Oilseed plants of the Brassicaceae plant family are cultivated for food, feed and industrial purposes on large-scale in Europe. This review gives an overview of current market-oriented applications of new genomic techniques (NGTs) in relevant Brassicaceae oilseed crops based on a literature survey. In this respect, changes in oil quality, yield, growth and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress are goals in oilseed rape (B. napus) and camelina (C. sativa). Environmental risk assessment scenarios are developed for specific NGT applications in Brassicaceae oilseed crops with either a changed oil composition or with fitness related traits. In case of a changed oil composition an increase or decrease of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) demonstrates risks for health and survival of pollinators. In case of fitness related traits other risks were identified, i. e. an increased risk of spread and persistence of NGT plants. Furthermore, there are indications for potential disturbance of interactions with the environment, involving signalling pathways and reaction to stress conditions. It is shown that for a comprehensive risk assessment the technological potential of NGTs, the plants’ biology and the scale of releases have to be considered in combination. Therefore, the release of NGT plants into the environment for agricultural purposes will require risk assessment and monitoring of single traits as well as of combinatorial and long-term cumulative effects. In addition, risk management should develop concepts and measures to control and potentially restrict the scale of releases. This is especially relevant for NGT Brassicaceae in Europe which is a centre of diversity of this plant family.

Ovarian cancer (OC) represents a significant challenge in the realm of gynecological cancers, characterized by poor survival rates and complex etiology. In this review, we delve into the se-lected genetic, environmental, and hormonal factors underpinning OC development. We have reviewed scientific databases searching for ovarian cancer genetic and epigenetic factors. We have included studies based on their relevancy. As a result of exploring ovarian carcinogen-esis, this systematic review contains data collected from 126 various works. The role of prominent genetic players such as BRCA mutations, DNA repair mechanisms, un-derscores the intricate landscape of OC susceptibility. We explore Li-Fraumeni and Lynch syn-drome, which impart a heightened predisposition to OC development. Hormonal factors such as estrogen, progesterone, and androgens are also discussed. Environmental alterations, ranging from lifestyle influences on OC to microbiome dysbiosis and lifestyle factors such as obesity, al-cohol consumption, and physical activity intersect with genetic and epigenetic pathways, shaping the risk landscape for OC. Through a meticulous examination of current literature, this review provides a nuanced under-standing of the multifactorial nature of OC, emphasizing the need for holistic approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

The rise in precocious puberty cases can be attributed to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Genetic factors play a significant role, with studies identifying genetic abnormalities in genes such as KISS1, KISS1R, MKRN3, DLK1, GABRA1, LIN28B, NPYR, TAC3, and TACR3, which are associated with central precocious puberty (CPP). Epigenetic factors like DNA methylation and histone modifications may mediate the relationship between genetic and environmental influences on CPP development. Environmental factors such as exposure to secondhand smoke, cesarean section, and BMI have also been linked to precocious puberty, particularly in girls, highlighting the multifactorial nature of this phenomenon. Understanding the interplay between these genetic and environmental factors is crucial in addressing the increasing prevalence of precocious puberty in children. The published literature in the past five years was systematically reviewed and summarized highlighting the interplay of genetic and environmental factors for the rise in the precocious puberty.

High temperature stress affects tomato production both in tropical and sub-tropical environments worldwide. To explore genetic variation for heat tolerance in tomato, 329 transcontinental tomato varieties were evaluated at The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) greenhouses near Doha, Qatar. Preliminary phenotypic analysis identified a diverse set of 71 hybrid and pure line tomato varieties for more detailed studies. The selected subset was examined in the greenhouse in a randomized complete block design under heat stress. The materials were phenotyped for fruit size, fruit weight, fruit hardness, fruit locules, fruit set (%), total soluble solids (TSS), and fruit yield. Significant phenotypic differences among genotypes were observed for all the traits assessed. To explore the genetic basis of variation among varieties the subset was genotyped using 104 SNP markers identified in previous heat tolerance genome wide association studies (GWAS). Nineteen QTL associated SNP markers could reliably select heat tolerant varieties in terms of better fruit yield, fruit set, and TSS. These markers are located on Chromosome 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 12. Interestingly, two clusters of markers on chromosome 6 were linked to significant effects on yield, fruit set, and TSS under high temperature. Some markers located within these QTL regions were also reported as associated with heat tolerance in other studies. Eighteen out of nineteen SNP markers were mapped within a gene body. Based on the phenotypic and the genotypic analysis, an elite set of five varieties was selected for approval for heat stress environments in Qatar. These findings have significance not only for Qatar, but they are also valuable for wider application at other locations worldwide. The 19 markers presented here could be adopted by breeders for marker-assisted selection (MAS) for heat tolerance.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD), caused by a virus within the Poxviridae family and Capripoxvirus genus, induces nodular skin lesions in cattle, spreading through direct contact and insect vectors, significantly affecting global cattle farming. Despite available vaccines, their effectiveness is limited by poor bioavailability and adverse effects. Our study aimed to identify potential inhibitors targeting LSD-associated DNA polymerase protein, selecting LSDV039 for further investigation through comprehensive analysis and computational methods. Virtual screening revealed rhein and taxifolin as potent binders among 380 phytocompounds, with respective affinities of -8.965 and -7.195 kcal/mol. Canagliflozin and tepotinib exhibited strong affinities (-9.858 and -8.856 kcal/mol) among 718 FDA-approved antiviral drugs. Molecular dynamics simulations of canagliflozin, tepotinib, rhein, and taxifolin highlighted taxifolin's superior stability and binding energy. Rhein displayed compactness in RMSD and RMSF but fluctuations in Rg and SASA, while canagliflozin demonstrated stability compared to tepotinib. The study highlights the promising potential of repurposed drugs and phytocompounds as LSD therapeutics. However, extensive validation through in-vitro, in-vivo, and clinical trials is crucial for their practical application.

Missense mutations in the LRRK2 gene were first identified as a pathogenic cause of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in 2004. Soon thereafter, a founder mutation in LRRK2, p.Gly2019Ser (rs34637584), was described, and it is now estimated that there are approximately 100,000 people worldwide that carry this risk variant. While the clinical presentation of LRRK2 parkinsonism has been largely indistinguishable from sporadic PD, disease penetrance and age at onset can be quite variable. In addition, its neuropathological features span a wide range from nigrostriatal loss with Lewy body pathology, lack thereof, or atypical neuropathology including a large proportion of cases with concomitant Alzheimer’s pathology, hailing LRRK2 parkinsonism as the "Rosetta stone" of parkinsonian disorders. These differences may result from interactions between LRRK2 mutant protein and other proteins or environmental factors that modify LRRK2 function, and thereby influence pathobiology. This review explores how potential genetic and biochemical modifiers of LRRK2 function may contribute to the onset and clinical presentation of LRRK2 parkinsonism. We review, which genetic modifiers of LRRK2 influence clinical symptoms, age at onset, and penetrance, what LRRK2 mutations are associated with pleomorphic LRRK2 neuropathology, and which environmental modifiers can augment LRRK2 mutant pathophysiology. Understanding how LRRK2 function is influenced and modulated by other interactors and environmental factors –either increasing toxicity or providing resilience- will inform targeted therapeutic development in the years to come. This will allow developing disease-modifying therapies for PD and LRRK2-related neurodegeneration.

Urban air pollution is a critical global environmental issue, necessitating an understanding of the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving factors for effective environmental protection and urban planning. This study introduced an advanced air quality assessment system that integrates environmental, socio-economic, and urban layout factors, addressing gaps in traditional models that often overlook the impact of urban spatial structures. Analyzing air quality data from Beijing's main urban area (2016-2020) alongside multi-source geographic data, the research develops a comprehensive evaluation system, incorporating 14 key driving factors. Employing Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) and Multi-scale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR), the study quantitatively assessed the influence and spatial heterogeneity of these factors. Findings revealed an annual improvement in air quality, with a U-shaped seasonal pattern and significant spatial clustering (Global Moran’s I = 0.922). The MGWR model, in particular, provided a superior fit over GWR, effectively capturing the spatial variability of factors. Variables such as NDVI), economic output (GDP), and humidity space adjustment capability (HSAC) showed significant positive spatial impacts on air quality, while population density (POP), temperature (TEMP), and road density (RD) exhibited negative effects. These insights enhance the understanding of air pollution dynamics and aid in refining urban planning strategies.

Regeneration of lost tail is of great importance to lizards. Anolis carolinensis, a green lizard, is capable of regenerating its tail efficiently after autotomy. Hence, it is considered as a model organism in regeneration study. A. carolinensis shed its tail in order to distract the predator’s attention and thus makes a way to escape. Restoring of the amputated tail takes several days and the mechanism is currently clearly understood. Although save its life, tail regeneration is associated with the impairment of several vital functions in Anoles. In addition, various differences have been observed between original and regenerated tail in terms of mechanism and structure. To date, very little work has been conducted on tail autotomy and regeneration at molecular and genetic level. The genes responsible for regeneration in anoles are identified recently. These genes are evolutionarily conserved through all tetrapod vertebrates. They are, however, in a state of ‘switched-off’ in other vertebrates including humans. Consequently, a throughout study of these so called ‘switched-off’ genes may provide a way of restoring lost organs in human, and thus could revolutionize the modern medical science.

Callus induction (CI) is the critical trait for the transformation of desirable genes in plants. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis was conducted on the rice germplasm of 110 diverse indica rice accessions. Three tissue culture media, including B5, MS, and N6, were used for CI in those rice panels. Seven quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on chromosomes 2, 6, 7, and 11 were found to confer a CI percentage in these three media. For the B5 medium, one QTL (qCI-B5-Chr6) was identified on the rice chromosome 6. For the MS medium, two QTLs were identified on the rice chromosomes 2 and 6 (qCI-MS-Chr2 and qCI-MS-Chr6, respectively). For the N6 medium, four QTLs were identified on the rice chromosomes 6, 7, and 11 (qCI-N6-Chr6.1, qCI-N6-Chr6.2, qCI-N6-Chr7, and qCI-N6-Chr11, respectively). Fifty-five genes were identified within the haplotype blocks corresponding to these QTLs. Thirty-one genes showed haplotypes associated with different CI in those media. The qCI-B5-Chr6 was located in the same region as the qCI-N6-Chr6.2. The caleosin-related family protein was identified in this region. Analysis of the gene-based haplotype reveals the association of this gene with different CI in both B5 and N6 media, suggesting that the gene may play a critical role in the CI mechanism. Moreover, several genes, including the beta-tubulin, the zinc finger proteins, the RNP-1 domain-containing protein, and the Lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase, were associated with different CI in the N6 media. Results from this study provide insight into the potential QTLs and candidate genes for callus induction in rice that will fulfill the understanding of the physiological and biochemical processes involved in callus formation, which is an essential tool in the molecular breeding of rice.

To characterize the fecal microbiota of lactating Bactrian camels, this study employed a random selection of camels, assigning them to three groups: the first parity group, the third parity group, and the fifth parity group. The fecal microbial community of lactating camels was assessed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, and the resulting library was sequenced on an Illumina NovaSeq platform. The first parity group was characterized by Verrucomicrobiaceae as a distinctive bi-omarker, whereas Clostridiaceae exhibited a similar role to the third parity group. In terms of functional analysis, the relative abundance of the Steroid biosynthesis pathway was highest in the first parity group, whereas the fifth parity group demonstrated a higher relative abundance of the Tuberculosis pathway compared to the other groups. The first parity group exhibited the greatest presence of seven types of enzymes, whereas the fifth parity group displayed the highest levels of two specific enzymes. Additionally, a positive association was observed between the relative abundance of the Steroid biosynthesis pathway and Verrucomicrobiaceae. Furthermore, the relative abundance of the Tuberculosis pathway displayed positive correlations with 14 enzymes. In conclusion, this study revealed that different parity was associated with distinct fecal microbial ecologies in lactating Bactrian camels.

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

Quite a number of cottonseed varieties are existed. The seeds of each variety produce a different amount of gossypol as a natural toxic compound. The increased interest in this natural product and its toxic effects were enhanced the demand for establishing simple silica-gel-based methods for its isolation, purification, and characterization. Historically, silica gel plays a significant role in isolation and purification of many different natural products. Silica gel is variants and can intro-duce a lab, simple tool for tracking a compound in certain plants during its purification process. In this study, gossypol was isolated and purified in the form of yellow crystals as gossypol acetic ac-id. Several methods and tools were used for its characterization including TLC, preparative TLC, silica gel column, UV/IR spectrophotometer and HPLC (Robust spherical silica gel). A compara-tive study between its amounts in both Egyptian and Chinese varieties were performed. Under the experimental condition, the Egyptian cottonseeds contain 8.705 gm/kg, while the Chinese contains 5.395 gm/kg. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) had been flourished the science of the phytochemistry and still popular till nowadays and is recommended for fast, accurate, and inex-pensive evaluation and quantification of gossypol. It is recommended to isolate and purify gossy-pol as gossypol acetic acid using optimized combined methods used in this study. Using Silica gel different protocols will assist and facilitate the parallel comparison and save the compact column from any unexpected contaminants during the purification steps. During each step the silica gel itself could be simply removed by paper filtration.

Small peptides (SPs), ranging from 5 to 100 amino acids, play integral roles in plants due to their diverse functions. Despite their low abundance and small molecular weight, SPs intricately regulate critical aspects of plant life, including cell division, growth, differentiation, flowering, fruiting, maturation, and stress responses. As vital mediators of intercellular signaling, SPs have garnered significant attention in plant biology research. This comprehensive review delves into SPs' structure, classification, and identification, providing a detailed understanding of their significance. Additionally, we summarize recent findings on the biological functions and signaling pathways of prominent SPs that regulate plant growth and development. The review also offers a forward-looking perspective on future research directions in peptide signaling pathways.

