Nanoparticles have been proposed for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The research has demonstrated marvelous effort to understand the mechanisms of nanoparticles-EOR. Nevertheless, gaps still exist in terms of understanding the improved fluids and fluid-rock interactions by nanoparticles, which are the key driving forces for oil mobilization. This paper investigates four types of polymer-coated silica nanoparticles as additives for water flooding oil recovery in water-wet reservoirs. A series of flooding experiments were performed with nanoparticles at 0.1 wt.% in seawater at ambient conditions. The dynamics of fluids, fluid-rock interface interactions and fluid flow behavior were characterized in order to understand oil recovery mechanisms of nanoparticles. Experimental results showed an increase in oil recovery up to 14.8%-point with nanofluid injection compared to an average of 40% of the original oil in place (OOIP) obtained from control water flood test. Moreover, the nanoparticles mobilized residual oil and incremented oil recovery up to 9.2% of the OOIP. Displacement studies show that no single mechanism could account for the EOR effect with the application of nanoparticles. Instead, the mobilization of oil seemed to occur through a combination of reduced oil/water IFT, change in the rock surface roughness and wettability to more water-wet, and microscopic flow diversion due to clogging of the pores.

In this paper is discussed sediment transport as a mechanical process that characterises a natural stream or channel flow regime. The objective of experimental work presented in this paper is to recall and to give another prospect of well-known Meyer-Peter and Müller approach for estimation of Shield’s number (θ_c,θ) in laboratory conditions, and calibration of dimensionless MPM number (A). For this purpose two different experiments are conducted, during the first experiment water amount flushed on the flume and bed slope was changed simultaneously until equilibrium state is achieved, meanwhile is estimated the critical Shield’s number (θ_c). While, during the second experiment, water amount was kept constant, only bed slope of flume was continuously tilted, meanwhile sediment, discharge and Shield’s number (θ) was determined for given hydraulic conditions. In addition calibration of dimensionless MPM number (A) was performed, where several iteration were considered until for (A=3.42), sediment discharge measured become almost equal with sediment discharge computed by using MPM formula. After these experiments, is concluded that MPM formula can be used also for other certain initial condition and similar procedure may be adopted to calibrate the dimensionless MPM number (A) .

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of different closures used in second fermentation on the aromatic fraction of sparkling wine. Six types of closures (cork stoppers and screw cap) and 94 months of aging in bottle were investigated. Head-space-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and thermal desorption (TD) procedures coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMSMS) analysis was applied. The vectors containing the relative abundance of the volatile compounds are compositional vectors. The statistical analysis of compositional data requires specific techniques that differ from standard techniques.101 volatile compounds were identified. HS-SPME extracted highest percentage of ester, ketones and other compounds while TD was a useful tool for the obtention of alcohol, acid, ether and alkanes compounds. Esters was the most abundant family of compounds. Compositional data analysis applied to study the impact of different closures used in bottle-aging after second fermentation on the volatile composition of sparkling wine concluded that there are differences in the relative abundance of certain volatile compounds between cork stoppers and screw cap closures group. Overall, the most abundant part in screw cap closures was Ethyl hexanoate and, Ethyl octanoate in cork stoppers. Also, the proportion amount of Dimethylamine was higher in screw cap closures than cork stoppers group relative to the entire of the sample.

This paper discusses the potential and limitations of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in environmental justice, health and inequality studies in urban areas. Very often the NDVI is correlated with socioeconomic and/or sociodemographic data to demonstrate the inequality in environmental settings that themselves influence individual health and questions of environmental justice. This paper addresses the limits of the NDVI for such applications and as well its potential, if applied properly. The overall goal is to make people of disciplines other than those that are geo-related aware of the characteristics, limits and potentials of satellite image-based information layers such as NDVI.

The main objective is to offer a functionally coherent counter-narrative to the polarized views prevailing now about the complex ‘Eukaryogenesis problem’ versus the “primitive” nature ascribed to so-called “Prokaryotes” (termed Akaryotes herein). The paradigm shift presented aims at bridging the conceptual gap between the rudimentary beginnings of biomolecular cooperativity on a pristine Earth (the Origins of Life or OoL) and the beginnings of lineage-wise diversification toward Darwinean speciation in the Tree of Life (or ToL). Although the research field as a whole is not aware of a corresponding ‘Prokaryogenesis problem’, the evolutionary process resulting in the partly independent archaeal and bacterial cell types is not fully understood. The present paper provides an explanation for these problems based on coevolutionary complementarity at multiple levels. The unconventional model connects various stages from “neighborhood selection” in film-like layers of unbounded “surface protoplasm” based on short “statistical proteins”, via a closely knit “peptide/RNA partnership” in the “making of genes”, toward the “making of genomes” in several RNA-to-DNA transitions. Three virus-related plasmids carrying different DNA replicases may have initiated the vertical stability of hereditable lineages that led to the three “domains” of organismal life, with a fourth lineage ending in eukaryotic organelles. These partly independent transitions established DNA as a late-comer of fundamental biomolecules.

The possibilities and reach of social networks are increasing, the designs are becoming more diverse, and the ideas more visionary. Most recently, the former company “Facebook” announced the creation of a metaverse. With these technical possibilities, however, the danger of fraudsters is also growing. Using social bots, consumers are increasingly influenced on such platforms and business transactions are brought about through communication, i.e. conversational commerce. Minors or the elderly are particularly susceptible. This technical development is accompanied by a legal one: it is permitted by the Digital Services Directive and the Sale of Goods Directive to demand the provision of data as consideration for the sale of digital products. This raises legal problems at the level of the law of obligations and data protection law, whose regulations are intended to protect the aforementioned groups of individuals. This protection becomes even more important the more manipulative consumers are influenced by communicative bots. We show that there is a lack of knowledge about what objective data value can have in business transactions. Sufficient transparency of an objective data value can maintain legal protection, especially of vulnerable groups, and ensure the purpose of the laws.

To improve the monitoring of the electrical power grid it is necessary to evaluate the influence of contamination in relation to leakage current and its progression to a disruptive discharge. In this paper, insulators were tested in a saline chamber to simulate the increase of salt contamination on their surface, and to evaluate the supportability of these components. From the time series forecasting of the leakage current, it is possible to evaluate the development of the fault before a flashover occurs. Choosing which method to use is always a difficult task since some models may have higher computational effort. In this paper, for a complete evaluation, the long short-term memory (LSTM), group method of data handling (GMDH), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), bootstrap aggregation (bagging), sequential learning (boosting), random subspace, and stacked generalization (stacking) ensemble learning models are analyzed. A review and comparison of these well-established methods for time series forecasting is performed. From the results of the best structure of the model, the hyperparameters are evaluated and the Wavelet transform is used to obtain an enhanced model.

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) data is part of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) observables. In a marine environment, the oscillation of the SNR data can be used to derive reflector heights. Since the attenuation of the SNR oscillation is related to the roughness of the sea surface, the significant wave height (SWH) of the water surface can be calculated from the analysis of the attenuation. The attenuation depends additionally on the relation between the coherent and the incoherent part of the scattered power. The latter is a function of the correlation length of the surface waves. Because the correlation length changes with respect to the direction of the line of sight relative to the wave direction, the attenuation must show an anisotropic characteristic. In this work, we present a method to derive the wave direction from the anisotropy of the attenuation of the SNR data. The method is investigated based on simulated data as well by the analysis of experimental data from a GNSS station in the North Sea.

The affinity constant, also known as the equilibrium constant, binding constant, equilibrium association constant, or the reciprocal value, the equilibrium dissociation constant (K_d), can be considered as one of the most important characteristics for any antibody-antigen pair. Many methods based on different technologies have been proposed and used to determine this value. However, since a very large number of publications and commercial datasheets do not include this information, significant obstacles in performing such measurements seem to exist. In other cases where such data are reported, the results have often proved to be unreliable. This situation may indicate that most of the technologies available today require a high level of expertise that does not seem to be available in many laboratories. In this paper, we present a simple approach based on standard immunoassay technology that is easy and quick to perform. It relies on the effect that the molar IC₅₀ approaches the K_d value in the case of infinitely small concentrations of the reagent concentrations. A two-dimensional dilution of the reagents leads to an asymptotic convergence to K_d. The approach has some similarity to the well-known checkerboard titration used for the optimization of immunoassays. A well-known antibody against the FLAG peptide, clone M2, was used as a model system and the results were compared with other methods. This approach could be used in any case where a competitive assay is available or can be developed. The determination of an affinity constant should belong to the crucial parameters in any quality control of antibody-related products and assays and should be mandatory in papers using immunochemical protocols.

The research question in this article concerns how a competitive environment affects the learner (officer cadet's) personal leadership development and their relationship to their team and with future civilian foundations. More specifically, what are the possible learning effects of the “hidden” curriculum? This article investigates how a more than 250 years of leadership education provides new army officers with new skills and how such an environment may affect the cadets' leadership training. The paper builds on ethnographic data gathered during the three-year education program in most of the relevant practical locations and contexts. Findings regarding trust in their learning environment, cadets have reported scores of (Mean 2.83) on a 1 (low trust) to 5 (high trust) Likert scale, underpinning interviewdata regarding the lack trust in the academy and in their fellow cadets. Cadets also point out that competition has hindered their learning (Mean 2.50). These findings are interpreted in relation to possible negative effects stemming from internal competition and the evaluation system as a whole. The overall output of this system is a zero–sum game, and thus effects evaluative practices and learning processes. This study is of relevance to higher education officers responsible for designing learning environments.

Wireless Sensor networks (WSNs) are gaining more and more research interest due to their ability to monitor large areas more or less independent. However, their reliability is an important issue, since their system reliability is influenced from a hardware, a data and an energetic point of view due to different factors like loading conditions, signal attenuation and battery lifetime. Regarding these issues, the positions of sensor nodes have to be chosen correctly to maximize the system reliability, which has to be considered during the development of new products equipped with WSNs. In this paper, an approach to estimate a WSNs system reliability during the development phase based on the analysis of the measurements on the example of strain measurements in finite elements (FE) models is presented. For that, the part under consideration is divided into regions with similar strains by the use of a Region Growing Algorithm (RGA). Afterwards, the WSN’s configuration is analyzed regarding its reliability in accordance to the data paths and measurement redundancy due to the sensor positions in the found measuring regions. This methodology is tested on an exemplary WSN configuration at an aircraft wing box under bending load and was found to work very well regarding the estimation of the hardware perspective on the system reliability. Therefore, the methodology and the developed algorithm show potentials for optimizations in sensor node positions for better reliability results.

Continuation methods are presented that are capable of treating frequency-domain flutter equations including multiple nonlinearities represented by describing functions. A small problem demonstrates how a series of continuation processes can find all limit-cycle oscillations within a specified region with a reasonable degree of confidence. Curves of the limit-cycle amplitude variation with velocity, indicating regions of stability and instability with colors give a compact view of the nonlinear behavior throughout the flight regime. A continuation technique for reducing limit-cycle amplitudes by adjusting various system parameters is presented. These processes are economical enough to be a routine part of aircraft design and certification.

There is an urgent need to better understand the mechanisms involved in scar formation in brain. It is well known that astrocytes are critically engaged in this process. Here we analyze in-cipient scar formation one week after a discrete ischemic insult to the cerebral cortex. We show that the infarct border zone is characterized by pronounced changes in the organization and subcellular localization of the major astrocytic protein AQP4. Specifically there is a loss of AQP4 from astrocytic endfoot membranes that anchor astrocytes to pericapillary basal laminae and a disassembly of the supramolecular AQP4 complexes that normally abound in these membranes. This disassembly may be mechanistically coupled to a downregulation of the newly discovered AQP4 isoform AQP4ex. AQP4 has adhesive properties and is assumed to facilitate astrocyte mo-bility by permitting rapid volume changes at the leading edges of migrating astrocytes. Thus, the present findings provide new insight in the molecular basis of incipient scar formation.

This work proposes a systematic topology optimization approach to simultaneously design the morphing functionality and actuation in three-dimensional wing structures. The actuation is assumed to be a linear strain-based expansion in the actuation material and a three-phase material model is employed to represent structural and actuating materials, and void. To ensure both structural stiffness with respect to aerodynamic loading and morphing capabilities, the optimization problem is formulated to minimize structural compliance while morphing functionality is enforced by constraining a morphing error between actual and target wing shape. Moreover, a feature mapping approach is utilized to constrain and simplify actuator geometries. A trailing edge wing section is designed to validate the proposed optimization approach. Numerical results demonstrate that three-dimensional optimized wing sections utilize a more advanced structural layout to enhance structural performance while keeping morphing functionality than two-dimensional wing ribs. The work presents the first step towards systematic design of three-dimensional morphing wing sections.

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Keyword Spotting (KWS) technologies has revolutionized human to machine interaction. Yet, the challenge of end-to-end energy efficiency, memory footprint and system complexity of current Neural Network (NN) powered AI-KWS pipelines has remained ever present. This paper evaluates KWS utilizing a learning automata powered machine learning algorithm called the Tsetlin Machine (TM). Through significant reduction in parameter requirements and choosing logic over arithmetic based processing, the TM offers new opportunities for low-power KWS while maintaining high learning efficacy. In this paper we explore a TM based keyword spotting (KWS) pipeline to demonstrate low complexity with faster rate of convergence compared to NNs. Further, we investigate the scalability with increasing keywords and explore the potential for enabling low-power on-chip KWS.

