexual health in women. (2) Methods: This review was carried out following PRISMA. The inclusion criteria were studies with samples of adult women, that evaluated and associated sexual functioning and mental health. Scientific articles were identified on Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO (PsycInfo, PsycArticles, and Psicodoc), ProQuest, and PubMed. The search was limited to years between 2010 and 2023. (3) Results: 14 selected articles were analyzed, in which population samples and variables related to mental and sexual health were examined. 42.9% of the studies included clinical samples, 71.4% focused on anxiety and depression as main mental health variables, and 50% examined female sexual functioning as a sexual health variable. (4) Conclusions: This review provides more up-to-date information about valuable insights into the possible determinants of female sexual health. The association between PWB and female sexual health has been demonstrated.

The present study aimed at investigating the in vitro and in vivo susceptibility of malaria parasites to crude extracts and fractions from Polyalthia suaveolens, Uvaria angolensis, and Monodora tenuifolia. The ethanolic extracts were prepared by maceration, and were further partitioned using water, dichloromethane, hexane, and methanol. The most promising fraction was subjected to column chromatography and the sub-fractions tested for activity in vitro. The antiplasmodial effect of extracts and fractions was tested against the Chloroquine resistant (PfK1) strain in 96 wells microtiter plate format using SYBR green florescence assay. The promising fraction was further assessed for cytotoxicity and acute toxicity in Swiss albino mice and subsequently against the rodent malaria parasite, P. berghei. Qualitative phytochemical screening was also performed on the promising fraction. The methanol fractions exerted the overall better effect with that of the twigs of P. suaveolens (PStw(Ace)) showing the highest potency with a IC50 value of 3.24 µg/mL followed by the fractions of leaf of M. tenuifolia (MoTel(Ace), IC50= 3.84 µg/ml) and stem bark of P. suaveolens (IC50= 4.90 µg/ml). The phytochemical screening showed the presence of alkaloids, lactones, and phenols in the more active fraction of P. suaveolens (PStw(Ace)). The chromatographic fractionation of this fraction led to 12 sub-fractions with PS8 sub-fraction being the most active (IC50= 4.42 µg/mL). In vivo, oral administration of 2000 mg/kg b.w of fraction PStw(Ace) in mice showed no signs of toxicity. Also, fraction PStw(Ace) at 400 mg/kg b.w exerted the highest suppressive effect against P. berghei strain B throughout the 4 days experiment (% parasitaemia below 5.2%). Overall, the results achieved supported the use of the three plants in the traditional treatment of malaria in Cameroon. More interestingly, the methanolic fraction of the twigs extract from P. suaveolens might be of interest in future development of an antimalarial phytodrug.

Body Expression (BE) has been defined in the past decades as a discipline within Physical Education (PE) with very particular characteristics and a strong emotional component. In this study, a programme of this discipline was applied to university Physical Activity and Sports Sciences (PASS) students from six consecutive academic years: three prior to and three during the pandemic. A pre-post design was used to determine how the BE programme affected the university students' self-concept (SC). To do so, a questionnaire with a multidimensional approach to this construct was administered, whose dimensions were closely related to the BE programme's characteristics. The results revealed significant improvements in the final SC, compared to the initial SC. Men reported lower SC values than women before the programme implementation, but higher at the end. Therefore, the change was larger in men, so the programme may have had an equalising effect between groups. It was also verified that the pandemic had particularly affected women.

Background: Microscopic examination of acid-fast stained sputum smears for detecting mycobacterial acid-fast bacilli (AFB) remains the most economical and readily available method for laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). However, this conventional approach has limitations, including low sensitivity and labor-intensive procedures. Methods: An automated microscopy system incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning for AFB identification was evaluated. The study was conducted at an Infectious Disease Hospital in Jiangsu Province, China, utilizing an intelligent microscope system (TB-Scan, Wellgen Medical, Kaohsiung). A total of 1,000 sputum smears were included in the analysis, with the system capturing digital microscopic images and employing an image recognition model to automatically identify and classify AFB. Referee technicians provided the gold standard for discrepant results. Results: The automated system demonstrated an overall accuracy of 95.00% (950/1,000), sensitivity of 91.24% (177/194), and specificity of 95.91% (773/806). Notably, the system identified 21 smears as positive that were previously reported as negative, with referee technicians confirming 17 of these as true positive and retracting the test results accordingly. Recalculating the performance, the accuracy increased to 96.70% (967/1,000), sensitivity to 91.94% (194/211), and specificity to 97.97% (773/789), with a false negative rate of 8.06% (17/211) and a false positive rate of 2.03% (16/789). Conclusions: The incorporation of AI and machine learning into an automated microscopy system demonstrated the potential to enhance the sensitivity and efficiency of AFB detection in sputum smears compared to conventional manual microscopy. This approach holds promise for widespread application in TB diagnostics and potentially other fields requiring labor-intensive microscopic examination.

The majority of investigations on microbial communities from various environments are presently built on culture-independent methods. Many studies point to the pivotal, selective role of primers targeting hypervariable regions of 16S rRNA in the metabarcoding of bacteria, including cyanobacterial communities. The selectivity of primers designed to amplify targeted regions of the 16S rRNA gene, which has been highlighted by many authors, limited effective amplification. Moreover, the type and specificity of the studied material can also negatively influence the results of 16S metabarcoding. Most of the studies of cyanobacterial communities have been performed for planktonic microbial communities that are often represented by common, well-studied species. In this study, we present the results of 16S metabarcoding analysis using three primer pairs - two already well-known and a third designed in this study - that amplify divergent regions of the 16S rRNA gene (V3-V4, V4-V6, V6) for benthic, microbial mat-forming cyanobacteria communities. Such communities can be a source of toxigenic cyanobacterial taxa and should be monitored with adequate primers. The comparison of three primer pairs suggested that those designed within the present study describe the structure and composition of highly heterogeneous cyanobacterial mats’ communities better than the others

The goal of this study is both to determine the opinion that professors and students at the University of (details removed for peer review) have of active methodologies and to describe the perception and opinion of the modes of organization, methodological focuses, and evaluation systems that define the teaching-learning process. On surveying the professors and the students in their classes, we found significant differences in 32 of the 92 variables in common. The content of these results shows that professors and students are believe they are making progress toward a learning-centered model, that implementation of active methodologies implies new functions in their teaching practice.

This study investigated the influence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes asso-ciated with the interferon pathway (IFNAR2 rs2236757), antiviral response (OAS1 rs10774671, OAS3 rs10735079), and viral entry (ACE2 rs2074192) on COVID-19 severity and their association with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (MAFLD). We did not observe a significant association between the investigated SNPs and COVID-19 severity. While the IFNAR2 rs2236757 A allele correlated with higher creatinine levels upon admission and the G allele with lower band neu-trophils upon discharge, these findings require further investigation. The distribution of OAS gene polymorphisms (rs10774671, rs10735079 did not differ between MAFLD and non-MAFLD patients. Our study population's distribution of ACE2 rs2074192 genotypes and alleles differed from the European reference population. Overall, our findings suggest that these specific SNPs may not be major contributors to COVID-19 severity in our patient population, highlighting the potential role of other genetic factors and environmental influences.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) represent a growing public health concern due to increasing incidence worldwide. The current notion on the pathogenesis of IBD is that genetically susceptible individuals develop intolerance to dysregulated gut microflora (dysbiosis) and chronic inflammation develops as a result of environmental triggers. Among the environmental factors associated to IBD, diet plays an important role in modulating the gut microbiome, influencing epigenetic changes and, therefore, could be applied as a therapeutic tool to improve the disease course. Nevertheless, the current dietary recommendations for disease prevention and management are scarce and of weak evidence. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the complex interactions among diet, microbiome and epigenetics in IBD. Whereas over-abundance of calories and some macronutrients increases gut inflammation, several micronutrients have the potential to modulate it. Immunonutrition has emerged as a new concept putting forward the importance of vitamins such as vitamins A, C, E, D, folic acid and beta-carotene and trace elements such as zinc, selenium, manganese and iron. However, when assessed in clinical trials, specific micronutrients exerted a limited benefit. Beyond nutrients, anti-inflammatory dietary patterns as a complex intervention approach have become popular over the recent years. Hence, exclusive enteral nutrition in pediatric Crohn’s disease is the only nutritional intervention currently recommended as a first-line therapy. Other nutritional interventions or specific diets including the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, the low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyol diet and most recently the Mediterranean diet have shown strong anti-inflammatory properties and provide a promise for improving disease symptoms. Definitely, more work is required to evaluate the role of individual food compounds and complex nutritional interventions with potential to decrease inflammation as means for prevention and management of IBD.

