Decades of research suggest that Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training supports a greater capacity to live with chronic medical conditions and contributes to lowering stress levels. This paper introduces a model for a Mindfulness-Based Recovery from Stroke (MBRfS) for promoting stroke recovery, informed by the lived experience of the author (a stroke survivor and certified MBSR instructor), the research literature regarding MBSR training, and the specific challenges of stroke recovery. Four themes emerged from the autoethnographic analysis that informed the proposed model: Readiness to accept the stroke event and the acquired brain injury; Navigating uncertainties of stroke recovery with awareness and self-responsibility for outcomes; Trusting the inherent wisdom of the body as a stroke recovery “teacher”; and Increased capacity to integrate complex emotions with self-compassion, and a sense of wholeness. A four component MBRfS model is offered, which consists of an integration amongst a modified MBSR framework, emergent attitudinal themes, and insights from the autoethnographic vignettes. The MBRfS model offers a path for providing participants with a supportive experience within stroke recovery. Recommendations and suggestions for future studies are offered to support the development of MBRfS for stroke survivors and their caregivers, as well as contributing to health care providers.

In Indonesia, types of meat are still identified manually due to increasing prices for beef and buf-falo ahead of Idul Fitri. Traders mix beef with pork to thwart the beef scam. Haar wavelet and GLCM, GLCM with angles of 0°, 45°, 90°, and 135°, as well as matrices using contrast, correlation, energy, homogeneity, and entropy, are used in feature extraction. The following are the results of meat image classification testing using k-NN, Haar wavelet, and GLCM: The k-NN algorithm shows superiority in identifying fresh (99%), frozen (99%), and rotten (96%) meat texture images with the most fantastic accuracy results in every situation. Meanwhile, GLCM routinely provides good results, especially regarding the texture image of fresh meat (183.21) and rotten meat (115.79). However, despite delivering less throughput than k-NN and GLCM, Haar wavelets are still helpful, especially when dealing with fresh meat texture images (89,96).

The modeling of tilting-pad journal and thrust bearings presents a level of complexity beyond that of bearings of fixed-arc geometry, particularly with regard to dynamic influences. With tilting-pad bearings, the theory surrounding the fluid film must be complemented with representative modeling of the pad dynamics. What has been recognized in recent decades has been the significance of the pad support, in particular the flexibility of the pivot region of the pad. The typical model for including the stiffness of the pivot has been based on Hertzian contact theory. Some researchers have been noting that the Hertzian theory does not permit sufficient flexibility in the pivot region. It is suggested that the contact mechanics at the pivot would be better represented as a pairing of rough surfaces. The modeling used here is based on a statistical asperity micro-contact theory for rough-surface line contact that has been extended to include contact stiffness. This model has been applied to the determination of the effective dynamic properties of tilting-pad bearings. The results show that pivot stiffness can be as low as one-third the stiffness determined by Hertzian theory. Comparison to published experimental results confirms the significance of the rough-surface modeling, particularly for the line contacts associated with rocker-back tilting pads.

Lipophilicity can be measured with different methods, such as Shake-Flask or liquid chromatography. HPLC presents the advantage of overcoming solubility issues and therefore extending the range of lipophilicity to high values. A specific HPLC method, called ELogD, had been developed 20 years ago on a C₁₆-amide stationary phase, enhancing hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions to mimic octanol-water partition. The emergence of novel stationary phases added to the need for a less complex mobile phase has led to the development of a new HPLC assay called alphaLogD, applicable to neutral and basic compounds at pH 7.4, that combines superficially porous particles, a high number of equilibriums between solutes and stationary phase, and results in a lower number of isocratic methods to determine the logk’_w at a higher throughput. Statistical studies have been run to successfully evaluate the alphaLogD method compared to the Shake-Flask method and to allow this lipophilicity measurement into the so-called Beyond-Rule-of-5-molecules space.

The goals of the Agenda 2030 require a significant effort to educate and train new generations on sustainability issues. This article presents an initiative in favor of the evolution of the contents and the pedagogy of economics at the University level. We present the new “Ecological Money and Finance” textbook developed by SDSN France. We detail the assumptions, contents and learning objectives proposed in this new textbook. Then, we describe how it can be used in the framework of an experiential pedagogy of economics, taking as a case study the fundamental economics course of the Grande Ecole program at KEDGE BS.

The aim of this work is to study generalizations of the notion of mean. Kolmogorov proposed a generalization based on an improper integral with a decay rate for the tail probabilities. This weak or Kolmogorov mean relates to the Weak Law of Large Numbers in the same way that the ordinary mean relates to the Strong Law. We propose a further generalization, also based on an improper integral, called the doubly weak mean, applicable to heavy-tailed distributions such as the Cauchy distribution and the other symmetric stable distributions, We also consider generalizations arising from Abel-Feynman type mollifiers that damp the behavior at infinity and alternative formulations of the mean in terms of the cumulative distribution and the characteristic function.

The concept of gray-zone lymphoma (GZL) has been progressively refined since its in-troduction in the literature in 1998. For several years, it was applied to a rather broad spectrum of conditions, posing the problem of the differential diagnosis between any type of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, with special reference to primary mediasti-nal forms (PMBL). Officially recognized as a provisional entity in the 4th and revised 4th editions of the WHO Classification of Tumour of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues with the term “B-cell lymphoma unclassifiable with features intermediate between diffuse large B-cell lym-phoma and classical Hodgkin lymphoma”, it was limited to tumours, which showed either morphologic features reminiscent of classical HL (CHL) but carrying a complete B-cell pheno-type or conversely provided with a PMBL morphology but revealing CHL phenotypic charac-teristics. The definition of GZL has been further revised in the recently published International Lymphoma Classification and 5th Edition of the WHO Classification of Haemato-lymphoid Tu-mours, which have limited it to mediastinal neoplasms based on emerging molecular evidences. The aim of this review is to critically discuss the issue of GZL, also in the light of the suboptimal response to current therapies.

This article presents a new method of segmenting images with gray levels. The method is based on determining several thresholds for separation of gray levels. The determination of these thresholds is done using the certainty of the neutrosophic information. The concept of this method can be stated simply: to choose the local maximums for the neutrosophic certainty.

The worldwide interconnected objects, called Internet of Things (IoTs), have been increasingly growing in the last several years. Different social media platforms and devices are continuously generating data about individuals and facilitate the technological and the social convergence of their Internet-based data and services with globalized users. These social and device-related IoTs create rooms for data breaches as such platforms provide ability to collect private and sensitive data. We assert that data breaches are fundamentally failures of access control - most users are too busy or technically ill-equipped to understand access control policy expressions and decisions. We argue that this is symptomatic of globalised societies structured by the conditions of algorithmic modernity; an era in which our data is increasingly interdependent on, and enmeshed with, ever more complex systems and processes that are vulnerable to attack. Ethically managing data breaches is now too complex for current access control systems, such as Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Context-Aware Access Control (CAAC). These systems do not provide an explicit mechanism to engage in decision making processes, about who should have access to what data and when, that are involved in data breaches. We argue that a policy ontology will contribute towards the development of Ethical CAAC better suited to attributing accountability for data breaches in the context of algorithmic modernity. We interrogate our proposed Ethical CAAC as a theoretical construct with implications for future policy ontology models and data breach countermeasures. An experimental study on the performance of the proposed framework is carried out with respect to a more generic CAAC framework.

Glacier dynamics play an important role in the mass balance of many glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets. In this study we exploit Radarsat-2 (RS-2) Wide Fine (WF) data to determine the surface speed of Svalbard glaciers in the winters of 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 using Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR) offset and speckle tracking. The RS-2 WF mode combines the advantages of the large spatial coverage of the Wide mode (150 x 150 km) and the high pixel resolution (9m) of the Fine mode and thus has a major potential for glacier velocity monitoring from space through offset and speckle tracking. Faster flowing glaciers (1.95 m d^-1 - 2.55 m d^-1) which are studied in detail are Nathorstbreen, Kronebreen, Kongsbreen and Monacobreen. Using our Radarsat-2 WF dataset, we compare the performance of two SAR tracking algorithms, namely the GAMMA Remote Sensing Software and a custom written MATLAB script (GRAY method) that has primarily been used in the Canadian Arctic. Both algorithms provide comparable results, especially for the faster flowing glaciers and the termini of slower tidewater glaciers. A comparison of the WF data to RS-2 Ultrafine and Wide mode data reveals the superiority of RS-2 WF data over the Wide mode data.

The Greenland Ice Sheet is now the largest land ice contributor to global sea level rise, largely driven by increased surface meltwater runoff from the ablation zone, i.e. areas of the ice sheet where annual mass losses exceed gains. This small but critically important area of the ice sheet has expanded in size by ~50% since the early 1960s, and satellite remote sensing is a powerful tool for monitoring the physical processes that influence its surface mass balance. This review synthesizes key remote sensing methods and scientific findings from satellite remote sensing of the Greenland Ice Sheet ablation zone, covering progress in 1) radar altimetry, 2) laser (lidar) altimetry, 3) gravimetry, 4) multispectral optical imagery and, 5) microwave and thermal imagery. Physical characteristics and quantities examined include surface elevation change, gravimetric mass balance, reflectance, albedo, and mapping of surface melt extent and glaciological facies and zones. The review concludes that future progress will benefit most from methods that combine multi-sensor, multi-wavelength, and cross-platform datasets designed to discriminate the widely varying surface processes in the ablation zone. Specific examples include fusing laser altimetry, radar altimetry, and optical stereophotogrammetry to enhance spatial measurement density, cross-validate surface elevation change, and diagnose radar elevation bias; fusing optical imagery, radar imagery, and microwave scatterometry to discriminate between snow, liquid water, refrozen meltwater, and bare ice near the equilibrium line altitude; combining optical reflectance with laser altimetry to map supraglacial lake, stream, and crevasse bathymetry; and monitoring the inland migration of snowlines, surface melt extent, and supraglacial hydrologic features.

Compartmental models that dynamically divide the host population in categories such as susceptible, infected and immune constitute the mainstream of epidemiological modelling. Effectively such models treat infection and immunity as binary variables. We constructed an individual based stochastic model that considers immunity as a continuous variable and incorporates factors that bring about small changes in immunity. The small immunity effects (SIE) comprise cross immunity by other infections, small increments in immunity by sub clinical exposures and slow decay in the absence of repeated exposure. The model makes qualitatively different epidemiological predictions including repeated waves without the need for new variants, dwarf peaks (peak and decline of a wave much before reaching herd immunity threshold), symmetry in the upward and downward slopes of a wave, endemic state, new surges after variable and unpredictable gaps, new surge after vaccinating majority of population. In effect the SIE model raises alternative possible causes of the universally observed dwarf and symmetric peaks and repeated surges, observed particularly well during the Covid-19 pandemic. We also suggest testable predictions to differentiate between the alternative causes for repeated waves. The model further shows complex interactions of different interventions that can be synergistic as well as antagonistic. The model suggests that interventions that are beneficial in the short run can also be hazardous in the long run.

This article presents a new method of segmenting grayscale images by minimizing Shannon's neutrosophic entropy. For the proposed segmentation method, the neutrosophic information components, i.e., the degree of truth, the degree of neutrality and the degree of falsity are defined taking into account the belonging to the segmented regions and at the same time to the separation threshold area. The principle of the method is simple and easy to understand and can lead to multiple thresholds. The efficacy of the method is illustrated using some test gray level images. The experimental results show that the proposed method has good performance for segmentation with optimal gray level thresholds.

There is some evidence that aspects of nurse-doctor communication are associated with the quality of care and treatment patients receive whilst they are in hospital. To date, no studies have examined stakeholder perceptions of how patient care is influenced by clinical communication between nurses and doctors. We conducted a concept mapping study to generate a deep understanding of how clinical communication impacts patient care. Concept mapping has six phases: preparation, idea generation, structuring, representation, interpretation, and utilization. Twenty patients, 21 nurses, and 21 doctors participated in the study. Brainstorming generated 69 discreet statements about how nurse-doctor communication impacts patient care. The structuring (rating and clustering) phase was completed by 48 participants. The data interpretation workshop selected a five-cluster solution: effective communication, trust, patient safety, impediments to patient care, and interpersonal skills. On the final concept map, the five clusters were arranged in a circle around the center of the map. Clusters were relatively equal in size suggesting, each concept makes a broadly equal contribution to how nurse-doctor communication influences patient care. Our study suggests that there are multiple aspects of clinical communication that impact patient care. Candidate interventions to enhance nurse-doctor communication may need to consider the complex nature of interprofessional working. Registration: This study was prospectively registered with the Open Science Framework (OSF) (https://osf.io/9np8v/) prior to recruiting the first participant.

Population based studies have associated poor living conditions with the persistent disparity in the health of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. This project assesses the applicability of the Health Community Assessment Tool and its role in improving the environment of a small community in the Midwest of WA. The action research cycles started with the initial reflection on the suitability of the HCAT version 2 for the local community context and whether it was fit-for-purpose. The researcher provided ‘critical companionship’, while the participants of the study were invited to be co-researchers (the Assessors) who critically examined the HCAT and assess the community. The relevant domains to the serviced town (an outer regional community) were pest control and animal management; healthy housing; food supply; community vibrancy, pride and safety; reducing environmental tobacco smoke; and promoting physical activity. The Assessors found the HCAT descriptors mostly aligned with their community context but found some of the items difficult to apply. Based on participant’s suggestions, some of the original scoring scales were reformatted. School attendance and illicit drug use were identified as a key outcome indicator for youth but were missing from the HCAT. The HCAT domains applied helped streamlining core business of agencies in the local community. The face validity of HCAT items were confirmed in this research with minor adjustments to reflect local context. Youth engagement to education is of high community concern and the development of an item would create similar interagency collaborative dialogues.