This study assesses the applicability of different-resolution multispectral remote sensing images for mapping and estimating the aboveground biomass (AGB) of Carpobrotus edulis, a prominent invasive species in European coastal areas. The performance of three sets of multispectral images with different resolutions was compared: (i) 2.5 cm Ground Sample Distance (GSD), 5 cm GSD and 10 cm GSD images. The images were classified using the supervised classification algorithm Random Forest and later improved applying a sieve filter. The results show that the three tested image resolutions allow constructing reliable coverage maps of C. edulis, with Overall Accuracy values of 89%, 85% and 88% for the classification of the 2.5 cm, 5 cm and 10 cm GSD images, respectively. Samples were also collected, dried and weighed to estimate AGB using the relationship between the Dry Weight and Vegetation Indices (VI). The regressions were evaluated based on their R² and Normalised RMSE. The best-performing VI-DW regression models achieved: R² = 0.87 and NRMSE = 0.09 for the 2.5 cm resolution; R² = 0.77 and NRMSE = 0.12 for the 5 cm resolution; and, R² = 0.64 and NRMSE = 0.15 for the 10 cm resolution. C. edulis area and total AGB were: 3441.10 m² and 28,327.1 kg (with a Relative Error (RE) = 0.08), for the 2.5 cm resolution; 3070.04 m² and 29,170.8 kg (RE = 0.08), for the 5 cm resolution; and, 2305.06 m² and 22,135.7 kg (RE = 0.11), for the 10 cm resolution. Differences were analysed in detail, spatially, to determine their causes. Final analyses suggest that, for C. edulis, multispectral imagery of up to 5 cm GSD is adequate for the estimation of the species’ distribution and biomass.

Abstract: Given the links between parental obesity and eating psychopathology in their children, it is important to understand the mechanisms via which unhealthy relationships with eating are passed from parents to children. The aim was to review research focusing on food-related parenting practices (FPPs) used by parents with overweight/obesity. Web of Science, PubMed and PsycINFO were searched. Twenty studies were included in the review. Single studies suggest differences between parents with healthy-weight vs overweight/obesity with respect to; food accessibility, food availability and modelling. Multiple studies suggest that several parenting strategies do not differ according to parental weight status (child involvement, praise, use of food to control negative emotions, use of food-based threats and bribes, pressure, restriction, meal and snack routines, monitoring, and rules and limits). There was inconclusive evidence with respect to differences in parental control, encouragement and use of unstructured FPPs among parents with healthy-weight vs overweight/obesity. The findings of this review imply some differences between parents with overweight/obesity and healthy-weight and the use of some food-related parenting practices, however they should be interpreted with caution since research remains limited and is generally methodologically weak. The review highlights opportunities for further research and to improve current measures of FPPs and help clarify current study findings.

In this paper mathematical analysis of the HIV/AIDS deterministic model exposed in [Espitia, C. et. al. Mathematical Model of HIV/AIDS Considering Sexual Preferences Under Antiretroviral Therapy, a Case Study in San Juan de Pasto, Colombia, Journal of Computational Biology 29 (2022) 483–493] is made. The objective is to gain insight into the qualitative dynamics of the model determining the conditions for the persistence or effective control of the disease in the community through the study of basic properties such as positiveness and boundedness, calculus of basic reproduction number, stationary points such as disease free equilibrium (DFE), boundary equilibrium (BE) and endemic equilibrium (EE) are calculated, local stability (LAS) of disease free equilibrium. It research allow to conclude that the best way to reduce contagion and consequently to reach a DFE is thought to be the reduction of homosexual partners rate as they are the most affected population by the virus, and are therefore the most likely to become infected and to spread the infection. Increasing the departure rate of infected individuals, leads to a decrease in untreated infected heterosexual men and untreated infected women.

To safeguard against meat supply shortages during pandemics or other catastrophes, this study analyzed the potential to provide the average household’s entire protein consumption using either soybean production or distributed meat production at the household level in the U.S. with: 1) pasture-fed rabbits, 2) pellet and hay-fed rabbits, or 3) pellet-fed chickens. Only using the average backyard resources, soybean cultivation can provide 80%-160% of household protein and 0%-50% of a household’s protein needs can be provided by pasture-fed rabbits using only the yard grass as feed. If external supplementation of feed is available, raising 52 chickens while also harvesting the concomitant eggs or alternately 107 grain-fed rabbits can meet 100% of an average household’s protein requirements. These results show that resilience to future pandemics and challenges associated with growing meat demands can be incrementally addressed through backyard distributed protein production. Backyard production of chicken meat, eggs, and rabbit meat reduces environmental costs of protein due to savings in production, transportation, and refrigeration of meat products and even more so with soybeans. Generally, distributed production of protein was found to be economically competitive with centralized production of meat if distributed labor costs were ignored.

qNMR is a valuable technique for metrological studies due to the uniformity of its signal response for all chemical species of an isotope of interest, which enables compound-independent calibration. However, protein quantification remained challenging as large molecules produce wide, low-intensity signals that reduce the already low sensitivity. Combining qNMR with the hydrolysis of protein samples into amino acids circumvents many of these issues and facilitates the use of NMR spectroscopy for absolute protein and peptide quantification.In this work, different conditions have been tested for quantifying aromatic amino acids and proteins. First, we examined the pH-based signal shifts in the aromatic region. The preferable pH depends on the selection of the amino acids for quantification and which internal standard substance should be used to avoid peak overlap. Several aromatic compounds, such as terephthalic acid, sulfoisophthalic acid, and benzene tricarboxylic acid, have been applied as internal standards. The quantification of amino acids from an amino acid standard, as well as from a certified reference material (bovine serum albumin), was performed. Using the first two suggested internal standards, recovery was ~ 97 % for histidine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine at a concentration of approximately 1 mM in solution. Acidic hydrolysis of a certified reference material (CRM) of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and subsequent quantification of Phe and Tyr yielded recoveries of 98 ± 2 and 88 ± 4 %, respectively, at a protein concentration of 16 g/L or 250 µM.

Residential coal combustion is one of the most significant sources of carbonaceous aerosols in the Highveld region of South Africa, significantly affecting the local and regional climate. In this study, we investigated single coal-burning particles emitted when using different fire-ignition techniques (top-lit up-draft vs bottom-lit up-draft) and air ventilation rates (defined by the number of air holes above and below the fire grate) in selected informal braziers. Aerosol samples were collected on nucleopore filters at the Sustainable Energy Technology and Research Centre Laboratory, University of Johannesburg. Individual particles (~700) were investigated using a scanning electron microscope equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Two distinct forms of spherical organic particles (SOPs) were identified, one less oxidized than the other. The particles were further classified into "electronically" dark and bright. EDS analysis showed that 70% of the dark spherical organic particles had higher (~60%) relative oxygen content than in the bright SOPs. We quantified the morphology of spherical organic particles and classified them into four categories: ~50% are bare single particles; ~35% particles are aggregated and form diffusion accretion chains; 10% have inclusions, and 5% are deformed due to impaction on filter material during sampling. We conclude that there are two distinct kinds of coal burning spherical organic particles and that dark SOPs are less volatile than bright SOPs. We also show that these spherical organic particles are similar in nature and characteristics to tar balls observed in biomass combustion and that they have the potential to absorb sunlight thereby affecting the earth’s radiative budget and climate. This study provides insights into the mixing states, morphology, and possible formation mechanisms of these organic particles from residential coal combustion in informal stoves.

Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is a type of additive manufacturing technology that processes metal powders into a component. Support structures are an essential part of the L- PBF process as they transfer the laser-induced heat during and shortly after the process to the substrate, sustaining positional accuracy of downward facing surfaces of the component. Since the use of support structures is inevitable, optimized designs for them are crucial in realizing more sustainable production process. In a serial production setup, reducing the lead time and cost of a non-value-added process step like support structure removal is of significance when improving the overall business case and competitiveness.The goal of this study was to verify the applicability of lattice-based support structures for L-PBF. To achieve this, different lattice types as support structures were designed. They were tested, compared and verified for a Siemens gas turbine component. The results showed that the generated lattice-based support structures could be suitable for L-PBF. The supports had to be designed appropriately such that they could preserve the geometry of the part. Furthermore, they had to have a short fabrication time and to be removable easily, preferably without machining or sawing.

Humans have a unique cognitive ability known as relational abstraction, which allows us to identify logical rules and patterns beyond basic perceptual characteristics. This ability represents a key difference between how humans and other animals learn and interact with the world. With current large language models rivaling human intelligence in many regards, we investigated whether relational abstraction was an emergent chat completion capacity in various models. We find that despite their impressive language processing skills, all tested language models failed the relational match-to-sample (RMTS) test, a benchmark for assessing relational abstraction. These results challenge the assumption that advanced language skills inherently confer the capacity for complex relational reasoning. The paper highlights the need for a broader evaluation of AI cognitive abilities, emphasizing that language proficiency alone may not be indicative of certain higher-order cognitive processes thought to be supported by language.

This work explores the use of Kuhn verdazyl radicals as building blocks in multifunctional molecular materials in an exemplary study, focusing on the magnetic and the electron transfer (ET) characteristics, but also addressing the question whether chemical modification by cross-coupling is possible. The ET in solution is studied spectroscopically whereas solid state measurements afford information about the magnetic susceptibility or the conductivity of the given samples. The observed results are rationalized based on the chemical structures of the molecules, which have been obtained by X-ray crystallography. The crystallographically observed molecular structures as well as the interpretation based on the spectroscopic and physical measurements are backed up by DFT calculations. The measurements indicate that only weak, antiferromagnetic coupling is observed in Kuhn verdazyls owed to the low tendency to form face-to-face stacks, but also that steric reasons alone are not sufficient to explain this behavior. Furthermore, it is also demonstrated that ET reactions proceed rapidly in verdazyls/verdazylium redox couples and that Kuhn verdazyls are suited as donor molecules in ET reactions.

Time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) in the Terahertz (THz) frequency range is gaining in importance in nondestructive testing of dielectric materials. One application is the layer thickness measurement of a coating layer. To determine the thickness from the measurement data, the refractive index of the coating layer must be known in the surveyed frequency range. For perpendicular incidence of the radiation, methods exist to extract the refractive index from the measurement data itself without prior knowledge. This paper extends these methods for non-perpendicular incidence, where the polarization of the radiation becomes important. Furthermore, modifications considering effects of surface roughness of the coating are introduced. The new methods are verified using measurement data of a sample of Inconel steel coated with yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and with COMSOL simulations of the measurement setup. To validate the thickness measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the layer structure are used. The results show good agreement with an average error of 1% for the simulation data and under 4% for the experimental data compared to reference measurements.

Background and Objectives: Intramedullary spinal cord tumors (IMSCT) are rare entities. Especially, a location in the upper cervical spine as a highly eloquent region carries the risk of postoperative neurological deficits, such as tetraparesis or respiratory dysfunction. Evidence for respiratory dysfunction is scarce. The aim of this study was to describe the early and late postoperative clinical course of this highly eloquent tumours. Patients and Methods: This is a single-centre retrospective cohort study. We included 35 patients with IMSCT at levels of craniocervical junction to C4 who underwent surgical treatment between January 2008 and December 2022. The authors analysed the patients' preoperative status, tumour- and surgery-specific characteristics, and follow-up functional status. Results: The study cohort included 22 patients with grade II ependymoma (62.9%), 2 low-grade astrocytomas (5.7%), 2 glioblastomas (5.7%), 6 hemangioblastomas (17.1%), 2 metastases (5.7%), and 1 patient with partially intramedullary schwannoma (2.9%). Gross total resection was achieved in 76% of patients. Early dorsal column related symptoms and motor deterioration occurred in 64% and 44% of patients, respectively. At a follow-up of 3.27 ± 3.83 years, 43% and 33% of patients preserved postoperative sensory and motor deterioration, respectively. The median McCormick Scale grade was 2 in the preoperative and late postoperative periods, respectively (p=0.0897, α=0.05). Only two out of 35 patients (5.7%) developed new intermittent respiratory dysfunction, of whom two were transient. There were no surgery-related deaths. Conclusions: The surgery of IMSCT of the upper cervical spine could be performed without major procedure-related risk. Roughly a half of the patients develop new neurological deficit in the immediate postoperative period. However, most of the patients still maintain functional independence. The rate of respiratory insufficiency is low and is strongly influenced by the rapid neurological deterioration in high-grade tumours.

Accurate fire severity mapping is essential for understanding the impacts of wildfires on vegetation dynamics in arid savannas. The frequent wildfires in these biomes often cause topkill, where vegetation experiences above-ground combustion, but the below-ground root structures survive, allowing for subsequent regrowth post-burn. Investigating post-fire regrowth is crucial for maintaining ecological balance, elucidating fire regimes, and enhancing the knowledge base of land managers regarding vegetation response. This study examined the relationship between bush fire severity and post-burn coppicing/regeneration events of woody vegetation in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Utilizing UAV-derived RGB imagery combined with a Random Forest (RF) classification algorithm, we aimed to enhance the precision of burn severity mapping at a fine spatial resolution. Our research focused on a 1 km2 plot within the Modisa Wildlife Reserve, extensively burnt by the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Fire of 2021. The UAV imagery, captured at various intervals post-burn, provided detailed orthomosaics and canopy height models, facilitating precise land cover classification and burn severity assessment. The RF model achieved an overall accuracy of 79.5% and effectively identified key burn severity indicators, including green vegetation, charred grass, and ash deposits. Our analysis revealed a >50% probability of woody vegetation regrowth in high severity burn areas six months post-burn, highlighting the resilience of these ecosystems. This study demonstrates the efficacy of low-cost UAV photogrammetry for fine scale burn severity assessment and provides valuable insights into post-fire vegetation recovery, thereby aiding land management and conservation efforts in savannas.

