bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Review of Advanced Processing Technologies for Birefringent Cellulosic Anti‐Counterfeiting Materials
Authors: Lv Jin , Li Xinkai , Zhang Xinxing
Published: December 2024

Nanocellulose (NCs), the most abundant natural resource, has birefringence when aligned in order, and the resulting materials are of unique optical properties, showing great potential in sustainable anti‐counterfeiting. However, the difficulty in processing, due to the strong hydrogen‐bond interactions between hydroxyl groups, places severe restrictions on the application of NCs. Nowadays, many efforts have been devoted to addressing this problem and there are various novel processing technologies, such as phase transition‐induced self‐assembly, 3D printing, in situ curing of oriented hydrogel, and advanced melt‐processing. Cellulose nanocrystal is taken as the typical example in this review to introduce advanced processing technologies for cellulosic anti‐counterfeiting materials, given its outstanding birefringent characteristic than other NCs. In this review, the trends, challenges, and solutions in the processing of cellulosic anti‐counterfeiting materials are included, focusing on their design mechanism and fabricating strategy. Finally, application prospects and perspectives for the development of green processing technologies with extensive production scale are presented.
Ultrastable and Quick Response UV Photodetector by High Crystalline Orientation Wurtzite/Zinc‐Blende GaN Superlattice
Authors: Zhang Jingyang , Wang Jiaxing , Fan Jinglin , Wang Chao , Guo Zening , Zheng Kun , Wang Ru‐Zhi
Published: December 2024

1D gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires (NWs) can combine the intriguing properties of 1D materials with the wide bandgap nature of GaN materials. In this study, a type of high crystalline orientation wurtzite (WZ)/zinc‐blende (ZB) superlattice (SL) NWs is synthesized for the first time to the knowledge, which special structure can be also demonstrated by first‐principles calculation. The proposed GaN SL NWs UV PD demonstrates pronounced photoelectric performances working in a self‐powered mode, including a large responsivity (23.72 mA W−1), a high specific detectivity (4.4167 × 1011 Jones), and a fast response speed (rise/decay time of 0.76/0.8 ms, significantly better than most of the gallium series NWs photodetectors reported so far). And the PD also exhibits excellent stability, enabling the photocurrent to remain largely consistent over a period of 18 months, which photoelectric current decay rate is less than 1%/year. These outstanding performance of WZ/ZB GaN SL NWs may be benefited from more stable structure and their diverse electronic channeling of GaN SL surface distributed gold quantum dots compared to that of pure WZ or ZB phase GaN. This research shows WZ/ZB GaN SL NWs' exceptional UV PD performance and new insights into their electronic structures for device applications.
Visible‐Light‐Induced Acyl and Thiocyano Pyridylation of Alkenes with Aldehyde and NH4SCN
Authors: Wang Xu , Jiang Qi‐Xuan , Xiao Bi‐Yin , Huang Wei , Zhang Feng‐Hua
Published: December 2024

β‐pyridinyl ketones and β‐pyridinyl thiocyanates are commonly used as an essential organic synthesis intermediate and widely present in various drug molecules and bioactive molecules. Herein, a photoredox catalyzed acyl and thiocyano pyridylation of alkenes with aldehydes and NH4SCN via HAT and SET strategy respectively is described. This protocol employs more readily accessible aldehydes and NH4SCN as radical precursors under redox‐neutral conditions. Moreover, high atom economy, simple and accessible starting materials, late‐stage modification and wide substrate scope including primary, secondary alkyl aldehydes and aromatic aldehydes enable the potential application in the organic synthesis.
Soft Electronic Switches and Adaptive Logic Gates Based on Nanostructured Gold Networks
Authors: Nadalini Giacomo , Dallinger Alexander , Sottocorno Davide , Greco Francesco , Borghi Francesca , Milani Paolo
Published: December 2024

The advent of neuromorphic substrates is promoting the development of in materia autonomous and adaptive devices, employed as hardware solutions to reduce the current inefficiencies of traditional data processing techniques, in terms of energy requirements. The integration of data processing capabilities on soft materials is here focused on the development of the edge computing paradigm of interest for soft robotics and wearable devices. For such purposes, gold nanostructured complex networks produced in the gas phase are employed to fabricate neuromorphic devices. The integration of the latter on a soft Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate equipped with stretchable laser‐induced graphene electrodes, is exploited for the production of in materia devices to bridge the gap between data processing and interaction with the environment. The description and the control of the non‐linear, resistive switching electrical properties are demonstrated by the development of soft mechano‐responsive electronic switches and soft reconfigurable logic gates. These preserve Boolean functions classifications even under small mechanical perturbations, thanks to the redundant and adaptive connectivity of the gold networks. These results constitute a promising starting point  for a fruitful combination of physical and computing intelligence directly integrated on soft systems to efficiently interact with the surrounding scenario.
Root and shoot biomass and nutrient composition of winter rye cover crop following corn and soybean
Authors: Patel Swetabh , Singh Arshdeep , Sawyer John E. , Lundvall John P.
Published: December 2024