Irrigation and fertilization are indispensable links in the jujube planting industry in southern Xinjiang, China. However, the water and fertilizer integration effects on jujube growth and fruit quality remain unclear. A two-year water and fertilizer optimization coupling test was conducted to determine the optimal water- and nutrient-supply scheme. The three-factor randomized block experiment included water (W), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P). According to the principal component analysis of each index, each treatment’s comprehensive score was obtained. Using yield and economic regression models, the theoretical value and yield value of the optimal economic benefit are inferred. When W, N, and P were applied together, the fruit quality and yield of each treatment significantly differed, and the vitamin C, soluble sugar, and sugar–acid ratio increased significantly with an increase in nitrogen fertilizer. However, the titratable acid decreased. An increase in irrigation and nitrogen application significantly increased fruit yield. The comprehensive score was the highest in the N3P3W2 treatment, which improved fruit quality, and the lowest in the N4P3W2 treatment. When the amounts of N, P, and W were 275.56 kg·hm-2, 413.66 kg·hm-2, and 7278.19 m3·hm-2, respectively, the theoretical economic benefit was the best. The N4P3W2 treatment is the optimal treatment.

The manipulation of participant allocation in randomized controlled trials to achieve equal groups sizes may introduce allocation bias potentially leading to larger treatment effect estimates. This study aimed to estimate the proportion of nursing trials that have precisely equal group sizes and examine if there was an association with trial outcome. Data were extracted from a sample of 148 randomized controlled trials published in nursing science journals in 2017. One hundred trials (68%) had precisely equal group sizes. Respectively, a positive outcome was reported in 70% and 58% of trials with equal/unequal groups. Trials from Asia were more likely to have equal group sizes than those from the rest of the world. Most trials reported a sample size calculation (n=105, 71%). In a third of trials (n=36, 34%), the number of participants recruited precisely matched the requirement of the sample size calculation; this was significantly more common in studies with equal group sizes. The high number of nursing trials with equal groups may suggest nurses con-ducting clinical trials are manipulating participant allocation to ensure equal group size increasing the risk of bias.

Understanding the vulnerability of areas and the likelihood of specific disasters, particularly earthquakes, is one of the most important issues in Iran. One of the major concerns in Iran is the resilience of rural communities. The present study is devoted to spatial analysis of risk in rural areas and the evaluation of preparedness in the rural districts of the city of Abhar. In particular, this study evaluates the resilience to earthquakes. The research was conducted in two parts in which the first part has used the VIKOR Multiple criteria decision making model as well as the employment of this model in the ArcGis. The second part of the study used field studies, in the form of questionnaires, to evaluate the readiness of the local population against the risks of earthquakes. Four indicators, individual, physical, economic abilities and access, were assessed. The population included rural districts, where statistical samples were villagers. Results of the spatial analysis indicated that 15 villages are in the high-risk areas, 24 villages were in the medium-risk areas and all other villages were in low-risk areas. In terms of readiness of the locals, the results indicated a lack of planning with regards to the four mentioned indicators.

This article presents a method of segmenting images with gray levels that uses Onicescu's information energy calculated in the context of the neutrosophic theory. Starting from the information energy calculation for complete neutrosophic information, it is shown how to extend its calculation for incomplete and inconsistent neutrosophic information. The segmentation method is based on calculation of thresholds for separating the gray levels using the local maximum points of the Onicescu information energy.

Out of a worldwide annual incidence of ~150 million cases for urinary tract infection (UTI), >25% of outpatient prescriptions of oral antimicrobial treatment (OAT) are for cystitis not complicated by sepsis. OAT aids the immune cells infiltrating urothelium to eliminate uropathogens attaching and invading urothelium amidst hyperosmotic urine. This adaptability of uropathogens and the short interval between Penicillin sale and the first antimicrobial resistance (AMR) report suggests that AMR is a 3.8 billion years old evolutionary conserved heritable trait of surviving environmental threats through exponential proliferation of mutant strains selected by Darwinian principle. Therefore, OAT success with minimal AMR can be ensured by antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) following the principle of 5Ds -drug, dose, duration, drug-route, and de-escalation. While convenient to administer, the onset of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for OAT in urine is a window of opportunity for uropathogens to survive the first contact with OAT and the descendant colonies armed with AMR are likely to survive subsequent higher urine OAT levels. Meanwhile, intravesical antimicrobial treatment (IAT) delivers the first strike well above MIC. The root cause analysis of AMR dovetails with the strengths, weaknesses, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis of OAT in this interdisciplinary review.

The COLOSS research association has been assessing honey bee colony losses, associated risk factors and management, focusing on Western countries but with a progressive international expansion. Here, we report the first survey on the loss rates of colonies in 2022/23 in Ethiopia using COLOSS monitoring survey tools. A face-to-face interview questionnaire survey was conducted on 64 beekeepers selected from Oromia and Tigray regions. This covered 1,713 honey bee colonies distributed in 68 apiaries. The percentages of colonies lost were significantly different between Oromia (24.1%) and Tigray (66.4%) regions. Colony losses were attributed as unsolvable queen problems (8% in Oromia; 10% in Tigray), natural disaster (32%; 82%), and empty hives or dead colonies (60%; 8%). The loss rate was significantly affected by queen replacement (p

In recent years, drones have become increasingly prevalent in a wide range of applications, performing complex and critical tasks. To accomplish these tasks, drones cooperate by forming a Fly Ad-hoc Network (FANET) using specific routing protocols for communication. However, most of the routing protocols used in this type of network lack appropriate built-in security mechanisms, which creates numerous security challenges and concerns. To reduce the resulting security vulnerabilities and mitigate the impact of potential attacks, it is crucial to address these challenges before any deployment of FANETs. In this paper, we address two of the most harmful routing attacks - Sybil and Gray Hole and propose mitigating techniques to alleviate these attacks on FANET routing protocols. The proposed solution is secGPSR a secure version of the Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing Protocol (GPSR). We validate the robustness of secGPSR through simulation using Omnet++ and present the results which show its effectiveness against Sybil and Gray Hole attacks.

Despite the popularity of Zumba in several countries, research is scarce about its impact on older adults. Meanwhile, the integration of cognitive tasks with physical exercises, known as dual-tasking, is an evolving strategy to facilitate activities for older people. This study investigated the perceptions of older adults regarding Zumba and the potential of implementing it in a dual-task program. We conducted a qualitative-descriptive research involving 44 Filipino older adults from August to November 2020. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data. Four themes were identified: moving towards match or mismatch; balancing benefits with burdens; dual-tasking as innovative yet potentially challenging; and overcoming barriers with enablers. While Zumba is an inclusive and beneficial activity, individual and contextual limitations could hinder its suitability for older people. Dual-tasking in Zumba was also recognized as an innovative approach, although challenges should be addressed to promote its utility. Several strategies could support the design of these programs in communities. This is the first study to explore older adults’ perceptions towards Zumba and its potential utilization as a dual-tasking program. Findings could guide the implementation of appropriate Zumba and dual-tasking activities that seek to integrate cognitive and physical training for older adults.

This paper presents a comparison of two methods to represent variable blade inertia in two codes for aero-servo-elastic simulations of wind turbines: the nonlinear aeroelastic multi-body model HAWC2 and the nonlinear geometrically exact beam model BeamDyn for OpenFAST. The main goal is to enable these tools to simulate the dynamic behavior of a wind turbine with variable blade inertia. However, in order to simulate the structural response of wind turbines with variable blade inertias, the source code of load simulation tools need to be modified. This is due to the fact that, currently, state-of-the-art load simulation tools for wind turbines are unable to simulate variable rotor blade inertias. The validity of the modified codes is proven based on a simple beam model. The validation shows very good agreement between the modified codes of HAWC2, BeamDyn and an analytical calculation. The add-on of variable blade inertias is applied to reduce the mechanical loads of a 5 megawatt reference wind turbine with an integrated hydraulic-pneumatic flywheel in its rotor blades.

The diagnosis of celiac disease (CD) may be delayed due to non-specific clinical symptoms. The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical manifestation and diagnostic process of CD in Polish children and adults. Methods: The members of the Polish Coeliac Society (n=2 500) were asked to complete a questionnaire on socio-demographic factors, clinical and diagnostic aspects of CD. The analysis was based on 796 responses from patients with confirmed CD diagnosis, and included 224 (28.1%) children and 572 (71.9%) adults. Results: The mean duration of symptoms prior to CD diagnosis in children was significantly shorter than in adults (p < 0.001), and amounted to 3.1 and 9 years respectively. The most frequent symptoms before CD diagnosis were abdominal pain and bloating in children (70.4%), and chronic fatigue in adults (74.5%). Although almost all CD patients claimed to strictly avoid gluten after CD diagnosis, symptoms were still present in the majority of these respondents. No comorbid diseases were reported by 29.8% of children and by 11.7% of adults (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The results indicate that CD diagnosis is delayed in Poland, espe-cially in adults, and clinicians should be aware of the diversity in CD presentation.

Age-related changes in behavior and sensory perception have been observed in a wide variety of animal species. In ants and other eusocial insects, workers often progress through an ordered sequence of olfactory-driven behavioral tasks. Notably, these behaviors are plastic, and workers adapt and rapidly switch tasks in response to changing environmental conditions. In the Florida carpenter ant, smaller minors typically perform most of the work needed to maintain the colony while the larger majors are specialized for nest defense and rarely engage in these routine tasks. Here, we investigate the effects of age and task group on olfactory responses to a series of odorant blends in minor and major worker castes. Consistent with their respective roles within the colony, we observed significant age-associated shifts in the olfactory responses of minors as they transitioned between behavioral states, whereas the responses of majors remained consistently low regardless of age. Furthermore, we identified a unitary compound, 3-methylindole, which elicited significantly higher responses and behavioral aversion in minor nurses than in similarly aged foragers suggesting that this compound may play an important role in brood care. Taken together, our results suggest that age- and task-associated shifts in olfactory physiology may play a critical role in the social organization of ant colonies.

Establishing an accurate mathematical model is the foundation of simulating the motion of marine vehicles and structures, and it is the basis of modeling-based control design. System identification from observed input-output data is a practical and powerful method. However, for modeling objects with different characteristics and known information, a single modeling framework can hardly meet the requirements of model establishment. Moreover, there are some challenges in system identification, such as parameter drift and overfitting. In this work, three robust methods are proposed for generating ocean hydrodynamic models based on Bayesian regression. Two Bayesian techniques, semi-conjugate linear regression and noisy input Gaussian process regression, are used for parametric and nonparametric gray-box modeling and black-box modeling. The experimental free-running tests of the KVLCC2 ship model and a multi-freedom wave energy converter (WEC) are used to validate the proposed Bayesian models. The results demonstrate that the proposed schemes for system identification of the ship and WEC have good generalization ability and robustness. Finally, the developed modeling methods are evaluated considering the aspects required conditions, operating characteristics and prediction accuracy.

Microsamples (collections usually less than 50 µL) have been introduced in pre-clinical, clinical, and research settings to overcome obstacles in sampling via traditional venipuncture. However, venipuncture remains the sampling gold standard for metabolic phenotyping of blood. This pre-sents several challenges in metabolic phenotyping workflows: accessibility for individuals in ru-ral and remote underserved areas (due to the need for trained personnel), the unamenable nature to frequent sampling protocols in longitudinal research (for its invasive nature), and sample col-lection difficulty in the young and elderly. Furthermore, venous sample stability may be compro-mised when temperate conditions necessary for cold-chain transport are beyond control. Alter-natively, research utilising microsamples extends phenotyping possibilities to inborn errors of metabolism, therapeutic drug monitoring, nutrition, as well as sport and anti-doping. Although the application of microsamples in metabolic phenotyping exists, it is still in its infancy, with whole blood being overwhelmingly the primary biofluid collected through the collection method of dried blood spots. Research into metabolic phenotyping of microsamples is limited; however, with advances in commercially available microsampling devices, common barriers such as volumetric inaccuracies and the ‘haematocrit effect’ in dried blood spot microsampling can be overcome. In this review, we provide an overview of the common uses and workflows for mi-crosampling in metabolic phenotyping research. We discuss the advancements in technologies, highlighting key considerations and remaining knowledge gaps for employment of microsamples in metabolic phenotyping research. Supporting the translation of research from the ‘bench to the community’.

On 17 June 2022, the U.S. FDA authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines for emergency use in children ages 6 months – 4 years. Seroprevalence has increased during the current Omicron variant wave for children under 5 years and the burden of hospitalization for this age group is similar or exceeds other pediatric vaccine preventable diseases. Research following the October 2021 approval of vaccines for children 5 – 11 indicates high prevalence of parental vaccine hesitancy and low uptake, underscoring the urgency of understanding attitudes and beliefs driving parental COVID-19 vaccine rejection and acceptance for younger children. One month prior to FDA approval, in the present study 411 U.S. female guardians of children 1 – 4 years from diverse racial/ethnic, economic, and geographic backgrounds participated in a mixed method online survey assessing determinants of COVID-19 pediatric vaccine hesitancy. Only 31.3% of parents intended to vaccinate their child, 22.6% were unsure, and 46.2% intended not to vaccinate. Logistic regression indicated significant barriers to vaccination uptake including: Concerns about immediate and long-term vaccination side effects for young children, the rushed nature of FDA approval and distrust in government and pharmaceutical companies, lack of community and family support for pediatric vaccination, conflicting media messaging, and lower socioeconomic status. Vaccine-resistant and unsure parents were also more likely to believe children were not susceptible to infection and that the vaccine no longer worked against new variants. Findings underscore the need for improved public health messaging and transparency regarding vaccine development and approval, the importance of community outreach, and increased pediatrician attention to parental concerns to better improve COVID vaccine uptake for young children.