Organisms are adapted to each other and the environment, not as tradition would have it, because natural selection made them that way, but because there is inbuilt striving towards stability and equilibrium. A General Theory of Behaviour connects imagery, affect and action with the central executive system we call Consciousness. The General Theory is founded on the assumption that the primary motivation of all of Consciousness and intentional behaviour is Psychological Homeostasis. Psychological homeostasis is as important to the organisation of mind and behaviour as Physiological Homeostasis is to the organisation of bodily systems. Consciousness processes quasi-perceptual images independently of the input to the retina and sensorium. Consciousness is the “I-Am” control centre for integration and regulation of (my) thoughts, (my) feelings and (my) actions with (my) conscious mental imagery as foundation stones. Imagery vividness, a combination of clarity and liveliness, is essential to imagining, remembering, thinking, predicting, planning and acting. Assessment of vividness using introspective report is validated by objective means such as fMRI. A significant body of work shows that vividness of visual imagery is determined by the similarity of neural responses in imagery to those occurring in perception of actual objects and performance of activities. I am Conscious, therefore I am.

The complex progression, specialized care, and comorbidities of chronic diseases place a financial and health burden on society. In some instances, the high hospital readmission rate is also a result of chronic diseases. The readmission rates can be decreased if the quality of life for patients is increased and healthcare costs are reduced through effective management and preventive measures. As a result, healthcare professionals, service providers, and policy-makers are looking for innovative approaches to reduce healthcare costs while enhancing the quality of care. There is an emerging trend in deploying technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, wearables, social media, mobile apps, and genomics to decrease hospital readmissions. In some instances, predictive analytics, early warning systems, personal-ized care management, remote monitoring and Telehealth, decision support systems, patient education and engagement, and other areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning have outperformed traditional approaches in lowering hospital readmissions. Although AI effectively reduces readmission, there are potential risks if it is not combined with efficient interventions. Therefore, real-time monitoring and intervention are required for AI systems to increase patient safety and decrease hospital readmissions. To achieve autonomy, prevent harm, achieve fairness, and achieve explicability, the ethical principles relating to AI systems should be taken into ac-count. This study examines the significant impact on health and the economy of hospital read-missions for chronic diseases and the role of AI in reducing readmissions.

Current satellite remote sensing methods struggle to detect and map forest degradation, a critical issue as it is likely a major and growing source of carbon emissions and biodiveristy loss. TanDEM-X InSAR phase height (hϕ) is a promising variable for measuring forest disturbances, as it is closely related to mean canopy height, and thus should decrease if canopy trees are removed. However, previous research has focused on relatively flat terrain, despite the fact that much of the worlds’ remaining tropical forests are found in hilly areas, and this inevitably introduces artifacts in sideways imaging systems. In this paper, we find a relationship between hϕ and aboveground biomass change in four selectively logged plots in a hilly region of central Gabon. We show that minimising the level of multilooking in the interferometric processing chain strengthens this relationship, and that degradation estimates across steep slopes in the surrounding region are improved by selecting data from the most appropriate pass directions on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This shows that TanDEM-X InSAR can measure the magnitude of degradation, and that topographic effects can be mitigated if data from multiple SAR viewing geometries are available.

Here we present 1. a model for amplicon sequencing 2. a definition of the best assignment of a read to a set of reference sequences 3. strategies and structures for indexing reference sequences and computing the best assign- ments of a set of reads efficiently, based on (ultra)metric spaces and their geometry The models, techniques, and ideas are particularly relevant to scenarios akin to 16S taxonomic profiling, where both the number of reference sequences and the read diversity is considerable.

Predicting the prices of cryptocurrency owing to its volatility, instability, and other factors has been challenging; investors and traders especially in Nigeria have been on a constant look for a more reliable way of knowing market trends and prices and while there has been so many research conducted using deep learning, the results for which has fall short of what investors could called a strong predictor. This research reviewed the results of many works that had been done and proposed two types of recurrent neural network (RNNs) namely Long Short-Term Memory and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) for predicting the future prices of two of the most common crypto assets namely Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), these two were selected based on their popularity, the volume traded and their market capitalization. The experiment was conducted in a GPU Jupyter Notebook environment and the performance of our experiment was evaluated on a test set using root mean square error (RMSE) and based on its values, the LSTM presented a better performance with rsme scores of 654.66, and 80.30 respectively for BTC and ETH as compared to GRU. The paper proceeds further to compare the results of this experiment with other related works and we discovered that its performance is a great improvement.

This work (in two parts) will review the recently developed predictive modeling methodology called “4th-BERRU-PM” and its applicability to energy systems as exemplified by an illustrative application to the Polyethylene-Reflected Plutonium (acronym: PERP) OECD/NEA reactor physics benchmark. The acronym 4th-BERRU-PM designates the “Fourth-Order Best-Estimate Results with Reduced Uncertainties Predictive Modeling” methodology, which yields best-estimate results with reduced uncertainties for the first fourth-order moments (mean values, covariance, skewness, and kurtosis) of the optimally predicted posterior distribution of model results and calibrated model parameters. The 4th-BERRU-PM uses the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) principle to incorporate fourth-order experimental and computational information, including fourth (and higher) order sensitivities of computed model responses to model parameters, thus incorporating, as particular cases, the results previously predicted by the second-order predictive modeling methodology 2nd-BERRU-PM, and vastly generalizing the results produced by extant data assimilation and data adjustment procedures. The 4th-BERRU-PM methodology encompasses the scopes of high-order sensitivity analysis (SA), uncertainty quantification (UQ), data assimilation (DA) and model calibration (MC). The application of the 4th-BERRU-PM methodology to energy systems is illustrated by means of the above-mentioned OECD/NEA reactor physics benchmark, which is modeled using the neutron transport Boltzmann equation involving 21976 imprecisely known parameters, the solution of which is representative of “large-scale computations.” The model result (“response”) of interest is the leakage of neutrons through the outer surface of this spherical benchmark, which can be computed numerically and measured experimentally. Part 1 of this work illustrates the impact of high-order sensitivities, in conjunction with parameter standard deviations of various magnitudes, on the determination of the expected value and variance of the computed response in terms of the first four moments of the distribution of the uncertain model parameters. Part 2 of this work will illustrate the capabilities of the 4th-BERRU-PM methodology for combining computational and experimental information, up to and including forth-order sensitivities and distributional moments, for producing best-estimate values for the predicted responses and model parameters while reducing their accompanying uncertainties.

Aluminum, a contentious trace element found in the environment, has been demonstrated to have harmful effects on both humans and animals. In contrast, Sempervivum tectorum, an evergreen plant, has been found to offer numerous beneficial effects for both humans and animals. Therefore, this study aims to assess the protective effect of S. tectorum on certain reproductive biomarkers in male rats exposed to aluminum. Thirty-five Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups: NTC (no-treatment control) received distilled water; NC (negative control) received drinking water containing 1 mg/L aluminum sulfate (AS); E1 received 1 mg/L AS along with an 8% S. tectorum extract; PC (positive control) received only 8% S. tectorum extract; E2 received 1 mg/L AS for three months followed by 8% extract for one month. The study analyzed testosterone, LH, FSH, body weight, and the histological structure of the testis, epididymis, and prostate, as well as the levels of zinc, manganese, copper, and iron in these organs. Significant decreases in body weight, testis, and epididymis size were observed in the aluminum-exposed groups compared to the control, whereas these decreases were not significant in the S. tectorum-treated groups compared to the control. Aluminum exposure led to significant decreases in testosterone and LH levels, with FSH levels showing a non-significant decrease in males, which were mitigated significantly by the administration of the plant extract. Histological analysis revealed alterations in the testis, epididymis, and prostate of the AS-exposed groups, including necrosis of seminiferous tubule epithelium and Leydig cells in the testis, and basal epithelial necrosis in the epididymis and prostate. Aluminum levels increased in all organs studied, while levels of zinc, copper, iron, and manganese decreased, showing a negative and significant correlation with aluminum levels. The aqueous extract of S. tectorum demonstrated a protective effect on certain studied biomarkers in male rats affected by aluminum exposure.

Tumor to stroma ratio is a highly debated prognostic factor in the management of several solid tumors and there is no universal agreement on its practicality. In our study we proposed to confirm or dismiss the hypothesis that a simple measurement of stroma quantity is an easy-to-use and strong prognostic tool. We have included 74 consecutive patients with colorectal cancer who underwent primary curative abdominal surgery. The tumors have been grouped into stroma-poor (stroma &lt;10%), medium-stroma (between 10 and 50%) and stroma-rich (over 50%). The proportion of tumor stroma ranged from 5% to 70% with a median of 25%. Very few, only 6.8% of patients had stroma-rich tumors, 4% stroma-poor tumors and 89.2%tumors with a medium quantity of stroma. The proportion of stroma, at any cut-off, had no statistically significant influence on the disease specific survival. This can be explained by the low proportion of stroma-rich tumors in our patient group and the inverse correlation of stroma proportion with tumor grade. The real-life proportion of stroma-rich tumors and the complex nature of the stroma-tumor interaction has to be further elucidated.