Winter cereal rye (Secale cereale L.), a commonly used cover crop in corn (Zea mays L.) systems, has potential to scavenge soil NO3–N through a fibrous root system. This study aimed to quantify root and shoot biomass, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) partitioning in rye cover crop at the time of termination in spring. This was a 1‐year study conducted at a site with a no‐till corn–soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation, rye drilled following grain crop harvest, and three N rates applied to corn (0, 135, and 225 kg N ha−1, respectively). Rye root biomass to 60‐cm depth following corn and 30‐cm depth following soybean was estimated using ingrowth tubes installed in the fall after rye seeding and removed at the time of rye termination in the spring. For rye, 48% and 62% of the total root biomass were present in the top 15‐cm depth, following corn and soybean, respectively. Overall, the shoot biomass, C, and N were significantly greater than for roots, with approximately two times more shoot than root material and only 33%–36% of total plant C and 17%–18% of total plant N in the root biomass. The C:N ratio of root biomass was consistently high (47–52) and at least double that of the shoot (16–23). With high C, low N, and high C:N ratio of the rye roots, inorganic‐N from soil or degrading shoot biomass could be immobilized with root degradation and reduce potential N recycling.
Acoustic Metamaterial Composite Structures Based on Multistage Fano Resonance for Noise Attenuation
Authors: Zhang Xinhao , Geng Mingjing , Zhao Caiyou , Niu Yawen , Wang Ping
Published: December 2024

An acoustic metamaterial composite structure (AMCS) for Noise attenuation is proposed based on the principle of multilevel Fano resonance. The AMCS is composed of a type I labyrinthine metamaterial in the outer ring, a six‐channel spiral metamaterial in the middle ring, a type II labyrinthine metamaterial in the inner ring, and a porous acoustic‐absorbing metamaterial in the inner inlay. The simulation results show that the average sound attenuation reaches 17 dB in the range of 0–5000 Hz due to the multilevel Fano resonance effect during the sound wave propagation process. Meanwhile, the sound field distribution law and the flow diagram also verify that the multilevel Fano resonance mechanism is the key factor causing broadband sound absorption. Then, the AMCS is fabricated by 3D printing, and the simulation results are verified by the acoustic experiment for AMCS cell. Additionally, to further enhance the overall sound attenuation in the railroad noise field, a simulation model of the combined train‐track‐AMCS sound barrier coupling is developed, and it is found that the AMCS type sound barrier can effectively block the propagation of wheel‐rail noise from different angles, and it possesses a noise reduction of 20 dB in all frequency bands.
Identification and Passivation of D‐Center in 4H‐SiC: A First‐Principles Study
Authors: Liu Shuai‐Shuai , Zhang Hai‐Shan , Kang Fang‐Jing , Peng Ze , Guo Shao‐Qiang , Lyu Juan , Gong Jian
Published: December 2024

As a deep acceptor defect in 4H‐SiC, the D‐center related to boron impurities has attracted much attention. However, there are still some disagreements regarding the origin of the D‐center, as well as a lack of sufficient understanding of the related optical transitions and carrier capture processes. In this work, based on first‐principles calculations, the optoelectronic properties of boron‐related point defects in 4H‐SiC is systematically investigated, and the passivation of hydrogen on BC defects is also evaluated. The calculated 0/−1 transition levels of substitutional defect BC are very close to the activation energies of the D‐center observed in experiments. Furthermore, the photoluminescence (PL) peak positions and non‐radiative hole capture cross‐section of BC defects calculated are all in good agreement with the experimental values of the D‐center. This confirms that the substitutional defects BC are responsible for the D‐center in 4H‐SiC. These calculation results reveal that the hydrogen atom in 4H‐SiC prefers to combine with the BC defects and to passivate the deep acceptor level within the bandgap in 4H‐SiC by forming the BC‐H complex. This work effectively identifies and passivates the D‐center in 4H‐SiC, providing valuable insights for improving the performance of various semiconductor materials affected by deep defects.
Programmable Modular Assembly of Homochiral Ir(III)‐Metallohelices to Reverse Metallodrug Resistance by Inhibiting CDK1
Authors: Li Xuezhao , Zhao Xing , Wang Xingyun , Xiong Anxian , Wang Zhicheng , Shi Zhuolin , Zhang Jingyi , Wang Hanlin , Wei Wei , He Cheng , Ma Jiajia , Guo Zijian , Duan Chunying , Zhao Jing , Wang Xiuxiu
Published: December 2024

Drug resistance is a major cause of cancer recurrence and poor prognosis. The innovative design and synthesis of inhibitors to target drug‐resistance‐specific proteins is highly desirable. However, challenges remain in precisely adjusting their conformation and stereochemistry to adapt the chiral regions of target proteins. Herein, using a stepwise programmable modular assembly approach, we precisely engineered two pairs of homochiral dinuclear Ir(III) metallohelices (Λ2S4‐Hbpy and Δ2R4‐Hbpy, Δ2S4‐Hbpy and Λ2R4‐Hbpy) functionalized with flexible dithiourea linkages. The resulting homochiral metallohelices exhibited significant chirality‐dependent photocytotoxicities, and the enhanced structural compatibility of Δ2S4‐Hbpy with the target cyclin‐dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) contributed to its superior photodynamic therapy efficacy, achieving an outstanding photocytotoxicity index (PI) value of 2.3×104. Interestingly, emerging as a critical mediator in the development of oxaliplatin resistance, CDK1 targeting by Δ2S4‐Hbpy achieved enhanced cellular uptake, anticancer activity, and oncosis‐mediated cell death in oxaliplatin‐resistant HCT‐8/L cells. Mechanistic investigations, including proteomic profiling and CDK1 gene silencing, confirmed the pivotal role of chirality‐selective CDK1 targeting in reversing metallodrug resistance. This study introduces a promising platform for constructing and customizing flexible metallohelices with precise conformation and stereochemistry to target drug‐resistance‐specific proteins, offering innovative insights into the designability of metallodrugs to overcome drug resistance.
Supercritical Ethane Processing of ZIF‐8 Membranes towards Pressure‐Resistant C3H6/C3H8 Separation
Authors: Yu Kunpeng , Ji Taotao , Wu Mingming , Chen Sixing , Gao Yunlei , Yan Jiahui , Meng Shengyan , Hu Wenjing , Fan Xiao , Dong Wenwen , Yin Jianzhong , Liu Yi
Published: December 2024