When it comes to financial transactions and counterfeit detection systems, banknote classification is crucial. In this paper, we propose an approach for the classification of Kazakhstan banknote images integrating Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) with Statistical Texture Feature Extraction using the Gray Level Co-occurrence matrix (GLCM). Our methodology demonstrates effectiveness in accurately classifying banknote images, as evidenced by experimental results. The comprehensive testing scenarios show promising outcomes, with the combination of GLCM and Color Histogram under the LVQ algorithm achieving a high accuracy of 94.87 percent at distance 1 and 90°. These findings indicate the robustness and practical viability of the proposed method for authenticating banknotes.

Introduction The outcome of radiotherapy (RT) for prostate cancer (PCA) depends on the delivered dose. While the evidence for dose-escalated RT up to 80 Gy is well established, there have been only few studies examining dose escalation above 80 Gy. We initiated the presented study to assess the safety of dose escalation up to 84 Gy. Patients and methods In our retrospective analysis, we included patients who received dose-escalated RT for PCA at our institution between 2016 and 2021. We evaluated acute genitourinary (GU) and gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity as well as late GU and GI toxicity. Results A total of 86 patients could be evaluated, of whom 24 patients had received 80 Gy and 62 patients had received 84 Gy (35 without pelvis- and 27 with pelvis-radiotherapy). Regarding acute toxicities, no adverse events > grade 2 occurred. 12.5% of patients treated with 80Gy, in 25.7% of patients treated with 84 Gy excluding pelvis, and in 51.9% of patients treated with 84Gy including pelvis suffered from Grade 2 GU acute toxicity (80 Gy versus 84 Gy: p=0.186; with pelvis versus without pelvis: p=0.032). Grade 2 GI toxicity occurred in 12.5% of patients irradiated with 80Gy, in 14.3% of patients treated with 84 Gy excluding pelvis, and in 12.9% of patients treated with 84Gy including pelvis (80 Gy versus 84 Gy: p=0.582; with pelvis versus without pelvis: p=0.510).GU late toxicity of grade ≥ 2 occurred in 4.2% of patients treated with 80 Gy, in 7.1% of patients treated with 84 Gy excluding pelvic RT, and in 18.2% of patients treated with 84 Gy including pelvic RT (logrank-test p=0.237). 8.3% of patients treated with 80 Gy, in 3.6% of patients treated with Gy excluding pelvic RT, and in 0% of patients treated with 84 Gy including pelvic RT suffered from GI late toxicity of grade ≥ 2(logrank-test p=0.358). Conclusion We were able to show that dose-escalated RT in PCA up to 84 Gy is feasible and safe without asubstantial increase in toxicity. Further follow up is needed to assess survival.

In this work, zinc oxide (ZnO)/ granular activated carbon (GAC) composites at different ZnO concentration (0.25M-ZnO@GAC, 0.5M-ZnO@GAC, and 0.75M-ZnO@GAC) were prepared by an in-situ hydrothermal method and demonstrated synergistic photocatalytic degradation and ad-sorption of Rhodamine B (RhB). The thermal stability, morphological structure, elemental com-position, crystallographic structure, and textural properties of developed catalysts were charac-terized by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG), scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive-x-ray (SEM-EDS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. Successful loading of ZnO onto GAC was confirmed by SEM-EDS and XRD analysis. The BET surface areas of GAC, 0.25M-ZnO@GAC, 0.5M-ZnO@GAC, and 0.75M-ZnO@GAC were 474 m2/g, 450 m2/g, 453 m2/g, and 421 m2/g, respectively. The decrease in GAC could be attributed to the successful loading of ZnO on the GAC surface. Notably, 0.5M-ZnO@GAC exhibited the best photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 82% and 97% under UV-A and UV-C light over 120 min, attributed to improved crystallinity and visible light absorption. The photocatalytic degradation parameters revealed that lowering the RhB concentration, raising the catalyst dosage and pH be-yond the point of zero charge (PZC) would favor the RhB degradation. Photocatalytic reusability was demonstrated over 5 cycles. Scavenger tests revealed that the hydroxyl radicals (•OH), su-peroxide radicals (O2−•), and photoinduced hole (h+) radicals play a major role during the RhB degradation process. Based on the TOC results, the RhB mineralization efficiency of 79.1% was achieved by 0.5M-ZnO@GAC. Additionally, GAC exhibited a strong adsorptive performance towards RhB with adsorption capacity and RhB removal of 487.1 mg/g and 99.5% achieved within 90 min equilibrium time. The adsorption characteristics were best described by pseu-do-second-order kinetics, suggesting chemical adsorption. This research offers a new strategy for the development of effective photocatalyst materials with potential for wider wastewater treat-ment applications.

Advanced manufacturing techniques, aimed at implants with high dependability, flexibility, and low manufacturing costs, are crucial in meeting the growing demand for high-quality products like biomedical implants. Incremental sheet forming is a promising flexible manufacturing approach for rapidly prototyping sheet metal components using low-cost tools. Titanium and its alloys are used to shape most biomedical implants because of its superior mechanical qualities, biocompatibility, low weight, and great structural strength. The poor formability of titanium sheets at room temperature, however, limits their widespread use. The goal of this research is to show that gradual sheet formation of a titanium biomedical implant is possible. The possibility of creative and cost-effective concepts for the manufacturing of such complicated shapes with significant wall angles is explored in this study. A numerical simulation based on finite element modeling as well as a design process tailored to metal forming is used to complete the development. The mean of uniaxial tensile tests with a constant strain rate was used to study the flow behavior of the studied material. To forecast the crack, the obtained flow behavior was modeled using the behavior model and failure model.

Background: HIV is accompanied by production of proinflammatory cytokines which are regarded as critical in neuronal damage, leading to brain dysfunction, hence the need to identify cytokine biomarkers sensitive to brain damage. Methods: We applied MRI volumetric neuroimaging and high throughput Luminex based immunoassays to examine the relationship between cortical white matter, subcortical gray matter and total gray matter brain volumes and plasma cytokines in HIV indviduals using generalised linear models and Partial least square regression model. Results: Higher plasma inflammatory cytokines CCL5/RANTES and MCP-1 were significantly associated with lower cortical white matter volume. Higher IL-6 was associated with both lower subcortical gray matter and lower total gray matter, whereas higher IL-8 and GM-CSF were associated with lower total gray matter only. Higher VEGF, PDGF-BB and IL-9 were associated with higher cortical white matter volumes. After standardisation and adjusting for clinical and demographic variables, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1 remained associated with lower volumes of the three brain regions whereas IL-9, VEGF and PDGF-BB were associated with higher volumes. Conclusions: Association proinflammatory cytokines RANTES, MCP-1 and IL-6 with lower brain volumes could imply possible involvement in neurodegerative processes in HIV infection while IL-9, VEGF and PDGF may have a neuroprotective or neurotrophic role.

The Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) scanner is an easy and portable Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data acquisition device. Its main output is a 3D point cloud covering the scanned scene. Regarding the importance of accuracy in the survey domain, this paper aims to assess the accuracy of two SLAM scanners: the NavVis VLX and the BLK2GO Scanner. This assessment is conducted for both outdoor and indoor environments. In this context, two types of reference data are used: the Total Station (TS) and the static scanner Z+F Imager 5016. To carry out the assessment, four comparisons are tested: cloud to cloud, cloud to mesh, mesh to mesh, and edge detection board assessment. However, the results of the assessments confirm that the accuracy of indoor SLAM scanner measurements (5 mm) is greater than that of outdoor ones (between 10 mm and 60 mm). Moreover, the comparison of cloud to cloud provides the best accuracy regarding direct accuracy measurement without manipulations. Finally, based on the high accuracy, scanning speed, flexibility, and the accuracy differences between tested cases, it is confirmed that SLAM scanners are effective tools for data acquisition.

This article is devoted to the problem of genetically coding of inherited cyclic structures in biological bodies, whose life activity is based on a great inherited set of mutually coordinated cyclic processes. The author puts forward and arguments the idea that the genetic coding system is capable of encoding inherited cyclic processes because it itself is a system of cyclic codes connected with Boolean algebra of logic. In other words, the physiological processes in question are cyclical because they are genetically encoded by cyclic codes. In support of this idea, the author presents a set of his results on the connection of the genetic coding system with cyclic Gray codes, which are one of many known types of cyclic codes. This opens up the possibility of using for modeling inherited cyclic biostructures those algebraic and logical theories and constructions that are associated with Gray codes and have long been used in engineering technologies: Karnaugh maps, Hilbert curve, Hadamard matrices, Walsh functions, dyadic analysis, etc. Additionally, the connections of these constructions with statistical rules of genomic DNAs and binary-genomic numbers are considered.

As breast cancer continues to take a devasting public health toll, most primary prevention approaches are targeted at individual actions. We have proposed, instead, developing systemic, population approaches to preventing the disease. We used a combined qualitative-quantitative methodology, Group Concept Mapping (GCM), to identify Importance and Feasibility ratings of systemic interventions across a wide spectrum of approaches and stakeholders. Participants (n=351) from across the state of California sorted 84 potential interventions into topical piles, and then rated each intervention on perceived Importance and Feasibility. Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis identified eleven clusters or themes of interventions. Participants rated interventions on Importance and Feasibility differently depending on the region of the state in which they lived. The results of this study underscore the importance of sharing health information with and seeking public health solutions from community partners in general and from beyond the urban areas usually studied.

Development of accelerometer-based lameness (mobility) detection has focused on cow behaviors such as lying and walking. Several studies, usually small, have reported levels of accuracy up to 91%. However, there has been limited independent replication of these results. In this study, behavior measures previously identified as being associated with lameness such as lying bouts and walking time are examined in relation to mobility score. On a research farm and a commercial farm, four trials were completed with 65 grazing cows. The cows had differing mobility scores ranging from perfect mobility to impaired mobility. Behavior was monitored using leg worn accelerometers. In general, behavior and mobility associations identified in previous studies were not found. Behavior monitoring with accelerometers as a basis to classify impaired mobility in pasture-based contexts thus remains challenging.

Introduction: People with schizophrenia have poor cardiometabolic health, with elevated 10-year cardiovascular disease risk (CVD-R) scores and poor quality of life (QOL). There is lack of understanding of these issues in early psychosis. Aims: To quantify CVD-R in people with early psychosis and profile their obesity prevalence, lifestyle behaviours and QOL. Secondary aim was to explore associations between lifestyle behaviours/treatment characteristics and CVD-R/QOL. Method:Baseline data from 81 RCT participants were used to profile cardiometabolic health risks (QRISK®3, BMI and waist circumference). Participants self-reported lifestyle behaviours and QOL. Relationships between modifiable treatment/lifestyle factors and QOL/CVD-R were explored using bivariate analyses. Results: Participants’ relative risk for CVD over 10 years was 1.93 times higher than healthy counterparts; 39% also had an obese BMI and physical QOL was poor. No significant associations were observed between CVD-R or QOL with treatment characteristics and lifestyle factors. Discussion: Despite positive lifestyle behaviours, participants had elevated CVD-R scores and poor physical health related QOL. Quantifying CVD-R with QRISK®3 may highlight the need for health promotion interventions. Implications for practice: Mental health professionals should be alert to elevated cardiometabolic health risks in early psychosis, particularly as these can occur in the context of relatively healthy lifestyle behaviours.

To maintain a healthy lifestyle, adults rely on their ability to walk while simultaneously managing multiple tasks that challenge their coordination. This study investigates the impact of cognitive dual-task on lower limb muscle activities in 21 healthy young adults during both gait initiation and steady-state gait. We utilized wireless electromyography sensors to measure muscle activities, along with a 3D motion capture system and force plates to detect the phases of gait initiation and steady-state gait. Participants were asked to walk at their self-selected pace, and we compared single-task and dual-task conditions. We analyzed mean muscle activation and co-contraction in the biceps femoris, vastus lateralis, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior muscles. The findings revealed that during gait initiation with the dual-task condition, there was a decrease in mean muscle activation and an increase in mean muscle c-contraction between the swing and stance limb compared to the single-task condition. In steady-state gait, there was also a decrease in mean muscle activation in the dual-task condition compared to the single-task condition. When participants performed dual-task activities during gait initiation, early indicators of reduced balance capability were observed. Additionally, during dual-task steady-state gait, knee stabilizer muscles exhibited signs of altered activation, contributing to balance instability.

Myocarditis has been recognized as a possible rare complication of COVID-19 mRNA vaccination. It concerns between one and five vaccinated people per 100,000 in the general population, with increased incidence in adolescent and young adult men. Most often, cases of myocarditis have been reported in the days following the second dose of vaccine mainly in younger male patients. This rare complication of vaccination usually resolves within days or weeks. However, the pathophysiological events responsible for the increase in frequency of myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination remain unclear. Several recent reports have highlighted that free spike proteins circulating in the blood of patients at high levels appear to play a major role in myocarditis. Here, we review the most relevant data that partly lift the veil on the molecular mechanisms of the induction of myocarditis following mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination. We hypothesize that a mechanism of molecular mimicry of the viral spike triggers transient dysregulation of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, leading to increased soluble angiotensin II binding to the transmembrane receptor angiotensin II type I receptor, similar to what is observed during SARS-CoV-2 infection. We suggest to standardize management of suspected cases of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis, including angiotensin II and spike antigenemia monitoring.