Extensive research has been conducted on printable antenna technologies, believed to be fast-growing due to their significant impact on wireless devices. It is necessary to study the progress of printable antenna technology as they are core devices for wireless technology today. This review work offers a comprehensive account of the previous and recent research achievements based on the principle of printable antenna, and parametric studies of several key design parameters, for future wireless network applications. The systems considered for evaluation include broadband techniques, large Bandwidth, high gain, dual/multi-band, or reconfigurable structure, low-profile, size-reduction, compact, linear, or circular polarization applications. It also highlights the fabrication procedures, and the numerous material characteristics affecting the antenna performance for various wireless applications with design considerations. Fully printed antennas on different substrates and conductive ink were investigated, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), synthetic paper (Teslin), resin-coated photo paper, and Kapton polyimide substrates, among many others. The findings show that the fully inkjet-printed antenna made fabrication easy, improving the accuracy and conductivity of the printed patterns by concentrating on the inherently difficult problems and opportunities. Inkjet-printed antennas are believed to be the futuristic demand for sustainability and wireless solution in several ways.

The aim of this work was to classify the business incubators in Spain according to the four phases of startups incubation. Taking into account that the graduation rate implies greater survival and business success of the incubated companies, they have been identified at each stage of the incubation (spread of entrepreneurship, pre-incubation, advanced incubation, and graduation). The activities that present higher impacts on the success of the incubated companies and the activities carried out by the incubator that have a greater relevance on the graduation of the companies have concretely been considered. Principal component (PC) cluster analysis have been applied. All the incubation variables were used simultaneously, reducing their number, and grouping them into factors, finally the cases were grouped according to these latent variables. Principal components analysis reduced dimensionality to 8 factors with a 74 % of explained variance. Factor 1 was positively related to pre-incubation variables, factor 2 was linked to training and collaboration variables within the entrepreneurship diffusion phase. Factor 3 called activity monitoring and control and was related to phase 3 or basic incubation variables. Clusters analysis facilitates the grouping of incubators into three clusters: Group 1 (16 % of the total), incubators with strong deficits in incubation phases 1, 2 and 3. They are small Business Incubators, often located in rural areas or cities and low graduation rate. Group 2 (30 %), business incubators with very high graduation rate, and strongly positive values in factor 1 and 2. Factor 3 although positive is susceptible to improvement. They are the largest incubators and usually located in industrial and technological parks. Group 3 (54 %) is the majority, with values close to cluster 2 and 3.

Patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) frequently require primary radiochemotherapy (RCT). Despite intensity-modulation, desired radiation-induced effects observed in HNSCC, may also be observed as side-effects in healthy tissue e.g. the sternocleidomastoideus muscle (SCM). These side-effects (e.g. tissue fibrosis) depend on the interval between completion of RCT and restaging-CT. For salvage surgery, the optimal time window for surgery is currently postulated between 6 and 12 weeks after completion of RCT. Thus, no extensive tissue fibrosis is to be expected. This interval is based on studies exploring surgical complications. Studies directly exploring radiation-induced changes of the SCM in HNSCC-patients are sparse. The present study quantifies tissue alterations in SCM and paravertebral musculature (PVM) after RCT applying radiomics to determine the optimal time window for salvage surgery. Three radiomic key parameters 1) volume, 2) mean positivity of pixels (MPP) and 3) uniformity were extracted with mint lesionTM in the staging-CTs and restaging-CTs of 98 HNSCC-patients. Of these, 25 were female, the mean age was 62 (±9.6) years and 80.9% were UICC Stage IV. The mean restaging-interval was 55 (±28; range29-229) days. Only the mean volume significantly decreased after RCT from 9.0 to 8.4 and 96.5 to 91.9 ml for SCM and PVM, respectively (both p=0.007, both Cohen’s d=0.28). In addition, the mean body mass index (BMI) decreases from 23.9 (±4.2) to 21.0 (±3.6) kg/m² (p<0.001); Cohen's d = 0.9). The mean BMI-decrease significantly correlated with the volume decrease for SCM (r=0.27; p=0.007) and PVM (r=0.41; p<0.001). If t-test p-values were adjusted for the BMI-decrease, no significant change in volumes for SCM and PVM was observed (both p>0.05). The present data supports the postulated optimal interval for salvage surgery of 6 to 12 weeks. Irrespective of the remaining risk-benefit ratio of salvage surgery, the risk of additional surgical complications due to fibrosis is not supported by the present observations.

Keywords: Pain; Nociception; Disorders of Consciousness; Consciousness

(1) Background Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is the primary cause of poor vision in young adults. Screening for DR is important but many patients do not attend; (2) Methods: We validated an algorithm for predicting DR and its progression by conducting a retrospective study of 11 children in a population of 120,389 T2DM (3) Results: By applying the algorithm to the population showed an AUC of 0.93 (95% CI, 0.92–0.94) for any-DR and 0.90 (95% CI, 0.89–0.91) for referable-DR(4) Conclusions: The algorithm is useful for predicting patients who could develop referable forms of DR and also for any-DR. This would allow a personalized screening plan to be drawn up for each patient.

Shiga toxins (Stxs), and more specifically the Stx2a subtype, are the major virulence factors involved in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC)-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome (eHUS); a life-threatening disease causing acute kidney injury, especially in children. Cleavage of Stxs A subunit, when followed by reduction, boosts the enzymatic activity causing damage to targeted cells. This cleavage was assumed to be mostly mediated by furin during Stx intracellular trafficking. Cleavage of A subunit, without reduction, changes the binding properties of Stxs for blood components during HUS pathogenesis. To investigate whether the cleavage could occur in the intestine, even prior entering target cells, Stx2a structure was characterized after its exposure to specific host factors present in human stool. The structure of Stx2a A subunit was determined by immunoblotting after electrophoretic separation under reducing conditions. Trypsin and chymotrypsin-like elastase 3B (CELA3B), two serine proteases, were identified as potential candidates that may trigger the extracellular cleavage of Stx2a A subunit directly after its secretion by EHEC in the gut. Whether this observation indeed translates to natural infections and plays a role in eHUS pathogenesis has yet to be determined as well as whether host's protease profile could affect disease development by changing the toxin’s biological features.

HLA class-I (HLA-I) polyreactive monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) reacting to all HLA-I alleles were developed by immunizing HLA-E monomeric heavy chain (HC) (Open Conformers, OCs). Two of the mAbs (TFL-006 and TFL-007) bound to the HC’s coated on a solid matrix. The binding was inhibited by a peptide 117AYDGKDY123, present in all alleles of the six HLA-I isoforms but masked by 2-microglobulin -m) in intact HLA-I trimers (Closed Conformers, CCs). Identical HLA-I polyreactivity is observed in IVIg administered to lower anti-HLA antibodies (Abs) in HLA-sensitized patients, but the mechanism is unknown. We hypothesized that the mAbs that mimic IVIg HLA-I polyreactivity might mimic the immunomodulatory functions of IVIg. We tested the relative binding affinity of the mAbs and IVIg for both OCs- and CCs and compared their effects on (a) the phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-activation T-cells, (b) the production of anti-HLA-II antibody (Ab) by B-memory cells, and anti-HLA-I Ab by immortalized B-cells, and (c) the upregulation of CD4+, CD25+, and Fox P3+ T-regs. The mAbs bound only to OCs, whereas IVIg is bound to both CCs and OCs. The mAbs suppressed blastogenesis and proliferation of PHA-activated T-cells, anti-HLA Ab production by B-cells and expanded the T-regs, better than IVIg. We conclude that a humanized version of the TFL-mAbs could be an ideal therapeutic IVIg-mimetic.

Spodoptera frugiperda is an invasive pest that has spread in various parts of the world. These pests have the ability to spread and adapt highly to new habitats. Until now, it is not known with certainty the distribution of these invasive pests in Eastern Indonesia, especially Bali and Nusa Tenggara. This study aims to map the spatial distribution and genetic distribution of S. frugiperda which damages maize in the areas of Bali and Nusa Tenggara. This research was conducted using a survey method from May to September 2022 covering the islands of Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, and Timor. The results showed that S. frugiperda had spread evenly in Bali and Nusa Tenggara. The results of PCR amplification in the COI gene from 9 sample isolates from all research locations showed the similarity of DNA bands leading to the Spodoptera frugiperda species with a banding pattern length of 683 – 697. These results indicated that the distribution of genetic variants of corn caterpillars in Bali, NTB, and NTT was confirmed as S. frugiperda species. However, the isolated gene S. frugiferda, which was shown by the alignment results of the sequences from Lombok, was confirmed as a different strain from strains from Bali, Sumba, Sumbawa, Flores, and Timor. This incident can be seen from the difference in the protein base composition of S. frugiperda from Bali, Sumba, Sumbawa, Timor, and Flores. The results of phylogenetic analysis in this study confirmed 3 clusters of the genetic closeness of S. frugiperda. Cluster-1 comes from the results of the search for specimens of JB FAW and KB FAW from Bali, SB FAW and SB FAW Sorghum from Sumba, SW FAW from Sumbawa, KP FAW from Timor, and FL FAW from Flores. Cluster-2 is an isolate outside of our species. Cluster-3 comes from the search for LT and LS FAW specimens from Lombok. The genetic distance between cluster-1 and cluster-3 is quite far, which is 0.20 mu.