ZIF‐8 membranes have shown great promise in industrial‐scale C3H6/C3H8 separation. Nonetheless, sustainable preparation of pressure‐resistant ZIF‐8 membranes remains a grand challenge. In this study, we pioneered the use of supercritical ethane (scC2H6) as reaction medium for preparing pressure‐resistant ZIF‐8 membranes. Membrane growth in neutral organic environment was proven to have less disturbance to structure integrity compared with supercritical CO2 (scCO2). Gas permeation results indicated that obtained ZIF‐8 membrane exhibited an ideal C3H6/C3H8 selectivity of 172.1 with C3H6 permeance of 5.9×10−9 mol ⋅ m−2 ⋅ s−1 ⋅ Pa−1. Of particular note, the membrane maintained stable C3H6/C3H8 selectivity of ~150 with C3H6 flux of ~1.6×10−3 mol ⋅ m−2 ⋅ s−1 at operation pressure of 6 bar, which was significantly different from ZIF‐8 membranes obtained from scCO2 reaction medium. Through combining with advantages of zero pollutant discharge and full ligand recovery, our protocol holds great promise in sustainable preparation of pressure‐resistant ZIF‐8 membranes towards practical application in high‐purity C3H6 production.
Organocatalytic Asymmetric Construction and Application of Axially Chiral Spiro‐bisindoles
Authors: Zhao Hao‐Wen , Jiang Fei , Chen Sihan , Hu Jingliang , Xiang Shao‐Hua , Ding Wei‐Yi , Lu Wei , Tan Bin
Published: December 2024

Spiro skeletons have emerged as a privileged class of chiral carriers across various research fields, including asymmetric catalysis and functional materials, due to their remarkable configurational rigidity. However, limited structural diversity of spiro frameworks significantly restricts the expansion of their applications. Here we present a new class of axially chiral spiro‐bisindole frameworks and report their first enantioselective construction via a chiral phosphoric acid‐catalyzed intramolecular dehydrative cyclization reaction. Unlike the classical SPINOL backbone, incorporation of indole moieties in place of phenol enhances the nucleophilicity of ketone substrates, thereby eliminating the need for a tedious pre‐activation process. By leveraging the retained active sites of indole, the resulting highly enantioenriched spiro‐bisindoles can be rapidly transformed into other valuable structures. More importantly, axially chiral fluorescent molecules with good asymmetry factors and quantum fluorescence efficiency are readily accessed, opening a new avenue for developing chiral fluorescent materials. Control experiments demonstrate the pivotal role of both unmasked N−H bonds in achieving good efficiency and enantiocontrol.
A Mutual Information Based Multifeature Pattern Recognition Criterion for Identification and Optimization of Thermally Safe Operating Conditions for Single Diffusion‐Controlled Reactions Occurring in Isoperibolic Liquid–Liquid Semibatch Reactors
Authors: Wang Qiuyu , Yang Guang , Zhu Jiaxing , Zheng Tianshuo , Su Bingbing , Zhang Bo
Published: December 2024

Prevention of thermal runaway and establishment of safe‐economic operating conditions are crucial for the practical operation of single diffusion‐controlled liquid–liquid reactions occurring in isoperibolic semibatch reactors. Hence, in this study, a mutual information‐based multiple feature recognition criterion (MI‐MFR) was innovatively proposed, for which the maximum relevance minimum redundancy approach was introduced in feature screening; in combination with the support vector machine algorithm, various thermal behaviors can be effectively recognized. On this basis, a series of boundary diagrams were established accordingly, the impact of the variation in model parameters on which was systematically explored. Subsequently, an improved generalized thermal safety region was developed by introducing the upper thresholds in normal and cooling failure scenarios. Meanwhile, the robustness and progressiveness of the established MI‐MFR criterion were confirmed by comparison with other conventional criteria. Finally, MI‐MFR‐based procedures were constructed to identify thermal behaviors and optimize safe‐economic operating conditions in practices, based on which the optimum operating conditions of toluene mononitration were obtained.
Superconducting Nanowire Detection of Neutral Atoms and Molecules via Their Internal and Kinetic Energy in the eV Range
Authors: Strauß M. , Gourgues R. , Mauser M. F. X. , Kulman L. , Castaneda M. , Fognini A. , Shayeghi A. , Geyer P. , Arndt M.
Published: December 2024