Gray cast iron is one of the most important engineering materials that has many applications in various industries including automotive and machinery manufacturing due to its mechanical properties, wear resistance, machining potentials and low price. In this research effect of adding aluminum and silicon to composition of gray cast iron on microstructure and wear resistance was studied. Moreover, it was investigated the role of formation of Fe-Al-Si intermetallic compound in final properties of the alloy. For studying wear resistance of samples pin-on-disc method was carried out. The results showed that addition of aluminum to gray cast iron causes formation of ferrite matrix, which leads to a decrease in hardness value. Increasing silicon content up to 2 wt. % in cast iron with 4 wt. % aluminum intensifies the formation of ferrite matrix, while further increase to 3 wt. % causes emerging a Fe-Al-Si intermetallic phase. Improvement in hardness value was achieved by increasing silicon content from 3 wt. % to 4 wt. % due to the increased percentage of intermetallic phase. Effect of intermetallic phase on decreasing wear rate was showed by studying microstructure and hardness values, however the lowest wear resistance was observed in aluminum bearing cast iron containing 2 wt. % silicon.

Gray cast iron is one of the most important engineering materials that has many applications in various industries including automotive and machinery manufacturing due to its mechanical properties, wear resistance, machining potentials and low price. In this research effect of adding aluminum and silicon to composition of gray cast iron on microstructure and wear resistance was studied. Moreover, it was investigated the role of formation of Fe-Al-Si intermetallic compound in final properties of the alloy. For studying wear resistance of samples pin-on-disc method was carried out. The results showed that addition of aluminum to gray cast iron causes formation of ferrite matrix, which leads to a decrease in hardness value. Increasing silicon content up to 2 wt. % in cast iron with 4 wt. % aluminum intensifies the formation of ferrite matrix, while further increase to 3 wt. % causes emerging a Fe-Al-Si intermetallic phase. Improvement in hardness value was achieved by increasing silicon content from 3 wt. % to 4 wt. % due to the increased percentage of intermetallic phase. Effect of intermetallic phase on decreasing wear rate was showed by studying microstructure and hardness values, however the lowest wear resistance was observed in aluminum bearing cast iron containing 2 wt. % silicon.

Antioxidants reduce arterial stiffness but the effects previously reported are weak. The present study evaluated the effects of 2 weeks of therapy with a combination of antioxidants (l-cysteine, thiamine, pyridoxine and ascorbic acid) compared to placebo on stiffness index (SI) a measure of arterial stiffness that is strongly correlated with central pulse wave velocity (PWV), using a Pulse Trace recorder in a diverse group of 78 volunteers. SI fell by 1.7 m/sec relative to placebo (95% confidence intervals 0.6 to 2.7 m/sec), a reduction of 19% (95% confidence intervals 9% to 31%). The Glass effect size was 1.4, indicating a very strong treatment effect which was substantially greater than found in previous studies of the effects of antioxidant therapy on arterial stiffness. The magnitude of reduction in SI was positively correlated with increasing age (r = 0.362 P = 0.02). The change in RI, a measure of compliance of small to medium size arteries, did not differ between the antioxidant and placebo groups The combination of antioxidants studied reduced PWV to a much greater extent than reported for other antioxidants. This combination may be of value in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Choice poetics is a formalist framework that seeks to capture the impacts choices have on player experiences within narrative games. Developed in part to support algorithmic generation of narrative choices, the theory includes a detailed analytical framework for understanding the impressions choice structures make by analyzing the relationships between options, outcomes, and player goals. The theory also emphasizes the need to account for players’ various modes of engagement, which vary both during play and between players. In this work, we illustrate the non-computational application of choice poetics to the analysis of three different choices, in order to further develop the theory and make it more accessible to others. We focus first on analyzing so-called false choices in the game “Mass Effect”, and show how they actually provide meaningfully different outcomes for players who are utilizing certain modes of engagement. Second, we use choice poetics to examine the central repeated choice in “Undertale”, and show how it can be used to contrast two different player types that will approach a choice differently. Finally, we give an example of fine-grained analysis using a choice from the game “Papers Please”, which breaks down options and their outcomes to illustrate how the choice pushes players towards complicity via the introduction of uncertainty. Through all of these examples, we hope to show the usefulness of choice poetics as a framework for understanding narrative choices, and to demonstrate concretely how one could productively apply it to choices ‘in the wild’.

Tissue resident memory T cells (TRM) were first described in 2009. While initially the major focus was on CD8 TRM, there has been recently an increased interest in defining the phenotype and the role of CD4 TRM in diseases. Circulating CD4 T cells seed tissue CD4 TRM, but there also appears to be an equilibrium between CD4 TRM and blood CD4 T cells. CD4 TRM are more mobile than CD8 TRM, usually localized deeper within the dermis/lamina propria and yet may exhibit synergy with CD8 TRM in disease control. This has been demonstrated in herpes simplex infections in mice. In human recurrent herpes infections, both CD4 and CD8 TRM persisting between lesions may control asymptomatic shedding through interferon gamma secretion, although this has been more clearly shown for CD8 T cells. The exact role of the CD4/CD8 TRM axis in the trigeminal ganglia and/or cornea in controlling recurrent herpetic keratitis is unknown. In HIV, CD4 TRM have now been shown to be a major target for productive and latent infection in cervix. In HSV and HIV co-infections, CD4 TRM persisting in the dermis support HIV replication. Further understanding of the role of CD4 TRM and their induction by vaccines may help control sexual transmission by both viruses.

Performing arts used as a method of spreading health information dates back to the origins of storytelling. However, interventions in developing, non-Western countries typically utilise Western entertainment forms. This qualitative investigation assesses responses to an intervention designed around traditional Javanese shadow puppetry (wayang kulit). Semi-structured interviews provided in-depth responses from a sample (n=12) of villagers. Responses analysed both cross-case and within-case, focused on perceptions of the music and storyline, responses to the intervention, and perceived appropriateness of wayang kulit for disseminating a health message. Wayang kulit was considered to be interesting and easy to remember, but concerns remained regarding the reliability of information provided through the drama. The fusion of traditional and modern music and story elements were perceived positively. Some participants were inspired to improve their hygiene practices, although the lack of motivation, or belief that they were unable to change was noted. The performance was generally received positively in terms of the nature of the intervention, the fusion of traditional and Western music and story elements, as well as the use of wayang kulit to spread health information. The study provides guidance for modifications to the production, prior to scaling up.

Controlling and understanding Cu-catalyzed homocoupling reaction is crucial to prompt the development of efficient Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. The presence of a coordinating base (hydroxide, methoxide) enables the B-to-Cu(II) transmetalation from aryl boronic acid to CuIICl2 in methanol, through formation of a mixed Cu-(μ-OH)-B intermediates. A second B-to-Cu transmetalation to form bis-aryl Cu(II) complexes is disfavored. Instead, organocopper(II) dimers undergo a coupled transmetalation-electron-transfer (TET) allowing the formation of a bis-organocopper(III) complexes readily promoting reductive elimination. Based on this mechanism some guidelines are suggested to control the undesired formation of homocoupling product in Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions.

Agricultural landscapes are more and more characterized by intensification and habitat losses. Landscape composition and configuration are known to mediate insect abundance and richness. In the context of global insect decline, and despite 75% of crops being under insect’s dependence, there is still a gap of knowledge about the link between pollinators and aromatic crops. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is an aromatic plant cultivated in South of France, for its essential oil which is of great economic interest. Using pan-traps, we investigated the influence of the surrounding habitats at landscape scale (semi-natural habitat proportion and vicinity, landscape configuration) and local scale agricultural practices (insecticides and patch size) on fennel-flower-visitor abundance and richness and their subsequent impact on fennel essential oil yield. We found that fennel may to be a generalist plant species. We did not find any effect of intense local management practices on insect abundance and richness. Landscape configuration and the proximity to semi-natural habitat were the main drivers of flying insect’s family richness. This richness positively influenced fennel essential oil yield. Maintaining a complex configuration of patches at the landscape scale are important to sustain insect diversity and crop yield.

Eating competence can play a role in helping adolescents navigate their food choices and attitudes toward eating in a healthy and balanced way. In the present study, we investigated the psychometric properties of the Dutch translation of the Eating Competence Satter Inventory 2.0TM (ecSI 2.0TM), which was developed to assess eating attitudes and behaviors. A sample of 900 Flemish adolescents completed the ecSI 2.0TM DUTCH and two self-report measures on eating disorder symptoms and identity functioning (i.e., confusion and synthesis). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the four-factor structure of the ecSI 2.0TM DUTCH, and the resulting four subscales (Eating Attitudes, Food Acceptance, Internal Regulation, and Contextual Skills) showed acceptable to excellent reliability (α ranging from .69 to .91). The ecSI 2.0TM also showed to be scalar invariant across sex and age (&lt;17 years, ≥ 17 years). Boys reported significantly higher ecSI 2.0TM DUTCH scores than girls on the four subscales and the total scale. The two age groups did not differ significantly on the ecSI 2.0TM DUTCH scales. Finally, scores on the ecSI 2.0TM subscales showed no or small negative correlations with adolescents’ BMI, large negative correlations with eating disorder symptoms and identity confusion, and large positive associations with identity synthesis. The Dutch translation of the ecSI 2.0TM is a valid and reliable instrument to assess eating competence skills in male and female adolescents.

Internet of things (IoT) is a network of smart things. This indicates the ability of these physical things to transfer information with other physical things. The characteristics of these networks, such as topology dynamicity and energy constraint, challenges the routing problem in these networks. Previous routing methods could not achieve the required performance in this type of network. Therefore, developers of this network designed and developed specific methods in order to satisfy the requirements of these networks. One of the routing methods is utilization of multi-path protocols which send data to its destination using routes with separate links. One of such protocols is AOMDV routing protocol. In this paper, this method is improved using gray system theory which chooses the best paths used for separate routes to send packets. To do this, AOMDV packet format is altered and some fields are added to it so that energy criteria, link expiration time, and signal to noise ratio can also be considered while selecting the best route. The proposed method named RMPGST-IoT is introduced which chooses the routes with highest rank for concurrent transmission of data, using a specific routine based on the gray system theory. In order to evaluate and report the results, the proposed RMPGST-IoT method is compared to the ERGID and ADRM-IoT approaches with regard to throughput, packet receiving rate, packet loss rate, average remaining energy, and network lifetime. The results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed RMPGST-IoT compared to the ERGID and ADRM-IoT approaches.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have structural and functional roles in development and disease. We have previously shown that the LINC00961/SPAAR locus regulates endothelial cell function, and that both the lncRNA and micropeptide counter-regulate angiogenesis. To assess human cardiac cell SPAAR expression we mined a publicly available scRNSeq dataset and confirmed LINC00961 locus expression and hypoxic response in a murine endothelial cell line. We investigated post-natal growth and development, basal cardiac function, the cardiac functional response and tissue-specific response to myocardial infarction. To investigate the contribution of the LINC00961/SPAAR locus to determination of longitudinal growth, cardiac function, and response to myocardial infarction, we used a novel CRISPR/Cas9 locus knockout mouse line. Data mining suggested that SPAAR is predominantly expressed in human cardiac endothelial cells and fibroblasts, while murine LINC00961 expression is hypoxia-responsive in mouse endothelial cells. LINC00961-/- mice displayed a sex-specific delay in longitudinal growth and development, smaller left ventricular systolic and diastolic areas and volumes, and greater risk area following myocardial infarction compared with wildtype littermates. These data suggest a role for the LINC00961/SPAAR locus in cardiac endothelial cell and fibroblast cell function and hypoxic-response, and in growth and development, and basal cardiovascular function in adulthood.

Internet of things (IoT) is a network of smart things. This indicates the ability of these physical things to transfer information with other physical things. IoT has introduced various services and daily human life depends on its reliable and accessible operation. The characteristics of these networks, such as topology dynamicity and energy constraint, challenges the routing problem in these networks. Previous routing methods could not achieve the required performance in this type of network. Therefore, developers of this network designed and developed specific methods in order to satisfy the requirements of these networks. One of the routing methods is utilization of multi-path protocols which send data to its destination using routs with separate links. One of such protocols is AOMDV routing protocol. AOMDV protocol is a multi-path protocol which uses multiple different paths for sending information in order to maintain the network traffic balance, manage and control node energy, decrease latency, etc. In this paper, this method is improved using gray system theory which chooses the best paths used for separate routes to send packets. To do this, AOMDV packet format is altered and some fields are added to it so that energy criteria, link expiration time, and signal to noise ratio can also be considered while selecting the best route. The proposed method named GSTMPR-IoT is introduced which chooses the routs with highest rank for concurrent transmission of data, using a specific routine based on the gray system theory. In order to evaluate and report the results, the proposed GSTMPR-IoT method is compared to the EECRP and AOMDV approaches with regard to throughput, packet delivery rate, end to end delay, average residual energy, and network lifetime. The results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed GSTMPR-IoT compared to the EECRP and AOMDV approaches.