Orthohepadnavirus causes chronic hepatitis in a broad range of mammals, including primates, cats, woodchucks, and bats. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) X protein inhibits type-I interferon (IFN) signaling, promoting HBV escape from the innate immune system to establish persistent infection. However, whether X proteins of Orthohepadnavirus viruses in the other species have similar inhibitory activity remains unknown. Here, we investigated the anti-IFN activity of 17 Orthohepadnavirus X proteins derived from various hosts. We observed conserved activity of Orthohepadnavirus X proteins in inhibiting TIR-domain-containing adaptor protein inducing IFN-β (TRIF)-mediated IFN-β signaling pathway through TRIF degradation. X proteins from domestic cat hepadnavirus (DCH), a novel member of Orthohepadnavirus, inhibited mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS)-mediated IFNβ signaling pathway comparable with HBV X. These results indicate that inhibition of IFN signaling is conserved in Orthohepadnavirus X proteins.

This study assesses the impact of incorporating an adaptive learning mechanism into an agent-based model (ABMS) simulating behavior on a university campus during the course of a pandemic outbreak, with a particular case on the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to reduce overcrowding and infections on campus through the use of Reinforcement Learning (RL). Our findings indicate that RL is a viable approach for effectively representing agents’ behavior within this context. The results reveal specific temporal patterns of overcrowding violations. While our study successfully mitigated campus crowding, it had limited influence on altering the course of the epidemic. This highlights the necessity for comprehensive epidemic control strategies that consider the role of individual decision-making influenced by adaptive learning, along with the implementation of targeted interventions. This research significantly contributes to our understanding of adaptive learning within complex systems and offers valuable insights for shaping future public health policies in similar community settings. Future research directions encompass exploring various parameter settings and updating representations of the disease’s natural history.

Este artigo apresenta o processo de implementação da Hiperautomação no setor público brasileiro, especialmente no âmbito da Procuradoria Geral do Estado de Pernambuco. Devido à atual economia competitiva, a demanda por soluções inteligentes e confiáveis está aumentando. Para atender a essa necessidade, tecnologias inovadoras que abordem a complexidade inerente à transformação digital são desejáveis. Assim, as organizações públicas têm buscado aplicar a automação de processos para atender às necessidades dos cidadãos por um serviço mais eficiente e eficaz. No entanto, podemos observar que a automação pura e direta é apenas parte do processo de transformação. Algumas das razões que explicam a necessidade de ir além da automação de processos e alcançar a hiperautomação é a abundância de dados de várias fontes e tipos. Tudo deve estar dentro dos padrões legais, ressaltando que toda tecnologia deve estar alinhada com transparência e auditabilidade para ser incorporada com segurança. Para a experimentação, foi utilizado o método de pesquisa-ação com a aplicação da Hiperautomação, visando aumentar a arrecadação e a economia do Estado na Procuradoria Geral do Estado de Pernambuco.

Pressure ulcers carry a significant risk in clinical practice and require effective preventive measures. This paper proposes a practical and interpretable approach to estimate the risk levels of pressure ulcers using decision tree models. In order to address the common problem of imbalanced learning in nursing classification datasets, various oversampling configurations are analyzed to improve data quality prior to modeling. The decision trees built are based on three easily identifiable and clinically relevant pressure ulcer risk indicators: mobility, activity and skin moisture. Their analysis allows nursing professionals to predict the risk levels of pressure ulcer and make informed decisions about patient care. Additionally, this research introduces a novel tabular visualization method to enhance the usability of the decision trees in clinical practice. The approach proposed aims to support nursing professionals in making timely decisions regarding the appropriate preventive interventions according to the risk levels of pressure ulcers, thus improving patient outcomes and healthcare costs. The usefulness and effectiveness of the models presented make them a valuable resource for nursing care in the prevention of pressure ulcers.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women globally, often necessitating mastectomy and subsequent breast reconstruction. Silicone mammary implants (SMIs) play a pivotal role in breast reconstruction, yet their interaction with the host immune system and microbiome remains poorly understood. This study investigates the impact of SMI surface topography on host antimicrobial responses, wound proteome dynamics, and microbial colonization. Biological samples were col-lected from ten human patients undergoing breast reconstruction with SMIs. Mass spectrometry profiles were analyzed for acute and chronic wound proteomes, revealing a nuanced interplay between topography and antimicrobial respondseproteins. 16S rRNA sequencing assessed mi-crobiome dynamics, unveiling topography-specific variations in microbial composition. Surface topography alterations influenced wound proteome composition. Microbiome analysis revealed heightened diversity around rougher SMIs, emphasizing topography-dependent microbial inva-sion. In vitro experiments confirmed staphylococcal adhesion, growth, and biofilm formation on SMI surfaces, with increased texture correlating positively with bacterial colonization. This comprehensive investigation highlights the intricate interplay between SMI topography, wound proteome dynamics, and microbial transmission. The findings contribute to understanding host-microbe interactions on SMI surfaces, essential for optimizing clinical applications and minimizing complications in breast reconstruction.

The aim of this work is to explain the behaviour of the multiresistance percentage of Pseudomona aeruginosa in some countries of Europe through a multivariate statistical analysis and machine learning validation, using data from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System, the World Health Organization and the World Bank. First, we will use a descriptive analysis and a principal components analysis. Then, we use a k-means clustering to determine the countries and regions that are most affected by the antibiotic resistance. Second, we expand the database by adding some socioeconomic, governance and antibiotic-consumption variables. We then run a data panel regression analysis to determine some functions that relates the multiresistance percentage with those new variables. Finally, we use machine learning techniques to validate a pooling panel data case, using XGBoost and random forest algorithms. The results of the data panel analysis indicate that the most important variables for the multiresistance percentage are corruption control and the rule of law. Similar results are found with the machine learning validation analysis, where the human development index is an additional important variable for the multiresistance percentage.

Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) of the polymerase and histidinol phosphatases (PHP) superfamily with characteristic phosphatase activity dependent on divalent metal ions are found in many gram-positive bacteria. Although members of this family are co-purified with metal ions, they still require the exogenous supply of metal ions for full activation. However, the specific roles these metal ions play during catalysis are yet to be well understood. Here, we report the metal ion requirement for phosphatase activities of S. aureus Cap8C and L. rhamnosus Wzb. AlphaFold-predicted structures of the two PTPs suggest that they are members of the PHP family. Like other PHP phosphatases, the two enzymes have catalytic preference for Mn2+, Co2+, and Ni2+ ions. Cap8C and Wzb show an unusual thermophilic property with optimum activities over 75oC. Pre-incubation experiments show that the two enzymes are not inherently thermostable suggesting that certain catalytic step(s) in the reaction mechanism has a high activation energy. Consistent with this model, the activity-temperature profiles of the two enzymes are dependent on the divalent metal ion activating the enzyme.

Many public health-related problems, such as dengue diseases, are caused by the vector Aedes aegypti. The proliferation of arboviruses is due to climate change, intensifying globalization, and the evolution of anthropic activities such as travel from one place to another. This paper's objective is to develop larvicidal activities against the larvae of Ae. aegypti. Standard methods were utilized for the collection, extraction and phytochemical screening of the plant parts and extracts. Different extract concentrations (1000, 500, 250, and 125 ppm) were tested against the larvae of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes. The different toxicities observed were due to changes in the compounds present in each of the plant extracts. The most toxic plant extracts were Nepeta cataria stem, followed by Salvia rosmarinus leaf, Salvia rosmarinus stem, Ageratum conyzoides stem, Lantana camara leaf, and Mentha pulegium leaf, six plant including Nepeta cataria leaf, Psidium guajava leaf, Cymbopogon citratus leaf, Ocimum gratissimum stem, Mentha piperita leaf, Ageratum houstonianum leaf showed same LD50, followed by Lantana camara stem, Melissa officinalis root, Nepeta cataria root, and at the same concentration, no larval death was recorded for these five plant extracts, including Mentha pulegium stem, Mentha piperita L. (peppermint) stem, Azadirachta indica (neem) leaf, Geranium leaf, and Azadirachta indica (neem) stem . Seven phytochemical constituents (saponins, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, resins, and steroids) were detected for plant extracts. Nigerian medicinal plants could be used to curb the spread of the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti, and also have potential for further study on the constituents responsible for adulticidal activity.