Superconducting nanowires are widely recognized as exceptional sensors in photonics, information processing, and astronomy. Even a single infrared photon can break Cooper pairs, generate a hot spot and trigger a measurable quantum phase transition. Here, it is demonstrated that this detection capability is far more versatile. Ultrathin nanowires are shown to be sensitive to the internal energy of atoms as well as to the kinetic energy of neutral molecules, here within the energy range of 10–20 and 3–6 eV, respectively. Superconducting nanowires achieve higher detection quantum yields than channel electron multipliers in the detection of metastable atoms and they surpass the efficiency of secondary electron detectors by more than a factor of 106 in the detection of molecules at impact energies below 5 eV. This remarkable sensitivity paves the way for new applications in atomic and molecular beam physics, establishing nanowires as a crucial tool for future precision measurements.
Pseudosuchia: Masters of survival and diversification
Authors: Sena Mariana Valeria de Araujo , Woodward Holly Noelle , Cubo Jorge
Published: December 2024

In the context of an increasing interest for Pseudosuchia, we have compiled a Special Issue, comprising 14 collaborative studies that deepen our understanding of pseudosuchian evolution. These contributions range from the description of a new taxon to exhaustive reviews of thermometabolism, morphological adaptation, systematics, and detailed investigations into ontogeny, paleoneurology, paleohistology, and paleobiology. Through these papers, we explore the evolutionary history of pseudosuchian archosaurs, spotlighting their rise and diversification following the end‐Permian mass extinction.
Comparing Risks for Binomial Reliability Assurance Test Planning
Authors: Kim Hyoshin , Wilson Alyson G.
Published: December 2024

Balancing consumer's and producer's risk is an important consideration when planning tests. Instead of focusing on finding a single best test plan, we introduce a general framework to systematically identify a set of binomial test plans by leveraging the inverse relationship between the two risks. The framework is applied to compare a variety of assurance testing frameworks, including classical tests, and Bayesian reliability assurance tests such as the Bayesian assurance test, the assurance reliability demonstration test, and the coverage criterion test. Efficient algorithms are presented to compute the set of test plans, providing practitioners with a comprehensive range of options to choose from. In addition, we include a comparison to the sequential probability ratio test. We also provide formal proofs for the inverse relationship between consumer's and producer's risk in Bayesian reliability assurance tests that underlie our algorithms. A case study is presented to illustrate the framework's application and compare the risks associated with different test plans.
Assessing the impact of airborne particulate pollution on human skin utilizing a novel human skin equivalent containing MUTZ‐3‐derived Langerhans cells
Authors: Simpson Amy , DiColandrea Teresa , Przyborski Stefan
Published: December 2024

Air pollution is an exogenous stressor known to have a detrimental impact on skin health through the induction of inflammation; however, the direct effect of topical pollution exposure is still being elucidated. Human skin equivalents (HSE) aim to reproduce in vitro the structure and function of the native skin tissue. However, HSEs typically lack skin‐resident immune cells, which could play a key role in the inflammatory response induced by pollution exposure. We outline the development of a HSE‐containing MUTZ‐3‐derived Langerhans cells (MUTZ‐3‐LCs), which show dendritic morphology and Langerhans cell marker expression. We demonstrated that HSE‐containing MUTZ‐3‐LC have lower basal levels of proinflammatory cytokines, but topical stimulation with allergens and irritant compounds induced a greater inflammatory response in these models compared to HSE without immune cells. To study the effect of pollution, we created a technique to apply diesel particulate matter (DPM) to HSEs. Though our microscopic analysis demonstrated that DPM does not penetrate the stratum corneum, we showed that DPM did induce production of proinflammatory cytokines, but notably only in HSEs containing MUTZ‐3‐LCs. These data suggest that topical exposure to air pollution can induce cutaneous inflammation and that skin‐resident immune cells contribute to this response. This highlights the significance of immune‐competent HSEs to the study of exogenous stressors in vitro.
Harnessing Bioluminescence: A Comprehensive Review of In Vivo Imaging for Disease Monitoring and Therapeutic Intervention
Authors: Sangeetha B. , Leroy K. I. , Udaya Kumar B.
Published: December 2024

The technique of using naturally occurring light‐emitting reactants (photoproteins and luciferases] that have been extracted from a wide range of animals is known as bioluminescence imaging, or BLI. This imaging offers important details on the location and functional state of regenerative cells inserted into various disease‐modeling animals. Reports on gene expression patterns, cell motions, and even the actions of individual biomolecules in whole tissues and live animals have all been made possible by bioluminescence. Generally speaking, bioluminescent light in animals may be found down to a few centimetres, while the precise limit depends on the signal's brightness and the detector's sensitivity. We can now spatiotemporally visualize cell behaviors in any body region of a living animal in a time frame process, including proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and immunological responses, thanks to BLI. The biological applications of in vivo BLI in nondestructively monitoring biological processes in intact small animal models are reviewed in this work, along with some of the advancements that will make BLI a more versatile molecular imaging tool.
Modeling Approach to Mechanical Gas Dewatering of Filter Cakes With Non‐Uniform Cake Height
Authors: Sauer Florian , Henn Hendrik , Hoffner Bernhard
Published: December 2024