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) significantly affect the lives of patients and increase the risk of hospital stay and amputation. We suggest a remote-monitoring platform for better DFU care. This system uses digital health metrics (scaled from 0 to 10, where higher scores indicate a greater risk of slow healing) to provide a comprehensive overview through a visual interface. The platform features smart offloading devices that capture behavioral metrics such as offloading adherence, daily steps, and cadence. Coupled with remotely measurable frailty and phenotypic metrics, it offers an in-depth patient profile. Additional demographic data, wound characteristics, and clinical parameters, such as cognitive function, were integrated, contributing to a comprehensive risk factor profile. We evaluated the feasibility of this platform with 124 DFU patients over 12 weeks; 39% experienced unfavorable outcomes such as dropout, adverse events, or non-healing. Digital biomarkers were benchmarked (0-10), categorized into low, medium, and high risk for unfavorable outcomes, and visually represented using color-coded radar plots. The initial results of case reports illustrate the value of this holistic visualization to pinpoint the underlying risk factors for unfavorable outcomes, including a high number of steps, poor adherence, and cognitive impairment. Although future studies are needed to validate the effectiveness of this visualization in personalizing care and improving wound outcomes, early results in identifying risk factors for unfavorable outcomes are promising.

Differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells to a range of useful, mature target cell types is ubiquitous in monolayer culture. To further improve the phenotype of the cells produced, 3D organoid culture is becoming increasingly prevalent. Mature organoids typically require the involvement of cells from multiple germ layers. The aim of this study was to produce pulmonary organoids from defined endodermal and mesodermal progenitors. Endodermal and mesodermal progenitors were differentiated from iPSCs then combined in 3D Matrigel hydrogels and differentiated for a further 14 days to produce pulmonary organoids. The organoids expressed a range of pulmonary cell markers such as SPA, SPB, SPC, AQP5 and T1α. Furthermore, organoids expressed ACE2 capable of binding SARS-Cov2 spike protein demonstrating the physiological relevance of the organoids produced. This study demonstrates the rapid production of pulmonary organoids using a multi-germ layer approach that could be used for studying novel respiratory disease interactions.

Since the 21st century, China's urbanization process has been rapid development, the concept and function of urban public space in the city has been gradually paid attention to. In order to guarantee life and water, most urban construction relies on rivers, and Bridges are the most important way to communicate between urban areas. The main functional part of the bridge is the span structure, that is, the bearing structure of the bridge, and the lower part of the "gray" space formed by the bridge structure. Considering the social level, with the economic growth and urbanization development, people have brought a better living environment and quality of life, and also improved the requirements for urban public environment. In the increasingly tense urban space, how to use and transform the space under the bridge is a problem that needs to be considered and solved. In view of this problem, in this study, we try to solve the micro-transformation of space under Bridges in cities through public art from the perspective of "regional culture" and "art for all". This paper analyzes the micro-transformation of space art under Bridges in two large cities of Shanghai and Foshan, namely, the space under Bridges under Songhong Road in Shanghai, the space under Bridges under Central Of Suzhou River and the space under Bridges under Pingsheng Bridge in Foshan. This paper discusses the cultural intervention of "regional culture" in the micro-transformation of the space under the bridge, and the influence and effect of "art for all" on the public art space under the bridge after the transformation to the community and the public.

Background and Objectives: ACTION-France (Awareness, Care and Treatment In Obesity MaNagement in France) aims to identify the perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and potential barriers to effective obesity management in France and guide collaborative actions. Methods: ACTION-France is a cross-sectional survey of people with obesity (PwO) and healthcare professionals (HCPs), in France. The PwO and HCP questionnaires ran from 27/09/2022 to 01/02/2023 and from 19/12/2022 to 31/03/2023, respectively. Results: The study, encompassing 1226 PwO and 166 HCPs, reveals a shared recognition of obesity as a chronic condition. However, despite being requested by most PwO, weight-related discussions are surprisingly infrequent, leading to delayed diagnosis and care. PwO and HCPs held different views as to why: HCPs often attributed it to PwO’s lack of motivation or disinterest, whereas PwO avoided them because they felt weight managing was their own responsibility and were uncomfortable discussing it. When weight was discussed, primarily with general practitioners (GPs), discussions mostly focused on physical activity and dietary. However, results identified a strong psychosocial impact of obesity: 42% of respondents reported anxiety-depressive symptoms, and many more hesitated to engage in certain social activities because of their weight. Psychotherapy was only discussed by 55% of HCPs. Pharmaceutical options were also rarely discussed (19.5% of HCPs), though 56.1% of PwO reported they would want to. Conclusions: HCPs’ and PwO’s perceptions differed significantly and need to converge through enhanced communication. A holistic approach, integrating comprehensive training for GPs and psychological comorbidities, would help to bridge perceptual gaps effectively and foster more empathetic and effective patient care.

Dentifrice performance in the removal of dental plaque is influenced by the interactions of dentifrice components with tooth surfaces. This randomized controlled clinical study assessed the effectiveness and safety of a novel fluoride dentifrice formulation that included a micro-fibrillated cellulose network with entangled microcrystalline cellulose and silica particles (ProtegeraTM), and compared this to a positive control fluoride dentifrice (Crest Cavity Protection™). Whole mouth dental plaque levels in 82 healthy adults were measured after the first supervised use, and following a week of twice daily use at home. Overall, the novel dentifrice was at least three times more effective in whole mouth plaque reductions than the reference dentifrice (p < 0.001), with a 38.6% reduction on first use, a 30.9% reduction at day 7, and a 41.6% reduction from day 1 to day 7, compared to reductions of 12.0%, 9.6%, and 11.6% respectively for the positive control. No safety issues arose from the use of the novel dentifrice. These results indicate that including micro-fibrillated cellulose enhances plaque removal effectiveness, without causing adverse changes to oral soft tissues.

Objectives: This study assessed the performance of a novel fluoride dentifrice containing micro- fibrillated cellulose (MFC) and 7% silica (Protegera™) versus common fluoride dentifrices. Methods: Removal of extrinsic stains was assessed using the pellicle cleaning ratio (PCR) method, and radioactive dentin abrasivity (RDA) was measured, to calculate a cleaning efficiency index (CEI). Fluoride efficacy was evaluated using widely used remineralization and fluoride uptake methods. Results: The MFC dentifrice removed stained pellicle significantly more effectively than the ADA reference material, Crest Cavity Protection™ and Sensodyne Pronamel™, and had equal performance to three known marketed stain-removing dentifrices (Arm & Hammer™ Advanced Whitening, Crest ProHealth™, and Colgate Optic White™). The MFC dentifrice vehicle had a low RDA (88), which was significantly less than Crest ProHealth (166) and Crest 3D-White™ (183). Based on PCR and RDA data, the CEI was 31% greater for the MFC product than for Crest ProHealth. In a 10-day pH cycling study, the fluoride efficacy of the MFC product was superior to a non-fluoridated control and was not significantly different from Sensodyne Pronamel and Crest Cavity Protection. The MFC dentifrice was superior for promoting fluoride uptake into incipient enamel lesions than the USP reference dentifrice. Conclusion: The low dentin abrasivity MFC dentifrice is highly effective in removing stained pellicle, and is an efficacious fluoride source when compared to other relevant commercially available fluoride dentifrices with high dentin abrasivity. Clinical Significance: Including micro-fibrillated cellulose into a fluoride dentifrice may enhance cleaning performance for the removal of external stain, while lowering abrasivity, and providing an effective fluoride source. This combination of benefits seems well suited to enamel protection and caries prevention.

Carbon dioxide has become a global challenge, where the emissions have become more than what could be handled. In this regard, conversion of CO2 to value added chemicals and thus recycling CO2 became a viable option. One of these options is the use of a process in strong development: oxycombustion. However, the gases resulting from this process contain some traces of impurities that can hinder the recovery of CO2 such as NO and CO. This work has therefore focused on the study of the reaction of NO reduction by CO in an oxidizing medium, using catalytic materials based on various supported noble metals. These materials were extensively characterized by a variety of methods including BET surface area measurements, hydrogen chemisorption, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and H2 temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR). The obtained results show that the catalytic behaviour of M/Al2O3 catalysts in CO oxidation and NO reduction with CO in oxidative conditions depends mainly on the nature of the metal. The best result for these both reactions is obtained with Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The Pt nanoparticles existing in the metallic form (Pt°) showed by TPR could explain the activity.

Online and offline shopping trip have different impacts on various aspects of urban life, such as e-commerce, transportation systems, and sustainability. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the factors that influence their choices. We use a hybrid machine learning model that combines a gray wolf optimization algorithm and a deep convolutional neural network to estimate shopping trip based on a survey of 1,000 active e-commerce users who made successful orders in both online and offline services in the last 20 days of 2021 in areas 2 and 5 of Tehran. The gray wolf optimization algorithm performs feature selection and hyperparameter tuning for the deep convolutional neural network, which is a powerful deep learning model for image recognition and classification. The results show that our model achieves an accuracy of 97.81% with an MSE of 0.325 by selecting seven out of ten features. The most important features are delivery cost, delivery time, product price, car ownership. In addition, comparing the performance of the proposed method with other methods showed that the proposed algorithm with an accuracy of 97.81%, the accuracies of the single deep learning model, MLP neural network, decision tree, and KNN models were 95.63%, 90.0%, 86.49%, and 80.16%, respectively.

We present here seven new zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) ages and three new zircon fission track ages (ZFT) analyzed from an age-elevation profile (Machu Picchu, Peru). ZFT data present older ages in comparison with the other thermochronological data, whereas the ZHe data interestingly present similar ages than the ones obtained with apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe). It has been proposed that He retention in zircon is linked to the damage dose, with an evolution of the closure-temperature from low values associated to low α-dose (<1016 α/g), subsequently increasing before decreasing again at very high α-dose (>1018 α /g). Studies have been focused on the He diffusion behavior at high α-dose, but little is known at low dose. We propose that the ZHe closure temperature at α-dose ranging from 0.6×1015 to 4×1016 α/g is in the range of ~60-80°C. This value is lower than the one proposed in the current damage model ZRDAAM and demonstrates that the ZHe and AHe methods could have similar closure temperatures at low α-dose (i.e. similar ages). These new data strengthen our previous geological conclusions and even highlight an about twice more important cooling rate than the one deduced from AHe and apatite fission-track data alone registered at Machu Picchu.

By manipulating the various physico-chemical properties of amino acids, design of peptides with specific self-assembling properties has been emerging since more than a decade. In this context, short peptides possessing detergent properties (so-called “peptergents”) have been developed to self-assemble into well-ordered nanostructures that can stabilize membrane proteins for crystallization. In this study, the peptide with “peptergency” properties, called ADA8 extensively described by Zhang et al., is studied by molecular dynamics for its self-assembling properties in different conditions. In water, it spontaneously forms beta sheets with a β barrel-like structure. We next simulated the interaction of this peptide with a membrane protein, the bacteriorhodopsin, in the presence or absence of a micelle of dodecylphosphocholine. According to the literature, the peptergent ADA8 is thought to generate a belt of β structures around the hydrophobic helical domain that could help stabilize purified membrane proteins. Molecular dynamics is here used to challenge this view and to provide further molecular details for the replacement of detergent molecules around the protein. To our best knowledge, this is the first molecular mechanism proposed for ''peptergency''. In addition, our calculation approach should serve as a predicting tool for the design of beta peptergent with diverse amphipathic properties.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) constitutes a serious public health concern with a considerable impact on patients' health and substantial healthcare costs. In this study, patients, and healthcare workers (HCWs)from six public hospitals in Benin were screened for MRSA. Strains were identified as MRSA using conventional microbiological methods in Benin and confirmed using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry in Belgium. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was used on confirmed MRSA isolates to characterize their genomic content and study their relatedness. In total,304 and 61 samples were collected from patients and HCWs, respectively. The mecA gene was detected in all isolates. The isolates were assigned to five sequence types (STs), with ST8 (55.6%, n=15), ST152 (18.52%, n=5), and ST121 (18.52%, n=5) being the most common. All isolates carried multiple virulence genes, including genes encoding the Panton-Valentine leukocidin toxin (48.15%, n=13) and the test gene (29.63%, n=8) associated with toxic shock syndrome. The presence of strains carrying numerous genomic features associated with antibiotic resistance and virulence in HCWs is a major public health concern. This study highlights the need to implement a multimodal strategy for reducing the risk of cross-transmission of MRSA in hospitals.

CD4 count recovery is the main goal for an HIV patient who initiated ART. Some patients respond positively to ART and attain CD4 count recovery, some patients might fail to recover their CD4 count due to non-adherence, treatment resistance, and virological failure, leading to HIV-related complications and death. The purpose of this study is to find the determinants of death in patients who failed to recover their CD4 count after initiating antiretroviral therapy. The data used in this study was obtained from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where 2528 HIV-infected patients with a baseline CD4 count of 200 cells/ were initiated on ART. We used a Fine-Gray sub-distribution hazard and cumulative incidence function to estimate potential confounding factors of death, where CD4 count recovery was a competing event for failure due to death. Patients who were not suffering from tuberculosis were 1.33 times at risk of dying before attaining CD4 count recovery [aSHR 1.33; 95% CI (0.96-1.85] compared to those who had no tuberculosis. Rural patients had a higher risk of not recovering and leading to death [aSHR 1.97; 95%CI (1.57-2.47)] than those from urban areas. The patient’s tuberculosis status, viral load, regimen, baseline CD4 count, and location were significant contributors to death before CD4 count recovery. Intervention programs targeting HIV testing in rural areas for early ART initiation and promoting treatment adherence are recommended.