Oligopeptide transporters (OPTs) are a group of membrane localized proteins that have a broad range of substrate transport capabilities and contribute to numerous biological processes. However, limited information has been reported on OPTs in higher plants. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the OPT gene family in Medicago truncatula was performed. A total of 26 OPT genes (MtOPT01-MtOPT26) have been identified in the Medicago truncatula genome. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that MtOPTs consisted of two distinct subgroups, 12 MtOPTs belonged to the peptide transport subgroup (PT-OPT) based on their predicted amino acid sequences containing the two highly conserved motifs (NPG and KIPPR) and 14 MtOPTs belonged to yellow stripe subgroup (YS-OPT). The MtOPTs distributed on each of 8 chromosomes in Medicago truncatula. Sequence analysis verified that MtOPTs significant similar to those in other plants. The copy number of MtOPTs was low and the multiply of MtOPTs was simple relatively. Gene structure analysis showed that most of the MtOPTs have various numbers of introns. The multiple of MtOPTs might play different biological roles which were supported by the fact that MtOPTs have a distinct tissue-specific expression pattern. The data obtained in this study will help to better understand the complexity of the MtOPTs gene family and provide new evidence for the function and evolution of the OPT gene family in higher plants.

The African continent has the highest prevalence of hypertension globally, with South Africa reporting the highest prevalence in Southern Africa. While the influence of genetic variability in the pathogenesis of hypertension is well described internationally, limited reports are available for African populations. This study aimed to assess the association of genetic variants and essential hypertension in a cohort of two ethnic South African population groups. Two hundred and seventy-seven hypertensive and one hundred and seventy-six normotensive individuals were genotyped for 79 variants. Genotyping was performed using the Illumina GoldenGate Assay and allele-specific polymerase chain reaction. The association of variants was assessed using the Fisher Exact test under the additive and allelic genetic models, while multivariate logistic regression was used to predict the development of hypertension. Five variants (CYP11B2 rs179998, AGT rs5051 and rs699, AGTR1 rs5186 and ACE rs4646994) were significantly associated with essential hypertension in the cohort under study. Furthermore, AGTR1 rs5186 and AGT rs699 were identified as risk factors for the development of hypertension in both ethnic groups. In two ethnic South African populations an association was observed between Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System (RAAS) related genes and the development of hypertension.

A phase 1-2, prospective, multicenter, randomized, open-label clinical trial (Code RPCEC00000382, https://rpcec.sld.cu/trials/RPCEC00000382-En/), with parallel groups, involving 1161 participants was designed to assess safety and immunogenicity of two Cuban COVID-19 vaccines (Mambisa and Abdala) in boosting COVID-19 immunity of convalescent adults after receiving one dose of either vaccine. The main safety outcome was severe vaccination adverse events occurring in <5% of vaccinees. Main immunogenicity success endpoints were ≥4-fold anti-RBD IgG seroconversion or ≥20% increase in ACE2-RBD inhibitory antibodies in >55% of vaccinees in Phase 1 and >70% in Phase 2. Neutralizing antibody titers against SARS-CoV-2 variants were evaluated. Both vaccines were safe; no deaths or severe adverse events occurred. Mild intensity adverse events were the most frequent (>73%); headache predominated for both vaccines. Phase 1 responders were 83.3% (p = 0.0018) for Abdala. Mambisa showed similar results. Phase 2 responders were 88.6% for Abdala (p <0.0001) and 74.2% for Mambisa (p = 0.0412). In both phases, anti-RBD IgG titers, inhibition percentages and neutralizing antibody titers increased significantly after the booster dose. Both vaccines were safe and their immunogenicity surpassed the study endpoints.

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

The Kampar Peninsula, a significant peatland region in Riau, Indonesia, is vital for its carbon re-serves and biodiversity, including the Sumatran tiger. Covering approximately 735,091 hectares, it comprises critical peat domes essential for hydrological balance. This research investigates land use changes from 1990-2020 using the Normalized Difference Fraction Index (NDFI) to map disturb-ances and land cover changes. Additionally, interviews and regulatory analysis were conducted to examine the historical drivers of land use change in the Kampar Peninsula. In 2020, natural forests covered 433,395.20 hectares (59.9% of the total area), industrial pulpwood plantations (primarily acacia) covered 27.3%, oil palm plantations accounted for 10.4%, infrastructure occupied 2.4%, and water bodies made up 0.9%. Key drivers of land use change include the construction of access roads by oil companies since 1975 and government policies during the New Order period (1980s-1998) promoting forest exploitation and transmigration programs. These activities have significantly transformed the Kampar Peninsula's land cover, highlighting the need for sustainable management and conservation efforts.

The conventional well placement was done manually by using a numerical reservoir simulator, and it required a lengthy trial-and-error process. It required great experience and expertise to manipulate the variables and uncertainties that lie on the reservoir to determine the best placement of the well. In addition, the traditional gradient-based methods such as Line-search and Trust-region were not viable in terms of maximum results obtained. Gradient-based methods were too dependent on the surface gradient of the solution and may only converge to local optima instead of global optima. Complex reservoirs have rough surfaces with high uncertainties, which hinders the traditional gradient-based method from converging to global optima. Thus, genetic algorithms were utilized to automate the manual trial-and-error process and to overcome the limitations of the traditional gradient-based method. The objectives of this study were to analyse the effect of different initial well placement distributions, the number of random solution sizes, and the crossover rate on cumulative oil production. A synthetic reservoir model built using CMG Builder was used as the testing platform for the optimization problems. Well-placement parameterization and optimization set-up were carried out using the CMG CMOST optimization tool. The integration of CMG IMEX and CMOST optimized cumulative oil production based on the objectives of the study. The results obtained showed that the higher number of random solutions used resulted in higher cumulative oil production, with more generations needed to reach the optimum solution. It can be concluded that the larger number of random solutions used increased the probability of reaching the optimum solution, but will take more generations.

Twin pregnancies are highly undesirable in dairy cattle; they compromise the health and wellbeing of a cow, and its incidence dramatically impairs the farm economy. Recently, a genomic prediction for twin pregnancies has been developed. The objective of this study was to assess cow, environmental and management risk factors affecting the incidence of twin pregnancies in high-producing dairy cows in their first lactation, with special emphasis placed on the genomic prediction values for twin pregnancy. Our study population of primiparous cows proved valuable in identifying factors other than genomic predictive values influencing the twin pregnancy rate. The odds ratio for twin pregnancy was 0.85 (p <0.0001) for each unit of a prediction value increase, 3.5 (p = 0.023) for cows becoming pregnant during the negative photoperiod, and 0.33 (p = 0.016) for cows producing ≥42 kg of milk at AI, compared to the remaining cows producing <42kg of milk. As a general conclusion, the practical implication of our findings is that genomic prediction values can identify the risk of twin pregnancy at herd level. Given the cumulative effect of genomic selection, selecting for animals with reduced genetic risk of twin pregnancies can contribute to reduce its incidence in dairy herds.

This study investigated the development of novel probiotic formulations specifically designed for rainbow trout aquaculture. The project evaluated the effects of two formulations containing potential probiotic strains isolated from rainbow trout itself. These effects were assessed on various parameters including growth performance, immune response, liver enzyme activity, gene expression related to immunity, and the composition of the bacterial gut microbiota in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). In a completely randomized experimental design, a total of 450 rainbow trout were randomly divided into 70-liter fiberglass tank. The study included six treatments of three replicates (n=18 tanks). Six dietary treatments were included (A) and (B) containing three strains of Pediococcus sp P15, Lactococcus lactis ml3, Weissella cibaria ml6 at two dosages (300 and 500 mg/kg), treatments (C) and (D) containing five strains of P. sp P15, L. lactis ml3, W. cibaria ml6, Enterococcus faecium E10 and Lactobacillus curvatus 13A at two dosages (300 and 500 mg/kg), a commercial probiotic (E) at 300 mg/kg, and a control group (F) without probiotics. Treatments of (A), (B) and (E) resulted in the highest final weights in compared to control group. Fish fed treatments (A) and (B) had the lowest FCR than other groups. Treatments (A) and (D) showed a significant increase in immunoglobulin M (IgM) concentration compared to other groups. The expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) was significantly lower in group (A) than the control. In contrast, the expression of interleukin 6 (IL6) and immunoglobulin T (IgT) was increased 4.4-fold and 41-fold, respectively, in group (A) compared to control group. Among the probiotic fed treatments, group (A) showed a significant higher number of lactic acid bacteria compared to other groups during the experiment. This study highlights the significant role of treatment (A) containing three strains of P. sp P15, L. lactis ml3, and W. cibaria ml6 at a dosage of 300 mg/kg as a potential probiotic product for the rainbow trout industry.

The utilization of electroporation for delivering the CRISPR/Cas9 system components has enabled efficient gene editing in mammalian zygotes, facilitating the development of genome-edited animals. In our study，This research focused on targeting the ACTG1 and MSTN genes in sheep, revealing a threshold phenomenon in electroporation with a voltage tolerance in sheep in vitro fertilization (IVF) zygotes. Various poring voltages near 40V and pulse durations were examined for electroporating sheep zygotes. The study concluded that stronger electric fields required shorter pulse durations to achieve the optimal conditions for high gene mutation rates and reasonable blastocyst development. The investigation also assessed the quality of Cas9/sgRNA ribonucleoprotein complexes (Cas9 RNPs) and their influence on genome editing efficiency in sheep early embryos. It was highlighted that pre-complexation of Cas9 proteins with single-guide RNA (sgRNA) before electroporation was essential for achieving a high mutation rate. The use of suitable electroporation parameters for sheep IVF zygotes led to significantly high mutation rates and heterozygote ratios. By delivering Cas9 RNPs and single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides (ssODNs) to zygotes through electroporation, targeting the MSTN (Myostatin) gene, a knock-in efficiency of 26% was achieved. The successful generation of MSTN-modified lambs was demonstrated by delivering Cas9 RNPs into IVF zygotes via electroporation.

Water quality assessment in pastoral of Tibetan Plateau, which is water sources for about 40% of world's population and the runoff-yield area of Yellow rivers, is very important. In this paper, Xiahe county which belongs to Tibetan Plateau pastoral was investigated. Six parameters(via, chloride, COD, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate, fluoride, sulfate) were selected to assess the water quality and health degree by using fuzzy comprehensive evaluation methods. The hydrochemical type in surface water was of HCO3--Mg2+-Ca2+ type. The cations and anions in surface water were mainly from weathering and dissolution of carbonate rock. Results showed that the water quality in all 69 sampling sites was all of class Ⅰ. The integrated health degree reached more than 0.85 and the health rate were 100%. Although ammonia nitrogen was regarded as the main contamination factor, but it had a little effect on the entire body of water. Overall, the surface water qualities of most samples in Xiahe County was good condition.

Introduction: Cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) is the most common congenital face anomaly in the world of multifactorial etiology. Objective: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of cleft palate. To identify associated risk factors to guide prevention and/or prenatal detection for early intervention and better health outcomes. To assess the rehabilitation protocols after operations in cleft palate. Design: Retrospective descriptive and clinical study. Patients: One hundred and three children with cleft palate treated in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery Clinic for Children and Young Adults, Department of Clinical Pediatrics, University of Warmia and Mazury, were included in the study. Methods: Records evaluation was conducted regarding sex, cleft type, mother occupation, parents education, histories of cleft in any of parents. The data were analyzed using R (R core team 2021) and the ordinal logistic regression analyses. Results: Children of stressed mothers during pregnancy had 9.4 times higher odds of having bilateral cleft. While there was no evidence that children sex, order of birth, and body mass as well as risk of maternal toxicity at work or reporting infections or drugs toxicity had a significant effect on the dependent variable. Conclusions: Children of parents with cleft history and having low educated mothers had higher probability of bilateral cleft palate. Children of stressed mothers during pregnancy had higher odds of having bilateral cleft. In literature, there is a lack of reports about rehabilitation in different operations methods in children with cleft palates.

Dinoflagellates are one of the largest groups of marine microalgae and exhibit diverse trophic strategies. Within these niches, dinoflagellates can produce secondary metabolites that are known to be toxic, which can lead to ecologically harmful blooms. Amphidinium carterae is one species of dinoflagellate that produces toxic compounds and is used as a model for dinoflagellate studies. The extent to which the microbiome surrounding A. carterae affects its growth and secondary metabolite synthesis is still being assessed, as well as the impact of bacterial data on sequencing and assembly. An antibiotic cocktail was previously shown to eliminate 16S amplification from the dinoflagellate culture. Even with drastically reduced bacterial numbers, bacterial populations are likely to be present. In this experiment we used novel Nanopore long-read sequencing techniques on A. carterae cultures to assemble 15 full bacterial genomes ranging from 2.9-6.0 Mb and found that the use of antibiotics decreased the percentage of reads mapping back to bacteria. We also identified shifts in the microbiome composition and identified a potentially deleterious bacterial species arising in the absence of the antibiotic-treatment. Multiple antibiotic-resistance genes were identified, as well as evidence that the bacterial population do not contribute to toxic secondary metabolite synthesis.

In the context of sustainable development, integrating the work aspect into health promotion systems is essential, ensuring that employees maintain a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives, which respects and amplifies the potential of every individual. Lately, there has been a noticeable shift of medical professionals from the public to the private sector. This trend paints a bleak picture, highlighting the vulnerabilities of a system teetering on the brink of failure, with significant impacts on patient care. Among the myriad reasons behind this shift, burnout stands out prominently. Medical professionals face increasing pressures due to understaffing, limited organizational support, and insufficient resources, leading to feelings of cynicism, exhaustion, and detachment from their roles. Utilizing the Maslach et al. questionnaire, we assessed the risk of burnout among physicians in public hospitals to identify and underscore preventive measures and improvements, correlating our findings with key aspects of organizational empowerment. Our research indicates that enhancing interpersonal relationships and resources—both within teams and between the organization and its physicians—is crucial for the revival of the healthcare system. This approach aims at improving the delivery of healthcare services and offering appropriate recognition to healthcare professionals, aligning with the principles of sustainable employment.