Smart materials represent an elegant class of (macro)-molecules endowed with the ability to react to chemical/physical changes in the environment. Herein, we prepared new photo responsive azobenzenes possessing halogen bond donor groups. The X-ray structures of two molecules highlight supramolecular organizations governed by unusual noncovalent bonds. In azo dye I-azo-NO2, the nitro group is engaged in orthogonal H···O···I halogen and hydrogen bonding, linking the units in parallel undulating chains. As far as compound I-azo-NH-MMA is concerned, a non-centrosymmetric pattern is formed due to a very rare I···π interaction involving the alkene group supplemented by hydrogen bonds. The Cambridge Structural Database contains only four structures showing the same I···CH₂=C contact. For all compounds, an ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopic analysis confirms the formation of halogen bonds in solution through a recognition process with chloride anion, and the reversible photo-responsiveness is demonstrated upon exposing a solution to UV light irradiation. Finally, the intermediate I-azo-NH2 also shows a pronounced color change due to pH variation. These azobenzenes are thereby attractive building blocks to design future multi-stimuli responsive materials for highly functional devices.

Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer (P. ginseng), has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It contains a number of chemical components and possesses a variety of pharmacological activities. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is neurodegenerative disease that creates a huge burden on the lives and health of individuals. In recent years, studies have indicated that the chemical components of P. ginseng, especially ginsenosides, play a pronounced positive role in the prevention and treatment of neurological diseases. This review aimed to summarize currently studies on chemical components and the mechanisms action in AD intervention treatment of P. ginseng, especially ginsenosides. In this review, the components of P. ginseng and their respective active effects were first introduced. Then the key molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways of P. ginseng were introduced, and its different active ingredients in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease-related pathogenesis were also summarized from the pathogenesis of AD Aβ generation and aggregation, hyperphosphorylation of tau protein，oxidant stress，neuroinflammation，mitochondrial damage，disorder of neurotransmitter and gut microbiota. Signaling pathway networks related to the action of ginseng active ingredients was constructed, which could serve as a therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease. In addition to a detailed report on P. ginseng in improving Alzheimer's disease-related pathogenesis, the application of the current technology, spatial metabonomics in AD therapeutics and diagnostics were later discussed. Spatial metabonomics could be applied to investigate the multi-target intervention of P. ginseng on Alzheimer's disease. Research perspectives for the study of P. ginseng in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease were provided for further studies.

In the event of an abrupt sunlight reduction scenario there is a time window that occurs between when food stores would likely run out for many countries (~6 months or less) and ~1 year when resilient foods are scaled up. A promising temporary resilient food is leaf protein concentrate (LPC). Although it is possible to extract LPC from tree biomass (e.g. leaves and needles), neither the yields nor the toxicity of the protein concentrates for humans from the most common tree species has been widely investigated. To help fill this knowledge gap, this study uses high-resolution mass spectrometry and an open source toolchain for non-targeted screening of toxins on five common North American coniferous species: Western Cedar, Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Western Hemlock, and Lodgepole Pine. The yields for LPC extraction from the conifers ranged from 1% to 7.5%. The toxicity screenings confirm that these trees may contain toxins that can be consumed in small amounts and additional studies including measuring the quantity of each toxin are needed. The results indicate that LPC is a promising candidate to be used as resilient food, but future work is needed before LPCs from conifers can be used as a wide-scale human food.

The accurate prediction of molecular properties such as lipophilicity and aqueous solubility are of great importance and pose challenges in several stages of the drug discovery pipeline. Machine learning methods like graph-based neural networks (GNNs) have shown exceptionally good performance in predicting these properties. In this work, we introduce a novel GNN architecture, called directed edge graph isomorphism network (D-GIN). It is composed of two distinct sub-architectures (D-MPNN, GIN) and achieves an improvement in accuracy over its sub-architectures employing various learning, and featurization strategies. We argue that combining models with different key aspects help make graph neural networks deeper and simultaneously increase their predictive power. Furthermore, we address current limitations in assessment of deep-learning models, namely, comparison of single training run performance metrics, and offer a more robust solution.

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption spectroscopy of cold molecules and clusters in supersonic slit jet expansions complements and extends more sensitive action spectroscopy techniques and provides important reference data for the latter. We describe how its major drawback, large substance and carrier gas consumption, can be alleviated by one to two orders of magnitude via direct and continuous recycling of the gas mixture. This is achieved by a combination of dry rotary lobe and screw pump compression. The signal-to-noise ratio is boosted by the established buffered giant gas pulse technique with full interferogram synchronization. The buildup of water impurities typically limits the recycling gain, but is turned into a feature for the study of hydrate complexes of volatile molecules. Continuous operation with a single gas filling over several days becomes practical and useful. Decadic absorbances in the low ppm range are detectable and the mid infrared range can be recorded simultaneously with the near infrared. The less straightforward hydration number assignment of spectral features in direct absorption spectroscopy is supported by a gradual water buildup at a rate of less than 0.5 mg/h. A recent reassignment proposal for the water dimer OH stretching spectrum is refuted and vibrational spectra of vacuum-isolated 18O-water clusters are presented for the first time. Methanol docking on asymmetric ketones is used to illustrate the advantages and limitations of the recycling concept. Previous assignments of the hydrate complex of 1-phenylethanol are confirmed. Additional features of the setup await testing and refinement, but the recycling technique already substantially widens the applicability of direct absorption spectroscopy of neutral molecular clusters. It may be attractive for other high-throughput jet spectrometers.

This paper is concerned with a hydraulic cylinder directly controlled by a variable speed fixed displacement pump. The considered configuration is referred to as a one-motor-one-pump (1M1P) motor-controlled hydraulic cylinder (MCC). A 1M1P MCC with a hydraulically driven passive load-holding function enabled by controlled system pressures is proposed. The proposed load-holding functionality works if there is a standstill command, a loss of power supply, or a hose rupture. Additionally, this paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of the proposed system's operation and load-holding function across four quadrants. Simulation results demonstrate the four-quadrant operation and good load-holding performance under the aforementioned scenarios. In conclusion, the proposed 1M1P MCC can be successfully used on practical applications characterized by overrunning loads and four quadrant operation.

In the development of a digital twin (DT) for hydropower turbines, dynamic modeling of the system (e.g., penstock, turbine, speed control) is crucial, along with all the necessary data interface, virtualization, and dashboard designs. Since the DT must mimic the actual dynamics of the hydropower turbine accurately, adaptive learning is required to train these dynamic models online so that the models in the DT can effectively follow the representation of the actual hydropower turbine dynamics accurately and reliably. This study presents an adaptive learning method for obtaining the hydropower turbine models for DT development of hydropower systems using recursive least squares algorithm. To simplify the formulation, the hydropower turbine under consideration was assumed to operate near a fixed operating point, where the system dynamics can be well represented by a set of linear differential equations with constant parameters. In this context, the well-known six-coefficient model for the Francis turbine was formulated as the starting point to obtain input and output models for the turbine. Then, an adaptive learning mechanism was developed to learn model parameters using the real-time data from a hydropower turbine testing system. This led to a semi-physical modeling in which the first principles and data-driven modeling are integrated to produce dynamic models for the DT development. Applications to a pilot system at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) were made, and the models learned adaptively using the data collected from the university’s pilot system. Desired modeling and validation results were obtained.

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) is a well-described modulator of socio-emotional traits, such as anxiety, stress, social behavior, and pair-bonding, however, when dysregulated, it is associated with adverse psychiatric traits, like various aspects of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study, we identify the transcription factor MEF2A as the common link between OT and cellular changes symptomatic for ASD, encompassing neuronal morphology, connectivity, and mitochondrial function. We provide evidence for MEF2A as the decisive factor defining the cellular response to OT: while OT induces neurite retraction in MEF2A expressing neurons, OT causes neurite outgrowth in absence of MEF2A. A CRISPR-Cas-mediated knockout of MEF2A and retransfection of an active version or permanently inactive mutant, respectively, validated our findings. We also identified the phosphatase calcineurin as the main upstream regulator of OT-induced MEF2A signaling. Further, MEF2A signaling dampens mitochondrial functioning in neurons, as MEF2A knockout cells show increased maximal cellular respiration, spare-respiratory capacity, and total cellular ATP. In summary, we reveal a central role for OT-induced MEF2A as major regulator of cellular morphology as well as neuronal connectivity and mitochondrial functioning, with broad implications for a potential treatment of disorders based on morphological alterations or mitochondrial dysfunction.

Neuropsin is a brain-expressed extracellular matrix serine protease that governs synaptic plasticity through activity-induced proteolytic cleavage of synaptic proteins. Its substrates comprise several molecules central to structural synaptic plasticity, and studies in rodents have documented its role in cognition and the behavioral and neurobiological response to stress. Intriguingly, differential usage of KLK8 (neuropsin gene) splice forms in the fetal and adult brain has only been reported in humans, suggesting that neuropsin may serve a specialized role in human neurodevelopment. Through systematic interrogation of large-scale genetic data, we review KLK8 regulation in the context of mental health and provide a summary of clinical and preclinical evidence supporting a role for neuropsin in the pathogenesis of mental illness.

A decanter centrifuge has been employed to successfully separated phosphoric acid and rare-earth-element (REE)-containing particles from phosphoric acid sludge with concentrations ranging from 1,000 to 2,200 ppm REEs. Operating efficiently with up to 35 wt.% solids, the centrifuge was demonstrated to achieve approximately 95% phosphoric acid recovery and 90% REEs recovery in a single pass, eliminating the need for additional processing steps. This breakthrough supports a proposed REEs oxide recovery process integrating phosphoric acid (PA), elemental phosphorus (P4), and REEs into two potential pathways: PA-REO and PA-P4-REO. These processes aim to reintroduce recovered phosphoric acid into the main product to significantly increase output and revenue. Post-separation, phosphorus-rich particles can be converted to P4, while REEs-containing solids undergo further treatment including acid leaching, extraction/stripping, precipitation, and calcination to produce a marketable rare-earth oxide (REO) material. Techno-economic analysis indicates promising profitability, with the PA-REO process showing a delta net present value (∆NPV) of $441.8 million and an expected return within a year of construction, while the PA-P4-REO process yields a ∆NPV of $178.7 million over a 12-year return period. Both pathways offer robust financial prospects and demonstrate the feasibility of commercial-scale REEs recovery from phosphoric acid sludge.

: This study examines the prospects of residential water demand management policy regulations in Ethiopia and their implications for sustainable water resource management. This study aims to evaluate the existing policy regulations and analyze their effectiveness in promoting efficient water use and conservation practices in residential areas. By considering the potential challenges and opportunities associated with these regulations, the research provides insights into the future of residential water demand management in Ethiopia and suggests strategies for enhancing sustainable water resource management. Integrated literature and policy document review, alongside observation and interviews, was used to assess the viability of residential water demand management policies. The assessment of current policy regulations for residential water demand management in Ethiopian urban towns has revealed significant shortcomings in promoting water conservation activities. Hence, there is a need for significant improvements in the current water resource policy guidelines, which lack specificity, particularly in residential water demand management conservation strategies. The lack of awareness among residents regarding the importance of conserving their limited water resources is evident. To address these challenges and ensure the sustainability of the water supply, the government and policy developers must engage with various stakeholders, including the community, in the process of revising current policy documents. A more precise and tailored approach is necessary for its effective implementation.

Background. A strong association between Activities of Daily Living (ADL)/Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) disability, chronic disease, and depressive symptoms among different racial/ethnic groups of older adults has been well established. However, whether this relationship remains true among refugee populations such as Vietnamese in the United States has not yet been investigated. Methods. Using linear regressions, we tested the relationships between ADL/IADL disability, common chronic diseases, and depressive symptoms among 208 Vietnamese-origin older adults from the two convenience samples in 2017 and 2018 (≥65 years) from the Vietnamese Aging and Care Survey (VACS) in the Houston, Texas area. Results. Study participants (N=208) were 56.2% female of average 75.4 years old with low education and low socioeconomic status. Most self-rated their health as fair/poor (80%). Regression analyses showed significant associations between liver disease and total ADL/IADL difficulties with higher depressive symptoms. Conclusions. Older Vietnamese with more ADL/IADL disability and liver disease reported higher depressive symptoms. Complications from chronic conditions and pain might limit activities and impact older Vietnamese psychologically. Healthcare professionals can connect older Vietnamese with culturally and linguistically relevant adult daycare centers to provide them with social and exercise opportunities.