Despite needs for new therapies and improvements in existing approaches in cardiovascular, pulmonary, endocrine, and renal disease, investment in these areas is lagging relative to other specialties. This article summarizes a meeting of key stakeholders of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials, representatives from academia, national organizations, and patients and caregivers. The purpose was to identify and discuss high-priority issues, establish areas of common interest, and explore opportunities for collaboration. During the meeting (September 2016), the construct of a “multimorbidity continuum” emerged, in which chronic diseases are understood as their effects on the whole rather than individual organ systems. Cross-disciplinary priorities included: 1) the need to generate greater high-quality evidence at lower cost; 2) the imperative to develop and implement patient-centered approaches to clinical investigations; 3) the importance of trial participation in under-represented populations, particularly with comorbid conditions, and 4) the need for progress in tobacco regulation. Representatives from each therapeutic area reported on their consensus priorities, and FDA representatives discussed the agency’s role in facilitating broader approaches to therapeutic development and evaluation of disease as linked across organ systems rather than in isolation, and emphasized the importance of patient engagement, collaboration and communication across stakeholders.

Efficient management of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) requires reliable assessments of both tumors and post-treatment scars. We aimed to estimate image similarity metrics that account for BCC's perceptual color and texture deviation from perilesional skin. 176 clinical photographs of BCC were assessed by six physicians using a visual deviation scale. Internal consistency and inter-rater agreement were estimated using Cronbach's α, weighted Gwet's AC2, and quadratic Cohen's Kappa. The mean visual scores were used to validate a range of similarity metrics employing different color spaces, distances, and image embeddings from pre-trained VGG16 neural network. The calculated similarities were transformed into discrete values using ordinal logistic regression models. The Bray-Curtis distance in the YIQ color model and rectified embeddings from the 'fc6' layer minimized the mean squared error and demonstrated strong performance in representing perceptual similarities. Box plot analysis and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to visualize and compare the levels of agreement, conducted on a random validation round between the two groups: ‘Human-System’ and ‘Human-Human’. The proposed metrics were comparable in terms of internal consistency and agreement with human raters. The findings suggest that the proposed metrics offer a robust, and cost-effective approach to monitoring BCC treatment outcomes in clinical settings.

Long COVID-19 syndrom appears after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus (SARS-CoV-2) infection with acute damages to microcapillaries, microthombi and endotheliitis. However, the mech-anisms involved in these processes remain to be identified. All blood vessels are lined with a monolayer of endothelial cells called vascular endothelium of which one of the major properties is to prevent coagulation. VE cadherin is a component of endothelial cell junctions responsible for maintenance of the integrity of the vessels through homophilic interaction of its Ca++- dependent adhesive extracellular domain. We first provide evidence that VE-cadherin is a target in vitro for ACE2 cleavage because its extracellular domain (hrVE-ED) contains two amino acid sequences for ACE2 substrate recognition at the po-sitions 256P-F257 and 321PMKP-325L. Indeed, incubation of hrVE-ED with the active ecto-peptidase hrACE2 for 16 hrs in the presence of 10M ZnCl2 showed a dose-dependent (from 0.2 ng/ul to 2 ng/ul) decrease of the VE-cadherin immunoreactive band. In vivo, in the blood from patients having severe COVID-19, a circulating form of ACE2 was detected with an apparent molecular mass of 70 kDa while it was barely detectable in patients with mild infection. Of importance, in the patients with severe COVID-19 disease, the presence of three soluble fragments of VE-cadherin (70, 62, 54 kDa) were detected using the antiEC1 antibody while only the 54 kDa fragment was present in patients with mild disease. Altogether, these data clearly support a role for ACE2 on VE-cadherin cleavage leading to potential biomarkers in SARS-CoV2 infection related with the vascular disease in “Long COVID-19”.

Cancer therapy resistance is a persistent clinical challenge. Recently, inhibition of the mutagenic translesion synthesis (TLS) protein REV1 was shown to enhance tumor cell response to chemotherapy by triggering senescence hallmarks. These observations suggest REV1’s important role in determining cancer cell response to chemotherapy. Whether REV1 inhibition would similarly sensitize cancer cells to radiation treatment is unknown. This study reports a lack of radiosensitization in response to REV1 inhibition by small molecule inhibitors in ionizing radiation-exposed cancer cells. Instead, REV1 inhibition unexpectedly triggers autophagy, which is a known biomarker of radioresistance. Collectively, we report a possible role of REV1 TLS protein in determining cancer treatment outcomes depending upon the type of DNA damage inflicted. Furthermore, we discover REV1 inhibition directly triggers autophagy, an uncharacterized REV1 phenotype, with significant bearing on cancer treatment regimens.

Mineral dust is one of the most important aerosol in mass over the world, affecting health and dynamics. This aerosol is mainly emitted over arid areas but may be long-range transported, impacting the local budget of air quality in many cities. While models were extensively used to study a single specific event, or making a global analysis at coarse resolution, the goal of our study is to simultaneously focus on several areas - Europe, North America, Central Asia, East China and the Caribbean area - for a one month period, March 2014, avoiding any parameter fitting to better simulate a given dust outbreak. The simulation is performed for the first time with the hemispheric version of the CHIMERE model, with a horizontal resolution of 10km. In this study, an overview of several simultaneous dust outbreaks over the north hemisphere is proposed to assess the capability of such modelling tools to predict dust pollution events. A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the most striking episodes is presented with comparisons to satellite data, ground based Particulate Matter and calcium measurements. Despite some overestimation of dust concentrations far from emission areas, the model is able to simulate the timing of the arrival of dust outbreaks on observational sites. For instance, several spectacular dust storms in the US and China are perfectly captured by the models. The high resolution allows to better describe and understand the orographic effects and the long-range transport of dust plumes.

Dendritic Mesoporous Organosilica Nanoparticles (DMON) are a new class of biodegradable nanoparticles suitable for biomolecules delivery. In order to escape from the endosomes-lysosomes and to deliver biomolecules in the cytoplasm of cells, we studied photochemical internalization (PCI) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) of DMON. We added photosensitizers in the framework of DMON. DMON were also loaded with siRNA or FVIII factor protein. We made four formulations with four different photosensitizers, The photosensitizers allowed to perform imaging of DMON in cancer cells, but the presence of the tetrasulfide bond in the framework of DMON quenched the formation of singlet oxygen. Fortunately one formulation allowed to efficiently deliver proapoptotic siRNA in MCF-7 cancer cells leading to 31% of cancer cell death, without irradiation. For FVIII protein, it was loaded in two formulations with drug loading capacities (DLC) up to 25%. In conclusion DMON are versatile nanoparticles which allowed to load siRNA and to deliver it in cancer cells, and to load FVIII protein with good DLC. Due to the presence of tetrasulfide, it was not possible to perform PDT and PCI.

Increasing research has indicated a strong association between identity functioning and eating disorder (ED) symptomatology. However, a detailed investigation of identity throughout ED treatment is lacking. The present longitudinal study examined identity in inpatients with an ED and explored its co-development with ED symptomatology throughout treatment. At admission (Wave 1), 110 women with an ED (Mage=21, SD=6.08, range:14-45) participated, of whom 83.64% participated during treatment (Wave 2) and 55.45% at discharge (Wave 3). Questionnaires on identity synthesis, identity confusion, identity processes, and ED symptomatology were completed. Latent growth curve modeling was used to address the research questions. Throughout treatment, a decrease in identity confusion and an increase in identity synthesis and adaptive identity processes were found. Accordingly, increases in identity synthesis and identification with commitment were related to general decreases in drive for thinness and body dis-satisfaction. Similarly, such decreases in ED symptoms were related to general decreases in identity confusion and ruminative exploration. The present study points to an increase in identity functioning throughout treatment, and longitudinal associations between identity functioning and ED symptomatology were found. Helping the patient to decrease ruminative exploration and to increase identification with previously made life commitments seem important in ED treatment.

Background: Skincare products are used daily to maintain a healthy skin (cleansing, moisturizing, protecting…), but their impact on this first layer, which corresponds to the skin microbiome, is still poorly understood. Preserving natural resources and mechanisms of the skin ecosystem is essential; an original approach based on these premises, called ecobiology, has recently emerged in skincare. Ecobiology considers the skin as an ever-evolving ecosystem which hosts human and microbial cells that interact together with their environment. In this context, we evaluated the impact on the skin microbiome of three types of leave-on face skincare products: a hydrophilic sterile solution, a micellar solution, and an oil-in-water emulsion. Materials and Methods: The individual microbial profiles of 20 Caucasian females were investigated. Samples were obtained twenty-four hours and four days following a daily application of the skincare products versus control area where no product was applied. To analyze the bacterial diversity and abundance of skin microbiome, a 16SrRNA gene sequencing was performed using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Results: Our results confirm the overall diversity of skin microbiome as previously observed and notably reveal the prevalence of Cutibacterium spp. and Staphylococcus spp. on sebaceous site (the back). Bacterial diversity and abundance were not affected by the products either twenty-four hours or four days after application, as indicated by comparison with the control. Moreover, no dissimilarity was observed between the three products versus their control, neither between each product. Conclusions: These preliminary results demonstrated for the first time that three different types of leave-on face skincare products such as a hydrophilic sterile solution, a micellar solution, and an emulsion have no impact on skin microbiome and can be considered as “microbiome friendly”.

A Pacific brittle star Ophiura sarsii has previously been shown to produce a chlorin (3S,4S)-14-Ethyl-9-(hydroxymethyl)-4,8,13,18-tetramethyl-20-oxo-3-phorbinepropanoic acid (ETPA) (1) with potent phototoxic activities making it applicable to photodynamic therapy. Using extensive LC-MS metabolite profiling, molecular network analysis and targeted isolation with de novo NMR structure elucidation, we here identify five additional chlorin compounds from O. sarsii and its deep-sea relative O. ooplax: 10S-Hydroxypheophorbide a (2), Pheophorbide a (3), Pyropheophorbide a (4), (3S,4S,21R)-14-Ethyl-9-(hydroxymethyl)-21-(methoxycarbonyl)-4,8,13,18-tetramethyl-20-oxo-3-phorbinepropanoic acid (5), and (3S,4S,21R)-14-Ethyl-21-hydroxy-9-(hydroxymethyl)-4,8,13,18-tetramethyl-20-oxo-3-phorbinepropanoic acid (6). Chlorins 5 and 6 have not been previously reported in natural sources. Interestingly, low amounts of chlorins 1-4 and 6 could also be identified in a distant species, the basket star Gorgonocephalus cf. eucnemis, demonstrating that chlorins are produced by a wide spectrum of marine invertebrates of the class Ophiuroidea. Following purification of these major Ophiura chlorin metabolites, we discovered the high singlet oxygen quantum yield upon their photoinduction and their strong phototoxicity against a panel of cancer cell lines. These studies identify an arsenal of brittle star chlorins as powerful natural photosensitizers with potential photodynamic therapy applications.

Cutaneous melanoma (CM) patients respond better to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) than mucosal and uveal melanoma patients (MM/UM). Aiming to explore these differences and understand the distinct response to ICI, we evaluated the serum metabolome of advanced CM, MM, and UM patients. Levels of 115 metabolites were analyzed in samples collected before ICI, using a targeted metabolomics platform. In our analysis, molecules involved in the tryptophan-kynurenine axis distinguished UM/MM from CM. UM/MM patients had higher levels of 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HKyn), whilst patients with CM were found to have higher levels of kynurenic acid (KA). The KA/3-HKyn ratio was significantly higher in CM versus the other subtypes. UM, the most ICI-resistant subtype, was also associated with higher levels of sphingomyelin-d18:1/22:1 and the polyamine spermine (SPM). Overall survival was prolonged in patients with lower SPM levels. Our study revealed distinct metabolomic profile between the most resistant melanoma subtypes, UM and MM, compared to CM. Alterations within the kynurenine pathway, polyamine metabolism and sphingolipid metabolic pathway may contribute to the poor response to ICI. Understanding the different metabolomic profiles introduces opportunities for novel therapies with potential synergic activity to ICI, to improve responses of UM/MM.

(1) Background: The synthesis of core-shell magnetic mesoporous nanoparticles (MMSN) from phase transfer process is usually performed at 100-250 mg scale. At the gram scale, nanoparticles without core or with multicore systems are observed. (2) Methods: Iron oxide core nanoparticles (IO) were synthesized through thermal decomposition procedure of -FeO in oleic acid. Phase transfer from chloroform to water was then performed in order to wrap IO with mesoporous silica shell through the sol-gel procedure. MMSN were then functionalized with DTPA, and used for the separation of metal ions. Their toxicity was evaluated (3) Results: The phase transfer pro-cedure was crucial to obtained MMSN at large scale. Three synthesis parameters were rigorously controlled: temperature, time and glassware. Homogeneous dispersion of MMSN at the gram scale was successfully obtained. After functionalization with DTPA, the MMSN-DTPA were shown to have a strong affinity for Ni ions. Furthermore toxicity was evaluated in cells, zebrafish and through seahorse metabolic assays, and the nanoparticles were found nontoxic. (4) Conclusions: We developed a method of preparation of MMSN at the gram scale. After function-alization with DTPA, the nanoparticles were efficient in metal ion removal and separation, fur-thermore, no toxicity was noticed up to 125 µg.mL-1 in zebrafish.