For the last two decades, an increasing demand for low-cost adsorbents for drinking water treatment has been challenged in the rural areas of developing countries that have problems with arsenic (As) contamination. In this work, spent bleaching earth (SBE), a residual material that is formed during the process of refining vegetable oil, has been utilized to prepare the new magnetic adsorbent Fe-SBE/C by modifying its surface area through calcination and co-precipitation with iron. The experimental results demonstrate that Fe-SBE/C exhibits a substantial adsorption capacity towards both arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)). Optimal pH conditions were found to be pH 10 for As(III) and pH 3 for As(V), resulting in adsorption percentages of 76.7% and 94.1%, respectively. Other experimental parameters such as calcination conditions, adsorbent dosage, iron-loading ratio, and the presence of co-existing ions were thoroughly investigated. The kinetic study revealed that the adsorption processes follow the Elovich and intraparticle diffusion models, suggesting a combined adsorption mechanism of boundary layer control and chemisorption. Furthermore, the isotherm followed the Langmuir model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 202.61 μg g-1 for As(III) and 187.61 μg g-1 for As(V). Through thermodynamic analysis and reinforcement by activation energy data, this research validates that the observed adsorption process is indicative through chemisorption. The regeneration study revealed the potential for multiple cycles of arsenic removal, highlighting the practical applicability of Fe-SBE/C in environmental contexts. In conclusion, the findings of this study underscore the efficacy of Fe-SBE/C in arsenic removal and present it as a promising and environmentally friendly solution for mitigating arsenic pollution.

Mixed plastic packaging waste sorting residues (MPO323) were treated by thermal pyrolysis to utilize pyrolysis oil and char. The pyrolysis oil was found to contain aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons. Chlorine and bromine contents were up to 40,000 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg, respectively. Additionally, other elements like sulfur, phosphorous, iron, aluminum, and lead were detected, which can be interpreted as impurities regarding the utilization of the oils by means of chemical recycling. The pyrolysis char showed high contents of potentially active species like silicon, calcium, aluminum, iron, and others. To enhance the content of aromatic hydrocarbons and to reduce the level of contaminants, the pyrolysis oil was reformed with the corresponding pyrolysis char to act as an active material in a fixed bed. The temperature of the reactor and the flow rate of the pyrolysis oil feed were varied to gain insights on cracking and reforming reactions as well as on the performance with regard to decontamination.

Lirianthe delavayi has valuable ornamental and medicinal value, is an important economic tree, and has a long history of cultivation. As important regulatory molecules, miRNAs are involved in important physiological processes, such as the plant stress response, organ morphogenesis, hormone secretion, and signaling. In this study, based on miRNA sequencing analysis of wild and cultivated Lirianthe delavayi, we explored the differences in posttranscriptional regulation during the cultivation of Lirianthe delavayi from the aspect of miRNA molecular regulation. The results revealed the following: 1. A total of 365 miRNAs were sequenced and identified, and their first bases had obvious uracil (U) base preferences. Among them, 242 miRNAs were classified into 32 miRNA families; 2. Analysis of miRNA expression differences revealed that 39 miRNAs had significant expression differences between wild and cultivated populations; 3. Bioinformatics target gene prediction and target gene enrichment analysis of significantly differentially expressed miRNAs revealed that the target genes were significantly enriched in plant‒pathogen interactions, sphingolipid metabolism, defense responses, and ADP binding. 4. The plant‒pathogen interaction pathway involves seven differentially expressed miRNAs and 30 miRNA‒target gene regulatory pairs, which are involved mainly in pathogen signature molecule recognition and binding, signal transduction, and the regulation of disease resistance molecules or gene expression; Ath-MIR169g-p3_2ss7AG19GA, ath-MIR169g-p5_2ss7AG19GA, and ath-miR408-3p_L-3 are expressed only in wild population, and it is hypothesized that the domestication process from wild to cultivation species may be accompanied by the loss of disease resistance-related miRNAs. This study provides a reference for exploring the posttranscriptional-level regulatory mechanisms of adaptive changes in Lirianthe delavayi from wild to cultivated.

Many types of banana (Musa spp.)—one of the most economically important horticultural crops—exist, and their ploidy (diploid, triploid, and tetraploid, usually) and genome types (containing A or/and B genome in most cases) differ. At present, observation and genome type detection are commonly used to identify banana germplasm resources. However, the former is tedious, while the latter cannot distinguish categories below genome types. It is therefore urgent that a simple and effective method for identifying banana germplasm resources is established. We sequenced and analyzed the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of 62 banana germplasm and found that the sequencing peaks, especially the 20 bp region near the 420 bp position (referred to as the “420 bp region”), exhibited relatively recognizable and repeatable polymorphism characteristics. Using the “420 bp region” as a marker, we were able to quickly distinguish bananas belonging to different genome type groups (comprising the AA, AB, AAA, ABB, AAB, ABBB, AAAB, and AAAA groups) or different subgroups in the same genome type group (for example, the Cavendish, Gros Michel, Red, Lakatan, and Ibota Bota subgroups in the AAA group; and the Pisang Raja, Plantain, Pome and Silk subgroups in the AAB group). Moreover, it appeared that Sanger sequencing of ITS could be used for identifying banana hybrid offspring. These results demonstrated that the banana ITS region contains rich genetic information that is useful for genotyping. In general, ITS sequencing simplifies the classification of banana germplasm resources and has potential application in several areas of Musa improvement.

Cervical cancer is one of the ailments that endangers the health of women all over the world and causes infertility. Fortunately, this disease can be avoided. Both the results and participation rates of the current preventative strategy remain poor. Hence, preventative or early detection methods remain challenging and open. In gynecology and computer science fields, few studies on identifying cervical cancer are based on behavior risk factor and machine learning. Moreover, various social and behavioral aspects might often make it more difficult to detect cervical cancer especially in low‑ and middle‑income countries (LMICs). Accordingly, focus on predicting the presence of cervical cancer through behavioral risk factors is the basic structure of this research. We proposed an approach to classify cervical cancer from a social-behavioral perspective using logistic regression to predict cervical cancer. We got significantly improved outcomes than the existing methods. Moreover, we used feature engineering to formulate less dimensionality as a pre-processing step and optimized parameters to be prepared for classification phase. The results proved that using the logistic regression with regularization type L1 had a promising performance. The accuracy of Logistic Regression (LR) L1 was 97.2%. Such results support the proposed work as a reliable classification predictive tool.

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

The Axillary Seabream Pagellus acarne is of economic importance for recreational and commercial fisheries in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, but a decline in total landings has been observed and raised some concern. Although biological information on the species has been provided for the Atlantic and Mediterranean, in the Portuguese continental slope data is restricted to the southern part of the country, which points to the relevance of the present work. A total of 520 individuals, between 7.8 cm and 39.9 cm TL, were monthly collected from September 2020 to August 2022 from commercial landings of fishing vessels operating off mainland Portugal, and used to study age and growth, the reproductive strategy and the annual sexual cycle. Age varied between 0 years (7.8 cm TL) and 15 years (34.2 cm TL) and the von Bertalanffy growth parameters were estimated from whole-otolith readings (L∞ = 35.2 cm, k = 0.133 yr–1 and t 0 = –2.78 yr). Pagellus acarne proved to be a protandric hermaphrodite species with males prevailing until 28.0 cm TL and females between 28.0 cm and 34.0 cm TL with a brief sex change phase. Females presented asynchronous oocyte development with a batch spawning pattern. The spawning season occurred from April to October with a spawning peak between June and August aas shown by histological analysis of the gonads and high levels of GSI during the period.

The global warming has caused poor grape skin coloration and reduced the production of high-quality berries. To overcome these problems, the effect of synephrine (Syn) on anthocyanin accumulation was investigated. Syn treatment above 1 mM increased anthocyanin content in cultured grape cells in a molecular-structure-specific and concentration-dependent manner, and increased only the anthocyanin without affecting the sugar/acid ratio in grape bunches. It increased the expression of genes linked to anthocyanin synthesis after 24 h of treatment, without affecting phytohormone levels. Syn treatment induced the expression of SOD3, elevating hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production from 3 to 24 h after treatment in cultured cells. Subsequent increases in CAT and APX6 expression occurred, which encode H2O2-eliminating enzymes. In cultured grape cells, Syn and H2O2 treatments upregulated the H2O2-responsive gene Chit4 and the anthocyanin-biosynthesis-related genes mybA1 and UFGT 4 days after the treatments and promoted anthocyanin accumulation 7 days after the treatments. In berries, both treatments enhanced anthocyanin accumulation after 9 days. These results suggest that Syn promotes anthocyanin accumulation through the production of H2O2 without the upregulation of phytohormone biosynthesis. Syn treatment is expected to improve poor grape coloration and contribute to higher-quality fruit production.

MicroRNAs (miRNA) exert regulatory actions via base-pairing with their binding sites on target mRNAs. Cooperative-binding, i.e., synergism, among binding sites on a mRNA is biochemically well-characterized. We studied whether this synergism is reflected in global relationship between miRNA-mediated regulatory activity and miRNA-binding-site count on the target mRNAs, i.e., leading to a non-linear relationship between the two. Recently, using our own and public datasets, we have enquired into miRNA regulatory actions: first, we analyzed the power-law distribution pattern of miRNA binding sites; second, strikingly, mRNAs for core miRNA regulatory apparatus proteins have extra-ordinarily high binding site counts, forming self-feedback-control loops; third, we revealed that tumor suppressor mRNAs generally have more sites than oncogene mRNAs; and fourth, we characterized enrichment of miRNA target mRNAs in translationally less-active polysomes relative to more-active polysomes. In these four studies, obvious correlation was observed qualitatively between the extent to which a mRNA is miRNA-regulated and its binding sites count. This paper summarizes the used datasets. We also re-analyzed the correlation by comparative linear and non-linear regression analyses. The results support a non-linear, instead of linear, relationship between the two parameters, conceivably a transcriptome-level reflection of cooperative-binding/synergism among miRNA binding sites on a target mRNA.

The objective of this study was to investigate the concentration and spatial distribution patterns of six potentially toxic heavy metal elements (Mn, Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu and Ni) in bus station dusts in the Xifeng district of Gansu province, NW China. The contents were analyzed for Mn, Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu and Ni by using S8 TIGER Brochures wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Geoaccumulation index (Igeo ), enrichment factor (EF), pollution index (PI) and integrated pollution index(IPI) were calculated to evaluate the heavy metal contamination level of bus station dusts. The results indicate that, in comparison with the background values of local soil, bus station dusts in Xifeng have elevated metal concentrations as a whole. The concentrations of heavy metals investigated in this paper are compared with the reported data of other cities. The results show that the arithmetic means of Mn, Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu and Ni are 440.8, 137.9, 60.0, 42.8, 33.5 and 19.8mg kg−1 respectively. The mean values of Igeo reveal the order of Ni<Mn<Cr<Cu<Zn<Pb. The high Igeo and EF for Cu, Zn and Pb in bus station dusts indicate that there is a considerable Cu, Zn and Pb pollution, which mainly originate from traffic and industry activities. The Igeo and EF of Ni, Mn and Cr are low and the assessment results indicate an absence of distinct Ni, Mn and Cr pollution in bus station dusts. The assessment results of PI also support Cu, Zn and Pb in bus station dusts presented middle pollution, and IPI indicates heavy metals of bus station dusts polluted seriously.

Abstract: Field studies with large-stemmed plants Artemisia dubia (wormwood) have been carried out at Vėžaičiai Branch LAMMC since 2018. According to three years of experimental results, annual dry matter (DM) yield varied from 7.94 to 10.14 t ha-1. Growing conditions, nitrogen ap-plication level and harvesting time had significant impacts on Artemisia dubia productivity. This article presents the results of research on preparation and use of Artemisia dubia biomass for en-ergy conversion and evaluation of technological-technical and environmental parameters of these plants utilization for solid biofuel. For experiments were used 6 variants of Artemisia dubia samples, which were grown in 2021: plants were cut three times and two fertilization options were used: (1) no fertilization and (2) fertilization with 180 kg ha-1 of nitrogen fertilizer. These harvested plants were chopped, milled and were pressed into the pellets. The physi-cal-mechanical characteristics (mоisture content, density and strength) of Artemisia dubia pellets were investigated. During this study, it was found that the density in dry mass (DM) of pellets ranged from 1119.86 to 1192.44 kg m-3. The pellet moisture content ranged from 8.80 to 10.49%. After testing of pellet strength, it was found that the pellets which were made from plant bio-mass PK-1-1, were the most resistant to compression, they withstood 560.36 N of pressure. Dry fuel lower heating value (LHV) of pellets was sufficiently high and was very close to pine saw-dust pellets, it varied from 17.46±0.25 MJ kg-1 to 18.14±0.28 MJ kg-1. The ash content of burned pellets ranged from 3.62±0.02% to 6.47±0.09%. Emissions of harmful pollutants – CO2, CO, NOx and unburnt hydrocarbons (CxHy) did not exceed the maximum permissible levels. Summariz-ing the results of investigated properties, cоmbustion and emissiоns of Artemisia dubia pellets, it can be concluded that this biofuel can be used for production of pressed biofuel and it is charac-terized by sufficient high quality, efficient combustion and permissible emissions to the envi-ronment.