Human beings naturally move from one location to another in search of basic necessities. Road transportation is a low-cost, versatile, and widely accessible mode of transportation worldwide. However, using fossil-based (FB) fuels in transportation vehicles is inefficient, generates hazardous gases, and worsens environmental degradation. The current work assesses the application of clean fuels such as biofuels, natural gas, electricity, propane, and other emerging fuels to replace FB fuels in transport vehicles. Unlike FB fuels, the use of biohydrogen, biomethane, biodiesel, and bioethanol in transport vehicles resulted in emission reduction by 70 %, 63 %, 41 %, and 54 %, respectively, while electric vehicles lower maintenance costs, ensuring better engine performance, and better engine efficiency. The adoption of natural gas and propane as alternative fuels for transport vehicles is cost-effective, and promotes environmental sustainability. There is a need for targeted financial, infrastructural, and technical investments to further promote the application of these clean fuels for road transport application. The outcome of the study provides updated information and sensitizes automobile engineers, environmentalists, transport fleet operators, governments, and other stakeholders on the benefits derivable in the adoption of clean fuels as alternatives to FB fuels as transport vehicles fuel.

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) influences the quality of life of women. The research applied ICIQ LUTS qol (The International Consultation Incontinence Questionnaire Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms quality of life) as a tool to measure the quality of life (QOL) of patients with stage 1 SUI in many areas. 140 perimenopausal women who participated in a urodynamic test at Department of Gynecology, Endocrinology and Gynecologic Oncology, Pomeranian Medical University, Police, Poland in the years 2013-2015 were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided into two groups: A and B. Two questionnaires were applied: the author’s original questionnaire and the standardized ICIQ LUTS qol. Gymnastic plans were recommended 4 times per week for the period of 3 months. The plan for group A included the exercises of pelvic floor muscles (PFM) with the simultaneous tension of the transverse abdominal muscle (TrA) and for group B included the exercises of PMF without TrA. The evaluation of the quality of life of patients with stage 1 SUI with the use of ICIQ LUTS qol among patients from groups A and B after therapy showed a significant improvement in most areas. More impact is observed in the physiotherapy of both PFM with TrA.

The increasingly common occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has become an urgent public health issue. There are currently some infections without any effective treatment, which require new therapeutic strategies. An attractive alternative is the design of compounds capable of disrupting bacterial communication known as quorum sensing (QS). In gram-negative bacteria, such communication is regulated by acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs). QS allows bacteria to proliferate before expressing virulence factors. Our group previously reported that hexyloxy phenyl imidazoline (9) demonstrated 71% inhibitory activity of QS at 100 µM (IC50=90.9 µM) in Chomobacterium violaceum, a gram-negative bacterium. The aim of the present study was to take 9 as a lead compound to design and synthesize three 2-imidazolines (13-15) and three 2-oxazolines (16-18), to be evaluated as quorum sensing inhibitors on C. violaceum CV026. We were looking for compounds with a higher affinity towards the Cvi receptor of this bacterium and the ability to inhibit QS. The binding mode of the test compounds on the Cvi receptor was explored with docking studies and molecular dynamics. It was found that 8-pentyloxyphenyl-2-imidazoline 13 reduced the production of violacein (IC50=56.38 µM) without affecting bacterial growth, suggesting inhibition of quorum sensing. Indeed, compound 13 is apparently one of the best QS inhibitors known to date. Molecular docking revealed the affinity of compound 13 for the orthosteric site of the N-hexanoyl homoserine lactone (C₆-AHL) on the CviR protein. Ten aminoacid residues in the active site of C₆-AHL interacted with 13, and 7 of these are the same as those interacting with AHL. Contrarily, 8-octyloxyphenyl-2-imidazoline 14, 8-decyloxyphenyl-2-imidazoline 15 and 9-decyloxyphenyl-2-oxazoline 18 bound only to an allosteric site and thus did not compete with C₆-AHL for the orthosteric site.

: This study explores the perceptions of Chinese learners in Spain regarding the use of social networks for informal Spanish language learning. The objective is to identify the challenges and benefits of using social networks to address the real needs of students in learning Spanish. A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted, focusing on participants’ perceptions before and after using social networks. Eight Chinese students were selected for the study. The study was conducted in Valencia and Barcelona, Spain, from 1 September 2023 to 20 March 2024, and three commonly used social media networks were compared. The results indicate positive perceptions towards social media as a tool for learning Spanish, highlighting its usefulness in improving language skills and enhancing cultural awareness. Additionally, Xiaohongshu and Bilibili emerged as the most popular platforms for Spanish language learning among Chinese students. This study concludes that social media effectively meets the authentic needs of Chinese students learning Spanish in Spain, enhancing both language skills and cultural adaptation. This multifaceted approach reflects the complexity of learning Spanish in the digital age, combining personal passion, professional aspirations, and cultural adaptation needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in government restrictions that altered the lifestyle of people worldwide. Studying the impact of these restrictions on exercise behaviors will improve our understanding of environmental factors that influence individuals’ PA. We conducted a retrospective analysis using an index of government pandemic stringency developed by Oxford and a wearable device for runners to compare strictness of lockdowns and exercise habits, using digitally-logged PA data from more than 7,000 runners on a global scale. Additionally, time-of-day of PA globally and levels of PA in 14 countries are compared between the pre-pandemic year of 2019 and the first pandemic year of 2020. We found that during the pandemic the time-of-day that people exercised experienced a major shift, with significantly more activities logged during standard working hours on workdays (p<0.001) and fewer during the same time frame on weekends (p<0.001). Of the countries examined, Italy and Spain had among the most strict lockdowns and suffered the largest decreases in activity counts, whereas France experienced a minimal decrease in activity counts despite enacting a similarly strict lockdown. This study suggests that there are several factors affecting PA, including government policy, workplace policy, and cultural norms.

The Solvency II regulatory framework specifies procedures and parameters for determining solvency capital requirements (SCRs) for insurance companies. The proposed standard SCR calculations involve two steps. The Value–at–Risk (VaR) of each risk driver is measured and, in a second step, all components are aggregated to the company’s overall SCR, using the Standard Formula. This formula has two inputs: the VaRs of the individual risk drivers and their correlations. The appropriate calibration of these input parameters has been the purpose of various Quantitative Impact Studies that have been conducted during recent years. This paper demonstrates that the parameter calibration for the equity–risk module—overall, with about 25%, the most significant risk component—is seriously flawed, giving rise to spurious and highly erratic parameter values. As a consequence, an implementation of the Standard Formula with the currently proposed calibration settings for equity–risk is likely to produce inaccurate, biased and, over time, highly erratic capital requirements.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are diseases that occur when blood-producing cells in the bone marrow are damaged; such damage can affect one or more types of blood cells. Common types of MDS are refractory anemia with ring sideroblasts and refractory anemia with excess blasts (MDS-RS and MDS-EB, respectively). This work analyzed the proteomics of the medullary plasma of 10 patients with MDS-RS and MDS-EB compared to healthy control people. Overexpressed proteins that may be potential candidates for biological markers for the evaluation, study, and diagnosis of these diseases have been identified. These samples were subjected to immunodepleting, concentrated, and digested for further analysis by mass spectrometry. The ratios between selected groups and healthy people were calculated. Seven overexpressed proteins in both syndromes were identified as potential biomarker candidates: vitronectin (VTN), (2) fibrinogen (FGA), (3) pregnancy zone protein (PZP), (4) kininogen (KNG1), (5) immunoglobulin lambda chain (IGLL1), (6) complement factor C4b, and (7) hemopexin (HPX). A modified affinity chromatographic column with lectin frutalin (FTL) was used for non-depleted samples. Immunoglobulin M (IgM) was expressed in the samples from both syndromes. Surprisingly, IgM from patients with syndromes was over retained on the frutalin (FTL) column when compared with the control group. We further hypothesized that over retention of this protein by the FTL is due to the presence of α-galactosidic residues in the IgM of MDS-RS and MDS-EB patients. Differential recognition of proteins on non-depleted samples from the use of FTL appears to be a powerful tool for proteomic analysis.