Gas dewatering of filter cakes with non‐uniform cake height is investigated. Two‐phase fluid flow is described in a continuum approach by conservation of mass and momentum of both phases. A priori measurements of capillary pressure and relative permeability allow to predict the impact of different cake geometries on the dewatering kinetics. Transient saturation and flow velocity fields within the filter cakes are calculated and discussed. No measurable effect on the mean saturation is observed in the investigated cases. However, the total flux, which needs to be handled by the vacuum pump to prevent a drop of the pressure difference during gas dewatering, is affected significantly by cake geometry. Model predictions are compared to experimental data from preceding publications and show reasonable agreement within the margin of error.
Endophyte effects on drought tolerance of turf‐type tall fescue
Authors: Boyle Paige E. , Richardson Michael D. , Karcher Douglas E. , Hignight Kenneth W. , Hignight Debra , Secks Margaret E.
Published: December 2024

The response of tall fescue [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.], infected with fungal endophytes, and subjected to drought stress has varied, presumably due to variability in host–endophyte associations. Much of this research has focused on forage ecotypes; less is known about the effects of endophytes on managed turfgrasses. The objective of these trials was to determine if the presence of fungal endophytes in turf‐type tall fescue provides an advantage to the host grass when exposed to drought conditions. Five endophyte‐free and endophyte‐infected field populations were established in Fayetteville, AR, and Albany, OR. A greenhouse trial was also established in Albany. Turf was subjected to drought and lightbox photos were evaluated to determine days until 75%, 50%, and 25% green cover. Overall, endophyte infection had no consistent effect on the drought response of tall fescue. Although there was no effect on drought response, endophyte infection in turf may confer other benefits, and may still be a valuable tool for turfgrass management.
Enhanced Blue Emission via Pressure Treatment of an Organic‐Inorganic Zinc Bromide†
Authors: Huang Shi‐Shuang , Li Zi‐Ying , Zhang Ying , Yang Hai‐Run , Liu Yungui , Azeem Muhammad , Feng Rui , Li Wei
Published: December 2024

Comprehensive Summary

Pressure‐treatment has been shown to be an effective means to enhance fluorescence of organic‐inorganic halides though it is only limited to few examples. Here, we report the pressure‐dependent structural evolution and emission enhancement upon compression treatment of a zero‐dimensional halide, BTPP2ZnBr4 (BTPP = Benzyl triphenyl phosphonium). Compared to the uncompressed BTPP2ZnBr4 crystal, the pressure‐treated sample shows a maximum 7‐fold intensified fluorescence at ambient conditions while maintaining the wide‐spectrum blue emission feature. This significantly boosted emission is attributed to the pressure‐induced irreversible structural distortion which effectively reduces the non‐radiative recombination. This work demonstrates the promising potential of pressure treatment in achieving bright organic‐inorganic halide emitters and other molecular fluorescent materials.
Exome Sequencing Identified Susceptible Genes for High Residual Risks in Early‐Onset Coronary Atherosclerotic Disease
Authors: Wu Runda , Su Ya , Liao Jianquan , Shen Juan , Ma Yuanji , Gao Wei , Dong Zheng , Dai Yuxiang , Yao Kang , Ge Junbo
Published: December 2024

Aims

Despite the tremendous improvement in therapeutic medication and intervention for coronary atherosclerotic disease (CAD), residual risks remain. Exome sequencing enables identification of rare variants and susceptibility genes for residual risks of early‐onset coronary atherosclerotic disease (EOCAD) with well‐controlled conventional risk factors.

Methods

We performed whole‐exome sequencing of subjects who had no conventional risk factors, defined as higher body mass index, smoking, hypertension and dyslipidemia, screened from 1950 patients with EOCAD (age ≤ 45 years, at least 50% stenosis of coronary artery by angiography), and selected control subjects from 1006 elder (age ≥ 65 years) with < 30% coronary stenosis. Gene‐based association analysis and clinical phenotypic comparison were conducted.

Results

Subjects without defined conventional risk factors accounted for 4.72% of young patients. Totally, 6 genes might be associated with residual risk of EOCAD, namely CABP1 (OR = 22.19, p = 0.02), HLA‐E (OR = 22.19, p = 0.02), TOE1 (OR = 33.6, p = 0.002), HPSE2 (OR = 11.1, p = 0.04), CHST14 (OR = 22.19, p = 0.02) as well as KLHL8 (OR = 22.19, p = 0.02). Phenotypic analysis displayed the levels of low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol in carriers of mutations from CABP1, HLA‐E, TOE1, and HPSE2 were significantly elevated compared to noncarriers. Notably, extracellular matrix‐associated CHST14 and fibrinogen‐associated KLHL8 both displayed possible correlation with increased neutrophil proportion and decreased monocyte percentage (both p < 0.05), exerting potential effects on the residual inflammatory risks of EOCAD.

Conclusion

The study identified six genes related to dyslipidemia and inflammation pathways with potential association with residual risk of EOCAD, which will contribute to precision‐based prevention in these patients.