In many developing countries, plastic waste management is left to citizens. This usually results in hazardous landfilling or open-air burning, leading to emissions that are harmful to human health and the environment. An easy, profitable, and clean method of processing and transforming the waste into value is required. In this context, this study provides an open-source methodology to transform low-density polyethylene drinking water sachets, into pavement blocks by using a streamlined do-it-yourself approach that requires only modest capital. Two different materials, sand, and ashes are evaluated as additives in plastic composites and the mechanical strength of the resulting blocks are tested for different proportion mix of plastic, sand, and ash. The best composite had an elastic modulus of 169MPa, a compressive strength of 29MPa, and a water absorptivity of 2.2%. The composite pavers can be sold at 100% profit while employing workers at 1.5X the minimum wage. In the West African region, this technology has the potential to produce 19 million pavement tiles from 28,000 tons of plastic water sachets annually in Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia. This can contribute to waste management in the region while generating a gross revenue of 2.85 billion XOF (4.33 million USD).

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is responsible for large waterborne epidemics of hepatitis in endemic countries and is an emerging zoonotic pathogen worldwide. In endemic regions, HEV-1 or HEV-2 genotypes are frequently associated with fulminant hepatitis in pregnant women, while with zoonotic HEV (HEV-3 and HEV-4), chronic cases of hepatitis and severe neurological disorders are reported. Hence, it is important to characterize the interactions between HEV and its host. Here, we investigated the ability of the non-structural polyprotein encoded by the first open reading frame (ORF1) of HEV to modulate the host early antiviral response and in particular the type I interferon (IFN-I) system. We found that the amino-terminal region of HEV-3 ORF1 (MetPCP), containing a putative methyltransferase (Met) and a papain-like cysteine protease (PCP) functional domain, inhibited IFN-stimulated response element (ISRE) promoter activation and the expression of several IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) in response to IFN-I. We showed that the MetPCP domain interfered with the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription protein (STAT) signalling pathway by inhibiting STAT1 nuclear translocation and phosphorylation after IFN-I treatment. By contrast, MetPCP had no effect on STAT2 phosphorylation and a limited impact on the activation of the JAK/STAT pathway after IFN-II stimulation. This inhibitory function seemed to be genotype-dependent as MetPCP from HEV-1 had no significant effect on the JAK/STAT pathway. Overall, this study provides evidence that the predicted MetPCP domain of HEV ORF1 antagonises STAT1 activation to modulate the IFN response.

Corynebacterium glutamicum is prominent for the industrial production of secreted amino acids. Notably, it naturally accumulates the carotenoid pigment decaprenoxanthin in its membranes. Metabolic engineering enabled production of astaxanthin. Here, a bioprocess for astaxanthin production in lab-scale stirred bioreactors was established by a DoE-guided approach to optimize the basic process parameters pH, rDOS, aeration rate as well as inoculation cell density. The DoE-guided approach from 2 L scale cultivation revealed that the pH showed the strongest effect on the product formation. Subsequently, an optimum at pH 8, an aeration rate of 0.25 vvm, 30 % rDOS and an initial optical density of 1 was established that allowed production of 7.6±0.6mg L-1 astaxanthin in batch mode. These process conditions were successfully transferred to a fed-batch process resulting in a high cell density cultivation with up to 60 g CDW L-1 biomass and 64 mg L-1 astaxanthin and thus demonstrating an about 9-fold improvement compared to optimal batch conditions. Moreover, pH shifts experiments indicate that the cells can quickly adapt to a change from pH 6 to 8 and start producing astaxanthin showing the possibility of a biphasic bioprocesses for astaxanthin production.

Data papers have emerged as a powerful instrument for open data publishing, obtaining credit, and establishing priority for datasets generated in scientific experiments. Academic publishing improves data and metadata quality through peer-review and increases the impact of datasets by enhancing their visibility, accessibility, and re-usability. We aimed to establish a new type of article structure and template for omics studies: the omics data paper. To improve data interoperability and further incentivise researchers to publish high-quality data sets, we created a workflow for streamlined import of omics metadata directly into a data paper manuscript. An omics data paper template was designed by defining key article sections which encourage the description of omics datasets and methodologies. The workflow was based on REpresentational State Transfer services and Xpath to extract information from the European Nucleotide Archive, ArrayExpress and BioSamples databases, which follow community-agreed standards. The workflow for automatic import of standard-compliant metadata into an omics data paper manuscript facilitates the authoring process. It demonstrates the importance and potential of creating machine-readable and standard-compliant metadata. The omics data paper structure and workflow to import omics metadata improves the data publishing landscape by providing a novel mechanism for creating high-quality, enhanced metadata records, peer reviewing and publishing of these. It constitutes a powerful addition for distribution, visibility, reproducibility and re-usability of scientific data. We hope that streamlined metadata re-use for scholarly publishing encourages authors to improve the quality of their metadata to achieve a truly FAIR data world.

The efficacy of an intranasal (IN) bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) administered in the face of passive immunity was assessed. Pooled colostrum was administered by intubation to fifty (50) beef-dairy crossbred calves the day they were born. The calves were transported to a research facility and were blocked by age and sex and randomly assigned into two groups, a sham-vaccinated intranasally with a placebo (sterile water) or vaccinated with a tri-valent modified live viral (MLV) vaccine. The calves were 92 days old when vaccinated (day 0). The calves were challenged by aerosolized BRSV on day 80 and day 81 as a respiratory challenge. The study was terminated on day 88. Lung lesion scores (LLS) were significantly lower for calves vaccinated with tri-valent MLV vaccine than those for calves that were sham-vaccinated. Serum neutralization (SN) antibody against BRSV in calves vaccinated with the tri-valent MLV vaccine demonstrated an anamnestic response on day 88. After challenge, the calves sham-vaccinated with the placebo lost weight while those vaccinated with the tri-valent MLV vaccine gained weight. In this study colostrum-derived antibodies did not interfere with the immune response or protection provided by one dose of the tri-valent MLV vaccine.

Once on Mars, maintenance and repair will be crucial for humans as supply chains including Earth andMars will be very complex. Consequently, the raw material available on mars must be processed and used. Factors such as the energy available for material production play just as important a role as the quality of the material that can be produced and the quality of its surface. With the aim of developing and technically implementing a process chain that meets the challenge of producing spare parts from oxygen-reduced Mars regolith, this paper addresses the issue of low-energy handling. Expected statistically distributed high roughnesses of sintered regolith analogs are approximated in this work by parameter variation in the PBF-LB/M process. For low-energy handling, a dry-adhesive microstructure is used. Investigations are carried out to determine the extent to which the rough surface resulting from the manufacturing process can be smoothed by deep rolling in such a way that the microstructure adheres and enables samples to be transported. For the investigated AlSi10Mg samples (12 mm x 12 mm x 10 mm), the surface roughness varies in a wide range from Sa 7.7 µm to Sa 64 µm after the additive manufacturing process, pull-off stresses of up to 6.99 N/cm² could be realized after deep rolling. This represents an increase in pull-off stresses by a factor of 392.94 compared to the pull-off stresses before deep rolling, enabling handling of even larger specimens. It is noteworthy that specimens with roughness values that were previously difficult to handle can be treated post-deep rolling, indicating a potential influence of additional variables that describe roughness or ripples and are associated with the adhesion effect of the microstructure of the dry adhesive.

The aim of this study was to adapt a treadmill-developed method for determination of inner-cycle parameters in cross-country roller ski skating for a field application. The method is based on detecting initial and final ground-contact of poles and skis during cyclic movements. Eleven athletes skied four laps of 2.5 km at low and high endurance-intensity, using two types of skis with different rolling coefficients. Participants were equipped with inertial measurement units (IMUs) attached to their wrists and skis, while insoles with pressure sensors and poles with force measurements were used as reference systems. The method based on IMUs was able to detect more than 97% of the temporal events compared to the reference system. The inner-cycle temporal parameters had a precision ranging from 49 to 59 ms, corresponding to 3.9% to 13.7% of the corresponding inner-cycle duration. Overall, this study showed good reliability of using IMUs on athlete’s wrists and skis to determine temporal events, inner-cycle parameters and the performed sub-techniques in cross-country roller ski skating in field-conditions.

Objective: The aim of this study was to provide a new machine learning method to determine temporal events and inner-cycle parameters (e.g., cycle, poles and skis contact and swing time) in cross-country roller ski skating on the field, using a single deported inertial measurement unit (IMU). Methods: The developed method is based on long short-term memory neural networks to detect poles and skis initial and final contact with the ground during the cyclic movements. Eleven athletes skied four laps of 2.5 km at low and high intensity using skis with two different rolling coefficients. They were equipped with IMUs attached to the upper back, lower back and to the sternum. Data from force insoles and force poles were used as reference system. Results: The IMU placed on the upper back provided the best results, as the LSTM network was able to determine the temporal events with an accuracy ranging from 49 to 55 ms and the corresponding inner-cycles parameters were calculated with a precision of 63 to 68 ms. The method detected 95% of the events for the poles and 87% of the events for the skis. Conclusion: The proposed LSTM method provides a promising tool for assessing temporal events and inner-cycle phases in roller ski skating showing the potential of using a deported IMU to estimate different spatio-temporal parameters of human locomotion.

In the field of quality analysis of food and flavoring products, gas chromatography – quadrupole mass spectrometry – ion mobility spectrometry (GC-QMS-IMS) is a powerful technique for the simultaneous detection of volatile organic compounds (VOC) by both QMS and IMS. GC is an established technique for the separation of complex VOC-rich foods such as beverages, dairy and fruit products as well as flavorings in general. While the subsequent detection by IMS features soft ionization of fragile compounds (e.g., terpenes) with characteristic drift times, MS provides the analytes’ m/z-values for database substance identification. A limitation of the prominently used static headspace-based GC-QMS-IMS systems is the substantially higher sensitivity of IMS in comparison to full scan QMS, which results in the detection of relevant VOC only in IMS, but not in the QMS analyzer. The present study describes a new prototypic trapped-headspace (THS)-GC-QMS-IMS setup, with optimized active flow regulation, able to gain valuable data of both detectors. This ultimately allows the combination of a soft ionization with m/z values obtained from database-searchable electron ionization (EI) spectra and as such, offers a substantial advantage in fields of quality control. The new setup features aligned retention times for IMS and MS and sufficient signal intensities for QMS and IMS. The analytical setup was evaluated with a set of mango puree samples from various provenances and the data was evaluated by suitable machine learning approaches. The results demonstrate that THS-GC-QMS-IMS allows for the classification of mango purees from different cultivars and can be a promising alternative method for authenticity control of food, flavors, and beverages.

Among others, UWB-based multi anchor localization systems have been established for industrial indoor localization systems. However, multi anchor systems have high costs and installation effort. By exploiting the multipath propagation of the UWB signal, the infrastructure and thus the costs of conventional systems can be reduced. Our UWB Single Anchor Localization System (SALOS) successfully pursues this approach. The idea behind SALOS is to create a localization system with a sophisticated signal modeling. Therefore, neither measured reference like fingerprinting nor training is required for position estimation. Although SALOS has been implemented and tested successfully already in an outdoor scenario with multipath propagation, it has not yet been evaluated in indoor environment with challenging and hardly predictable multipath propagation. For this purpose, we have developed new algorithms for the existing hardware mainly a three-dimensional statistical multipath propagation model for arbitrary spatial geometries. The signal propagation between the anchor and predefined candidate points for the tag position is modeled in path length and complex-valued receive amplitudes. For position estimation, these modeled signals are combined to multiple sets and compared to UWB measurements via a similarity metric. In the end, a majority decision of multiple position estimates is performed. For evaluation, we implement SALOS in a modular fashion and install the system in a building. For a fixed grid of 20 positions, SALOS is evaluated in terms of position accuracy. The system results in correct position estimations for more than 73% of the measurements.

Objective: The key to the success of pedicled skin flaps in the head and neck region is preserved perfusion. The use of thermal imaging can provide an indirect indicator of tissue perfusion, which consecutively would be of interest for perioperative prediction of the viability. The effectiveness of thermal imaging has already been demonstrated for assessing pedicled and free flaps [1]. This work investigates the implementation of SBTI as a noninvasive and cost-efficient method in clinical practice for predicting the vitality and perioperative monitoring of pedicled skin flaps in head and neck surgery. Methods: The FLIR One Pro camera was used for this pilot study (Teledyne FLIR LLC, Wilsonville, Oregon, United States). It is a multispectral camera that contains a near-infrared camera unit with a resolution of 160 x 120 pixels, a temperature range of 0 ° - 400 °C, and a thermal resolution of 70 millikelvin. For the study, after implementing the system, n = 11 skin flaps were photographed by SBTI (n=44) after marking (T1), after elevation (T2), after completed surgery (T3), and 24 hours postoperatively (T4), and the outcome was assessed clinically in correlation after one week by one surgeon. Results: The pedicled skin flaps examined all showed a preserved, uniform thermal image signature peri- and postoperatively for time points T1-4. This corresponded to a good postoperative result regarding the vitality of the tissue transfer in the clinical assessments 24 hours and one week postoperatively. Conclusion: The acquisition of a continuously obtained thermal image signature as a surrogate marker for preserved tissue perfusion by SBTI proved simple, inexpensive, noninvasive, and efficient in the present sentinel study. The application of SBTI has been primarily investigated in identifying perforators in large pedicled or free flaps. [2, 3] The concordance of the obtained thermal image signature with a positive clinical outcome suggests that the presented method is also suitable for perioperative prognostic statements on postoperative flap vitality in pedicled skin flaps and for monitoring those during surgery. Further studies are necessary for the implementation of this method in clinical practice to support the surgeon's intraoperative decision-making in the future.