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

The aim of our study was a comprehensive comparative assessment of the effect of consumption of 1 and 2% cholesterol as part of a standard diet with and without regular moderate physical activity on the main biomarkers of lipid and cholesterol metabolism, as well as the intestinal microbiota of male Wistar rats. The animals were randomly divided into 5 groups according to body weight and Open Field test results: Control (n=10), 1% Chol (n=10), 2% Chol (n=10), 1% Chol + RUN (n=10) and 2% Chol + RUN. The cholesterol was additionally added in the amount of 1g or 2g/100g, respectively, to the diet of animals. The rats of experimental groups 1% Chol + RUN and 2% Chol + RUN were subjected to regular (2 days a week) physical activity on a Treadmill. In rats of four experimental groups, when compared to the Control, a response of 39 indicators was revealed. The largest number of changes in biomarkers - 29 (statistically significant, p

Lyme disease, the leading vector-borne ailment in the U.S., annually affects an estimated 476,000 individuals, predominantly in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Despite its increasing incidence, the evaluation of risk within U.S. cities, including natural public lands, remains inadequate. This study focuses on blacklegged tick occurrences and Borrelia burgdorferi infection prevalence in 24 Staten Island parks, aiming to assess Lyme disease exposure risk. Monthly acarological risk index (ARI) calculations from 2019 to 2022 revealed elevated values (0.16-0.53) in specific parks, notably Wolfe’s Pond Park, High Rock Park, Clay Pit Pond Park, Clove Lake Park, and Fair View Park. June (0.36) and November (0.21) consistently exhibited heightened ARIs, aligning with peak tick collection months. Despite stable yearly infection rates at 28.97%, tick densities varied significantly between parks and years. Identifying a high transmission risk in specific parks in Staten Island, a highly urbanized part of New York City, emphasizes the continuous necessity for Lyme disease risk management, even within the greenspaces of large cities.

The expanding global population has increased the demand for sustainable protein sources, and microbial protein (MP) has emerged as a promising alternative. However, conventional carbon (glucose) and nitrogen (ammonia, urea) sources needed for MP production pose environmental and economic issues. This study aims to produce protein using lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) as a carbon source and the nitrogen fixation ability of Klebsiella oxytoca M5A1 as a nitrogen source. The study investigates the pretreatment of LCB (switchgrass), enzymatic hydrolysis, protein quantification, and high-performance liquid chromatography system (HPLC) analysis to track glucose utilization and organic acid production. K. oxytoca M5A1 harnessed free nitrogen from the atmosphere through nitrogen fixation and used abundant, cheap glucose from LCB to produce MP and organic acids as by-products. Protein production occurred in two phases: first within the initial 8 hours and secondly, within the last 16 hours. The highest protein concentration was at 40 hours, with approximately 68.3% protein content. HPLC analysis revealed a dynamic profile of glucose utilization and organic acids (Lactic acid, Propionic acid, Acetic acid, and Succinic acid). K. oxytoca M5A1 exhibited an early high rate of glucose consumption, and conversion to organic acids that were later used for second-phase protein production. The acids profile revealed intra-conversion from one acid to another via metabolic pathways (glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle). Overall, leveraging LCB and the nitrogen-fixing ability of K. oxytoca M5A1 for MP production offers an eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative to traditional protein sources, contributing to a sustainable circular economy.

We present an open-source Star Tracker (ST) for Attitude Determination. Our implementation makes use of open source software of common usage in astronomy running on a Raspberry Pi 2 platform. The developed platform is open and available for parties interested in further development. Evaluation of the system showed that the ST is suitable for Cubesats of 2U or larger. The ST platform is capable of solving the Lost-In-Space (LIS) problem. Currently, the average accuracy reached of the algorithm is close to 5 seconds of arc with an average processing time of 75 seconds. However, a average accuracy of about 3 minutes of arc can be reached with 35 seconds in average processing time. We also describe the evaluation procedure, the found conclusions of this procedure, in particular the section of the algorithm where most of the processing time is spent and other possible source of errors not included in this study.

The methanation of CO2 is of great interest in power-to-gas systems and contributes to the mitigation of climate change through carbon dioxide capture and the subsequent production of high value-added products. This study investigated CO2 methanation with three Ni catalysts supported on Al2O3 and ZrO2, which were simulated using a mathematical model of a packed bed reactor designed based on their chemical kinetics reported in the literature. The simulated reactive system was fed with syngas obtained from residual coffee pulp, obtained after solvent phytochemical extraction process, under several gasification conditions. The results reflect a high incidence of catalyst support, preparation method, and syngas composition on CO2 conversion and CH4 selectivity. For all the syngas compositions, Ni/ZrO2 catalysts show the best values for CO2 conversion and CH4 selectivity for Ni/Al2O3 catalyst.

Food production heavily depends on ammonia-containing fertilizers to improve crop yield and profitability. However, ammonia production is challenged by huge energy demand, the release of ~2% of global CO2, and political instability. To mitigate this challenge, many research efforts have developed bioprocessing technologies to make biological ammonia. This review presents three different biological approaches that drive the biochemical mechanisms to convert nitrogen gas, bioresources, or waste to biological ammonia. The use of advanced technologies— enzyme immobilization and microbial bioengineering – enhanced bio-ammonia production. This review also highlighted some challenges and research gaps that require researchers’ attention for bio-ammonia to be industrially pragmatic.

Currently, obesity is a critical global public health burden. Numerous studies have demonstrated the regulation of the pathogenesis of obesity and metabolic abnormalities by the gut microbiota and microbial factors; however, their involvement in the various degrees of obesity is not yet understood well. Previously, obesity has been shown to be associated with decreased levels of vitamin B12. Considering exclusive microbial production of vitamin B12, we hypothesised that a decrease in cobalamin levels in obese individuals may be at least partially caused by its depleted production in the intestinal tract by the commensal microbiota. In the present study, our aim was to estimate the abundance of enzymes and metabolic pathways for vitamin B12 synthesis in the gut microbiota of mouse models of alimentary and genetically determined obesity, to evaluate the contribution of the obesogenic microbiome to vitamin B12 synthesis in the gut. We have defined a significantly lower representation of enzymes and metabolic pathways for vitamin B12 biosynthesis in obese mice compared to non-obese mice, wherein enzyme depletion was more pronounced in lepr(-/-) (db/db) mice, which developed severe obesity. The representation of enzymes involved in cobalamin synthesis is strongly correlated with representation of several microbes in high-fat diet fed mice, whereas there were almost no correlations in db/db mice. Therefore, the degree of obesity and the composition of the correspondent microbiota are the main contributors to the representation of genes and pathways for cobalamin biosynthesis in the mouse gut.

In this review, we will cover a general overview of the current panorama on lncRNAs with an actual or potential role as biological markers in cancer. We will discuss examples of multi-omics approaches that integrates information on somatic aberrations, gene expression and epigenomics, with the scope of providing a more comprehensive view of the functional impact of lncRNA profiles and how these paradigm can be exploited for the discovery and selection of lncRNAs with a functional role and their use as variables informing on progression and prognostic and help guiding the selection of therapeutic strategies for cancers. Finally, we propose a perspective for future evolution of the study of lncRNAs and the discovery of their functional and harnessing their potential to assist in clinical management of malignancies.

The aim of this work is to compare two softwares (MAUD and TOPAS) based on the Rietveld algorithm and to test the concept of tolerance factor using the dissolution at high temperature of yttrium into BaTiO₃. In general, both softwares give up different values of the crystalline parameters however the trends are similar in most cases but the analysis of the strain and crystallite size in the BaTiO₃ crystals suggests that, in this particular case, MAUD offered results more consistent with the expected behavior. Using the crystalline parameters calculated by Rietveld, the tolerance factor values were obtained and these data suggest even better stability in the crystalline structure than that expected using theoretical parameters. Tolerance factor concept also indicates that Ti⁴⁺ should be preferred.

The free energy principle (FEP) is a mathematical and scientific principle that describes the relationship between the physical behavior of a dynamical system and the interpretation of such behavior as carrying out inference. It blurs the boundary between the ontological mode of the system of interest and the epistemological significance it acquires through its dynamic interaction with the environment. New materialism (or neo-materialism), despite lacking a single definition, refers to a range of emerging perspectives that attempt to dismantle the long-held divisions between ontology, epistemology, and even ethics, with the aim of achieving a comprehensive transformation of naturalized thinking. In this context, new materialism provides powerful tools to reframe some of the conceptual foundations of the FEP. This paper is the first in a series that aims to systematically construct a neo-materialistic perspective for the FEP, exploring its wide-ranging implications. It serves as an introduction to the series, arguing for the justification of deploying new materialism to reframe the FEP and introducing some essential concepts to be utilized in developing a neo-materialistic account of the FEP.