Abstract: A. baumannii exhibits resilience in harsh environments and progressively develops resistance to diverse antibacterial agents over time. This adaptability poses a significant challenge in treating an infection caused by this bacterium within healthcare settings. The presence of peptidoglycan, a crucial precursor for cell wall synthesis, contributes to this challenge. Peptidoglycan serves not only as a structural support in bacterial cells but also provides protection against adverse environmental conditions. The synthesis of the peptidoglycan layer involves a group of substrates such as N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) and N-acetylmuramic acid (MurNAc), within a three-partitioned process occurring in the membrane, periplasmic space, and cytoplasm of each bacterium. Initiated in the cytoplasm and extending to the inner cell membrane, this synthesis starts with the production of nucleotide precursors. The first step involves the synthesis of UDP-GlcNAc, orchestrated by Glm (GlmS, GlmM, and GlmU) enzymes using fructose-6-phosphate. Subsequently, enzymes from the Mur family, namely MurB, MurA, MurD, MurC, MurI, MurF, and MurE, synthesize UDP-N-acetylmuramyl-pentapeptide (UDP-Mpp) from UDP-GlcNAc. Concurrently, on the cytosolic side, the production of membrane-surrounded undecaprenyl phosphate occurs, involving membrane-side proteins MraY and MurG in the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan. This review emphasizes updated information on Mur family proteins, encompassing physicochemical properties, nature of binding site, number and type of binding site residues, functional domain details, three-dimensional structural aspects, and their functions within bacterial cells. Special attention is directed towards their enzymatic role in peptidoglycan biosynthesis due to the limited availability of precursors in the market. Additionally, the review provides a comprehensive summary of existing inhibitors and ongoing efforts in identifying new targeted inhibitors, recognizing these enzymes as potential candidates for antibacterial drug design and discovery.

The intestinal microbial community of aquatic animals is closely related to the environment and thus affects the health of aquatic animals. Here we investigated annual variation of intestinal bacteria community structures of Ruditapes philippinarum cultured using two different methods, bottom sown and raft hanging. Bacterial diversity of seawater and sediment in different seasons was examined as well. Correlation between R. philippinarum intestinal bacteria community structures and environmental factors was analyzed. The results showed that in the two aquculture areas where R. philippinarum was differentially cultured, bacteria community structure of seawater and sediment both altered with seasons. However, neither seasonal changes nor difference in culture methods could significantly affect the intestinal bacteria community structures of R. philippinarum. Additionally, in terms of the alpha diversity of intestinal bacteria communities, there was no significant difference in R. philippinarum cultured using the two methods. For benthic cultured clams, alpha diversity of the intestinal bacterial communities was often higher than that of the environmental bacterial communities. For raft hanging cultured calms, Alpha diversity of the intestinal bacterial communities was normally comparable with that of the environmental counterparts. Beta diversity analysis showed that the intestinal bacterial community structure of R. philippinarum was mainly determined by both deterministic and stochastic processes. Correlation analysis showed that the intestinal bacterial community structures of R. philippinarum were determined by a variety of environmental factors. For clams collected from the benthic culture area, the intestinal bacterial structure was more correlated with the physicochemical properties of sediment in comparing with those of seawater. For clams collected from the raft-culture area, the intestinal bacterial structure was mainly determined by the phsicochemical characteristics of seawater. This study helps us to better understand the bacterial community structure in complex aquaculture ecosystems, providing a reference for healthy shellfish aquaculture and ecosystem protection in aquaculture area.

Pollution, urbanization and technological advancements have posed stress on the ecosystem and its matrices. Globally, pollutants are observed in all compartments of ecological communities which affect the integrity of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. Xenobiotics bioaccumulate and biomagnify across trophic levels or webs. Heavy metals have been implicated in impacts towards biodiversity and environmental declination. In Nigeria, wastes issues are a cause of concern and landfilling or are waste disposal approaches that cause deleterious effects such as depauperation of diversity and species decline, prompting the non-invasive ecotoxicological hazard assessments. Feathers were used to assess concentration levels of 13 metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Co, Cr, Cd, Pb, Ni, Al, B, Se and Hg) using fast atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS), one-way ANOVA was used in comparing variations in mean concentrations across trophic levels, diversity indices and point count methods were used to estimate diversity and abundance. Four avian species were assessed Hirundo aethiopica (insectivore), Streptoptelia senegalensis (granivore), Turdus pelios (omnivore), and Anthus leucophrys. (insectivore). Observed concentrations of important metals like iron were high with the insectivores having the highest concentrations of iron (2.6985 ± 0.1975 ppm) and granivores having the lowest (2.0100 ± 0.3172 ppm). The insectivores had the highest concentrations for cadmium, cobalt and chromium (0.0005 ± 0.0005ppm), nickel (at 00.0012 ± 0.0017 ppm) and least was observed in the granivores (0.0003 ± 0.0006 ppm). Selenium concentrations were quite high in insectivores (0.0775 ± 0.0035 ppm) and lowest in granivores (0.0433 ± 0.0015 ppm) likewise mercury for insectivores (0.0280 ± 0.0010 ppm) and granivores (0.0213 ± 0.0015 ppm). From the study, it is apparent that landfills are sources of pollution and poor management of wastes can affect biota (causing effects such as asymmetry and bioaccumulation) and ecosystem balance. The observation of heavy metals in the feathers serve as good sentinels due to their trophic levels and could be signs for what could be yet to occur. The heavy metal concentrations were significantly different at p < 0.05.

Marine sand, in addition to oil and gas resources, is the second largest marine mineral resource. The rational development and utilization of marine sand resources are conducive to the growth of the marine economy. Marine sand can be categorized into surface marine sand and buried marine sand. Buried marine sand deposits are buried beneath the sea floor, making it challenging to locate them due to their thin distribution. Consequently, there exist numerous technical difficulties associated with marine sand exploration. In this study, various geophysical methods such as sub-bottom profile survey and single-channel seismic survey were employed in the northern offshore waters of the South China Sea along with offshore engineering geological drilling. As a result, two distinct marine sand bodies were delineated within the study area. Additionally, five reflective interfaces (R0, R1, R2, R3 and R4) were identified from top to bottom. These interfaces can be divided into five seismic sequences: A2, B2, C2, D2 and E2 respectively. Three sets of strata were recognized: the Quaternary Holocene Marine sedimentary layer (Q4m), the Upper Pleistocene alluvial layer, and the diluvial sedimentary layer (Q3al+pl) as well as the Upper Pleistocene Marine sedimentary layer (Q3m). Sequence A2 and B2 corresponded to Quaternary Holocene Formation (Q4m) within the study area while sequence C2 corresponded to B2 as well as upper Pleistocene alluvial and alluvial deposits (Q3al+pl), which represent one of the main occurring layers of sand in this region. Lastly, E2 represents a layer composed mainly of silty clay and round gravel known as upper Pleistocene marine sediment layer (Q3m). In total, two ore bodies containing marine sand have been discovered during this study. The estimated total resource amounts approximately 46 million m³ with an average thickness around 11 meters.

Globally, road traffic collisions cause over a million deaths annually, with pedestrians accounting for nearly one-quarter (23%) of these fatalities. This casualty proportion highlights the critical importance of adhering to traffic regulations. This study analyzes the factors influencing driver yielding behavior at midblock crosswalk improvements, comparing (1) a typical zebra crossing (C1) and (2) an intelligent signalized crosswalk (C2). The study used video-based observational data to investigate driver behaviors and factors influencing driver behaviors. The study applied multinomial logistic regression to formulate yielding behavior models. The results indicate that the number of traffic lanes, width of the traffic lanes, width and length of the crosswalk, vulnerable group, the number of pedestrian crossings, pedestrian crossing time, the number of vehicles approaching a crosswalk, speed of vehicle, headway, the post-encroachment time (PET) between vehicles and pedestrian, and roadside parking are the significant factors influence yielding behavior. These findings provide a better understanding of the factors influencing driver yielding behavior and propose measures to set proper physical improvements (e.g., curb extensions, raised pedestrian platforms, and pedestrian fencing), enforcement (e.g., parking restriction, speed violation detection), public awareness campaigns, and education initiatives.

Determining the estrous cycle stages in mice is essential for optimizing breeding strategies, synchronizing experimental time lines, and facilitating studies in behavior, drug testing, and genetics. It is critical for reducing the production of genetically unmodified offspring in the generation and investigation of genetically modified animal models. An accurate detection of the estrus cycle is particularly relevant in the context of the 3Rs—Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. The estrous cycle, encompassing the reproductive phases of mice, is key to refining experimental designs and addressing ethical issues related to the use of animals in research. This study presents results from two independent laboratories on the efficacy of the Mouse Estrus Detector (MED) from Elmi Ltd. (Latvia) for the accurate determination of the estrus phase. The female mice of five strains/stocks (CD1, FVB/N, C57Bl6/J, B6D2F1, and Swiss) were used. The results showed that the MEDProTM is a low -traumatic, simple, rapid and painless method of estrus detection that supports the principles of the 3Rs. The use of the MEDProTM for estrus detection in mice caused minimal stress, enhanced mating efficiency, facilitated an increase in the number of embryos for the in vitro fertilization and allowed the production of the desired number of foster animals.

Geopolymers, made from aluminosilicate raw materials, offer significant environmental advantages over conventional concrete (CC) mixes. This study explores the compressive strength, setting time, and durability of geopolymer concrete (GPC) cylinders, some of which include an additional ordinary portland cement (OPC) mix. Consistent material composition and testing methods are emphasized to achieve reliable results. MATLAB was utilized to develop and assess a neural network model predicting the compressive strength of GPC based on key variables. The model was validated using 16 experimental samples and 1047 samples from various studies. The performance plot displayed the Mean Squared Error (MSE) over iterations, identifying the best training performance at epoch 658 with an MSE of 5.3408. The Error Histogram highlighted distribution errors between predicted and actual compressive strength values, with the highest range from -1.015 to 0.3587, meaning that the predicted values were mostly within a small margin of error from the actual values. This narrow error range indicates that the ANN model has high accuracy in its predictions, as most errors are small and clustered around zero, demonstrating reliable performance in estimating compressive strength. Regression analysis showed varying correlation coefficients (training set R=0.98373, test set R=0.88164, and whole set R=0.96982), indicating adequate predictive accuracy. The results demonstrate that properly trained neural networks can effectively predict the compressive strength of GPC, highlighting its potential as a sustainable construction material.

Reducing GHG emissions is a crucial challenge in urban areas, characterized by high energy consumption and reduced exposure to nature. In this context, the urban green system could play a pivotal role. In the literature, scholars analyzed both the ability of species-specific and layout-specific green infrastructures to increase carbon sequestration and the best location sites of new green infrastructures, to increase the provision of overall ecosystem services. There is a lack of studies helping green urban planners and designers choose where and which green infrastructure to implement, based on vegetation species-specific performance and local carbon emissions of city components. This paper uses tree inventory data from a medium-sized city in central Italy (Perugia) to develop a spatial analysis of the urban parks' performance in carbon sequestration. Then, the method evaluates the carbon emission of a public city building to generate a spatialized balance between buildings’ demand and trees’ supply, to support local decisions about the best locations for new green infrastructures and the choice between species. The paper contributes to GIS-based tools that vary the recommended location sites and species for new green infrastructures based on the demanded ecosystem service.

Rebar cages form the skeletal framework of reinforced concrete structural members. They comprise longitudinal and transverse reinforcing bars, usually connected by tie wires. Past studies have identified tie-wire connections as the "weak links" in large, prefabricated rebar cages, leading to their failure during site handling and construction stages. Recent research has explored the use of mechanical U-bolt connectors to bolster stability and safety of rebar cages while reducing their vulnerability and risk of failure. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental and numerical investigation of a new type of mechanical connector, referred to as "Cage Clamp", to enhance rebar cage stability and safety. Component-level experimental tests are conducted to determine the force-displacement response of Cage Clamp connectors for crossbar connections in different degrees of freedom. The results highlight the remarkable strength and stiffness of Cage Clamp connectors, significantly outperforming traditional tie-wire connections. Furthermore, full-scale experimental tests are performed on a circular underground pile-shaft rebar cage with Cage Clamp connectors to assess its behavior under various site handling conditions. The data obtained from these experiments are used to construct and refine detailed 3D finite element models of the rebar cages, capable of capturing the complex behavior of rebar cages with Cage Clamp connectors. Using the numerical model, a sensitivity analysis is performed to assess the effect of the number of Cage Clamps on the deflection and stability of the rebar cage. The findings show that using cage clamps to connect pick-up rebar with lateral reinforcement at every 8 to 10 feet is sufficient to ensure the stability of the cage during typical site handling conditions. The results of this study serve as a basis for establishing analysis, design, fabrication, and handling guidelines for rebar cages, contributing to safe and efficient construction practices.

Injury to the peritoneum during surgery is followed by a healing process that frequently results in the attachment of adjacent organs by a fibrous mass, referred to commonly as adhesions. Because injuries to the peritoneum during surgery are inevitable, one must understand the mechanisms of adhesion formation to prevent its occurrence. This requires a thorough understanding of the molecular sequence that results in the attachment of injured peritoneum and the development of fibrous tissue. Recent data show that fibroblasts from the injured peritoneum may play a critical role in forming adhesion tissues. Therefore, identifying changes in gene expression patterns in the peritoneal fibroblasts during the process may provide clues to the mechanisms by which adhesion develops. This review presents many papers discussing genes implied in peritoneal adhesion.

This bibliometric analysis delves into the realm of botanical gardens through the process of mapping literature and discerning research frontiers, underlying themes, and interconnections within the extant body of knowledge. The study uses a dataset of 1340 publications and employs methodologies such as authors' keywords co-occurrence data to examine the discipline's trends, patterns, and knowledge gaps. The study finds significant growth in literature from 1960 to 2023, emphasizing botanical gardens, conservation, taxonomy, biodiversity, ex-situ conservation, and diversity. Key influencers such as Sanja Kovačić, Elaissi, and Chemli have steered research directions towards ex-situ conservation and essential oils, reflecting the field's interdisciplinary nature. The study shows global institutional variation, with entities like the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Royal Botanic Gardens UK, and the New York Botanical Garden US leading the discourse. Thematic analyses have identified core themes and emerging research topics, with ecological restoration, essential oils, invasive species, and climate change mirroring the field's expanding scope. The consistent prevalence of themes such as 'botanical gardens' and 'conservation' over time underscores their enduring significance. Emerging topics like climate change and biodiversity are gaining prominence, signaling a shift in research priorities. The expanding array of subjects, including 'invasive species' and 'genetic diversity,' indicates an amplified scope and growing complexity in botanical garden research. This study aims to bridge a crucial gap by outlining the developmental trajectory of botanical gardens and offering guidance for future research directions. Diverse research domains within botanical garden studies, including biodiversity, essential oils, taxonomy, and ex-situ conservation, present extensive avenues for exploration. Future research endeavors should delve into these impactful themes to better understand botanical ecosystems and their conservation. The study emphasizes the importance of nurturing interdisciplinary collaborations and multidisciplinary projects, advocating for a comprehensive and collaborative approach to future research in botanical garden studies.