Trial Registration

The GRAND study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov on July 14, 2015, and the registry number is NCT 02496858.
The Evaluation of Glyceryl C3‐Azolyl‐Thiogalactosides as Galectin‐1 and Galectin‐3 Ligands
Authors: Prouza Vít , Zýka Jakub , Kozák Jaroslav , Magdolenová Alžbeta , Pohl Radek , Parkan Kamil
Published: December 2024

Galectins are a family of galactoside‐binding proteins involved in various pathophysiological processes, which makes them attractive targets for drug discovery. The derivatization of d‐galactose at C3 and C1 positions has been shown to increase the affinity of synthetic galectin antagonists. In this study, two small libraries of d‐galactose derivatives have been designed and synthesized. The first series involved the development of novel aromatic 3‐azolyl‐3‐deoxy‐d‐galactopyranoses. The second series consisted of epimeric analogs of glyceryl β‐S‐d‐galactopyranosides, which were also derivatized. Binding‐affinity evaluations for galectin‐1 and galectin‐3 have revealed that galactose analogs from both series have potential for further optimization. Notably, a combination of modifications at the C3 position of the galactose ring and on the aglycone has led to the identification of promising galectin inhibitors, specifically the compounds 29R and 32S.
Eco‐Friendly and Ready‐To‐Market Polyurethanes: A Design of Experiment‐Guided Substitution of Toxic Catalyst and Fossil‐Based Isocyanate
Authors: Viada Gabriele , Mariotti Nicole , Galliano Simone , Menozzi Alberto , Barolo Claudia , Bonomo Matteo
Published: December 2024

In this contribution, we tackle the replacement of the Hg‐based catalyst and fossil‐derived isocyanate precursors toward the formulation of a more sustainable polyurethane thermosetting resins (PUs), emulating the performance of a fully fossil‐based one employed in industrial encapsulation of optoelectronics. A mixed Bi−Zn catalyst and a 71 % bio‐based isocyanate are exploited at this aim through multivariate chemometric approaches, namely Design of Experiment (DoE). DoE allows us to investigate the effect of different formulation factors on selected parameters, such as the film flexibility and transparency or the gel time. More in detail, it is found that a low amount of Zn‐rich catalytic mixture leads to a ready‐to‐market polyurethane only when a fossil‐based isocyanate is used. Differently, PUs formulated with bio‐based isocyanate, albeit showing a higher bio‐based content, present an insufficient optical purity, jeopardizing their market acceptability. Nevertheless, adding a negligible amount of a specific long chain fatty acid as reactivity modulator in the formulation leads to a bubbles‐free and ready‐to‐market resin showing an impressive 65 % w/w content of circular and bio‐based components.
Operational Police Stress Is Associated With Disordered Eating in Police Officers
Authors: Qi Baiyu , Wu Ya‐Ke
Published: December 2024

Objective

Police officers are under high operational stress and are at high risk for stress‐related mental health disturbances. However, little research has investigated disordered eating in this population. In this study, we compared disordered eating symptoms between male and female police officers, examined the association between operational police stress and disordered eating symptoms, and explored body mass index (BMI) and sex as potential moderators of these associations.

Method

The participants consisted of 476 police officers from North Carolina, United States. Operational police stress was assessed using the Operational Police Stress Questionnaire, and disordered eating symptoms were assessed using the Eating Pathology Symptoms Inventory. Weight and height were measured by trained staff.

Results

Compared with female officers (n = 149), male officers (n = 325) scored significantly higher on binge eating, excessive exercise, muscle building, and negative attitudes toward obesity, and lower on body dissatisfaction, cognitive restraint, restricting, and purging. After adjusting for BMI and sex, significant positive associations were found between operational police stress and all disordered eating symptom subscales, except for excessive exercise. No association was significantly moderated by BMI or sex.

Discussion

Disordered eating is an understudied yet critical concern among stressed police officers, affecting both males and females. Targeted prevention and intervention strategies, such as regular screening during physical exams, could enable early detection of disordered eating symptoms in this high‐stress occupation group.
Synergistic Effect of a Ni/Al2O3+YSZ Nanocomposite for the Steam Reforming of Biogas in the Presence of Electric Fields
Authors: Kang Shin Wook , Lee Hack‐Keun , Park Je Man , Kang Jongkyu , Oh Kyung Hee , Park Ji Chan , Ha Su , Yang Jung‐Il , Marin‐Flores Oscar
Published: December 2024

There is an increasing interest in using biogas as a renewable energy source to produce green hydrogen via steam reforming. The high‐energy consumption associated with this process has motivated the pursuit of alternative approaches to process raw biogas at lower operating temperatures and without the need for large amounts of steam to prevent catalyst deactivation. The present study discusses the results obtained for the steam reforming of raw biogas in the presence of electric fields, using a nanocomposite catalytic material prepared by physically mixing yttria‐stabilized zirconia and a Ni/Al2O3 catalyst. The experiments are conducted using a parallel plate capacitor reactor operated at 700 °C and 1 atm. The results indicate that by applying an external electric field (EEF) with a DC voltage of 1.9 kV and a current of 9 mA, a substantial increase in the rates of reaction can be attained. The conversions obtained for CH4 and CO2 are higher than the equilibrium values calculated in the absence of an EEF by 23% and 17%, respectively. This shift in the equilibrium is attributed to internal electric fields (IEFs) resulting from the interaction between YSZ and Ni/Al2O3, which leads to the creation of an interfacial nanopore structure that could increase the local IEF strength.
Clinical and radiologic characteristics of ruptured epidermal inclusion cysts in the nipple and subareolar regions: A report of two cases
Authors: Fahed Reine , Ghazal Kariman
Published: December 2024