The unsolved problem in three-dimensional surgical planning for patients with facial deformity, dysgnathia, or asymmetry is the lack of a normative database of “norm skulls” that can be used as treatment objectives. A study was conducted on 90 Eurasian persons (46 male and 44 female adults) with normal and balanced facial appearance, skeletal Class I pattern, and proper interincisal relationship with normal occlusion. Cone-beam computed tomography was performed. 18 landmarks were digitized and 3D cephalometric measurements of overall facial features, skull, midface and mandible were performed and analyzed by means of proportions calculated from the landmarks. Male and female skulls were analyzed as well as subdivisions revealed by cluster analysis. The data showed that four subtypes of skulls were distinguishable with statistical significance (p< 0,05). A male and a female type subdivided in a brachiocephalic and dolichocephalic phenotype could be identified. For each type then a mean shape was calculated by a Procrustes transformation, which in turn was used to create four template skulls from a male and a female skull by means of a thin plate spline transformation. The normative data of the subtypes can individually serve as a guide for orthodontic surgery, especially helpful in 3D plan-ning and execution of craniofacial operations.

Bioglasses are highly adoptable bone substitute materials, which can be combined with so-called therapeutic ions. These ions have shown to influence underlying molecular processes of the bone regeneration cascade. Moreover, it is known that bone substitutes induce an immune reaction within their implantation area involving macrophages and their pro- and anti-inflammatory subtypes dependent on their chemical composition. However, only poor knowledge exists regarding the influence of therapeutic ions onto the immune reactions and the associated bone healing. Thus, the aim of this work was to investigate the influence of strontium- and copper-doped bioglasses on the induction of M1- and M2-macrophages as well as the implant bed vascularization. (2) Methods: For this study, two alkali glasses were produced on basis of ICIE-16 bioglass via the melt-quench route with the addition of 5 wt% copper or strontium (ICIE16-Cu and ICIE16-Sr). Pure ICIE16 and 45S5 bioglasses were used as control materials. The bioactivity (ion release), chemical composition and the surface pattern were investigated, as well as an in vivo experiment was performed using the subcutaneous implantation model in rats. (3) Results: SEM imaging showed different formations of hydroxyapatite on the surfaces of the bioglass systems after submersion in simulated body fluid. EDX analysis confirmed the doping process by showing the release kinetics. Copper-doped bioglass exhibited a higher ion release than strontium-doped bioglass. Copper induced both a low immune cell migration and triggered a low number of M1- and M2-macrophages but also of blood vessels. The strontium-containing bioactive glass induced higher numbers of M1-macrophages after 30 days. Both copper- and strontium-doped bioglasses induced comparable numbers of M2-macrophages as found in the control groups. (4) Conclusions: Bioglass doping with copper and strontium did not exhibit significant influence on the foreign body response or the implantation bed vascularization in vivo. However, the prepared bioglass systems seemed to be biocompatible.

In a motor-controlled hydraulic cylinder (MCC), the two chambers of the cylinder are directly connected to single or multiple fixed-displacement hydraulic pumps driven by electric servo motors. In contrast to a valve-controlled cylinder, an MCC does not have valve throttling, resulting in an improved system energy efficiency. Among various MCC topologies, the two-motor-two-pump (2M2P) MCC distinguishes itself through several notable advantages, including precise cylinder pressure control and eliminating mode switch oscillations. Nevertheless, there are remaining challenges in fully realizing its operations across four quadrants and establishing an effective load-holding function within these operations. This study bridges this gap by implementing a 2M2P MCC prototype on a laboratory knuckle boom crane, enabling operation across all four quadrants. Experimental results indicate that position tracking errors remain within ±2.5 mm across three cases. Furthermore, smooth intersection of cylinder bore side and rod side pressures is observed during transitions between quadrants. In conclusion, the proposed 2M2P MCC demonstrates seamless operation throughout all quadrants, with the load-holding function smoothly activating and deactivating in all four quadrants.

The application of nanotechnology to the petroleum industry has sparked recent interest to increase oil recovery while reducing environmental impact. Nanocellulose is an emerging nanoparticle that is derived from trees and may provide an environmentally friendly alternative to current enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies. However, before nanocellulose can be applied as an EOR technique, further understanding of its transport behavior and retention in porous media is required. The research documented in this paper examines retention mechanisms that occur during nanocellulose transport. In a series of experiments, nanocellulose particles dispersed in brine were injected into sandpacks and Berea sandstone cores. The resulting retention and permeability reduction were measured. The experimental parameters that were varied include sand grain size, nanocellulose type, salinity, and flow rate. Under low salinity conditions, the dominant retention mechanism was adsorption and when salinity was increased, the dominant retention mechanism shifted towards log-jamming. Retention and permeability reduction increased as grain size decreased, which results from increased straining of nanocellulose aggregates. In addition, each type of nanocellulose was found to have significantly different transport properties. The experiments with Berea sandstone cores indicate that some pore volume was inaccessible to the nanocellulose. As a general trend, the larger the size of aggregates in bulk solution, the greater the observed retention and permeability reduction. Salinity was found to be the most important parameter affecting transport. Increased salinity caused additional aggregation, which led to increased straining and filter cake formation. Higher flow rates were found to reduce retention and permeability reduction. Increased velocity was accompanied by an increase in shear which is believed to promote breakdown of nanocellulose aggregates.

Background/Aim: There is continuing interest in engineering esthetic labial archwires. The aim of this study was to coat nickel-titanium (NiTi) and beta-titanium (β-Ti), also known as titanium molybdenum (TMA), archwires by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) and to analyze the characteristics of the PEO-surfaces. Materials and Methods: PEO-coatings were generated on 0.014-inch NiTi and 0.19x0.25-inch β-Ti archwires. The surfaces were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and stereomicroscopy. Cytocombability testing was performed with ceramized and untreated samples according to EN ISO 10993-5 in XTT-, BrdU- and LDH-assays. The direct cell impact was analyzed using LIVE-/DEAD-staining. In addition, the archwires were inserted in an orthodontic model and photographs were taken before and after insertion. Results: The PEO coatings were 15 to 20 µm thick and esthetically pleasing. The cytocompatibility analysis revealed good cytocompatibility results for both ceramized NiTi and β-Ti archwires. In the direct cell tests, the ceramized samples showed improved compatibility as compared to those of uncoated samples. However, bending of the archwires resulted in loss of the PEO-surfaces. Nevertheless, it was possible to insert the β-Ti PEO-coated archwire in an orthodontic model without loss of the PEO-ceramic. Conclusion: PEO is a promising technique for the generation of esthetic orthodontic archwires. Since the PEO-coating does not resist bending, its clinical use seems to be limited so far to orthodontic techniques using straight or pre-bended archwires.

Background: Patients in the postoperative period following bariatric surgery are at risk of developing eating disorders. This study aims to analyse the relation between bariatric surgery and the development and recurrence of eating disorders. Material and methods: Literature review was done on 15th November 2020. Fourteen studies that met the eligibility criteria were included for qualitative synthesis, and 7 studies for meta-analysis. Results: The prevalence of eating disorders in the postoperative period was 7.83%, based on the 7 studies in the meta-analysis. Binge eating disorder alone was 3.81%, which was the most significant factor, and addressed in 6 of these studies. Conclusion: The investigated studies have significant methodological limitations in assessing the relation between bariatric surgery and eating disorders, since they mostly present data on prevalence. PROSPERO CRD42019135614.

Background: Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are implicated in carcinogenesis, and HDAC inhibitors (HDACis) are explored as a therapeutic tool in several tumors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of HDAC -2, -4, and -5 expression in epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC). Methods: HDAC-2, -4, and -5 immunohistochemical expression was examined in 92 EOC tissue specimens and was correlated with clinicopathological characteristics. Results: HDAC-2 was the most frequently (94.4%) expressed isoform, being marginally higher in serous tumors compared with other types (p=0,08). HDAC-5 was the less frequently expressed (28.1%), being positively associated with HDAC-4. HDAC-4 positivity was associated with lower FIGO-stage (p=0,045) and T-category (p=0.,043) and the absence of lymph node (p=0,05) or distant metastasis (p=0,09) in serous carcinomas. HDAC-2 positivity was correlated with absence of lymph node metastasis in serous tumors (p=0,045). On the contrary, HDAC-5 nuclear positivity was correlated with lymph node metastasis in the entire cohort (p=0,048). HDAC-4 positivity was marginally associated with favorable prognosis in serous carcinomas in univariate survival analysis (p=0,086), a correlation which was not significant in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: These findings suggest a differential expression of HDAC-2, -4 and -5, providing evidence for a potential role in the pathobiology of EOC.

Cryptococcosis is a leading cause of death among people with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Limited diagnostic and therapeutic options significantly impair treatment options in Africa. We investigated the burden of cryptococcosis and related mortality among people with HIV and suspected sepsis in Ethiopia. We conducted a prospective cohort at 1) Adama Hospital Medical College and 2) Asella Referral and Teaching Hospital from September 2019 to November 2020. We enrolled adult HIV-infected patients presenting with suspected sepsis and assessed 28-day survival. We performed blood cultures and cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) testing. In total, 82 participants were enrolled with a median age of 35 years and 61% being female. Overall, 11(13%) had positive CrAg tests, of which 5 had Cryptococcus detected in blood cultures. Despite high-dose fluconazole (1200mg/d) monotherapy in patients with positive CrAg tests, the 28-day mortality was 64%(7/11), being significantly higher than in CrAg-negative patients (9%(6/71); p&lt;0.001). Cryptococcosis is the leading cause of mortality among HIV-infected sepsis patients. CrAg screening in HIV-infected patients attending emergency department can minimize the cryptococcosis missing case irrespective of CD4 count and viral load. These findings warrant the need of a bundle approach for diagnosis of HIV-infected persons presenting with sepsis in low- and middle-income countries.

Biphasic bone substitutes (BBS) are nowadays established biomaterials. Through their constant development even natural components like hyaluronic acid (HY) are added to improve both their handling and also their regenerative properties. However, low knowledge exists regarding the consequences of the HY addition for their biocompatibility and the inflammatory tissue reactions. Thus, the present study was conducted aiming to analyze the influence of two different amounts of high molecular weight HY (HMWHY) combined with a BBS on the in vitro biocompatibility and the in vivo tissue reaction. Established in vitro procedures using L929 cells were used for cytocompatibility analyses under the test conditions of DIN EN:ISO 10993-5. For the in vivo study part, calvarial defects were created in 20 Wistar rats and subsequently filled with the BBS and the BBS combined with two different HMWHY amounts, i.e., BBS+HY(L) and BBS+HY(H). As controls empty defects were used. Established histological, immunohistochemical and histomorphometrical methods were applied to analyze the tissue reactions to the three different materials, including the induction of pro- and anti-inflammatory macrophages and multinucleated giant cells (BMGCs). The in vitro results showed that none of the materials or compositions caused biological damages to the L929 cells and can considered to be non-toxic. The in vivo results showed that only the addition of high doses of HY to a biphasic bone substitute significantly decreases the occurrence of proinflammatory macrophages (* p < 0.05) comparable to the numbers found in the control group, while no significant differences within the three study groups for M2-macrophages nor BMGCs were detected. In conclusion, the addition of different amounts of HMWHY does not seem to affect the inflammation response to the BBS while improving the material handling properties.

Mercury is classified as one of the world’s most toxic and dangerous pollutants. It tends to bio-accumulate and biomagnify within the trophic chain and is persistent. Various approaches are available to remediate Hg-affected sites, including phytoremediation, which includes the use of plants to clean up contaminated environments. Phytoremediation of mercury contamination is at-tracting increasing attention because of its advantages: it is environmentally friendly, inexpensive, simple, and can improve soil fertility. In this report, VOSviewer, and Bibliometrix software were used to analyze 457 and 697 documents published from 2000 to 2023, retrieved from the data-bases WoS and Scopus, respectively. China, India, the United States, and Spain are the top four most productive countries. The largest topic area was environmental sciences, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences was the organization that contributed the most to the overall number of pub-lications. The keywords with the highest frequency, excluding phytoremediation and mercury in WoS, were heavy metals, accumulation, cadmium, soils, and phytoextraction. In Scopus, the most frequent keywords were bioremediation, heavy metals, soil pollution, bioaccumulation, biodeg-radation, and environmental. From the above analysis, we concluded that future research should focus on 1) finding native plants, 2) increasing remediation ability through assisted phytoremedi-ation, 3) studies of molecular mechanisms in plants with phytoremediation potential, and 4) ge-netic engineering applications. This study provides insight into trending themes and serves as a reference for future research.

Abstract: In order to accelerate deployment of distributed recycling by providing low-cost feed stocks of granulated post-consumer waste plastic, this study analyzes an open source waste plastic granulator system. It is designed, built and tested for its ability to convert post-consumer waste, 3-D printed products and waste into polymer feedstock for recyclebots of fused particle/granule printers. The technical specifications of the device are quantified in terms of power consumption (380 to 404W for PET and PLA, respectively) and particle size distribution. The open source device can be fabricated for less than USD$2000 in materials. The experimentally-measured power use is only a minor contribution to the overall embodied energy of distributed recycling of waste plastic. The resultant plastic particle size distributions were found to be appropriate for use in both recyclebots and direct material extrusion 3-D printers. Simple retrofits are shown to reduce sound levels during operation by 4dB-5dB for the vacuum. These results indicate that the open source waste plastic granulator is an appropriate technology for community, library, makespace, fab lab or small business-based distributed recycling.