: This study focuses on optimizing chlorophyll extraction techniques and strategically placing leaf disks to enhance chlorophyll concentration in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) leaves. Thirty sesame genotypes, categorized into light green (LG), middle green (MG), and deep green (DG) pigment groups based on leaf coloration, were selected from a larger pool of field-grown accessions. The investigation involved determining optimal SPAD value index measurements, quantifying pigment concentrations, exploring extraction solvents, and selecting suitable leaf disk positions. Significant variations in chlorophyll content were observed across genotypes, greenness categories, and leaf disk positions. The categorization of genotypes into DG, MG, and LG groups revealed a correlation between leaf appearance and chlorophyll content. The study highlighted a consistent relationship between carotenoids and chlorophyll, indicating their role in adaptation to warm environments. Examination of leaf disk positions revealed a significant chlorophyll gradient along the leaf blade, emphasizing the need for standardized protocols. Chlorophyll extraction experiments identified DMSO and 96% ethanol, particularly the later incubated for 10 minutes at 85°C, as effective choices. This recommendation considers factors like cost-effectiveness, time efficiency, safety, and environmental regulations, ensuring consistent and simplified extraction processes. For higher chlorophyll extraction, focusing on leaf tips and the 75% position along the sesame leaf blade is suggested, consistently yielding higher chlorophyll content. Our findings therefore, underscores insightful knowledge on chlorophyll gradients and encouraging for standardized protocols, that enabling researchers to refine experimental designs for precise and comparable chlorophyll measurements. Recommended solvent choices ensure reliable outcomes in plant physiology, ecology, and environmental studies.

Excess nitrogen in agricultural drainage poses a serious threat to the water quality safety of the Yellow River basin. Utilizing aquatic plants to modify the rhizosphere microbial community structure and facilitate nitrogen transformation is a crucial strategy for mitigating regional water eutrophication. Our results revealed that the denitrification rate (DR), dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium rate (DNRAR) and nitrogen fixation rate (NFR) of rhizosphere sediments exhibited a significant increase in artificially cultivated ditch. Compared with those in natural ditches, the richness of the bacterial community and the relative abundances of Bacteroidota, Verrucomicrobiota, Firmicutes, Anaeromyxobacter and Geobacter, which are involved mainly in the nitrogen cycle, in the rhizosphere sediments of artificially cultivated ditch were significantly greater due to improvements in environmental conditions. In artificially cultivated ditch, the dominant functional genes affecting DRNARs in the rhizosphere sediments of P. australis were nrfC and nrfA, while DRs were driven mainly by norB and napA, which were influenced by the nitrogen and carbon levels; and the dominant functional genes affecting NFRs in the rhizosphere sediments of T. orientalis were nifD, nifK and nifH. Our results provide a scientific basis for the use of aquatic plants for mitigating excess nitrogen levels in agricultural drainage.

Dye/salt separation has gained increasing attention in recent years, prompting the quest for cost-effective and environmentally-friendly raw materials for synthesis high performance nanofiltration (NF) membrane for effective dye/salt separation. Herein, a high-performance loose structured NF membrane was fabricated by via a simple vacuum filtration method using a green nanomaterial, 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxide radical (TEMPO)-oxidized cellulose nanofiber (TOCNF), by sequentially filtrating larger-size and finer-size TOCNFs on a microporous substrate, followed by cross-linked with trimesoyl chloride. The resultant TCM membrane possesses a separating layer composed entirely of pure TOCNF, eliminating the need for other polymer or nanomaterials additives. TCM membranes exhibits high performance and effective dye/salt selectivity. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis shows that the TCM membrane with Fine-TOCNF layer has a tight layered structure. Further characterizations via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirm the presence of functional groups and chemical bonds of the crosslinked membrane. Notably, the optimized TCM-5 membrane exhibits a rejection rate of over 99% for various dyes (Congo red, orange yellow) and 14.2% for NaCl, showcasing a potential candidate for efficient dye wastewater treatment.

Quantitative analysis of human gait is critical for early discovery, progressive tracking, and rehabilitation of neurological and musculoskeletal disorders, such as Parkinson’s Disease, stroke, and Cerebral Palsy. Gait analysis typically involves estimating gait characteristics, such as spatio-temporal gait parameters and gait health indicators (e.g., step time, length, symmetry, and balance). Traditional methods of gait analysis involve the use of cameras, wearables, and force plates, but are limited in operational requirements when applied in daily life - such as direct line-of-sight, carrying devices, and dense deployment. This paper introduces a novel approach for gait analysis by passively sensing footstep-induced floor vibrations during walking using vibration sensors mounted on the floor surface. Our approach is non-intrusive, scalable, and perceived as more privacy-friendly, making it suitable for continuous gait health monitoring in daily life. We developed a floor vibration-based gait analysis framework to estimate various gait parameters that are used as standard metrics in medical practices, including temporal parameters (step, stride, stance, swing, double-support, single-support time) and spatial parameters (step length, width, angle, stride length), and extracts gait health indicators (cadence/walking speed, left-right symmetry, gait balance, initial contact types). The main challenge is that floor vibrations are distinct across different floor types. To address this challenge, our approach develops floor-adaptive algorithms to extract floor-specific features and is designed to be generalizable to various settings, including homes, hospitals, and eldercare facilities. We evaluate our approach through real-world walking experiments with 20 adults with 12,231 labeled gait cycles across concrete and wooden floors. Our results show 90.5% (RMSE 0.08s), 71.3% (RMSE 0.38m), and 92.3% (RMSPE 7.7%) accuracy in estimating temporal, spatial parameters, and gait health indicators, respectively.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae ensures successful fermentation in winemaking, although the persistent use of commercial strains lead the loss of aroma complexity of wines. Hence, the research of indigenous S. cerevisiae with proper oenological features and well adapted to specific wine-growing area become of great interest for winemakers. Here, 206 S. cerevisiae strains were isolated from two wineries during two-year sampling campaign and bio-typed with the aim to evaluate the occurrence and persistence of S. cerevisiae wild population linked to each winery. Both wineries belonging to the same Verdicchio DOC wine area (Castelli di Jesi), and never used commercial yeasts during fermentation. Results showed a specific and varied population of S. cerevisiae in each winery without cross-contamination each other and with commercial starter strains. Moreover, inside each winery it was observed a persistent of some dominant biotypes over the time, indicating a sort of “winery-effect”. The evaluation of S. cerevisiae populations for the oenological characters showed a proper and well distinct aromatic imprinting on the resulted wines confirming the “winery effect”.

Channel bends are one of the most important characteristic features of natural streams. These bends often create the conditions for a hyporheic zone, which has been recognized as a critical component of stream ecosystems. The streambed vertical hydraulic conductivity (K_v), vertical hydraulic gradient (VHG) and Darcian flux (DF) in the hyporheic zone were estimated at 61 locations along a channel bend of the Beiluo River during July 2015 and January 2016. All the streambed attributes showed great spatial variability along the channel bend. Both upward fluxes and downward fluxes occurred during the two test periods, most of studied stream sections were controlled by downwelling, indicating stream water discharge into the subsurface. The average downward flux was higher at the downstream side than at the upstream side of the channel bend, especially in July 2015. The distribution of streambed sediment grain size has a significant influence on the variability of K_v; high percentages of silt and clay sediments generally lead to low K_v values. Higher K_v at the depositional left bank at the upstream site shifted toward the erosional right bank at the downstream site, with K_v values positively correlated with the water depth. This study suggested that the variabilities of K_v and VHG were influenced by the stream geomorphology and that the distribution of K_v was inversely related, to a certain extent, to the distribution of VHG across the channel bend. K_v and VHG were found to have opposite effects on the DF, and the close relationship between K_v and DF indicated that the water fluxes were mainly controlled by K_v.

Extreme climates such as droughts and hot extremes, may result in marked damage to crop yields and threaten regional and global food security. Maize is a major grain crop in Liaoning Province, severely affected by drought and hot events. The objective of this study is to advance an approach to estimate the risk of crop yield reduction under the compound dry-hot events (CDHE) in Liaoning Province. Results show that the ratio of stations experiencing compound dry-hot events during the twelfth leaf and maturity stage tended to increase on the time scale. On a spatial scale, the frequency of compound dry-hot events in central Liaoning Province was relatively low during the whole and various reproductive periods of maize. In addition to the twelfth leaf, western Liaoning Province is prone to compound dry-hot events. The high-risk area for the occurrence of the compound dry-hot events in maize is Chaoyang City, located in the western part of Liaoning Province, and the cities in the low-risk area account for about 64.3% of the total number of cities in Liaoning Province, mainly in the central and northern parts of Liaoning Province. Generally, this study emphasizes focusing on the impacts of compound dry-hot events on agricultural production and provides an index to assess the risk of compound dry-hot events on maize production.

The normal growth and development of skeletal muscle is essential for the health of the body. The regulation of skeletal muscle by intestinal microorganisms and their metabolites has been continuously revealed. Acetate is the predominant short-chain fatty acid synthesized by gut microbiota through the fermentation of dietary fiber, however, the underlying molecular mechanisms governing the interaction between acetate and skeletal muscle during rapid growth stage remain to be further elucidated; Here, specific pathogen-free (SPF) mice, germ-free (GF) mice, and germ-free mice supplemented with sodium acetate (GS) were used to evaluate the effects of acetate on skeletal muscle growth and development of young mice with gut microbiota deficiency; We found the concentration of serum acetate, body mass gain, succinate dehydrogenase activity and expression of myogenesis maker gene of skeletal muscle in the GS group was higher than GF group following sodium acetate supplement. Furthermore, the transcriptome analysis revealed that acetate activated biological processes regulating skeletal muscle growth and development in GF group that are inhibited due to gut microbiota deficiency. In vitro experiment, we proved that acetate up-regulated Gm16062 to promote skeletal muscle cell differentiation; Overall, our findings proved that acetate promote skeletal muscle growth and development in young mice via increase Gm16062 expression.

The application of smartphone-based color evaluation of passive sampling devices for gases has only been sparsely reported. The present review aims to compile available publications with respect to the configuration of the passive samplers, conditions of smartphone photographing, analytical procedure for color detection and quantification (including calibration processes), and their application to different target gases. The performance of the methods - whenever available - is presented regarding the analytical specifications selectivity, sensitivity, and limit of detection in comparison with other color evaluation methods of passive samplers. Practical aspects like requirements of instrumentation and ease of use will be outlined in view of the potential employment in education and citizen science projects. In one section of the review the inconsistent terminology of passive and diffusive sampling is discussed in order to clarify the distinction of information obtained from the uptake of the passive samplers between gas-phase concentration and the accumulated deposition flux of gaseous analytes. Colorimetric gas sensors are included in the review when applied in passive sampling configurations and evaluation is performed with smartphone-based color evaluation. Differences in the analytical procedures employed after the passive sampling step and prior to the detection of the colored compounds are also presented.

The work is devoted to assessing changes in the water regime of the Lan River in modern conditions and the near future with the aim of developing a strategy for the rational use of the water potential of small rivers in the Belarusian Polesie region. There was a tendency towards an increase in annual runoff at the Loktyshi and Mokrovo gauging stations during the study period from 1948 to 2015, which was caused by anthropogenic factors in the form of amelioration measures. Testing the hypothesis about the homogeneity of the runoff series under consideration for periods with different averaging intervals has showed heterogeneity for some types of runoff. This was caused by intensive economic activity, which significantly disrupts the natural hydrological regime. A runoff forecast was made for the Lan River at the Mokrovo gauging station for the period up to 2035 based on archive of meteorological data using a multi-model ensemble of four CMIP5 scenarios. A slight decrease in runoff was predicted, caused by additional evaporation from the water surface of the reservoir due to increased air temperature, as well as a slight shift in the peak of the spring flood to March. Results of calculating of permissible withdrawal of surface water from the Lan River for the needs of the Loktyshi fish farm have shown great influence of the fish farm on the river runoff volume that requires strict adherence to scientifically based regimes for managing the water regime of the Loktyshi Reservoir and the Loktyshi fish farm.

Biodiversity has become an issue of global anxiety over the past decades due to its rapid decline worldwide. Bangladesh as one of the most densely populated countries in the world is no more exception. The country, although, was once very rich in biodiversity, during the last few decades as a consequence of the rapid reduction in forest area, urbanisation, habitat modification, unsustainable natural resources use and collection and overall climate change it has decreased alarmingly. Of late, the government, as a signatory of various regional and international conservation treaties, has taken various initiatives to improve country’s dwindling biodiversity. This paper reviews the present situation of biodiversity in Bangladesh, management trends and major causes of biodiversity loss. A separate statutory body is fundamental to ensure conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits arisen from biodiversity in the country.

Computational models of homologous protein groups are essential in sequence bioinformatics. Due to the diversity and rapid evolution of viruses, the grouping of protein sequences from virus genomes is particularly challenging. The low sequence similarities of homologous genes in viruses require specific approaches for sequence- and structure-based clustering. Furthermore, the annotation of virus genomes in public databases is not as consistent and up-to-date as for many cellular genomes. To tackle these problems, we have developed VOGDB, a database of Virus Orthologous Groups. VOGDB is a multi-layer database that progressively groups viral genes into groups connected by increasingly remote homology. The first layer is based on pair-wise sequence similarities, the second layer is based on the sequence profile alignments and the third layer uses predicted protein structures to find the most remote homology. VOGDB groups allow for more sensitive homology searches of novel genes and increase the chance of predicting annotations or inferring phylogeny. VOGDB uses all virus genomes from RefSeq and partially re-annotates them. VOGDB is updated with every RefSeq release. The unique feature of VOGDB is inclusion of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic viruses in the same clustering process which makes it possible to explore old evolutionary relationships of the two groups. VOGDB is freely available at https://vogdb.org under the CC BY 4.0 license.