The use of active methodologies in the university is a priority to achieve higher quality learning. One of these methodologies with the greatest potential for training in competencies is Project-Oriented Learning (PLA), using it in an innovative way. Associating the use of this methodology with the objectives of sustainable development, which have become even more important since the Pandemic by COVID-19, can be a good idea to achieve a more sustained and situated learning. The aim of this study is to find out to what extent research on teaching innovation with Project-Oriented Learning is associated with the Sustainable Development Goals. A systematic review was carried out as indicated by PRISMA through the following databases: WOS and Scopus. WOS found 15 articles on AoP and 6 on Project-Oriented Learning and sustainability. In Scopus 2 were found in 2019. The main results show that in the University, especially in the branches of engineering, AoP is widely used, however, it is rarely related to SDGs. Among the conclusions, we highlight the need for research on project-oriented learning and sustainable development goals.

Nuclear vacuoles are specific structures present on the head of the human sperm of fertile and non-fertile men. Human sperm head vacuoles have been previously studied using motile sperm organelle morphology examination (MSOME) and their origin related to ab-normal morphology, abnormal chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation. How-ever, other evidences argued that human sperm vacuoles are physiological structures and consequently, to date, the nature and origin of the nuclear vacuoles remains to be elucidat-ed. Here, we aim to define the incidence, position, morphology, and molecular content of the human sperm vacuoles using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and immuno-cytochemistry techniques. Results showed that ~50% of the analyzed human sperm cells (n = 1908; 17 normozoospermic human donors) contained vacuoles mainly located (80%) in the anterior head region. A significant positive correlation was also found between the sperm vacuole and nucleus areas. Furthermore, it was confirmed that nuclear vacuoles were invaginations of nuclear envelope containing cytoskeletal proteins and a cytoplas-mic enzyme, discarding a nuclear or acrosomal origin. According to our findings, these human sperm head vacuoles are cellular structures which take the origin from nuclear invaginations and contain perinuclear theca (PT) components, allowing to define a new term of ‘nuclear invaginations’ rather than ‘nuclear vacuoles.

Rats, including those of the Sprague Dawley strain, may kill mice. Because of this muridical behavior, it is standard practice in many research animal housing facilities to separate mice from rats (i.e., the predators) to minimize stress for the mice. We therefore tested the effect of cohousing on the stress levels of mice from either the C57BL/6J (BL6) or the CD1 strain and Sprague Dawley (SD rat) by determining their fecal corticosterone or cortisol metabolites (FCM) concentration and investigated how cohousing impacts a behavioral assay, i.e., conditioned place preference for intragenus (i.e., mouse-mouse or rat-rat) dyadic social interaction (DSI CPP) that had been shown be sensitive to social factors, especially to handling by humans. We found that the two delivery batches of BL6 mice or SD rats, respectively, had different stress levels at delivery that were statistically significant for the BL6 mice. Even so, the BL6 mice cohoused with rats had significantly increased FCM concentrations, indicative of higher stress levels, as compared to (1) BL6 mice housed alone or (2) BL6 mice at delivery. In contrast to their elevated stress levels, the attractiveness for contextual cues associated with mouse-mouse social interaction (DSI CPP) even increased in rat-cohoused BL6 mice, albeit nonsignificantly. Thus, cohousing BL6 mice and rats did not impair a behavioral assay in BL6 mice that had proved to be sensitive to handling stress by humans in our laboratory. SD rats cohoused with BL6- or CD1 mice and CD1 mice cohoused with SD rats showed DSI CPP that was not different from our previously published data on SD rats and BL6 mice of the Jackson- or NIH substrain obtained in the absence of cohousing. Our findings suggest that the effect of cohousing rats and mice under the conditions described above on their stress levels as opposed to their behavior might be less clearcut than generally assumed and might be overriden by conditions that cannot be controlled, i.e., different deliveries. Our findings can help to use research animal housing resources, which usually are limited, more efficiently.

The spatial and temporal changes in social vulnerability to natural hazards in Mexico are analyzed. To this end, using census data from 2000, 2010, and 2020 and a statistical method, different indices were computed, and with a GIS-based approach, patterns of social vulnerability are examined. In addition, a risk assessment test for severe weather (thunderstorms, hailstorms, and tornadoes) is made out. The results show different common social vulnerability driving factors in the three analyzed years, with root causes that have not been addressed since the beginning of the century. Likewise, a wider gap between Mexico's most and least vulnerable populations is identified. The changes in spatial patterns respond to different historical situations, such as migration, urbanization, and increased population. Also, poverty, ethnicity, and marginalization factors located in very particular regions in Mexico have remained relatively the same in the last few years. These situations have strongly influenced the spatial-temporal distribution of vulnerability in the country. The role of social vulnerability in the disaster risk to extreme events such as thunderstorms, hailstorms, and tornadoes in Mexico is fundamental to understanding changes in disaster distribution at the national level, and it is the first step to generating improvements in integrated risk management.

The etiology of exaggerated fibrous capsule formation around silicone mammary implants (SMI) is multifactorial but primarily induced by immune mechanisms toward the foreign material silicone. The aim of this work was to enlighten the disease progression from implant insertion and immediate tissue damage response reflected in (a) the acute wound proteome, and (b) the adsorption of chronic inflammatory wound proteins at implant surfaces. An intra-individual absolute quantitation TMT-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry approach was applied to profile wound proteome formed around SMI the first five days post-implantation. Compared to plasma, the acute wound profile resembled a more complex composition comprising plasma-derived and locally differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). DEPs were subjected to functional enrichment analysis, which revealed the dysregulation of signaling pathways mainly involved in immediate inflammation response and ECM turnover. Moreover, we found time-course variations in protein enrichment immediately post-implantation and adsorbed to SMI surfaces after 6-8 months. Characterization of the expander-adhesive proteome by label-free approach uncovered a long-term adsorbed acute wound and the fibrosis-associated proteome. Our findings propose a wound biomarker panel for the early detection and diagnosis of excessive fibrosis that could potentially broaden insights into the characteristics of fibrotic implant encapsulation.

The oncogenic potential of high-risk HPVs is focused on producing the E6 and E7 oncoproteins responsible for disrupting the control of the cell cycle. Epidemiological studies propose the presence of the N29S and H51N variants of the HPV16 E7 protein as a significant association with cervical cancer. It has been suggested that changes in the amino acid sequence of E7 variants may affect the oncoprotein 3D structure; however, this remains unknown. Analysis of the structural differences of the HPV16 E7 protein and its variants (N29S and H51N) was performed through homology modeling and structural refinement by molecular dynamics simulation. We propose for the first time a 3D structure of the E7 reference protein and two of its variants (N29S and H51N) and conclude that the mutations induced by the variants in N29S and H51N have a significant influence on the 3D structure of the E7 protein of HPV16, which could be related to the oncogenic capacity of this protein.

Background: Mental health has a special relevance in adolescence. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the possible association between emotional distress and suicidal ideation among adolescents. Methods: The article presents the results of a survey of secondary school students (N=1419) in the city of Tarragona, Spain. The aim of the analysis was to verify the existence of an association between suicidal ideation and risk factors such as emotional distress and low self-esteem. All the data were also analysed to determine the existence of statistically significant differences between girls and boys. Bivariate analyses were performed with chi-square, point-biserial coefficient and non-parametric tests for independent groups. Logistic regression analysis was also performed to calculate the probability of suicidal ideation. Results: These analyses showed that both emotional distress and low self-esteem increase the likelihood of suicidal ideation among adolescents. This was more evident among boys with high levels of emotional distress. Conclusion: Schools should develop suicide ideation prevention programs for adolescents based on situations that cause emotional distress.

Nanocrystalline silicon oxide (nc-SiOx:H) is a multipurpose material with its varied application in solar cells as a transparent front contact, intermediate reflector, back reflector layer and even tunnel layer for passivating contacts, owing to easy tailoring of its optical properties. In this work, we systematically investigate the influence of gas mixture (SiH4, CO2, PH3 and H2), RF power and process pressure on the optical, structural and passivation properties of thin n-type nc-SiOx:H films prepared in an industrial, high throughput, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) reactor. We provide a detailed description of the n-type nc-SiOx:H material develop-ment using various characterization techniques (SEM, EDX, Raman spectroscopy, and spectro-scopic ellipsometry) with a focus on the relationship between the material properties and the pas-sivation they provide to n-type c-Si wafers characterized by their effective carrier lifetime (τeff). Further, we also outline the parameters to be kept in mind while developing different n-type nc-SiOx:H layers for different solar cell applications. We report a tunable optical gap (1.8 – 2.3 eV) for our n-type nc-SiOx:H films as well as excellent passivation properties with τeff up to 3.5 ms (iVoc ~ 715 mV) before annealing. Oxygen content plays an important role in determining the crystallinity and hence passivation quality of the deposited nanocrystalline silicon oxide films.