Epidermal inclusion cysts (EICs) in the breast, particularly in the nipple and subareolar regions, are rare entities that pose significant diagnostic challenges and management dilemmas in clinical practice. This study retrospectively analyzes two case reports of women presenting with EICs located in these unusual breast areas. The subjects included a 35‐year‐old female with congested nipple symptoms and bilateral mastodynia, and a 58‐year‐old female with a palpable right breast nodule. Diagnostic efforts involved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), sonography, and mammography, which highlighted the cysts' onion‐like asymmetry and heterogeneous characteristics with posterior acoustic enhancement. Despite detailed imaging, distinguishing these cysts from malignancies or typical abscesses proved difficult. Both cases experienced spontaneous cyst rupture with subsequent resolution following antibiotic therapy. A literature review confirmed the rarity of such cases, emphasizing the importance of recognizing EICs to avoid unnecessary surgical interventions. These findings underscore the need for heightened clinical awareness and detailed imaging to accurately diagnose and manage EICs in atypical breast locations, and call for further research to explore their etiology and optimal treatment strategies.
Prevention of births in Gaza: Where lies the future?
Authors: Irfan Bilal , Abu Shammala Abdallah , Saleh Khaled J.
Published: December 2024

Synopsis

The study highlights the devastating impact of Gaza's healthcare collapse on maternal health, revealing widespread preventable deaths, stillbirths, miscarriages, and severe pregnancy complications.
Synthesizing Images With Annotations for Medical Image Segmentation Using Diffusion Probabilistic Model
Authors: Huang Zengan , Yang Qinzhu , Tian Mu , Gao Yi
Published: December 2024

To alleviate the burden of manual annotation, there are numerous excellent segmentation models for images segmentation being developed. However, the performance of these data‐driven segmentation models is frequently constrained by the availability of samples sizes of pair medical images and segmentation annotations. Therefore, to address this challenge, this study introduces the medical image segmentation augmentation diffusion model (MEDSAD). MEDSAD solves the problem of annotation scarcity by utilizing a given simple annotation to generate paired medical images. To improve stability, we used the traditional diffusion model for this study. To exert better control over the texture synthesis in the medical images generated by MEDSAD, the texture style injection (TSI) mechanism is introduced. Additionally, we propose the feature frequency domain attention (FFDA) module to mitigate the adverse effects of high‐frequency noise during generation. The efficacy of MEDSAD is substantiated through the validation of three distinct medical segmentation tasks encompassing magnetic resonance (MR) and ultrasound (US) imaging modalities, focusing on the segmentation of breast tumors, brain tumors, and nerve structures. The findings demonstrate the MEDSAD model's proficiency in synthesizing medical image pairs based on provided annotations, thereby facilitating a notable augmentation in performance for subsequent segmentation tasks. Moreover, the improvement in performance becomes greater as the quantity of synthetic available data samples increases. This underscores the robust generalization capability and efficacy intrinsic to the MEDSAD model, potentially offering avenues for future explorations in data‐driven model training and research.
Performance Analysis of Priority Medical Events in Healthcare IoT Networks Using 3‐Dimension Discrete Time Markov Chain
Authors: Dewa Gilang Raka Rayuda
Published: December 2024

A reliable medical service via the Healthcare Internet‐of‐Things (H‐IoT) network employs wireless communications to periodically deliver medical data from in‐body patients to the data center. However, the high number of patients in an ultra‐dense hospital requires the installation of numerous medical sensors, incurring congested network traffic. Data collisions and non‐priority sessions may occur in the corresponding traffic, dropping the overall performance of H‐IoT networks. Thus, it is crucial to rigorously observe the degradation of wireless performance to analyze proper settings and limitations for ultra‐dense H‐IoT. Accordingly, this paper models the operation of a healthcare IoT network using a three‐dimensional discrete‐time Markov chain (3D‐DTMC) to analyze the performance of H‐IoT networks, including expected throughput, expected discovery time consumption, and the probability of successful transmission quantitatively. In addition, this paper also analyzes the impact of different failure factor mechanisms, either cooperative failure or independent failure, on the overall performance of H‐IoT networks.
Ultrafast Dynamics of Diketopyrrolopyrrole Dimers
Authors: Al‐Jaaidi Ali , Toldo Josene M. , Barbatti Mario
Published: December 2024

Diketopyrrolopyrroles (DPPs) have attracted attention for their potential applications in organic photovoltaics due to their tunable optical properties and charge‐carrier mobilities. In this study, we investigate the excited‐state dynamics of a DPP dimer using time‐dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations. Our results reveal a near‐barrierless hydrogen migration state intersection that facilitates ultrafast internal conversion with a lifetime of about 400 fs, leading to fluorescence quenching. Electronic density analysis along the relaxation pathway confirms a hydrogen atom transfer mechanism. These findings highlight the critical role of state intersections in the photophysical properties of DPP dimers, providing new insights for the design of functionalized DPP systems aimed at suppressing nonradiative decay for enhanced performance in photovoltaic applications.
Pharmacognostic Characterization of Primula macrophylla by Light Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Analytical Techniques
Authors: Din Kinza Muhammad , Alam Fiaz , Sarfraz Mehak , Rasheed Rukhba , Alamri Abdulhakeem S. , Ahmed Ibrar
Published: December 2024