The regeneration of bone tissue is a main purpose of most therapies in dental medicine. For bone regeneration, calcium phosphate (CaP)-based substitute materials based on natural (allo- and xenografts) and synthetic origins (alloplastic materials) are applied for guiding the regeneration processes. The optimal bone substitute has to act as a substrate for bone ingrowth into a defect, while it should be resorbed even in the time frame needed for complete regeneration up to the condition of restitution ad integrum. In this context, the modes of action of CaP-based substitute materials have been frequently investigated and it has been shown that such materials strongly influence regenerative processes such as osteoblast growth or differentiation and also on osteoclastic resorption due to different physicochemical properties of the materials. However, the material characteristics needed for the required ratio between the formation of new bone tissue and material degradation has not been found until now. The addition of different substances such as collagen or growth factors and also of different cell types have already been tested but did not allow for sufficient or prompt application. Moreover, metals or metal ions are differently used as basis or as supplement for different materials in the field of bone regeneration. Moreover, it has already been shown that different metal ions are integral components of bone tissue playing functional roles in the physiological cellular environment as well as in the course of bone healing. The present review focuses on frequently used metals as integral parts of materials designated for bone regeneration with the aim to give an overview of currently existing knowledge about the effects of metals in the field of bone regeneration.

Background: The study was conducted to investigate if the mRNA vaccine technology could be adapted for the ectothermic vertebrate Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology has been developed and optimized for mRNA vaccines in mammals, stabilizing mRNA and facilitating delivery into cells. However, its utility at the temperature and specific biological environment in ectotherms remains unclear. In addition, it is unknown if modified mRNA containing non-canonical nucleotides can correctly translate in salmonid cells. Methods: We used an mRNA transcript coding for enhanced green fluorescence protein, flanked by the untranslated regions of the hemagglutinin-esterase gene of infectious salmon anemia virus, and a 120-base-long poly(A) tail. The mRNA was generated by in vitro transcription where uridine residues were replaced with N1-methyl-pseudouridines, and then encapsulated in LNPs. Results: When transfected into the salmonid cell line CHH-1, the mRNA-LNP construct induced expression of EGFP. Furthermore, when mRNA-LNPs were injected intramuscularly into salmon, in vivo protein expression was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry. EGFP was observed in cells infiltrating the space between the muscle cells in a focal inflammatory response. Conclusion: The results indicate that the N1-methyl-pseudouridine modified mRNA encapsulated in LNPs can be used to express antigens of interest in salmonid fish.

Background: The current standard technique for vascular grafting in cerebral revascularization surgery is through the interposition of an autologous blood vessel. Technical complications have necessitated the development of a synthetic alternative, but classical biomaterials are not suited for small caliber vascular grafting due to neointimal hyperplasia and thrombosis. Electrospinning of polymers is a promising technique for the development of small vascular grafts. The in vivo performance and efficacy of electrospun polyurethane (ePU) grafts with an internal diameter of < 1.5 mm have thus far not been evaluated. Methods: We developed a novel ePU graft with a diameter of 1.25 mm for implantation into the infrarenal aorta of rats. Results: Patency rates of grafts after a four-month-period were equal to those reported in other studies with larger ePU graft diameters, and equal or higher than in studies with other biomaterials. We observed some loss in flow velocity throughout the grafts, which suggests a decreased elasticity of the graft compared to native rat aorta. However, the grafts demonstrated good neo-endothelialization and minimal neointimal hyperplasia. Their porosity promoted cellular infiltration, as shown on tissue slide examination. Conclusion: Our results show that ePU vascular grafts with internal diameter of < 1.5 mm are promising candidates for vascular grafting in cerebral revascularization surgery.

Aging is associated with a decline in immune system functionality. So-called immunosenescence may impair successful vaccination of elderly people. Thus, improved vaccination strategies specifically adapted to an aged immune system are required. We characterized a recombinant MVA expressing a stabilized version of SARS-CoV-2 S protein (MVA-ST) in an aged-hamster model for COVID-19. Intramuscular MVA-ST immunization resulted in protection from disease and severe lung pathology. Importantly, protection correlated with potent activation of SARS-CoV-2 specific T-cells and neutralizing antibodies. Our results suggest that MVA vector vaccines merit further evaluation as clinical candidate vaccines in elderly people to overcome limitations of age-dependent immunosenescence.

An inter- and transdisciplinary concept has been developed, focusing on the scaling of industrial circular construction using innovative compacted mineral mixtures (CMM) derived from various soil types (sand, silt, clay) and recycled mineral waste. The concept aims to accelerate the systemic transformation of the construction industry towards carbon neutrality by promoting the large-scale adoption and automation of CMM-based construction materials, which incorporate natural mineral components and recycled aggregates or industrial by-products. In close collaboration with international and domestic stakeholders in the construction sector, the concept explores the integration of various CMM-based construction methods for producing wall elements in conventional building construction. Leveraging a digital urban mining platform, the concept aims to standardize the production process and enable mass-scale production. The ultimate goal is to fully harness the potential of automated CMM-based wall elements as a fast, competitive, emission-free, and recyclable alternative to traditional masonry and concrete construction techniques. To achieve this objective, the concept draws upon the latest advances in soil mechanics, rheology, and automation and incorporates open-source digital platform technologies to enhance data accessibility, processing, and knowledge acquisition. This will bolster confidence in CMM-based technologies and facilitate their widespread adoption. The extraordinary transfer potential of this approach necessitates both basic and applied research. As such, the proposed transformative, inter- and transdisciplinary concept will be conducted and synthesized using a comprehensive, holistic, and transfer-oriented methodology.

Based on a new model of a possible origin of life, we establish an efficient and stable system undergoing structural reproduction, self-optimization and molecular evolution. This system is being formed under realistic conditions by the interaction of two cyclic processes, one of which offering vesicles as the structural environment, the other supplying peptides from a variety of amino acids as versatile building blocks. We demonstrate that structures growing in a combination of both cycles have the potential to support their own existence, to undergo chemical and structural evolution and to develop unpredicted functional properties. The key mechanism is the mutual stabilization of the peptides by the vesicles and of the vesicles by the peptides together with a constant production and selection of both. The development of the proposed system over time not only would represent one of the principles of life, but could also be a model for the formation of self-evolving structures ultimately leading to the first living cell. The experiment yields clear evidence on a vesicle-induced accumulation of membrane-interacting peptide which could be identified by liquid chromatography combined with high-resolution mass spectroscopy. We found that the selected peptide has an immediate effect on the vesicles, leading to i) reduced vesicle size, ii) increased vesicle membrane permeability, and iii) improved thermal vesicle stability.

Whole-genome sequencing has advanced our understanding of the population structure of the pathogenic species complex Cryptococcus gattii, which has allowed for the phylogenomic specification of previously described major molecular type groupings and novel lineages. Recently, isolates collected in Mexico in the 1960s were determined to be genetically distant from other known molecular types and were classified as VGVI. We sequenced four clinical isolates and one veterinary isolate collected in the southwestern U.S. and Argentina during 2012-2021. Phylogenomic analysis groups these genomes with those of the Mexican VGVI isolates, expanding VGVI into a clade and establishing this molecular type as a clinically important population. These findings also potentially expand the known Cryptococcus ecological range with a previously unrecognized endemic area.

Magnesium (Mg)-based biomaterials are promising candidates for bone and tissue regeneration. Alloying and surface modifications provide effective strategies for optimizing and tailoring their degradation kinetics. Nethertheless, biocompatibility analyses of Mg-based materials are challenging due to its special degradation mechanism with continous hydrogen release. In this context, the hydrogen release and the related (micro-) milieu conditions pretend to strictly follow in vitro standards based on ISO 10993-5/-12. Thus, special adaptions for the testing of Mg materials are necessary, which have been described in a previous study from our group. Based on these adaptions, further developments of a test procedure allowing rapid and effective in vitro cytocompatibility analyses of Mg-based materials based on ISO 10993-5/-12 are necessary. The following study introduces a new two-step test scheme for rapid and effective testing of Mg. Specimens with different surface characteristcis were produced by means of plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) using silicate-based and phosphate-based electrolytes. The test samples were evaluated for corrosion behavior, cytocompatibility and their mechanical and ostogenic properties. Thereby, two PEO ceramics could be identified for further in vivo evaluations.

This survey reports on the DNA identification and occurrence of Culex torrentium and Cx. pipiens s.s. in Belgium. These native disease vector mosquito species are morphologically difficult to separate and the biotypes of Cx. pipiens s.s. are morphologically indistinguishable. Culex torrentium and Cx. pipiens s.s. were identified using the COI and ACE2 loci. We recorded 1,248 Cx. pipiens s.s. and 401 Cx. torrentium specimens from 24 locations in Belgium (collected between 2017 and 2019). Culex pipiens biotypes pipiens and molestus, and their hybrids, were differentiated by fragment size analysis of the CQ11 locus (956 pipiens and 227 molestus biotype specimens, 29 hybrids). Hybrids were observed at 13 out of 16 sympatric sites. These results confirm that both species are widespread in Belgium, but while Cx. torrentium revealed many COI haplotypes, Cx. pipiens s.s. showed only one abundant haplotype. This latter observation may either reflect a recent population-wide demographic or range expansion, or a recent bottleneck, possibly linked to a Wolbachia infection. Finally, new evidence is provided for the asymmetric but limited introgression of the molestus biotype into the pipiens biotype.

(1) In an era where sustainable behavior is increasingly crucial, understanding the discrepancy between individuals' sustainability-oriented values and their actual behaviors, known as the inner-outer gap, is vital. This study explores the potential of the Tripartite Structure of Sustainability (TSS) framework to address this gap within the context of sustainable education. By reviewing literature from the databases APA, ERIC, and Web of Science, we systematically examined factors influencing sustainable actions. (2) Employing a qualitative content analysis approach, we analyzed 56 articles over a 15-year period, identifying 83 factors that either bridge or reinforce the inner-outer gap. These factors were categorized within the TSS framework, which segments sustainability-oriented actions into individual, social, and self-transcendent domains, alongside their activation points: stable, situational, or automated. (3) Our analysis revealed that self-focused factors often reinforce the gap, suggesting a hindrance to sustainable behavior. Conversely, self-transcendent factors consistently bridged the gap, promoting sustainability. Social factors showed variable impacts based on the ethical and sustainable context they were placed in, suggesting that the social environment's orientation significantly influences sustainable behavior. (4) The study concludes that the TSS framework offers a promising approach to advancing sustainability in education by facilitating a paradigm shift towards holistic and interconnected perspectives. This shift is critical for fostering sustainable behaviors, thereby contributing to the field of educational psychology and offering practical implications for educators aiming to nurture a sustainable future.

This study investigated modifications in the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and their relationship to heart complications. db/db mice heart tissues were compared with WT mice tissues using RNA sequencing, qRT-PCR, and protein analysis to identify cardiac UPS modifications associated with diabetes. The findings unveiled a distinctive gene profile in the hearts of db/db mice with decreased levels of nppb mRNA and increased levels of Myh7, indicating potential cardiac dysfunction. mRNA levels of USP18 (deubiquitinating enzyme), psmb8, and psmb9 (proteasome β-subunits) were downregulated in db/db mice while mRNA levels of RNF167 (E3 ligase) were increased. Corresponding LMP2 and LMP7 proteins were downregulated in db/db mice, and RNF167 was elevated in Adult diabetic mice. Reduced expression of LMP2 and LMP7, along with increased RNF167 expression, may contribute to future cardiac deterioration commonly observed in diabetes. This study enhances our understanding of UPS imbalances in the hearts of diabetic mice and raises questions about the interplay between the UPS and other cellular processes, such as autophagy. Further exploration in this area could provide valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying diabetic heart complications and potential therapeutic targets.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a chronic systemic disease. In Brazil this infection is caused by Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by Leishmania species have different functions like modulation of host immune system, inflammatory response, among others. This study evaluated the participation of EVs from L. (L.) infantum (Leish-EVs) in stimulation of the humoral and cellular immune responses of hosts with VL. Promastigotes were cultivated in 199 medium and, in the log phase of growth, they were centrifuged, washed, resuspended in RPMI medium and incubated for 2 to 24h, at 25ºC or 37°C to release Leish-EVs. This dynamic was evaluated by transmission (TEM) and scanning (SEM) electron microscopies, as well as nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). The results suggested that parasite penetration in mammal macrophages requires more Leish-EVs than those living in insect vectors, since promastigotes incubated at 37°C released more Leish-EVs than those incubated at 25ºC. In comparison to the control group, infected THP-1 cells produced a significantly higher concentration of EVs (THP-1 cells-EVs). Similar results were obtained when THP-1 cells were treated with Leish-EVs or a crude Leishmania antigen. These data suggest that the concentration of host-EVs-Can distinguish between infected and uninfected cells. THP-1 cells treated with Leish-EVs expressed more IL-12 than control THP-1 cells, but were unable to produce IFN-γ. These same cells produced IL-10, which inhibited TNF and IL-6. Equally, THP-1 cells treated with Leish-EVs up-expressed miR-21-5p and miR-146a-5p. These findings indicate that the increased levels of miR-21-5p and miR-146a-5p observed in Leish-EVs-treated-THP-1 cells lead to immunosuppression and the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Clupeiformes, such as sardines and herrings, represent an important share of worldwide fisheries. Among those, the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus, Walbaum 1792) exhibits significant commercial relevance. While the last decade showed a steady and sharp decline in capture levels, recent advances in culture husbandry represent promising research avenues. Yet, the complete absence of genomic resources from sardine imposes a severe bottleneck to understand its physiological and ecological requirements. We generated 69 Gbp of paired-end reads using Illumina HiSeq X Ten and assembled a draft genome assembly with an N50 scaffold length of 25579 bp and BUSCO completeness of 82.1% (Actinopterygii). The estimated size of the genome ranges between 655 and 850 Mb. Additionally, we generated a relatively high-level liver transcriptome. To deliver a proof of principle of the value of this dataset, we established the presence and function of enzymes (elovl2, elovl5 and fads2) that have pivotal roles in the biosynthesis of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, essential nutrients particularly abundant in oily fish such as sardines. Our study provides the first omics dataset from a valuable economic marine teleost species, the European sardine, an essential resource for their effective conservation, management and sustainable exploitation.