The objective of this paper was to verify the applicability of statistical learning (SL) compared to human reasoning with respect to the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), a complex tool for the assessment of outdoor thermal stress. UTCI is an equivalent temperature index based on the 48-dimensional output of an advanced model of human thermoregulation formed by 12 variables at four consecutive 30-minute intervals, which were calculated for 105642 thermal conditions from extreme cold to extreme heat. Comparing the performance of SL algorithms to the results accomplished by an international endeavor involving more than 40 experts from 23 countries, we found that random forests and k-nearest neighbors closely predicted UTCI values, but that clustering applied after dimension reduction algorithms (principal component analysis and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding) were inadequate for risk assessment in relation to the UTCI stress categories. This indicates a potential supportive role for SL, as it will not (yet) fully replace the bio-meteorological expert knowledge.

Factors responsible of species distribution were intensively investigated in the past, including response at different spatial scales. The aim of the present research is to review the most relevant factors explaining chironomid species distribution focusing to factors operating at different spatial scales, such as latitude, longitude, altitude, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, nutrients acting at regional, country, water basin extension. Data including chironomid species abundances from different lentic and lotic waters from Italy and other surrounding countries were analyzed with different multivariate methods: partial canonical correspondence analysis and multiple discriminant analysis. Spatial analysis included univariate Moran’I correlograms, multivariate Mantel correlograms and Moran’s Eigenvectors Maps (MEM) calculation. The results confirmed previous conclusions, that is habitat type including different running waters reaches (kryal, krenal, rhthral, potamal) and different lake types is the most significant factor in separating chironomid assemblages and spatial factors act only as indirect influencers..

Several recent studies have indicated that miR-30a plays critical roles in various biological processes and diseases. However, the mechanism of miR-30a participation in the regulation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is ambiguous. Our previous study demonstrated that miR-30a may function as a novel therapeutic target for lung fibrosis by blocking mitochondrial fission, which is dependent on dynamin-related protein-1 (Drp-1). However, the regulatory mechanism between miR-30a and Drp-1 has yet to be investigated. In addition, whether miR-30a can act as a potential therapeutic has not been verified in vivo. In this study, the miR-30a expression in IPF patients was evaluated. Computational analysis and a dual luciferase reporter system assay were used to identify the target gene of miR-30a, and cell transfection was used to confirm this relationship. Ten-eleven translocation 1 (TET1) was validated as a direct target of miR-30a, and the transfection of miR-30a mimic/inhibitor significantly reduced/increased the expression of TET1 protein. Further experiment verified that the interference on TET1(siRNA) could inhibit the hydroxymethlation of the Drp-1 promoter. Finally, miR-30a agomir was designed and applied to identify and validate the therapeutic effect of miR-30a in vivo. Our study demonstrated that miR-30a could inhibit the TET1 expression by base pairing with complementary sites in the 3′ untranslated region to regulate the hydroxymethlation of the Drp-1 promoter. Furthermore, miR-30a could act as a potential therapeutic target for IPF.

Forest ecosystems make a greater contribution to carbon (C) stocks than any other terrestrial ecosystem. To understand the role of regional forest ecosystems in global climate change and carbon exchange, forest C stock and its spatial distribution within the small (2,300 km2) Liuxihe River basin were analyzed to determine the different contributors to the C stock. Forest C stocks were quantified by measuring the biomass of trees, understory vegetation, litter and roots, as well as soil organic C, using data from field samples and laboratory experiments. The results showed that forests stored 38.04 Tg C in the entire basin, with secondary and planted forests accounting for 89.82% and 10.18%, respectively, of the stored C. Five types of forests, a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, a subtropical coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, a subtropical coniferous forest, a timber forest, and a non-wood forest, stored 257.55 ± 15.01, 218.92 ± 9.59, 195.24 ± 18.29, 177.42 ± 17.55, and 117.86 ± 6.04 Mg C ha−1, respectively. In the forest ecosystem C stocks of the basin, soils averagely contribute about 73.78%, not including root underground biomass. It provides a comprehensive method for forest ecosystem carbon investigation and forest management in small basin scale.

The Asian clam Corbicula fluminea is a native aquatic species in Eastern Asia and Africa but has become one of the most ecologically and economically harmful invasive species in aquatic ecosystems in Europe, North America, South America. Due to their natural characteristics as a hermaphroditic species with high fecundity and dispersal capacity, Asian clams are extremely difficult to eradicate once they have infiltrated a waterbody. This is an emerging issue for states in the Northeastern United States as Asian clams expand their range farther North due to climate change. There has been extensive research conducted to develop chemical treatments to reactively control invasive mollusc populations and proactively prevent their further spread. However, treatments are mostly targeted toward biofouling bivalves in industrial settings. A comprehensive review of Asian clam chemical treatments used in open water systems was performed to evaluate molluscicides and identify toxicity ranges of emerging treatments that maximize Asian clam mortality and minimize negative impact to water quality and non-target species. The potential chemical applications in Asian clam control and management are summarized in this report to assist resource managers and practitioners on invasive Asian clam management.

This study aimed to develop a laboratory-scale direct air capture unit for evaluating and comparing amine-based adsorbents under temperature vacuum swing adsorption conditions. The experimental campaign conducted with the direct air capture unit allowed for the determination of equilibrium loading, CO2 uptake capacity, and other main performance parameters of the investigated adsorbent Lewatit VP OC 1065®. The investigations also helped to understand the co-adsorption of both CO2 and H2O on the tested material, which is crucial for improving temperature vacuum swing adsorption processes. This was achieved by obtaining pure component isotherms for CO2 and H2O as well as three different co-adsorption isotherm models from literature. It was found that the weighted average dual-site Toth model emerged as the most accurate and reliable model for simulating this co-adsorption behavior. Its predictions closely align with experimental data, particularly in capturing the adsorption equilibrium at various temperatures. It was also observed that this lab-scale unit offers advantages over thermogravimetric analysis when conducting adsorption experiments on the chosen amine. The final aim of this study is to provide a pathway to develop devices for testing and developing efficient and cost-effective adsorbents for direct air capture.

Solid waste management in Accra is a major challenge to the Metropolitan Authorities and inhabitants. The rapidly increasing population coupled with poor capacity of the municipal and private waste management companies to management waste effectively has created issues of environmental concern. Due to poor waste managements systems, most household dispose waste indiscriminately leading to floods and health issues. The study showed that about 60% of household waste is organic materials which has the potential to be converted to compost for agriculture purpose. Meanwhile plastics and rubbers which litters the environment as well as blocking major storm drains and gutters hence creating huge environmental hazard is made of 11% of the total component of most household waste generated daily. The study also revealed that among the methods of disposing waste, dumping waste in skip containers located at authorized places was the preferred means of disposing waste by household though others also dispose waste by other means such as burying and burning. Inadequate skip containers per population of household in an area coupled with irregularity of tracks picking these containers makes skip containers dumping site ugly scene, hence creating health issues. Among the constraints that impact negatively on sustainable waste management in Accra Metropolis, economic constraints was perceived as the main challenge which affect efficient waste management. Currently the country is going through serious economic challenges so government does not release money timely to fund projects which waste management is key. Most donor partners that use to support the government with funds have either reduced or redrawn their services as they have no confidence in the state of Ghana economy. Aside the constrains, the study also indicated that factors such as poor public attitude towards waste management, poor enforcement of sanitation by-laws, inadequate and untimely release of government funds were also seen as the main factors affecting waste management.

Background: The bacterium Capnocytophaga spp. is a part of the oral microbiome of dogs, which has zoonotic potential. This study aimed to assess factors that influence the prevalence of Capnocytophaga cynodegmi and Capnocytophaga canimorsus in Wrocaw’s dog population. Methods: Molecular detection (PCR) involved 105 swabs, examining parameters such as oral cavity condition, underlying health issues, recent antibiotics, age, medications, material collection, and dog chews. Results: The study highlighted significant associations between the presence of Capnocytophaga cynodegmi and oral cavity condition, material collection method, and use of dog’s chews. Conclusions: Correlations obtained in this study between the oral health of Wroclaw's dog population and the presence of Capnocytophaga cynodegmi suggest its significance in the oral microbiome of dogs. Limitations, including the small sample size, highlight the need for more research to comprehensively understand additional factors that affect the prevalence of Capnocytophaga spp. in dogs

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), a carcinogenic toxin, mainly contaminates cow milk and poses significant challenges to the dairy industry and, thereby, public health in most tropical countries, including Ethiopia. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and level of AFM1 in raw cow milk collected from Specialized Dairy Farms and Milk Vendors in three Urban Centers: Chiro town, Dire Dawa, and Harar cities in Eastern Ethiopia. 180 milk samples were collected from two major Milk Sources: Specialized Dairy Farms (N=90) and Milk Vendors (N=90) using a simple random sampling technique. AFM1 was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography. The study revealed that, 63.9% (115/810) prevalence and 0.179±0.48µg/L mean of AFM1 level in milk, which 39.13% and 26.08% exceed the tolerable limits of EU and FDA respectively. A 40.0% prevalence and 0.344±0.72µg/L average of AFM1 in the milk from Dire Dawa city was significantly higher than the samples from other Urban Centers. However, 30.43% and 29.57% prevalence as well as 0.055±±0.13µg/L and 0.140±0.33µg/L average of AFM1 in milk from Chiro town and Harar city, respectively were not significant. Furthermore, milk samples from Dairy Farms revealed a higher prevalence (57.39%) and level (0.252±0.64µg/L) of AFM1 than Milk Vendors, with a prevalence of 42.61% and an average of 0.107±0.21µg/L. Therefore, this study concludes that substantial milk samples were contaminated by AFM1 and urges the need to enhance farmers' awareness on mitigation.

The control of the fine particle emission from the coal-fired power plants has been a big challenge in china. Either the conventional electrostatic precipitator or the fabric filter has some shortages. The electrostatic precipitator is hard to keep high efficiency for the submicron particles. The fabric filter could keep high efficiency but with very high pressure drop. One solution is to combine them together. Several types of hybrid particle collectors (HPC) combining the electrostatic precipitator and the fabric filter together have been developed and applied in a number of projects in China. In recent years, numerical simulation technology has been widely used in the design of the collectors. In this paper, an unsteady numerical model is used to investigate the particle deposition characteristics in a scale hybrid collector. The fluid field is modeled by using incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with the RNG turbulence equations. The corona discharge is solved by using a finite volume method. The particle charging is modeled by using a filed-diffusing combined model. And an unsteady cake formation model is used to simulate the filtration process.

Microcystis-dominated cyanobacterial blooms (MCBs) frequently occur in freshwaters worldwide due to massive Microcystis colonies formation and severely threaten human and ecosystems health. Quorum sensing (QS) is a direct cause of Microcystis colonies formation, possibly regulating MCBs occur and Microcystis population behaviors [1, 2]. Many novel findings in fundamental knowledge of Microcystis QS phenomenon and the signaling molecules have been documented. However, little effort has devoted to comprehensively summarize and discuss research progresses and exploration direction on QS signaling molecules-mediated QS system in Microcystis. This article summarizes action process of N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) as major signaling molecules in Microcystis and discussed the detailed roles of AHLs-mediated QS system in cells aggregation, colonies formation, ecological adaptability and competitive advantage. And the progress was summarized in research on the QS mechanism in Microcystis. Compared to other QS system, the LuxI/LuxR-type QS system is more likely to found in Microcystis. Also, we introduced Quorum quenching (QQ) — QS blocking process in Microcystis, with emphasizing on the potential of QS inhibitors in MCBs control. Finally, in response to the research deficiencies and gaps in Microcystis QS and QQ, we proposed several future research directions in these fields. This review may deepen the understanding of Microcystis QS knowledge and provide theoretical guidance for the development of strategies to monitor, control and harness MCBs.

Hyperspectral images (HSI) contain abundant spectral information. Efficient extraction and utilization of this information for image classification remain prominent research topics. Previously, hyperspectral classification techniques primarily relied on statistical attributes and mathematical models of spectral data. Deep learning classification techniques have recently been extensively utilized for hyperspectral data classification, yielding promising outcomes. This study proposes a deep learning approach that uses polarization feature maps for classification. Initially, the polar coordinate transformation method is employed to convert the spectral information of all pixels in the image into spectral feature maps. Subsequently, the proposed Deep Context Feature Fusion Network (DCFF-NET) is utilized to classify these feature maps. The model is validated using three open-source hyperspectral datasets: Indian Pines, Pavia University, and Salinas. The experimental results indicated that DCFF-NET achieves excellent classification performance. Experimental results on three public HSI datasets demonstrate that the proposed method accurately recognizes different objects with an overall accuracy (OA) of 86.68%, 94.73%, and 95.14% based on the pixel method, and 98.15%, 99.86%, and 99.98% based on the pixel-patch method.

Three-dimensional (3D) geological modeling technology offers intricate geological information services and technical support for the research of urban geological conditions and their evolutionary mechanisms. It further facilitates the analysis of environmental geological problems, encompassing their distinguishing features and genetic mechanisms. The precision of such three-dimensional models is predominantly influenced by the caliber of modeling data, the chosen modeling methodologies, and the intricacy of the modeled geological objects. This research, exemplified by the three-dimensional geological structure modeling of the Wuhan metropolitan development area, aims to explore a comprehensive three-dimensional modeling framework for urban geology, particularly in scenarios with large-scale and complex geological conditions. This study holds significant technical value in enhancing the application of 3D geological modeling, as well as practical importance for urban geological investigations and research.