Traditional medicinal systems have extensively used Primula macrophylla (Primulaceae) to treat a variety conditions, including bronchitis, asthma, joint pain, fever and so forth. This study determines various pharmacognostic and phytochemical standards helpful to ensure the purity, safety, and efficacy of medicinal plant P. macrophylla. In experimental section the Intact aerial parts, powdered materials, and extracts were examined macro‐ and microscopically and pharmacognostic standardization parameters were determined in accordance with the guidelines given by the World Health Organization. Parameters including extractive values, ash values, and loss on drying were determined. Preliminary phytochemical tests, fluorescence analysis, and chromatographic profiling were performed for the identification and standardization of P. macrophylla. The results of macroscopic studies revealed that leaves are farinose, alternating, foliage, toothed and flowers are unbranched, hermaphroditic, large, herbaceous, round, non‐woody stem, roots are adventitious. Length of leave is 11 cm, flower 3 cm, stem 38 cm and root 18 cm. Odor is clove or Eucalyptus like, irritating smell and has pungent/ bitterness. Qualitative analysis confirmed that carbohydrates are not present and saponins, terpenoid, flavonoid, phenolic, phytosterol and fixed oils are not present. The atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) showed the trace amounts of Pb (1.604 mg/L), As (−12.91 mg/L), Hg (7.102 mg/L), and Cd (0.226 mg/L) present. The internal structure of the plant was examined using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The plant cross‐sectional scans revealed several useful botanical properties. LM and SEM revealed important diagnostic features including stomata, phloem, xylem, spiral vessels, and trichomes and so forth. We conclude that the data generated from the present study help to authenticate the medicinally important plant P. macrophylla. This study is helpful for establishing the pharmacopeia standards in accordance with WHO guidelines.
Medial Flap Turbinoplasty is Unlikely to Cause Empty Nose Syndrome
Authors: Almansour Yasser M. , Alani Abdulghafoor , Wilson Carl P. , Eide Jacob G. , Craig John R.
Published: December 2024

Background

Empty nose syndrome (ENS) is a poorly understood condition that affects a minority of patients who undergo inferior turbinate (IT) surgery. The Empty Nose Syndrome 6‐item Questionnaire (ENS6Q) was validated to diagnose ENS following IT reduction, with an ENS6Q ≥ 11 being suggestive of ENS. Medial flap turbinoplasty (MFT) involves IT bone removal ± submucosal reduction (SMR) and is highly effective at surgically treating IT hypertrophy. This study's purpose was to determine the incidence of ENS following MFT by comparing ENS6Q scores preoperatively and postoperatively.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted on consecutive patients who underwent bilateral MFT with or without septoplasty to address nasal obstruction. Preoperative and postoperative nasal obstruction and septoplasty effectiveness (NOSE, 0–20) and ENS6Q (0–30) scores were compared at a minimum 12 months postoperatively.

Results

Of 100 patients, mean age was 48.9 years and 53% were male. Mean follow‐up was 25.0 months (range: 12–66 months). Patients underwent MFT with SMR in 70% of cases, whereas 30% had bone removal only, and 79% had septoplasty. NOSE scores decreased significantly postoperatively (mean 9‐point reduction, p < 0.0001). Mean preoperative and postoperative ENS6Qs were 8.5 and 3.0, respectively, with a mean 5.6‐point decrease postoperatively (p < 0.0001). While some patients developed elevated ENS6Q scores mainly in the first 3 months postoperatively, no patients had ENS6Q scores ≥11 at final follow‐up.

Conclusions

MFT ± septoplasty led to significant long‐term reduction in nasal obstruction, with no patients ultimately developing ENS6Q ≥ 11 postoperatively. Therefore, MFT was unlikely to cause ENS.

Level of Evidence

Level 4 Laryngoscope, 2024
Short‐Term Nitrogen and Phosphorus Additions Regulated Soil Organic Carbon Turnover by Altering Functional Microorganisms in Desert Steppes
Authors: Hai Xuying , Li Jianping , Shangguan Zhouping , Deng Lei
Published: December 2024

The dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) turnover are significantly modulated by the supply of essential nutrients, with particular emphasis on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). For the typical desert steppe, the responses of soil carbon (C) turnover to the addition of N and P and the underlying mechanism remain elusive. This study applied N and P fertilization for 2 years and probed the impacts of N and P on the composition of the microbial community, as well as their effects on the cumulative mineralization of SOC (C
min) in desert steppe. The results showed that the addition of N and P enhanced SOC levels, with a more pronounced increase in the recalcitrant C pool compared to the labile C pool. The C
min was decreased by 23.2% and 20.4% under N and P additions. The N effect in conjunction with P addition and the P effect in conjunction with N addition caused increases in the C
min. The addition of N and P differently influenced the composition and structure of the microbial community by altering microbial preferences. The addition of N markedly reduced the abundance of microbial C cycling genes, which encompassed those pivotal for C fixation, C degradation, and methane metabolism. The addition of N alone resulted in a reduction of SOC mineralization, causing the largest increases in the recalcitrant C pool and the total SOC pool, as compared to the addition of P and the combined input of N and P. These findings extend our understanding of the response mechanism of soil C mineralization with N and P enrichment. Overall, the addition of N independently augments the soil's capacity as a C reservoir, thereby facilitating greater C sequestration in desert steppes.