Increasingly small, non-palpable testicular incidentalomas <1cm are discovered in the clinical practice. The ESUR Scrotal and Penile Imaging Working Group suggests active surveillance with US, and surgery only for nodules that grow. This approach, however, requires validation. A consecutive series of 127 incidentalomas were initially followed-up and operated if they were growing (n=28), or because of preference of the patient and of the referring urologist (n=11). For the lesions that were growing specific growth rate (SGR) and doubling time (DT) were calculated assuming an exponential grow. Also, the velocity of increase of the average diameter (∆Dav) and of the maximum diameter (∆Dmax) were calculated. Of the 127 nodules which were initially followed-up, 6 disappeared, 8 reduced in size, 85 were stable, and 28 increased in size. All 18 malignant tumours, 8/9 benign tumours, and 2/12 surgically proved non-neoplastic lesions were growing. The best cut-off values of the growth indicators to differentiate between malignant and non-malignant histology were 3.47x10-3 %volume/day, ≤179 days, >10x10-3 mm/day, and >5x10-3 mm/day for SGR, DT, ∆Dmax, ∆Dav, respectively. A conservative approach of non-growing small incidentalomas is safe. Malignant and non-malignant small incidentalomas can be effectively differentiated based on growing parameters, even though superimposition exists.

The paper focuses on the application of a multilevel, integrative and territorial approach to the protection of cultural heritage through planning instruments in Serbia. It points out the problems of the sectoral approach and discusses international recommendations that can be integrated into the planning methodology. The case study is the area of Djerdap National Park, which has an already established international and national importance. The research suggests that the cultural heritage in the area, with the exception of the Roman limes, is still recognized at the level of individual localities. The study emphasizes the importance of aligning all levels of governance to safeguard the whole spatial entity rather than focusing solely on its particular areas. The interna-tional and national importance of the planning area contributes to the strengthening of awareness of heritage and its institutional protection. However, the vitality of the area, which is key to its sustainable development, comes from the local level. Planning documents contribute to the inte-gration of local values and local communities into development programs and projects.

Glycosidic linkage analysis was conducted on the unfractionated polysaccharides in the alcohol-insoluble residues (AIRs) prepared from six red seaweeds (Gracilariopsis sp., Prionitis sp., Mastocarpus papillatus, Callophyllis sp., Mazzaella splendens, and Palmaria palmata) using GC-MS/FID analysis of partially methylated alditol acetates (PMAAs). The cell walls of P. palmata primarily contained mixed-linkage xylans and small amounts of sulfated galactans and cellulose. In contrast, the unfractionated polysaccharides of the other five species were rich in galactans displaying diverse 3,6-anhydro-galactose and galactose linkages with varied sulfation patterns. Different levels of cellulose were also observed. This glycosidic linkage method offers advantages for cellulose analysis over traditional monosaccharide analysis that is known for underrepresenting glucose in crystalline cellulose. Relative linkage compositions calculated from GC-MS and GC-FID measurements showed that anhydro sugar linkages generated more response in the latter detection method. This improved linkage workflow presents a useful tool for studying polysaccharide structural variations across red seaweed species. Furthermore, for the first time, relative linkage compositions from GC-MS and GC-FID measurements, along with normalized FID and total ion current (TIC) chromatograms without peak assignments, were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) as a proof-of-concept demonstration of the technique's potential to differentiate various red seaweed species.

Background: Educating college students about the importance of good sleep habits could lead to the adoption of healthier sleep routines, including sufficient sleep duration and sleep quality. The current pre-post study examines the impact of completing a sleep education program called “Sleep 101” on (1) sleep hygiene practices, (2) sleep quality, and (3) weekday and weekend sleep behaviors among college students. “Sleep 101” is an interactive online course developed to educate college students about the importance of sleep by addressing basic sleep physiology, the impact of sleep on mood, academic and physical performance, the interactions between sleep and various substances, and common sleep disorders. Methods: 338 college students were recruited from a midsized public university in the US and invited to participate in “Sleep 101”, of which 25 participants completed the baseline and post-intervention questionnaire. The Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI) was utilized to evaluate sleep hygiene practices, while standard questions were employed to assess weekday and weekend sleep behaviors and overall sleep quality. Results: Those who completed the study demonstrated a significant increase in weekday sleep duration and were less likely to engage in negative prior bedtime activities. In addition, 40% of those who completed baseline and post-intervention assessments noticed improvements in their sleep quality. Conclusion: These findings suggest that a brief online program is beneficial in improving sleep behaviors among college and could be a scalable approach to addressing current sleep issues and preventing future sleep problems in college students.

The profile of secondary metabolites occurring in apple cuticular layer is not only characteristic for particular apple cultivar, but also dynamically reflects various external factors in growing environment. In this study, the possibility to authenticate apple samples based on analysis of their cuticular layer extracts was investigated. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS) was employed for obtaining metabolomic fingerprints. In total, 274 authentic apple samples, four cultivars harvested within the seasons 2020 to 2022 in the Czech Republic and Poland were analysed. The generated complex data processed by univariate and multivariate statistical methods enabled to build classification models for discrimination of apple cultivars as well as their geographical origin. The models showed very good performance in differentiation of Czech and Polish samples for three of four cultivars: ‘Gala’, ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Idared’, moreover, the validity of the models was verified over harvest seasons. The diagnostic markers, besides metabolites of triterpene biosynthetic pathway, mainly represented wax esters. ‘Jonagold’, which is known to be susceptible to mutations, was the only cultivar for which the unambiguous classification of geographical origin was not possible.

Strawberry root rot caused by Neopestalotiopsis clavispora is one of the main diseases of strawberry and significantly impacts the yield and quality of strawberry fruit. There are now no effective control techniques available except for fungicide sprays, which may directly impact consumers. Biological control is becoming an alternative method for the control of plant diseases to replace or decrease the application of traditional synthetic chemical fungicides. Trichoderma is widely used as a biological agent for controlling strawberry root rot. In order to provide resources for screening the highly effective biocontrol fungus for controlling strawberry root rot caused by Neopestalotiopsis clavispora, the biocontrol mechanism,the control effects of Trichoderma asperellum CMT10 against strawberry root rot and growth-promoting effects on strawberry seedlings were investigated by plate culture, microscopy observation and root drenching methods.The results showed that CMT10 had obvious competitive, antibiotic and hyperparasitism effects on Neopestalotiopsis clavispora CMGF3. The CMT10 could quickly occupy nutritional space, and the inhibition rates of CMT10 against CMGF3 in confrontation culture on 7 d was 65.49%. The inhibition rates of volatile metabolite and fermentation metabolite produced by CMT10 against CMGF3 were 79.67% and 69.84%, respectively. The mycelium of strain CMT10 can act as hyperparasites by making contacting, winding and penetrating hyphae of CMGF3. Pot experiment showed that the biocontrol efficacy of CMT10 on strawberry root rot caused by Neopestalotiopsis clavispora was 63.00%. CMT10 had obvious promotion effect on strawberry growth, the plant height, root length, total fresh weight, root fresh weight, stem fresh weight and root dry weight, with the promotion rates were 20.09%, 22.39%, 87.11%, 101.58%, 79.82% and 72.33%, respectively. Overall, this study showed the ability of Trichoderma asperellum CMT10 to control strawberry root rot and their potential to develop as novel biocontrol agents to replace chemical fungicides for eco-friendly, sustainable agriculture.

Folk medicine is widely used in Angola, even for human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) in spite of the fact that the reference treatment is available for free. Aiming to validate herbal remedies in use, we have selected nine medicinal plants and assessed their antitrypanosomal ac-tivity. 122 extracts were prepared using different plant parts and solvents. 15 extracts from seven different plants exhibited in vitro activity against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense bloodstream forms >70% at 20 µg/ml. The dichloromethane extract of Nymphaea lotus (leaves and leaflets) and the ethanolic extract of Brasenia schreberi (leaves) had IC50 values ≤10 µg/ml. These two aquatic plants are of particular interest. They are being co-applied in the form of a decoction of leaves because they are considered by local healers as male and female of the same species, the ethnotaxon “longa dia simbi”. Bioassay-guided fractionation led to the identification of eight active molecules: gallic acid (IC50 0.5 µg/ml), methyl gallate (IC50 1.1 µg/ml), 2,3,4,6-tetragalloyl-glucopyranoside, ethyl gallate (IC50 0.5µg/ml), 1,2,3,4,6-pentagalloyl-β-glucopyranoside (IC50 20µg/ml), gossypet-in-7-O-β-glucopyranoside (IC50 5.5µg/ml), and hypolaetin-7-O-glucoside (IC50 5.7µg/ml) in B. schreberi, and 5-[(8Z,11Z,14Z)-heptadeca-8,11,14-trienyl] resorcinol (IC50 5.3µg/ml) not described to date in N. lotus. Five of these active constituents were detected in the traditional preparation. This work provides the first evidence for the ethnomedicinal use of these plants in the management of sleeping sickness in Angola.

Rapid screening of botanical extracts for the discovery of bioactive natural products was performed using a fractionation approach in conjunction with flow-injection high-resolution mass spectrometry for obtaining chemical fingerprints of each fraction, enabling the correlation of the relative abundance of molecular features (representing individual phytochemicals) with the read-outs of bioassays. We applied this strategy for discovering and identifying constituents of Centella asiatica (C. asiatica) that protect against Aβ cytotoxicity in vitro. C. asiatica has been associated with improving mental health and cognitive function, with potential use in Alzheimer’s disease. Human neuroblastoma MC65 cells were exposed to subfractions of an aqueous extract of C. asiatica to evaluate the protective benefit derived from these subfractions against amyloid β-cytotoxicity. The % viability score of the cells exposed to each subfraction was used in conjunction with the intensity of the molecular features in two computational models, namely Elastic Net and selectivity ratio, to determine the relationship of the peak intensity of molecular features and % viability. Finally, the correlation of mass spectral features with MC65 protection and their abundance in different sub-fractions were visualized using GNPS molecular networking. Both computational methods unequivocally identified dicaffeoylquinic acids as providing strong protection against Aβ-toxicity in MC65 cells, in agreement with the protective effects observed for these compounds in previous preclinical model studies.

Apis mellifera, especially weak ones, are highly vulnerable to Carpoglyphus lactis mites, which can rapidly infest and consume stored pollen, leading to weakened colonies and potentially colony collapse. This study aimed to ascertain and investigate the prevalence of this mite in honeybee colonies across 9 provinces in the Republic of Korea (ROK). A total of 615 honeybee colonies were collected, from 66 apiaries during the spring and 58 apiaries during the summer of 2023. A 1,242 bp segment of the the Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene was amplified using the polymerase chain reaction method. The detection levels of C. lactis in the honeybees were compared between winter and summer. Based on the COI sequence analysis, the nucleotide sequence similarity of C. lactis mites isolated in the ROK with those from China (NC048990.1) was found to be 99.5%, and with those from the United Kingdom (KY922482.1) was 99.3%. This study is the first report of C. lactis in Korean apiaries. The findings in this study demonstrate a significantly higher detection rate in winter, which is 4.1 times greater than that in summer (p &lt; 0.001). Furthermore, the results underscore the usefulness of molecular diagnostic techniques for detecting C. lactis mites.

COX II containing a dual core CuA active site is one of the three core subunits of mitochondrial Cco, which plays a significant role in the physiological process. In this report, the full-length cDNA of COXⅡ gene was cloned from Sitophilus zeamais, which had an ORF of 684 bp encoding 227 amino acids residues. The predicted COXⅡ protein had a molecular mass of 26.2 kDa with pI value of 6.37, and multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis indicated that Sitophilus zeamais COXⅡ had high sequence identity 78.51% with the COXⅡ of other insect species, especially similarity to sitophilus oryzae. This gene was subcloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a, and induced by IPTG in E.coli Transetta (DE3) expression system. Finally the COXⅡ with 6-His tag was purified using affinity chromatography with Ni²⁺-NTA agarose. WB showed the recombinant COXⅡ was about 44 kD, and the concentration of fusion protein was 50μg/mL. UV-spectrophotometer and infrared spectrometer analysis showed that recombinant COXⅡ could catalyze the oxidation of substrate Cytc, and influenced by AITC. It was found that AITC could form a hydrophobic region with COXⅡ protein via molecular docking, besides, a sulfur atom of AITC structure could form a length of 2.9 Å hydrogen bond with Leu-31. These results will provide valuable information for elucidating the role of COXⅡ in Sitophilus zeamais responses to AITC, meanwhile, it will helpful to carry out a point mutation in AITC binding sites for the future research.

The properties of the annual, semiannual and triennial oscillations (AO, SAO and TO) in the middle atmosphere have been investigated using the TIMED/SABER temperature data. The Lomb-Scargle and wavelet spectra were used to determine the dominant oscillations in the background temperature field. The AO is prominent at the mid-latitudes. The AO amplitudes present an asymmetry between the two Hemispheres, being larger in the mesosphere than in the stratosphere. The SAO dominates the tropical regions, with three amplitude maxima at altitudes of 45, 75, and 85 km. The SAOs in the upper mesosphere (75 km) are out of phase with those in the mesopause (85 km) in the tropical regions, which can generate an enhancement of 11 K at each equinox, contributing to the lower mesospheric inversion layer. The TO is significant in the tropical region, with amplitude being maximum at 35, 45 and 85 km. Result shows that there may be potential interaction by the TO with SAO at 85km at the equator. The relation between ENSO and TO has also been discussed. The ENSO signal may modulate the amplitude of the TO, mainly in the lower stratosphere. The real origin of the TO may lie in the wave-mean-flow interaction.

This paper is focused on typical rural settlements in the Stara Planina Mountain area in Serbia. They are distinguished by their authenticity, identity and character, and they have still not been destroyed by inappropriate development as is the case in some other mountain areas in Serbia, where the effects of urbanization, globalization and homogenization are obvious. Consequently, there is a need to prevent these effects in mountain areas where there is a threat of disbalance between development and the inherited natural and cultural values. The paper starts from several important concepts that relate contemporary approaches to cultural heritage preservation, place morphology and planning future development. The concept definitions from recent documents from related fields are used. These concepts are then applied to the area of Stara Planina Mountain and its rural settlements. The necessity for an integrative approach to planning this area with significant natural and anthropogenic potential is pointed out, including its integration into international programs of sustainable development.