One of the most important agrotechnical factors that influence the growth conditions of crops is plant density. Alterations in habitat conditions result in the emergence of phytophagous organisms, whose development is closely associated with host plants. The objective of this study was to assess the abundance and species composition of thrips (Thysanoptera) collected in soybean plants of different varieties cultivated under different plant arrangements (row spacing, number of seeds sown differed). The research was conducted at two locations in southwestern Poland between 2015 and 2018. The herbivores that inhabit plants were caught using an entomological net. The experiments were carried out using the complete randomised block design, with four replications. Regardless of location and treatment, thrips were the most numerous group of pests. Thrips tabaci and T. fuscipes were the dominant species within the collected material. A total of 24 species of thrips were identified and their dietary specialisation was determined. The assemblages of studied insects were also analysed due to the density of the plants and the stage of development. The increase in the sowing density of soybean (90 seeds per m2) resulted in a greater total number of thrips compared to a lower sowing density (50 seeds per m2). The number of thrips significantly increased during the flowering period and shortly after the flowering time, which made them a significant threat to the plants. Therefore, it is crucial to develop innovative pest management strategies tailored to effectively grow soybean to mitigate potential pest-related challenges.

The global usage of veterinary antibiotics is significant. These antibiotics can be released into the aquatic environment and exert toxic effects on non-target organisms. To explore the physiological effects of tetracycline antibiotics on aquatic life, the growth characteristics of and toxin release from the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa) were studied. Results showed that the toxicity order of the three target antibiotics was TC (tetracycline) > CTC (chlortetracycline hydrochloride) > OTC (oxytetracycline) in terms of inhibition occurrence time and the EC₁₀ and EC₂₅ values. Further, the target antibiotics regulated the production of MC-LR (microcystin-LR) to different degrees. CTC destroyed the M. aeruginosa cells and resulted in a decreased MC-LR release but stimulated the ability to synthesise MC-LR. OTC had a relatively weaker toxicity compared with CTC, while TC was the most toxic among the three antibiotics. Therefore, TC is friendly to the aquatic environment because it simultaneously reduced the intracellular and extracellular MC-LR content. These results aid our understanding of the effects of tetracycline antibiotics on Microcystis aeruginosa, which is important for environmental evaluation and protection. These results are also helpful for guiding the application of veterinary antibiotics in agricultural settings.

The term Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) refers generically to a class of positional and geometric conjugated dienoic isomers of linoleic acid. Among the isomers of linoleic acid cis9, trans11-CLA (c9, t11-CLA) and trans10, cis12-CLA (t10, c12-CLA) are found to be bio-logically active isomers, and they occur naturally in milk, dairy products and meat from ruminants. In addition, some vegetables and some sea-foods have also been reported to contain CLA. Although the CLA levels in these natural sources are insufficient to confer the essential health benefits, anti-carcinogenic or anti-cancer effects are of current interest. In the rumen, CLA is an intermediate of isomerization and the biohydrogenation process of linoleic acid to stearic acid conducted by ruminal microorganisms. In addition to rumen bacteria, some other bacteria, such as Propionibacterium, Bifidobacterium and some lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are also capable of producing CLA. In this regard, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (formerly Lactobacillus plantarum) has demon-strated the ability to produce CLA isomers from linoleic acid by multiple enzymatic activi-ties, including hydration, dehydration, and isomerization. L. plantarum is one of the most versatile species of LAB and the bacterium is widely used in the food industry as a micro-bial food culture. The studies reviewed in this article reveal how, in the production of some fermented foods, the use of appropriate strains of L. plantarum, as a starter or additional culture, can be considered a critical factor in the design of new CLA-enriched functional foods.

This study evaluated the epidemiological and genetic susceptibility profile caused by coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in children ≤3 years of age with acute gastroenteritis (AGE) or acute respiratory infection (ARI), living in the northwestern region of the Amazon (NWAR). Fecal and saliva sam-ples collected from 202 children (n=404) were subjected to detection of SARS-CoV-2 by RT-qPCR. Polymorphisms in the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE rs4646994) and ACE2 G8780A; rs2285666) genes were detected by SYBR GREEN real-time PCR and PCR/Alul digestion, respec-tively. Secretory and Lewis status of histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) was performed using phenotyping/ELISA. Frequencies for the AGE group: SARS-CoV-2; 8.9%; ARI group: SARS-CoV-2; 2.9%. The ACE I/I homozygous polymorphism gene was majority. Males with the ACE2 G8780A SNP were more susceptible to ARI symptoms than AGE (OR = 3.85; 95% CI-1.42-10.38; P 0.007). Most children were secretory FUT2 phenotype (92.6%). Surveillance of diarrhea and respiratory infections in children, along with understanding their causes, are crucial for identifying preven-tion and control strategies and for prioritizing and developing new vaccines. Clinical manifesta-tions of COVID-19 in children ≤3 years of age include AGE.

Probiotics are microorganisms infused in products for health benefits including acceleration of nutrient digestion, however, it is also important to ensure the safety prior to incorporation. Here, we present evidence of the ability of two probiotic isolates,Lacticaseibacillus paracasei BCRC-16100 and Lacticaseibacillus paracasei ZFM54, in the (1) enhancement of carbohydrate digestion, (2) tolerance to stress, and (3) antibiotic resistance. Approaches include whole genome sequence (WGS) analysis and bioactivity assays. WGS revealed genes suggesting the ability of the two isolates to promote carbohydrate digestion, tolerance to stress and antibiotic resistance. Carbohydrate digestive ability was confirmed through a biochemical assay where the two isolates cause glucose release from starch. The two isolates also showed versatility in a range of temperature and alcohol concentration. For antibiotic resistance particularly on vancomycin, there are three mechanisms namely transporter control, transcriptional regulation, and efflux pump. Furthermore, promoter and transposable element analysis showed that some of the active antibiotic resistant (AbR) genes can be laterally transferred. Altogether, we show the potential of two probiotic isolates to be incorporated in products for improved carbohydrate digestion and the need to address the removal of active and mobile antibiotic resistance genes that may compromise safety.

Mass hauling operations play central roles in construction projects. They typically use many haulers that consume large amounts of energy and emit significant quantities of CO₂. However, practical methods for estimating the energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of such operations during project planning are lacking. This paper presents a detailed model for estimating the energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of mass haulers that integrates the mass hauling plan with a set of predictive equations. The mass hauling plan is generated using a planning program such as DynaRoad in conjunction with data on the productivity of selected haulers and the amount of material to be hauled during cutting, filling, borrowing, and disposal operations. This plan is then used as input for estimating the energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of the selected hauling fleet. The proposed model will help planners to assess the energy and environmental performance of mass hauling plans, and to select hauler and fleet configurations that will minimize these quantities. The model was applied in a case study, demonstrating that it can reliably predict energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and hauler productivity as functions of the hauling distance for individual haulers and entire hauling fleets.

With the ongoing amendment of the EU legislation on the treatment of urban wastewater, stricter requirements for the removal of pollutants are expected, which calls for the need for innovative wastewater treatment technologies. Biological systems are still the first choice. The survey of typical bioreactors applied in wastewater treatment is presented. Wastewater treatment objective, bio-chemical environment and microbial growth are selected as a main criterion for classification of these bioreactors. Hydraulic and kinetic aspects are considered, advantages and drawbacks of these bioreactors regarding the selection of appropriate type of the reactor as well as regarding operation of reactors are mentioned. The aim of this paper is to provide operators and designers with a brief overview of selected traditional and advanced processes, reactors, and technologies for nutrient removal from municipal wastewater. Another goal is to discuss the possibilities and limitations to comply with more strict effluent standards. From the evaluation of the published papers, it follows that the currently applied traditional methods of nutrients removal have the potential to convey also with the expected stricter limits.

Fisheries and bottom seawater data were collected in July in 2022 and 2023 from 15 sampling stations in the Huanghe River Estuary and adjacent seas in China. The patterns of functional alpha- and beta-diversity of fish communities in this area and their relationship with environmental factors were studied using trait-based analysis. Five functional classifications, which included 16 functional traits, four functional alpha-diversity indices (functional richness, functional evenness, functional divergence, and community-weighted mean), three functional beta-diversity indices (functional beta-diversity and its turnover and nestedness components), and 14 bottom environmental factors were considered. The dominant traits of fish communities were: benthivorous feeding habits, small and front-facing mouths, high trophic level, demersal, anguilliform, low growth coefficient, medium resilience, low vulnerability, and adapted to warm temperate conditions. The dominant migration traits and types of fish eggs varied by year, and fish abundance was the main factor affecting the dominant traits of the communities. The results of multiple regression on distance matrices and variance partitioning analysis indicated that ammonia nitrogen content, total phosphorus content, and pH were the main environmental factors that affected fish functional diversity. The N/P ratio had an upward control effect on fish functional diversity. Our findings also revealed that high pH gradients and distant geographical distances can inhibit trait turnover in fish communities.

The characteristics of gap plasmon formed by nanoparticle-on-mirror (NPOM) structure composed of metal nanoparticles (MNP) and metal thin films have aroused the interest of various optoelectronic devices. The resonant spectrum obtained by the internal coupling effect of gap can be flexibly controlled by the polarization of incident light and the thickness of the dielectric layer between MNP and metal thin films. We have theoretically studied the resonance spectra of polarization-dependent gold ellipsoidal nanoparticles (GENP) and gold thin films in the gap region of NPOM structures. GENP and gold thin films are separated by a dielectric layer with a refractive index of 1.36. We observe that the intensity of the local electric field resonance peak in the gap region is inversely proportional to the polarization angle. Similarly, the intensity of the local electric field resonance peak in the gap region is inversely proportional to the thickness of the dielectric layer. We have obtained more than 2200 V/m local electric field intensity (dielectric layer thickness 0.3nm). Finally, the resonant peak wavelength of the electric field in the gap region of the NPOM structure is also controlled by the polarization angle of the incident light and the thickness of the dielectric layer.

Some peptide-based drugs including oxytocin, vasopressin, ziconotide, pramlintide, nesiritide, and octreotide, contain one intramolecular disulfide bonds. A novel and reusable monodispersed silica nanosphere-supported Pt(IV) complex (SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV)) was synthesized via a four-step procedure and used for formation of intramolecular disulfide bonds in peptides. TEM and chemical mapping results for the Pt(II) intermediates and for SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) show that the silica nanospheres possess a monodisperse spherical structure and contain uniformly distributed Si, O, C, N, Cl, and Pt. The valence state of Pt on the silica nanospheres was characterized by XPS. The Pt(IV) loaded on SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) was 0.15 mmol/g, as determined by UV-vis spectrometry. Formation of intramolecular disulfides in six dithiol-containing peptides of variable lengths by use of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) was investigated and the relative oxidation yields were determined by HPLC. In addition, peptide 1 (Ac-CPFC-NH2) was utilized to study the reusability of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV). No significant decrease in the relative oxidation yield was observed after ten reaction cycles. Moreover, the structure of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV) after being used ten cycles was determined to be similar to its initial one, demonstrating the cycling stability of the complex.

In the last decade, the application of non-Saccharomyces yeasts in oenology as a natural tool to obtain wine diversification and higher quality has aroused great interest. In this work, three M. pulcherrima strains, isolated from vineyard, were characterized through the evaluation of their main technological properties, antimicrobial activity and specific enzymatic activities (β-glucosidase, β-lyase, polygalacturonase and protease). The M. pulcherrima strains did not produce any inhibition against S. cerevisiae, while they were able to exert an antimicrobial action against some unwanted bacteria and yeasts frequently present in grape must and potentially causing alteration of wines. After this preliminary screening, M. pulcherrima AS3C1 has been selected to be used in the winemaking of red grape Vitis vinifera cv. Aglianico on a pilot scale. The effect of sequential inoculation of M. pulcherrima AS3C1 with a commercial strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was verified using for comparison a single inoculum with S. cerevisiae and a spontaneous fermentation. Our results showed a higher concentration of anthocyanins and catechins in wines obtained by sequential inoculation of M. pulcherrima AS3C1 and S. cerevisiae. On the basis of the data obtained, M. pulcherrima AS3C1 possesses an enzymatic profile and some oenological properties that could contribute positively to the definition of the chemical composition of wines, suggesting its possible use for red winemaking processes.

African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa Hochst, Ex. A. Rich. Harms) is an important grain legume in sub-Saharan Africa because of its nutritional value and adaptability to various agroecological zones. To foster the varietal development of improved African yam bean (AYB) genotypes with economic traits, it is necessary to validate parental polymorphism for key markers in selecting progenies from crosses between desired parents. The study aims to analyze the genetic fidelity between parents and F1 progenies in African yam bean through putative cowpea Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Hence, a total of seventy-seven progenies were derived from four sets of biparental crossings using drought-susceptible (TSs-96, TSs-363, and TSs-274) and drought-tolerant (TSs-417, TSs-111, and TSs-78) AYB accessions. These were validated using 120 cowpea primers targeting SSR under optimal PCR conditions, and the size of the PCR-amplified DNA fragments was checked using gel electrophoresis. Twenty primers exhibited polymorphism in the parental lines, while ten displayed higher levels of the same polymorphism. The average polymorphism level for the surveyed SSR markers was 0.36. Given these findings, our study demonstrates that cowpea SSR markers are a reliable method for regular testing and clear identification of AYB crosses, indicating potential AYB improvements.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults. Despite advancements in treatment, the prognosis for patients with GBM remains poor due to its aggressive nature and resistance to therapy. CRISPR-based genetic screening has emerged as a powerful tool for identifying genes crucial for tumor progression and treatment resistance, offering promising targets for tumor therapy. In this review, we provide an overview of the recent advancements in CRISPR-based genetic screening approaches and their applications in GBM. We highlight how these approaches have been used to uncover genetic determinants of GBM progression and susceptibility to various therapies. Furthermore, we discuss ongoing challenges and future directions of CRISPR-based screening methods in advancing GBM research.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ɷ-3 PUFAs) offer diverse health benefits, such as supporting cardiovascular health, improving cognitive function, promoting joint and musculoskeletal health, and contributing to healthy aging. Despite their advantages, challenges like oxidation susceptibility, low bioavailability, and potential adverse effects at high doses persist. Nanoparticle encapsulation emerges as a promising avenue to address these limitations while preserving stability, enhanced bioavailability, and controlled release. This comprehensive review explores the therapeutic roles of omega-3 fatty acids, critically appraising their shortcomings and delving into modern encapsulation strategies. Furthermore, it explores the potential advantages of Metal-organic framework nanoparticles (MOF NPs) compared to other commonly utilized nanoparticles in improving the therapeutic effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids within drug delivery systems (DDS). Additionally, it outlines future research directions to fully exploit the therapeutic benefits of these encapsulated omega-3 formulations for cardiovascular disease treatment.