This work presents the first evidence that dissolved globular proteins change the arrangement of hydrogen bonds in water, with different proteins showing quantitatively different effects. Using ATR-FTIR (Attenuated Total Reflection – Fourier Transform Infrared) spectroscopic analysis of OH-stretch bands, we obtain quantitative estimates of the relative amounts of the previously reported four subpopulations of water structures coexisting in a variety of aqueous solutions. Where solvatochromic dyes can measure the properties of solutions of non-ionic polymers, the results correlate well with ATR-FTIR measurements. In protein solutions to which solvatochromic dye probes cannot be applied, NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy was used for the first time to estimate the hydrogen bond donor acidity of water. We found strong correlations between the solvent acidity and arrangement of hydrogen bonds in aqueous solutions for several globular proteins. Even quite similar proteins are found to change water properties in dramatically different ways.

The carbon-carbon cross-coupling of phenyl s-tetrazine (Tz) units at their ortho-phenyl positions allows to form constrained bis(tetrazines) with original tweezer structures. In these compounds, the face-to-face positioning of the central tetrazine cores is endorsed by pi-staking of the electron-poor nitrogen-containing heteroaromatic moieties. The resulting tetra-aromatic structure can be used as a weak coordinating ligand with cationic silver. This coordination generates a set of bis(tetrazine)‐silver(I) coordination complexes tolerating a large variety of counter anions of various geometries, namely, PF6–, BF4–, SbF6–, ClO4–, NTf2–, OTf2–. These compounds were characterized in the solid-state by single crystal XRD and reflectance spectra, and in solution by 1H NMR, mass spectrometry, electroanalysis and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) structure of complexes {[Ag(3)][PF6]}∞ (4) and {[Ag(3)][SbF6]∞ (6), where 3 is 3,3'-[(1,1'-biphenyl)-2,2'-diyl]-6,6'-bis[phenyl]-1,2,4,5-tetrazine, revealed the formation of 1D polymeric chains, characterized by an evolution to a large opening of the original tweezer and a coordination of silver(I) via two chelating nitrogen atom and some C=C pi-interactions. Electrochemical and UV spectroscopic properties of the original tweezer and of the corresponding silver complex are reported and compared. 1H NMR titrations with AgNTf2 allowed to determine the stoichiometry, and apparent stability of two solution species, namely [Ag(3)]+ and [Ag(3)2]2+, that formed in CDCl3/CD3OD 2:1 v/v mixtures.

The preparation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) involves a variety of chemical and physical methods. These methods use toxic and environmentally harmful chemicals. Consequently, the synthesis of AuNPs using green chemistry has been under investigation to develop eco-friendly nanoparticles. One method to achieve this is the use of plant-derived phytochemicals capable of reducing gold ions to produce AuNPs. The aim of this study was to implement a facile microtitre-plate method to screen a large number of aqueous plant extracts to determine the optimum concentration (OC) to bio-synthesize the AuNPs. Several AuNPs of different sizes and shapes were successfully synthesized and characterized from seventeen South African plants. The characterization was done using Ultra Violet-Visible Spectroscopy, Dynamic Light Scattering, High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy. We also studied the effects of temperature on the synthesis of the nanoparticles and measured its effect on the particle size of the synthesized AuNPs and the data showed that changes in temperatures affect the size and dispersity of the generated AuNPs. Further, some of the synthesized AuNPs were stable upon incubation with different biological solutions in vitro.

Woody vegetation in farmland acts as a carbon sink and provides ecosystem services for local people, but no macro-scale assessments of the impact of management and climate on woody cover exists for drylands. Here we make use of very high spatial resolution satellite imagery to derive wall-to-wall woody cover patterns in tropical West African drylands. In arid and semi-arid Sahel, areas of more people are associated with more trees: mean woody cover is greater in farmlands (12%) than in savannas (6%), and likewise it is higher close to villages than further away. In sub-humid savannas of West Africa, woody cover is generally above 20% and decreases with increasing population density, but remains around 15% in farmlands, independent of rainfall. In the region as a whole, rainfall, terrain and soil are the most important (80%) determinants of woody cover, while management factors play a smaller (20%) role. We conclude that agricultural expansion cannot generally be claimed to cause woody cover losses, and that observations in Sahel contradict simplistic ideas of a high negative correlation between population density and woody cover.

Our understanding of the long-term consequences of chronic ionising radiation for living organisms remains scarce. Modern molecular biology techniques are helpful tools for researching pollutant effects on biota. To reveal the molecular phenotype of plants growing under chronic radiation exposure, we sampled Vicia cracca L. plants in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and in areas with normal radiation backgrounds. We performed a detailed analysis of soil and gene expression patterns, and made coordinated multi-omics analyses of plant samples, including transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. Chronic exposure to ionising radiation induced complex and multidirectional changes, including significant alterations in the metabolism and gene expression patterns of irradiated plants. We revealed profound changes in carbon metabolism, nitrogen reallocation, and photosynthesis. These plants were characterised by increased DNA damage, redox imbalance, and stress response reactions. The upregulation of histones, chaperones, peroxidases, and secondary metabolism were noted.

Magnesium-silver alloys are of high interest for the use as temporary bone implants due to their antibacterial properties in addition to biocompatibility and biodegradability. Thin wires in particular can be used for scaffolding, but the determination of their degradation rate and homogeneity using traditional methods is difficult. Therefore, we have employed 3D imaging using X-ray near-field holotomography with sub-micrometer resolution to study the degradation of thin (250 μm diameter) Mg-2Ag and Mg-6Ag wires. The wires were studied in two states, recrystallized and solution annealed to assess the influence of Ag content and precipitates on the degradation. Imaging was employed after degradation in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium and 10% fetal bovine serum after 1 to 7 days. At 3 days of immersion the degradation rates of both alloys in both states were similar, but at 7 days higher silver content and solution annealing lead to decreased degradation rates. The opposite was observed for the pitting factor. Overall, the standard deviation of the determined parameters was high, owing to the relatively small field of view during imaging and high degradation inhomogeneity of the samples. Nevertheless, Mg-6Ag in the solution annealed state emerges as a potential material for thin wire manufacturing for implants.

The most massive and fast-eroding thaw slump of the Northern Hemisphere located in the Yana uplands of northern Yakutia was investigated to assess in detail the cryogenic inventory and carbon pools of two distinctive Ice Complex stratigraphic units and the uppermost cover deposits. Differentiating into modern and Holocene near-surface layers (active layer and shielding layer), highest total carbon contents were found in the active layer (18.7 kg m-2), while the shielding layer yielded much lower carbon content of 1.8 kg m-2. The late Pleistocene upper Ice Complex contained 10.4 kg m-2 total carbon, and the mid-Pleistocene lower Ice Complex 17.7 kg m-2. The proportion of organic carbon from total carbon content is well above 70% in all studied units with 94 % in the active layer, 73% in the shielding layer, 83% in the upper Ice Complex and 79% in the lower Ice Complex. Inorganic carbon is low in the overall structure of the deposits.

SARS-CoV-2 infects a range of host species. However, the susceptibility of companion animals to SARS-CoV-2 and their potential ability to transmit the virus to humans remains unclear. Here, we present a detailed clinical description of an immunosuppressed dog that was infected with SARS-CoV-2. The dog had severe gastrointestinal (GI) clinical signs, coagulopathy, elevated hepatic transaminases, and met canine systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria, without respiratory clinical signs, mirroring a subset of humans with GI-restricted COVID-19. Viral sequencing demonstrated divergence from other reported sequences, based on phylogenetic analysis. The dog shed high levels of virus for a prolonged time period with positive virus isolation. The dog’s immunosuppressed state may have increased both susceptibility to infection and disease progression. Together, our findings suggest that certain individual companion animals may be at higher risk for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19-like disease, and high viral shedding, which may pose a transmission risk to humans.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) displays clinical heterogeneity, but little information is available for patients with mild or very early disease. We aimed to characterize biomarkers that are useful in discriminating the hospitalization risk in a COVID-19 cohort from Northern Italy during the first pandemic wave. We enrolled and followed for four weeks 76 symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 positive patients and age/sex-matched healthy controls. Patients with mild disease were discharged (n.42), and the remaining were hospitalized (n.34). Blood was collected before any anti-inflammatory/immunosuppressive therapy and assessed for soluble C5b-9/C5a, H3-neutrophil extracellular traps (NET), calprotectin, DNase plasma levels by ELISA, and a panel of pro-inflammatory cytokines by ELLA. Calprotectin and NET levels discriminate between hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients, while DNase negatively correlates with NET levels; there are positive correlations between calprotectin and both NET and neopterin levels. Neopterin levels increase in patients at the beginning of the disease and more in hospitalized than non-hospitalized ones. C5a and sC5b-9, and other acute phase proteins correlate with neopterin, calprotectin, and DNase. Both NET and neopterin levels negatively correlate with platelet count. We show that calprotectin, NET, and neopterin are important proinflammatory parameters potentially useful in discriminating between COVID-19 patients at risk for hospitalization.

More than 13.5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have so far been delivered between 2021 and 2023 through a mix of delivery platforms, with mass vaccination campaigns being the main approach. In 2022, with the most likely scenario of continued circulation of SARS-CoV-2 and the need for periodic booster doses, there was a need for countries to plan for more sustainable approaches to provide COVID-19 vaccination. In this context of uncertainty, a global tool for integrating COVID-19 vaccines into immunization programmes and primary health care was published jointly by WHO and UNICEF to respond to country needs. The guidance leveraged existing health system frameworks, proposed four steps for the COVID-19 integration journey, and identified investment areas. The development process maximized robust global stakeholder and country engagement, and the timeframe was aligned with donor funding windows to support the integration of COVID-19 vaccination. The rapid dissemination of guidance allowed its use by countries to ascertain their readiness for integrating COVID-19 vaccination and inform the development of national plans and funding applications. While progress has been made in specific areas (e.g., optimizing cold chain and logistics leveraging COVID-19 vaccination), in the context of decreasing demand for COVID-19 vaccines, reaching adult COVID-19 vaccine high-priority-use groups and engaging and coordinating with other health programmes (beyond immunization) remains a challenge. We share the learning that despite the uncertainties of a pandemic, guidance documents can be developed and used within a short timeframe. Working in partnership with stakeholders beyond immunization towards a common objective is powerful and can allow progress to be made on integrating health services and preparing better for future pandemics.

Respiratory therapist(RT)internet-supervised At-Home Telespirometry(AHT)was validated in pilot 22/95=23% ALS Clinic population. Erect, supine Vital Capacity(eFVC, sFVC)were measured longitudinally using ZephyRx smartphone interface and database recording in-clinic-conventional(Viaire-Vyasis-)and at-home-portable(MIR-Spirobank-Smart-)spirometers. Bland-Altman(BA)analysis supported content validity-precision and 7-day-test-re-test-validity [mean difference=0.15L(conventional–portable;95%CI -0.40L, 0.70L); = 2.7% predicted (conventional-portable;95%CI -12.1%, 17.5%) ]meeting ATS-ERS performance standards. RT Internet-supervised AHT measured sFVC was more frequently obtained[35/52=67.3 %]in-home-vs-in-clinic sFVC[9/21=42.9 %](Chi-Square;P=0.0533). Monthly mean eFVC slope decline for the eFVC > 60 % predicted baseline cohort was – 1.24% predicted per month[95% CI -2.15 ,-0.33% predicted]statistically significantly(P=0.015)less compared with the – 5.86% predicted per month[95% CI -9.44, -2.29 % predicted]decline for the eFVC < 60 % predicted baseline cohort and in this cohort was associated with statistically significant decreased survival(P=0.0219). RT Internet-supervised AHT facilitated initiation of non-invasive ventilation(NIV)in 5/22[23%]patients including 3/4[75%] homebound subjects. RT Internet-supervised AHT can be deployed for ALS patients stratified according to baseline eFVC for earlier detection of eFVC and sFVC decreases between clinic visits. A prospective research study[NCT05106569]is ongoing to further define the capability of online deployment of Respiratory therapist(RT)internet-supervised AHT in the timely initiation of NIV use to improve ALS respiratory care in larger numbers of ALS subjects.