This investigation aimed to explore the impact of acute and regular physical exercise on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels in individuals with obesity. Using the Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, and Study design (PICOS) approach, the inclusion criteria were defined as follows: i) population - individuals with overweight or obesity of any age or gender; ii) intervention - acute or chronic interventions involving aerobic or anaerobic methodologies; iii) comparator - for acute effect studies, pre- and post-evaluations served as comparators, while interventions included at least one experimental group or the inclusion of a control group; iv) outcome - BDNF variability concerning the applied methodology; v) study design - restricted to experimental studies exclusively. Conducted in August 2022, the searches were carried out on PubMed, Academic Search Complete, and Web of Science. The risk of bias was assessed using the Risk of Bias in Non-randomized Studies (RoBANS) tool. Out of 98 potentially relevant articles, 16 met the eligibility criteria, encompassing 23 trials. Substantial heterogeneity was observed for both acute (I2 = 80.4%) and long-term effects (I2 = 88.7%). Additionally, RoBANS analysis indicated a low risk of bias for the included studies. The study's findings revealed a significant increase in the concentration of circulating BDNF in individuals with obesity compared to the control group following acute exercise. However, such an effect was not evident in the context of long-term physical exercise, with a small effect size (ES = 0.49) recorded in the latter scenario. The observed significant increase in BDNF levels post-acute exercise suggests a potential acute response mechanism contributing to the intricate interplay between exercise and neurotrophic factors in this population. Nevertheless, the absence of a similar effect in the context of long-term physical exercise implies a potential adaptation or ceiling effect. These findings underscore the importance of considering both the duration and nature of exercise interventions when exploring the neurobiological responses associated with obesity and exercise. The study provides valuable insights for future research and clinical implications in understanding the nuanced relationship between exercise, neurotrophic factors, and obesity.

Small, enclosed lake is in a tourist area called "Los Negritos", by the prominences a few steps from the lake on a perimeter of tens of meters with hot pools and mud bubbles. The lake originally belonged to Lake Chapala, so the group of fish present here derives from that. This is an endorheic vessel with at least one deep water inlet to the center, with a slight salinity (2.14 to 2.38 0/00), which is precisely greater at the point of upwelling and at a depth of approximately 36 m. This study to date has continued to collect and take data, also presents the characteristic of being an area of saline soils and halophilic vegetation. This body of water we consider is as relevant as that of Alchichica in Puebla. Its study is by monthly sampling with “chinchorro” and "chango" type trawl, recording morphological parameters, also environmental variables in the water, with a Data Sonde 4 brand Hydrolab. Knowing the structure and temporal dynamics of this fish community, along with the physical and chemical characterization of the water and implementa-tion of Importance Value Index (IVI).

We introduce a novel key exchange protocol based on non-commutative matrix multiplication defined in $\mathbb{F}_p^{n \times n}$. The security of our method does not rely on computational problems as integer factorization or discrete logarithm whose difficulty is conjectured. We show that the public, secret and channel keys become indistinguishable to the eavesdropper under matrix multiplication. Remarkably, for achieving a 512-bit security level, the public key is 1024 bits and the private key is 768 bits, making them the smallest keys among post-quantum key exchange algorithms. Also, we discuss how to achieve key authentication, interdomain certification and Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS). Therefore, Lizama's algorithm becomes a promising candidate to establish shared keys and secret communication between (IoT) devices in the quantum era.

We present an error reconciliation method for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) that corrects 100% of errors generated in regular binary frames transmitted over a noisy quantum channel regardless of the quantum channel error rate. In a previous investigation, we introduced a novel distillation QKD algorithm whose secret key rate descends linearly with respect to the channel error rate. Now, as the main achievement of this work, we demonstrate an improved algorithm capable of retaining almost all the secret information enclosed in the regular binary frames. Remarkably, this technique increases quadratically the secret key rate as a function of the double matching detection events and doubly quadratically in the number of the quantum pulses. Furthermore, this reconciliation method opens up the opportunity to use less attenuated quantum pulses, would allow greater QKD distances at drastically increased secret key rate. Since our method can be implemented as a software update, we hope that quantum key distribution technology would be fast deployed over global data networks in the quantum era.

We introduce a novel key exchange protocol based on non-commutative matrix multiplication defined in $\mathbb{Z}_p^{n \times n}$. The security of our method does not rely on computational problems as integer factorization or discrete logarithm whose difficulty is conjectured. We claim that the unique eavesdropper's opportunity to get the secret/private key is by means of an exhaustive search which is equivalent to the unsorted database search problem. Furthermore, we show that the secret/private keys become indistinguishable to the eavesdropper. Remarkably, to achieve a 512-bit security level, the keys (public/private) are of the same size when matrix multiplication is done over a reduced 8-bit size modulo. Also, we discuss how to achieve key certification and Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS). Therefore, Lizama's algorithm becomes a promising candidate to establish shared keys and secret communication between (IoT) devices in the quantum era.

Montiaceae comprise a clade of at least 270 species plus about 20 accepted subspecific taxa, primarily of western America and Australia. The present paper is the first of a two-part work that seeks to evaluate evolutionary theory via metadata analysis of Montiaceae. In particular, it uses metadata analysis to evaluate the theory in theory-laden methods that have been applied in evolutionary analyses of Montiaceae. This part focuses on phylogeny and phylogeography. The second part focuses on phenotypic and ecological diversification. An emergent theme in this paper is the degree to which historical idiosyncrasy during Montiaceae evolution misleads quantitative methods of evolutionary reconstruction and phylogeographic interpretation. This suggests that idiosyncraticity itself is a fundamental property of evolution. The second part of this work elaborates this notion as the Principle of Evolutionary Idiosyncraticity. The present part describes idiosyncraticity in molecular phylogenetic and phylogeographic data and uses this notion to refine ideas on Montiaceae evolution. Phylogenetic metadata conflicts and conflicting phylogeographic interpretations are discussed. I conclude that, owing to PEI, quantitative methods of evolutionary analysis cannot be globally accurate, though they are useful heuristically. In contrast, classical narrative analysis is robust in the face of PEI.

The most common long-term complication of silicone breast implants (SMI) remains capsular fibrosis. The etiology of this exaggerated implant encapsulation is multifactorial but primarily induced by the host response towards the foreign material silicone. Identified risk factors included specific implant topographies. Of note, breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), has only been observed in response to textured surface implants. We hypothesize that reduction of SMI surface roughness causes less host response hence better cosmetic outcome with fewer complications for the patient. A total of 7 patients received the routinely used CPX®4 breast expander (~60 µM Ra) and the novel SmoothSilk® (~ 4 µM Ra), fixed prepectoral with a titanised mesh pocket and randomized to the left or right breast after bilateral prophylactic NSME (nipple-sparing mastectomy). We aimed to compare the postoperative outcome regarding capsule thickness, seroma formation, rippling, implant dislocation as well as comfortability and practicability. Our analysis shows that surface roughness is an influential parameter in controlling fibrotic implant encapsulation. First time intra-individually compared in patients, our data confirm an improved biocompatibility with minor capsule formation around SmoothSilk® implants with an average shell roughness of 4 µM and in addition an amplification of host response by titanised implant pockets.

The hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene from Escherichia coli and the pyrithiamine resistance gene from Aspergillus oryzae are two dominant selectable marker genes widely used to genetically manipulate several fungal species. Despite the recent development of CRISPR/Cas9 and marker-free systems, in vitro molecular tools to study Aspergillus fumigatus, a saprophytic fungus causing life threatening diseases in immunocompromised hosts, still rely extensively on the use of dominant selectable markers. The limited number of drug selectable markers is already a critical aspect, but the possibility that their introduction into a microorganism could induce enhanced virulence or undesired effects on metabolic behavior, constitutes another problem. In this context, here we demonstrate that the use of ptrA in A. fumigatus leads to secretion of a compound that allows recovery of thiamine auxotrophy. In this study we developed a simple modification of the two commonly used dominant markers in which the development of resistance can be controlled by the xylose-inducible promoter PxylP from Penicillium chrysogenum. This strategy provides an easy solution to avoid undesired side effects since the marker expression can be readily silenced when not required.

The purpose of this article is to present an IoT architecture implemented in an intelligent environment, focusing on the optimization of initial conditions and device management. A general control system was developed using an open-source platform, integrating aWi-Fi network and YAML coding to enable communication and control of the IoT architecture devices. The implementation includes actuators, sensors, and control devices that, through a graphical interface, allow the visualization of the historical record of activities and real-time measurements of connected devices. The design includes specific mechanisms and the analysis of materials through tensile tests on specimens, following the ASTM E8 standard, and deformation test simulations, in which PLA demonstrated better performance compared to materials like ABS and resin. The significance of the implemented IoT system lies in an energy saving of 58% compared to conventional structures. Additionally, the study of response times for network connections showed that using an Ethernet cable resulted in a response time of 1.21 seconds, representing a reduction of 1.65 seconds compared to the second lowest value obtained.