The research reported on this paper was aimed at improving the overall efficiency of a PDO certified artisanal cheese production process. Being a PDO certified foodstuff by the EU, it is considered to have properties and qualities determined by the geographical environment in which is made, with its production taking place in a specific and determined geographical location, in this case the Serra da Estrela region. In that sense, the authors conducted a mapping according to a systemic perspective of the processes involved in the context of manufacturing and distribution of certified Serra da Estrela cheese. Numerous methods were used throughout the process, such as a systemic design analysis, and techniques derived from ethnographic methods, which led to the collection of data in the field and consequently provided the immersion of the researcher in genuine work situations. Critical points were identified and emphasized in the systemic map with the purpose of encouraging initiatives to address and overcome the gaps and inefficiencies detected. The systemic design analysis triggered the development of design work. Observations following an ethnographic approach identified ergonomic risks in cheese making during the process of cutting excess chips, fostering the emergence of musculoskeletal disorders at the wrist. A tool that fits best to the task at hand was developed. A prototype of the new tool enabled collecting feedback from use in the work context, in order to inform product development. The domains of agricultural production and microbiology, considering the specific microorganisms developed trough the ripening process of the cheese, turned out to be aspects of high importance for the issue under focus, contributing to a broader understanding of the ripening process and its risks, simultaneously improving the efficiency and success of cheese production. If it were not for the systemic analysis, which served as a link between the boundaries of distinct domains such as the risk of microorganism contamination, ergonomics, energy efficiency, legislation and regulation policies, transportation challenges and economic viability, approached throughout the research. Simultaneously creating bridges between them, the various problems might not have been detected in the first place, as they are usually addressed in specialized disciplines, predetermined by the restrictions of each specific area of knowledge. As a consequence of the development of this research, which was based on an analysis that sought to establish possible connections between various disciplines and tried to constantly maintain a holistic perspective, making new connections and observing the issues from a new angle, apart from the already established methodologies. All this allowed to lay out the seeds for the development of a plan to tackle the critical points identified by the systemic analysis reported in this paper.

Promoting green development has become an important way to optimize the ecological and economic structure and promote sustainable development. The Yangtze River Economic Belt is an important economic corridor in China, and it remains to be examined whether the implementation of environmental regulations has enhanced the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of cities. This paper calculates the green total factor productivity of 107 cities within the Yangtze River Economic Belt by using the super-efficient SBM model and the GML index with Chinese city panel data from 2007-2019 and measures the intensity of environmental regulations through textual analysis. The bidirectional fixed-effects model constructed in this paper suggests an inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and GTFP, which is confirmed by a series of robustness tests. Green technology innovation and advanced industrial structure play a mechanism role in this. In regions with lower levels of green technology and industrial structure, the inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and green total factor productivity is more significant. In addition, the phenomenon of GTFP rising and then falling because of environmental regulation is more obvious in cities in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River and outside the urban agglomerations. Therefore, when formulating environmental regulation policies, it is necessary to balance the relationship between economic development and environmental protection and harmonize the environment and economic development of the entire Yangtze River Basin.

The wetlands in northeastern Bangladesh are home to some of the most prolific and valuable ecosystems on the planet, offering a wide range of benefits to both the local and wider communities. A limited number of research on this topic have been carried out in various wetlands in coastal hilsa, but none have been located in the northeastern region of Bangladesh. Thus, the goal of this study was to better understand the most commercially relevant species (anadromous hilsa) in northeastern Bangladesh as well as to assess the wetland ecosystem services more thoroughly with the contribution of their fish genetic resources. In addition to laboratory studies, fieldwork was done in the fishing settlements along the Surma River, Hakaluki Haor, and Tanguar Haor. The study classified 77 fish species into 21 subcategories of ecosystem services, of which 56% were not threatened, 17% were vulnerable, and 10% were highly endangered. The species Hilsa was found to be the most economically significant, accounting for 1% of the GDP overall. The study determined if the hilsa stock of the examined wetlands maintains a single or several subpopulations in comparison to other parts of the country when they migrate from saline water to northeastern Bangladesh (freshwater). But when compared to other groups, the FST score was between 0.000 to 0.017, indicating that the populations are identical and that there is genetic material sharing between them. Additionally, these statistics imply that the Sylhet haor and adjacent river systems contain a single stock of Hilsa fish. Nevertheless, a number of stresses and risks, including overexploitation, illicit and destructive fishing, siltation, and natural disasters like flash floods, have been linked to changes in the supply of hilsa and other ecosystem services. This study also emphasizes the necessity of policy attention and research to address the concerns.

In this paper, we introduce a specialized, fully automated experimental arrangement designed for assessing the effectiveness of augmented and virtual reality technologies in healthcare setting and explore its design principles focusing on depth sensor characterization. The main goal of this project is to establish a robust benchtop platform for the quantitative evaluation of extended reality technologies in a controlled environment, emphasizing the practical assessment of augmented reality head-mounted devices. We outline a design concept and considerations for an experimental configuration aimed at creating a realistic testing environment. This apparatus comprises an observation platform mounted on a three-degree-of-freedom motorized system and a test phantom stage. Focusing on real-case scenarios, we utilized a range of sensors, including readily available range-sensing cameras and commercial augmented reality headsets, such as the Intel RealSense L515 LiDAR camera, mounted on the motion control system. The setup enabled automated data collection and facilitates controlled assessments and validation of various facets of augmented reality technologies, including object, hand, and head tracking, as well as static and dynamic image registration. This paper describes the system architecture, the process of automated data collection, and presents several evaluation studies conducted with this setup, providing insights into the quality and temporal noise associated with static or moving objects or observers in augmented reality applications.

To conduct high-precision and high-resolution numerical simulation of complex flow structures in turbomachinery, a high-order finite volume weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme for the large eddy simulation (LES) is improved and embedded into the three-dimensional viscous unsteady CFD solver NUAA-Turbo. Firstly, the spectral characteristics and unsteady convergence of the improved WENO scheme are studied. Compared with the classical WENO scheme, the improved WENO scheme has better dissipation and dispersion characteristics and faster convergence speed. Then, the coefficient CW of the Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-viscosity (WALE) model is calibrated by decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence (DHIT) test case. Finally, the scheme is applied to conduct high-precision LES calculations of turbulent boundary layer flow, supersonic compression corner flow, and low-pressure turbine cascade separation flow. The numerical simulation results show that this WENO scheme has excellent shock wave capture ability and turbulence resolution and can capture more flow field details with less mesh size, greatly reducing the computational cost and laying a foundation for large-scale engineering application of LES.

To secure logic circuits against the illegal copying the insertion of the so-called key bit inputs using XOR/XNOR gates has been proposed in . The inserted gates modify (lock) the behavior of the original circuit and only the correct choice of the secret key bits guarantees the equivalent behaviour of the locked circuit to the original circuit. To break this kind of security, i.e. to find the secret key bits, there was a SAT solver based attack proposed in . The aim of this work is to experimentally verify this attack on several locked circuits with various number of primary inputs and outputs and with various number of gates. Except for the random placement of the key gates we evaluate also the positioning with chaining elimination. The obtained and presented results show that we were able to unlock 10 of 11 circuits within few minutes on a common PC.

Intermetallic compounds are increasingly being expected to utilize in tribological environments, but to date the works are hindered by insufficient ductility at low and medium temperature. This paper presents a novel multiphase intermetallic alloy with the chemical composition of Mo-40Ni-13Si (at.%). Microstructure characterization reveals that a certain amount of ductile Mo phases formed during the solidification process of ternary Mo-Ni-Si alloy melt, which is undoubtedly beneficial to the ductility improvement of intermetallic alloy. Tribological properties of the designed alloy, including wear resistance, friction coefficient and metallic tribological compatibility, were evaluated under dry sliding wear test conditions at room temperature. Results suggested that the multiphase alloy possesses an excellent property for room-temperature wear applications, which is attributed to the unique microstructural features and thereby good combination in hardness and ductility. The corresponding wear mechanism is also reported by observing the worn surface, subsurface and wear debris of alloy, which to be found is soft abrasive wear.

With the integrated development of the Internet, wireless sensor technology, cloud computing, and mobile Internet, there has been a lot of attention given to research about and applications of the Internet of Things. A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is one of the important information technologies in the Internet of Things; it integrates multi-technology to detect and gather information in a network environment by mutual cooperation, using a variety of methods to process and analyze data, implement awareness, and perform tests. This paper mainly researches the localization algorithm of sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network. Firstly, a multi-granularity region partition is proposed to divide the location region. In the range-based method, the RSSI (Received Signal Strength indicator, RSSI) is used to estimate distance. The optimal RSSI value is computed by the Gaussian fitting method. Furthermore, a Voronoi diagram is characterized by the use of dividing region. Rach anchor node is regarded as the center of each region; the whole position region is divided into several regions and the sub-region of neighboring nodes is combined into triangles while the unknown node is locked in the ultimate area. Secondly, the multi-granularity regional division and Lagrange multiplier method are used to calculate the final coordinates. Because nodes are influenced by many factors in the practical application, two kinds of positioning methods are designed: the unknown node is in the positioning unit or not. When the unknown node is on the side of the positioning unit, we use the method of vector similarity. Moreover, we use the centroid algorithm to calculate the ultimate coordinates of unknown node. When the unknown node is not on the side of the positioning unit, we establish a Lagrange equation containing the constraint condition to calculate the first coordinates. Furthermore, we use the Taylor expansion formula to correct the coordinates of the unknown node. In addition, this localization method has been validated by establishing the real environment.

The electroencephalogram (EEG) is a record of brain activity. Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology formed by the EEG signal has become one of the hotspots at present. How to extract the feature signal of EEG is the most basic research of BCI technology. In this paper, A new method of recognizing fatigue, conscious, concentrated state of human brain is proposed by the combination of discrete wavelet transform and the neural network based on EEG signal. First of all, the law signal is preprocessed by the wavelet denoising method because the law EEG signal contains a large number of high frequency noise, which is decomposed into multi-layer high frequency signal and low frequency signal. thus, δ wave, θ wave, α wave, β wave are obtained by the wavelet transform. And then, frequency band energy of the different wave is regards as the feature signal of EEG. In the experiment, the feature signal is classified by radial basic function (RBF) and annealed chaotic competitive learning network (ACCLN). RBF and ACCLN networks are trained with 500 sets of sample data and are tested by 100 sets of samples in different mental states. The experimental results show that the average accuracy of RBF network under three conditions are 88.75%, 88.25%, 88.5%, respectively, and the correct rate of ACCLN network is 97%, 98%, 98%, respectively.

Early discharge after childbirth has led to a rise in neonatal readmission, becoming a major concern in recent decades. Our research aimed to identify the risk factors and incidence of neonatal readmission, as well as explore preventive measures. Our study at the Clinical Hospital of Pediatrics in Ploiești, Romania included 108 neonates admitted during the neonatal period. This accounted for 2.06% of all admissions (5226). The most prevalent cases were malnutrition (25%), fever (20.3%) and bronchiolitis (17.5%). Diarrhea and infectious gastroenteritis were also observed (14.8%), along with acute rhinoconjunctivitis (9.2%) and late onset sepsis (3.7%). No deaths were recorded. The most significant characteristics identified were number of children (p&lt;0.001) and age at maternity discharge (p&lt;0.001). By following the prevention rules, malnutrition, feeding errors, and infections can be avoided. This includes practicing proper hand hygiene for both mothers and medical staff, as well as educating and demonstrating to mothers the benefits of breastfeeding. In addition, all newborns discharged from the maternity ward should benefit from follow-up at 7-10 days of life. Our results confirm the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary team and endorse promoting breastfeeding. Implementing quality control measures and regularly evaluating the surveillance program will help improve its effectiveness.

Centella asiatica (Centella) is a traditional botanical medicine that shows promise in treating dementia based on behavioral alterations seen in animal models of aging and cognitive dysfunction. In order to determine if Centella could similarly improve cognitive function and reduce disease burden in multiple sclerosis (MS), we tested its effects in the neuroinflammatory experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of MS. In two independent experiments, C57BL/6J mice were treated following induction of EAE with either a standardized water extract of Centella (CAW) or placebo for 2 weeks. At the dosing schedule and concentrations tested, CAW did not improve behavioral performance, EAE motor disability, or degrees of demyelination. However, CAW-treated mice demonstrated increases in nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 and other antioxidant response element genes, and increases in mitochondrial respiratory activity. Caw also decreased spinal cord inflammation. Our findings indicate that CAW can increase antioxidant gene expression and mitochondrial respiratory activity in mice with EAE, supporting investigation of the clinical effects of CAW in people with MS.

Wearable technology has been proposed as a potential tool to change the way of human life, such as the smart bracelet and the Google Glass. In the wearable technology, the inertial sensor has great significance in tracking the object movements. The paper focused on detecting the movements of user’s finger based on the inertial sensor to give the control signals. Firstly, the attitude matrix, which represented the transformation relation of carrier coordinate system and the navigation coordinate system, was obtained. Secondly, the attitude matrix was expressed based on the quaternions. Thirdly, the finger gesture was processed by the attitude matrix to get the attitude angle. Finally, the robot was controlled by attitude angle to make the moving action. The experimental results showed the detection of the finger movement is effective.