Newborn screening (NBS) is hailed as a public health success, but little is known about long-term outcomes following a positive newborn screen. There has been difficulty gathering long-term follow-up (LTFU) data consistently, reliably, and with minimal effort. Six programs developed and tested a core set of minimal LTFU data elements. After an iterative data collection process and the development of a data collection tool, the group agreed on minimal LTFU data elements. The denominator captured all infants with an NBS diagnosis, accounting for children who moved or died prior to the follow-up year. They also agreed on three LTFU outcomes: if the child was still alive, had contact with a specialist, and received appropriate care specific to their diagnosis within the year. The six programs representing NBS public health programs, clinical providers, and research programs provided data across multiple NBS disorders. In 2022, 83.8% (563/672) of the children identified by the LTFU programs were alive and living in the jurisdiction; of those, 92.0% (518/563) saw a specialist, and 87.7% (494/563) received appropriate care. The core LTFU data elements can be applied as a foundation to address the impact of early diagnosis by NBS within and across jurisdictions.

Cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) is a plant virus explored as a nanotechnological platform. The robust self-assembly mechanism of its capsid protein allows for drug encapsulation and targeted delivery. Additionally, the capsid nanoparticle can be used as a programmable platform to display different molecular moieties. In view of future applications, efficient production and purification of plant viruses is a key step. In established protocols, the need for ultracentrifugation is a significant limitation due to cost, difficult scalability, and safety issues. In addition, the purity of the final virus isolate often remains unclear. Here, an advanced protocol for the purification of CCMV from infected plant tissue was developed, focusing on efficiency, economy, and final purity. The protocol involves precipitation with PEG 8000, followed by an affinity extraction using a novel peptide aptamer. The efficiency of the protocol was validated using size exclusion chromatography, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, reversed-phase HPLC, and sandwich immunoassay. It was demonstrated that the final eluate of the affinity column is of exceptional purity (98.4%) determined by HPLC and detection at 220 nm. The scale-up of our proposed method seems to be straightforward, which opens the way to the large-scale production of such nanomaterials. This highly improved protocol may facilitate the use and implementation of plant viruses as nanotechnological platforms for in vitro and in vivo applications.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is one of the most flood-prone regions in the world, yet heavy cloud cover and limited in-situ observations have hampered efforts to monitor the impact of heavy rainfall, flooding, and inundation during severe weather events. This paper introduces HydroSAR, a Sentinel-1 SAR-based hazard monitoring service that was co-developed with in-region partners to provide year-round, low-latency weather-hazards information across the HKH. The paper describes the end-user focused concept and overall design of the HydroSAR service. It introduces the main processing algorithms behind HydroSAR’s broad product portfolio, which includes qualitative visual layers as well as quantitative products measuring surface water extent and water depth. We summarize the cloud-based implementation of the developed service, which is providing capability to scale automatically with event size. A performance assessment of our quantitative algorithms is described, demonstrating capabilities to map flood extent and water depth at an accuracy of >90% and

Lifestyle interventions can prevent type 2 diabetes (T2DM). However, some in-dividuals do not experience anticipated improvements despite weight loss. Bi-omarkers to identify such individuals at early stages are lacking. IGF-1 and IGFBP-1 were shown to predict T2DM onset in prediabetes. We assessed if these markers also predict the success of lifestyle interventions, thereby possibly guid-ing personalized strategies. We analyzed fasting serum levels of IGF-1, IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-2 in relation to changes in metabolic and anthropometric parameters, including intrahepatic li-pids (IHL) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume measured by MRI, in 345 high-risk prediabetic participants (54% female; aged 36-80 years). Participants were enrolled in three randomized dietary intervention trials and assessed both at baseline and one year post-intervention. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 28), significance set at p

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive irreversible neurodegenerative disorder that represents a major global public health concern. Traditionally, AD is diagnosed using cerebrospinal fluid biomarker analysis or brain imaging modalities. Recently, less burdensome, more widely available blood biomarker (BBM) assays for amyloid-beta (Aβ42/40) and phosphorylated-tau concentrations have been found to accurately identify the presence/absence of brain amyloid plaques and tau tangles and have helped to streamline AD diagnosis. However, few BBMs have been rigorously analytically validated. Herein, we report the analytical validation of a novel liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for quantifying plasma phosphorylated-tau217 (p-tau217) and non-phosphorylated-tau217 (np-tau217) peptide concentrations. We combined the p-tau217/np-tau217 concentrations ratio (%p-tau217) and the previously validated LC-MS/MS assay for plasma Ab42/40 into a new multiple analyte blood test and algorithm (PrecivityAD2™) that identifies brain amyloid status based on brain amyloid positron emission tomography. We found: (a) the %p-tau217 assay is precise, accurate, sensitive, linear over a wide analytical measurement range, and free from carryover and interference; (b) the pre-analytical specimen collection, processing, storage and shipping conditions that maintain plasma tau peptide stability; and (c) using the measured analytical imprecision for plasma Aβ42/40 and p-tau217/np-tau217 levels in a worst-case scenario model, the PrecivityAD2 test algorithm for amyloid pathology classification changed for only 3.5% of participants from brain amyloid positive to negative, or negative to positive. The plasma sample preparation and LC-MS/MS methods underlying the PrecivityAD2 test are suitable for use in the clinical laboratory and valid for the test’s intended purpose: to aid in the diagnostic evaluation of individuals aged 55 and older with signs or symptoms of mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Background: Early diagnosis of postoperative complications is an urgent task, allowing timely prescribing of appropriate therapy and reducing the cost of patient treatment. Prognostic models based on various data could help in the early diagnosis of postoperative complications after cardiac surgery. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to determine whether an integrated approach based on clinical data along with metabolites and biomarkers had greater predictive value than the models built on less data. Methods: The study included patients (n=62) admitted for planned cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting with cardiopulmonary bypass), who were retrospectively divided into two groups depending on the presence (n=26) or absence (n=36) of postoperative complications of all types. Clinical and laboratory data on the first day after surgery were analyzed. Additionally, patients' blood samples were collected before and on the first day after surgery to determine biomarkers (interleukin-6, procalcitonin, NT-proBNP, high-sensitivity troponin T) and metabolites (8 aromatic and 2 dicarboxylic acids were detected using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). Results: Patients before surgery, compared with healthy donors, differed in the concentration of metabolites (p &lt; 0.05), and had concentrations of a number of biomarkers exceeding the corresponding reference values. Multivariate PLS-DA models, predicting the presence or absence of postoperative complications, were built using clinical data (ROC-AUC=0.71), concentrations of metabolites and biomarkers (ROC-AUC=0.60), and the entire data set (ROC-AUC=0.75). For comparison we built univariate models using the EuroScore2 (ROC-AUC=0.59) and SOFA (ROC-AUC=0.76) scales; concentrations of lactate (ROC-AUC=0.71), the dynamic changes of 4-hydroxyphenyllactic acid (ROC-AUC=0.69), and the sum of three sepsis-associated metabolites (ROC-AUC=0.70). The proposed complex model using entire data set was comparable to the SOFA scale, which confirms the expediency of searching for new predictive models based on a variety of factors.

Milk serves as a crucial source of natural bioactive compounds essential for human nutrition and health. The gastrointestinal digestion of milk proteins releases various biologically active peptides that positively impact human health and enhance physiological performance. With the growing production of cheese, Greek yogurt, and other dairy products, the volume of unutilized acid whey is significantly increasing. Acid whey, containing almost all whey proteins and approximately one-quarter of casein, presents a valuable raw material for generating peptides with potential health benefits. These peptides exhibit properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, antihypertensive, antithrombotic, opioid, mineral-binding, and growth-stimulating activities, contributing to improved human immunity and the treatment of chronic diseases. Enzymatic hydrolysis of milk proteins has been developed as a method to produce these peptides, facilitating their use in food fortification. To incorporate whey into functional beverages, it undergoes fermentation by lactic acid bacteria with proteolytic activity. To specifically enrich these beverages with peptides exhibiting targeted bioactivities, it is essential to select lactic acid bacteria strains possessing the requisite protease profiles. Additionally, the sensory properties of the final product can be enhanced using starter cultures with diverse metabolic capabilities, even in the absence of added flavoring agents. Given the imperative to develop waste-free technologies and enhance the profitability of the dairy industry, there is a growing need to efficiently utilize and transform acid whey into a broad spectrum of valuable products and food additives. This approach is justified not only by the nutritional benefits of the bioactive components in whey but also by the commercial potential of safe and health-enhancing products.

Introduction: The choice of Cardiac Preservation Solution (CPS) for myocardial protection at the time of heart procurement remains controversial and uncertainties persist regarding its effect on the early and midterm Heart Transplantation (HTx) outcomes. Thus, we retrospectively analyzed our adult HTx performed with two different CPS, during a period of 12 years, in terms of hospital mortality, mid-term survival, inotropic score, primary graft dysfunction and rejection score. Methods: From January 2009 to December 2020, 154 adult HT were performed in our hospital. Patients were divided in two groups according to the CPS used: St. Thomas (n=75, group P 1) and HTK-Custodiol (n=79, group P 2). The choice of CPS was related to an institutional policy; from 2009 to 2015, St. Thomas solution was exclusively used, and after that, HTK-Custodiol alone. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of preoperative and intraoperative features. Postoperatively, the Custodiol group showed significantly lower inotropic score (p&lt;0.0001), mean rejection score (p= 0.036) and 30 days mortality (p=0.0068). The use of HTK-Custodiol was the only variable that improved midterm survival (HTK-Custodiol vs St Thomas, HR= 0.20 (95% CI: 0.069 -0.6) p=0.0039). Conclusion: In our single center experience, using HTK-Custodiol as myocardial protection during heart procurement leads to improved outcomes after HTx, including postoperative inotropic score, rejection score, 30-days mortality and midterm survival.

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.

In order to shorten the detection time and improve the average precision on embedded devices, A lightweight and high accuracy model is proposed for passion fruit in complex environments (backlight, occlusion, overlap, sunny, cloudy, rainy). Firstly, replacing the backbone network of YOLOv5 with a lightweight GhostNet model reduces the number of parameters and computation while improving detection speed. Secondly, a new feature branch is added to the GhostNet network, and the feature fusion layer in the neck network is reconstructed to effectively combine the lower-level and higher-level features, which not only improves the accuracy of the model but also maintains its lightweight. Finally, the knowledge distillation methods are used to transfer the knowledge from the more capable teacher model to the less capable student model, which significantly improving the detection accuracy. The improved model is denoted as G-YOLO-NK. The average accuracy of the G-YOLO-NK network is 96.00%, which is 1.00% higher than the original YOLOv5s model. Furthermore, the improved model size is 7.14MB, reduced to half of the original model, and the real-time detection frame rate is 11.25 FPS on the Jetson Nano. Compared to the state-of-the-art model, the proposed model outperforms them in terms of average precision and detection performance. The present work provides an effective model for real-time detection of passion fruits in complex orchard scenes, which can provide valuable technical support for the development of orchard picking robots and greatly improve the intelligence level of orchards.

The impact of interaction SS with MJO on rainfall along Java Island to East Nusa Tenggara has been studied using daily rainfall observation data from 2140 weather observation stations, which are also equipped with GSMaP, OLR, and ERA5 data. There were 61 SS events found, 17 during active MJO and 44 in inactive MJO. Rainfall increases more in the western study area when the active MJO and more in the eastern study area when the inactive MJO is due to SS. SS reduces rainfall in the Jakarta region, regardless of the activity or inactivity of the MJO. SS causes extreme rainfall to only occur in a small part of certain areas, so it tends to significantly reduce the possibility of extreme rainfall. In the southern part of the IMC, SS predominates over MJO in supporting increased water vapor transport. Large-scale synoptic circulations like the monsoon, SS, and MJO can interact with local land-sea wind circulation to produce spatiotemporal variability in rainfall on Java Island. Rainfall mostly increases in the afternoon and decreases in the morning when SS occurs, whether there is MJO or not. Convective instability analysis indicates that SS increases precipitation, most likely by lowering CIN and raising VIMFC.

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.

In recent years, electroencephalogram (EEG) emotion recognition has emerged as a research hotspot in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite advancements in EEG-based emotion recognition, room for enhancing performance persists due to EEG signal redundancy and limitations in feature extraction, leading to inefficient models and emotional information loss. To fully utilize EEG's emotional information and improve recognition accuracy while reducing computational costs, this paper proposes a Convolutional-Recurrent Hybrid Network with a dual-stream adaptive approach and an attention mechanism (CSA-SA-CRTNN). Firstly, the model utilizes a CSAM module to assign corresponding weights to EEG channels. Then, an adaptive dual-stream convolutional-recurrent network (SA-CRNN and MHSA-CRNN) is applied to extract local spatial-temporal features. After that, the extracted local features are concatenated and fed into a temporal convolutional network with a multi-head self-attention mechanism (MHSA-TCN) to capture global information. Finally, the extracted EEG information is used for emotion classification. We conducted binary and ternary classification experiments on the DEAP dataset, achieving 99.26% and 99.15% accuracy for arousal and valence in binary classification, and 97.69% and 98.05% in ternary classification, surpassing relevant algorithms. Additionally, the model's efficiency is significantly higher than other models, achieving better accuracy with lower resource consumption.

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.