Of the 100,000 railroad bridges in the United States, 50% are over 100 years old. Many of these bridges do not meet the minimum vertical clearance standards, making them susceptible to impacts from over-height vehicles. Impacts can cause structural damage and unwanted disruption to railroad bridge services; rapid notification of the railroad authorities is crucial to ensure that the bridges are safe for continued use and to affect timely repairs. Therefore, researchers have developed approaches to identify these impacts to railroad bridges. Some recent approaches use machine learning to more effectively identify impacts from the sensor data. Typically, the collected sensor data is transmitted to a central location for processing. However, the challenge with this centralized approach is that the transfer of data to a central location can take considerable time, which is undesirable for time-sensitive events like impact detection that require rapid assessment and response to potential damage. To address the challenges posed by the centralized approach, this study develops a framework for edge implementation of machine learning predictions on wireless smart sensors. Wireless sensors are used because of their ease of installation and lower costs compared to their wired counterparts. The framework is implemented on the Xnode wireless smart sensor platform, thus bringing artificial intelligence models directly to the sensor nodes and eliminating the need to transfer data to a central location for processing. This framework is demonstrated using data obtained from events on a railroad bridge near Chicago; results illustrate the efficacy of the proposed edge computing framework for such time-sensitive structural health monitoring applications.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, anxiety, hyperactivity, and restricted interest for specific subjects. In addition to the genetic factors, multiple environmental factors have been related to the development of ASD. Animal models can serve as crucial tools for understanding the complexity of ASD and identifying potential therapeutic strategies. In this study, a chemical model of ASD has been developed in zebrafish by exposing embryos to valproic acid (VPA) from 4 to 48 hours post-fertilization. After the exposure, embryos were transferred to fish water and the effects on behavior and neurotransmitters profile were analyzed at both larval and adult stages. Larvae from VPA-treated embryos showed hyperactivity and decreased visual and vibrational escape responses, as well as an altered neurotransmitters profile, with increased glutamate and decreased acetylcholine and norepinephrine levels. Adults from VPA-treated embryos exhibited impaired social behavior characterized by larger shoal sizes and a decreased interest for their conspecifics. Neurotransmitter analysis revealed a significant decrease in dopamine and GABA levels in the brain. These results support the interest of this model in the study of ASD.

Long term Precipitation and temperature variations are one of the main determinants of climate variability of one’s area. The aim of this study is to determine trends variation in climatic elements of temperature and precipitation in the southern zone of Tigray regional state, Ethiopia. The station is assumed for the study of climatic records over southern zone of the region in detection for probable trends. The daily, monthly and annual precipitation totals and temperature observed at korem meteorological station were used for the period of 1981-2010 for Precipitation and 1985 – 2010 for minimum and maximum temperature. Summary of descriptive statistics and Mann Kendall test methods were employed for the observed data analysis to demonstrate any existence of possible trends. The main findings of the study indicated that the mean and maximum temperature had a general increasing trend; however, minimum temperature showed decreasing trend. In general annual temperature from 1985 – 2010 of the area showed a warming trend. Moreover analysis of the 30 years (1981-2010) annual precipitation showed a coefficient of variation ranging from 33.77 – 233 %. It indicated that the precipitation dissemination is not normal with large year to year variances.

The main objective of this study was to compare the removal efficiency of nutrients using Lactuca sativa, Medicago sativa and Phragmites australis in subsurface flow constructed wetlands with horizontal flow. In order to test water quality, fabricated reactors designed and the plants cultivated in the soil while their root were inside the wastewater. A long time study carried out from spring till end of autumn (9 months) in order to evaluate the difference in removal rate based on the seasonal changes. The highest removal rate was during summer which followed by spring and autumn. Thus, the effect of plants on the removal efficiency of organic matter (COD, BOD), TSS and nutrient (P and TN) appeared to be dependent on the seasonal growth. Phragmites australis the most sensitive species in order the removal of nutrient from wastewater.

The concept of economic self-reliance, widely known by Thai people as the philosophy of sufficiency economy, has been widely promoted in rural Thai societies. By practicing this philosophy, it is expected that the citizens’ quality of life and local environments could be sustainably improved. This study aims to explore the contribution of the community practices of the sufficiency economy philosophy to rural villagers’ quality of life improvement, and to investigate potential factors that determine the trust of villagers in the philosophy. With the purpose to propose strategies which could enhance trust and promote villagers’ practices of the philosophy, the study investigated influences of three relevant factors on trust towards the philosophy. Those factors included factors related to cognitive-based trust, factors related to emotional-based trust, and factors related to demographic characteristics. Questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews with community leaders and local villagers were conducted in the Ban Jamrung community, in Thailand’s Rayong province. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that the residents who applied the sufficiency economy philosophy in their daily lives experienced a relatively better quality of life. Additionally, it was found that trust in the philosophy could be predicted more by rational factors than by emotional factors. These findings could be utilized to develop strategies to maintain and enhance the trust of the people in the philosophy of sufficiency economy.

This study investigated the effects of fish oil (FO) treatment, particularly enriched with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), on obesity induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) in mice. The investigation focused on elucidating the impact of FO on epigenetic modifications in white adipose tissue (WAT) and the involvement of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs). C57BL/6j mice were submitted to a control diet or a HFD for 16 weeks, treated (or not) with FO for the last 8 weeks. WAT was removed for RNA and protein extraction, while ASCs were isolated, cultured, and treated with Leptin. All samples were analyzed using functional genomics tools, including PCR-array, RT-PCR and Western Blot assays. Mice receiving HFD displayed increased body mass, fat accumulation, and altered gene expression associated with WAT inflammation and dysfunction. FO supplementation attenuated these effects, a potential protective role against HFD-induced obesity. Analysis of H3K27 revealed HFD-induced changes in histone, which were partially reversed by FO treatment. The study further explored leptin signaling in ASCs, suggesting a potential mechanism for ASC dysfunction in the leptin-rich environment of obese WAT. Overall, FO supplementation demonstrated efficacy in mitigating HFD-induced obesity, influencing epigenetic and molecular pathways, and shedding light on the role of ASCs and leptin signaling in WAT dysfunction associated with obesity.

Although the influence of climate on the fire regime is unanimously recognized, most publications are studies on this influence are at the global scale. Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate the role of climate in the incidence of wildfires at the country and regional scale using statistical analysis and machine learning methods. Mainland Portugal was chosen as a case study due to its climate and because it is the European region most affected by wildfires. Results demonstrate the climate signature in the spatial and temporal distribution of the wildfire incidence. The conclusions of the study include (i) the existence of two pyro-regions, with different types of climate (Csb and Csa) composed of NUTS II regions: the northern region composed of the Norte and Centro regions and the southern region composed of Alentejo and Algarve; (ii) the intra-annual variability in the incidence of wildfires, characterized by two peaks, one in spring and the other in summer, are a consequence of the country's type of climate; and, (iii) how the annual cycle of wildfire incidence varies over the years depends on the weather conditions throughout each year. These results are of fundamental importance for wildfire managers, especially in the context of climate change.

'Cv 'Doña María' table grape is a high-quality table grape variety included in the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) of the European Union "The bagged grape of the Vinalopó." The PDO stipulates that grape clusters must be protected with paper bags from inclement weather and insects, which helps enhance the final grape quality. However, 'Doña María' is a variety prone to high shattering in the late stages of ripening on the vine and during postharvest. Inorganic calcium treatments are one of the most commonly used tools to reduce this disorder, but the translocation of this mineral from veraison onward has been questioned. In this study, five applications were performed, from veraison to harvest, using sorbitol-chelated calcium (0.7 % + 1.0 %), Ca(NO3)2 (Ca) at 0.7% and sorbitol at 1%. It was observed that bagged grapes (not wetted with the solutions) only increased the concentration of total and bound calcium when treated with Sorbitol-Ca. This resulted in reduced berry drop during cultivation and postharvest and improved fruit firmness. Additionally, it reduced grape metabolism indicators such as respiration rate, weight loss, malic acid degradation, prevented abscisic acid (ABA) and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation, and favored the accumulation of secondary metabolites such as total polyphenols, increased antioxidant activity, and sugar content. The application of sorbitol-chelated calcium is an effective and safe tool that enhances fruit quality and prevents losses due to shattering during postharvest.

This paper reviews the multiple roles of machine learning in improving the resilience of power grids, especially in applying new energy storage technologies. Energy storage technologies, such as compressed air energy storage, flywheel energy storage, and superconducting coil energy storage, significantly improve the power grid's ability to respond to load fluctuations and emergencies through intelligent control and optimisation of machine learning algorithms. This not only helps to optimise energy dispatch and improve the operational efficiency and flexibility of the grid but also significantly improves the stability and reliability of the grid so that it is better able to meet future challenges and needs.

Energy metabolism regulates the proliferation of stem cells by regulating energy production and the production of substrates through biosynthetic pathways. It is an important target for cell regulation and stem cell applications, and is crucial for determining the pluripotency and cell fate of stem cells. In this context, this article focuses on reviewing the latest research progress on the association between glucose metabolism, amino acid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, and mitophagy with stem cell function, elucidating how key energy metabolism pathways affect stem cell function by regulating signal transduction and epigenetic modifications. In this review, we discuss the key factors affecting energy metabolism and their association with stem cell function. The integration of energy metabolism and stem cell fate regulation will open up a new path for future regenerative medicine practices.

High quantities of biomass produced in greenhouses create environmental problems, as this side stream and its downgraded products are not further used in the production cycle. The aim of our research was the identification and semi-quantification of molecules extracted from vegetative tomato plant residues with sustainable green alternative solvents using vacuum-assisted soxhlet and solid-liquid extraction to evaluate the possibilities for high-value applications. To identify compounds, GC-MS analysis, and the Folin-Cioalteau method was used. In sum, 285 different compounds have been assigned to 383 detected peaks using GC-MS analysis. The solvents 2-MTHF and ethyl acetate, compared to ethanol and hexane, provided better results with a maximum number of 99 ± 8.83 compounds, a maximum total concentration of 5,894.82 ± 586.48 and 3,363.02 ± 71.14 mg NEQ kgdw-1 and a total phenolic content of 2,143.25 ± 155.17 and 1,605.92 ± 66.46 mg GAE kgdw-1, respectively. With 781.2 ± 112.66 and 718.25 ± 54.89 mg NEQ kgdw-1 the compound neophytadiene was the most common terpene in ethyl acetate and 2-MTHF extracts, respectively. It can be concluded that vegetative tomato plant residues contain a high variety of bioactive molecules. Green solvents, such as 2-MTHF and ethyl acetate, enhance the extraction of these molecules from the solid matrix.

Understanding the interrelationships between land use, climate change, and regional water yield is critical for effective water resource management and ecosystem protection. However, comprehensive insights into how water yield evolves under different land use scenarios and climate change remain elusive. This study employs the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) models, Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model, and Geodetector within a unified framework to evaluate the dynamics of land use, water yield, and their relationships with various factors (meteorological, social, economic, etc.). To forecast the Land Use/Cover Change (LUCC) pattern of the Yellow River Basin by 2030, three scenarios were considered: economic development priority (Scenario1), ecological development priority(Scenario2), and cropland development priority(Scenario3). Climate change scenarios were constructed using CMIP6 data, representing low stress (SSP119), medium stress (SSP245), and high stress (SSP585) conditions. The results show the following: (1) From 2000 to 2020, cropland was predominant in the Yellow River Basin, Henan Province, with significant land conversion to impervious land (construction land) and forest land; (2) Water yield changes during this period were primarily influenced by meteorological factors, with land use changes having negligible impact; (3) By 2030, the water yield of Scenario1 is highest among different land use scenarios, marginally surpassing ecological development priority by 0.5%; (4) Climate scenarios reveal significant disparities, with SSP126 yielding 67% higher water production than SSP245, driven predominantly by precipitation; (5) Geodetector analysis identifies precipitation as the most influential single factor, with significant interactions among meteorological and socio-economic factors. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and researchers in formulating land use and water resource management strategies.

Hydrogen sulfide is present in active or extinct volcanic areas (mofettas). The habitable premises in these areas are affected by the presence of hydrogen sulfide, which, even in low concentrations, gives off a bad to unbearable smell. If the living spaces considered are closed enclosures, then a system can be designed to reduce the concentration of hydrogen sulfide. This paper presents a membrane way to reduce the hydrogen sulfide concentration to acceptable limits using a cellulosic derivative-propylene hollow fiber based composite membrane module. The cellulosic derivatives considered were carboxymethyl–cellulose (NaCMC), cellulose acetate (CA), methyl 2–hydroxyethyl–cellulose (MHEC), and 2–hydroxyethyl–cellulose (HEC). In the permeation module, hydrogen sulfide is captured with a solution of cadmium that forms cadmium sulfide, usable as a luminescent substance. The composite membranes were characterized by SEM, EDAX, FTIR, FTIR 2D maps, thermal analysis (TG and DSC) and from the perspective of hydrogen sulfide air removal performance. To determine the process performances, the variables were: the nature of the cellulosic derivative–polypropylene hollow fiber composite membrane, the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the polluted air, the flow rate of polluted air, and the pH of the cadmium nitrate solution. Pertraction efficiency was maximum for the sodium carboxymethyl–cellulose (NaCMC)-polypropylene hollow fiber membrane, a hydrogen sulfide concentration in the polluted air of 20 ppm, polluted air flow rate of 50 L/min, and a pH of 2 and 4.