Advancing Open Science

Ovarian cancer (OC) is characterized by delayed clinical diagnosis, intrinsic/acquired platinum chemoresistance, and a high postoperative recurrence rate, highlighting an unmet clinical need for new targeted therapeutic strategies. Herein, we integrated pan-cancer transcriptomic profiling, clinical tissue immunohistochemistry, siRNA-mediated gene silencing, co-immunoprecipitation, structure-based virtual ligand screening, in vitro kinase activity assays, cellular viability functional assays, and SK-OV-3 xenograft mouse models to preliminarily reveal that CaMKII-β may mediate OC progression and characterize the anti-tumor potency of tannic acid. We preliminarily found that CaMKII-β is upregulated in OC patient tissues, and its elevated expression correlates with unfavorable overall survival. Genetic depletion of CaMKII-β attenuated OC cell viability both in vitro and in vivo via interfering with RAS-related signaling and suppressing downstream PI3K, AKT, and NF-κB transcriptional signaling cascades. Structure-based virtual screening identified tannic acid as a candidate CaMKII-β inhibitor with an IC₅₀ value of 217 nM. Functional cellular assays demonstrated that tannic acid suppresses OC cell viability in a dose-dependent manner, accompanied by reduced phosphorylation of PI3K, AKT, and NF-κB, while the total protein levels of these signaling intermediates remain unaltered. In vivo intraperitoneal injection of tannic acid impeded the growth of SK-OV-3 xenograft tumors without inducing measurable systemic weight loss in host mice. In summary, CaMKII-β may contribute to malignant progression of OC through its association with RAS-related signaling, and tannic acid shows pre-clinical preliminary anti-tumor activity associated with CaMKII-β-related signaling in OC. Further mechanistic validation, pharmacokinetic, toxicological, and clinically relevant in vivo studies are required to evaluate its translational potential.

Iron-containing wastewater-treatment sludges were valorized as carbon-felt (CF) anode modifiers for electro-Fenton treatment. Hydrochars derived from biological and/or electrocoagulation sludges and a sludge-derived material obtained by dry thermal treatment were incorporated into poly(vinylidene fluoride) coatings. Seven sludge-derived material-containing coating formulations were evaluated using potassium hydrogen phthalate, alongside PVDF-only and uncoated-CF controls. At 0.10 A, the selected electrocoagulation-sludge-derived hydrochar coating (HC-EC-2.0) achieved 90% chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 84% dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal after 7 h. When applied to real textile wastewater, the modified anode achieved 81% COD and 76% DOC removal after 8 h, outperforming uncoated CF. Progressive iron mobilization was observed, with final Fe²⁺ and total dissolved iron concentrations of 9.36 and 9.74 mg L⁻¹, respectively. Residual H₂O₂ reached 9.97 mg L⁻¹ with HC-EC-2.0, compared with 2.83 mg L⁻¹ using uncoated CF. Adsorption-only controls indicated that passive adsorption alone could not account for the improved treatment performance. Preliminary electrode reuse maintained substantial organic-matter removal, although specific electrical energy consumption increased. These findings highlight the potential of electrocoagulation-sludge-derived hydrochar coatings as functional anode modifiers for electro-Fenton treatment of textile wastewater.

This review focuses on Verruconis gallopava as an underrecognized fungal pathogen in veterinary medicine and covers its environmental distribution and thermotolerance, published cases of infection in animals, clinical signs and pathological lesions relevant to differential diagnosis, antifungal susceptibility, and diagnostic approaches used for species identification. Findings from the published reports are summarized to provide veterinarians and veterinary laboratory personnel with an accessible overview of this uncommon pathogen, offer general guidance for its recognition, and highlight its potential relevance in the differential diagnosis of fungal infections, particularly in poultry.

Automobile service workshops generate multiple waste streams, including used tires, packaging, mineral oils, paints, solvents, and e-waste. Solid waste, such as tires and batteries, is clearly identifiable and has standardized waste streams, with research following established recovery markets. In contrast, filters, hoses, belts, brake materials, glass, small electronic parts, contaminated consumables, and replaced components are small-fraction wastes that often lack dedicated recovery routes. Reports suggest many are landfilled or mixed into scrap, though direct workshop data are scarce. The study follows a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach, using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 to screen relevant literature on problematic small-fraction wastes. Scopus and Web of Science were the primary databases. Thematic analysis of 84 reports produced a list of small-fraction solid waste generated by automobile repair and maintenance workshops. The findings were synthesized using the Antecedents–Decisions–Outcomes (ADO) framework. The study maps the reported collection, reuse, recycling, recovery, remanufacturing, and disposal pathways of each component. It highlights differences in current waste-management practices. Collection and segregation are recurring barriers; regional collection hubs and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) remain little tested in workshops. Major knowledge gaps and priority areas for future research on reverse logistics have been established.

Echolocation enables individuals with impaired or no vision to recognize spatial features by analyzing sound reflections. However, acquiring this skill requires extensive training, and environmental factors influence its reliability. Moreover, users must continuously emit sounds while interpreting auditory feedback. In previous work, we introduced the LIDAR-Assisted Spatial Sensing (LASS) system, which detects the surrounding environment and translates it into stereo sound with varying pitches. Pitch encodes distance and stereo panning encodes direction, enhancing spatial perception. A key limitation of LASS is its passive scanning methodology: it restricts user control and requires a fixed 13-s full scan. In addition, the previous LASS evaluation was conducted with seated participants performing stationary localization judgments; it did not test whether the system could support closed-loop, mobile navigation. This paper presents an active LASS (ALASS) system that enables users to select regions of interest via a tactile handheld controller. This mechanism reduces regional scan time and gives users greater control, enabling adaptive scanning strategies similar to biological echolocation. A proof-of-concept study (N = 2) provides preliminary validation that ALASS supports closed-loop navigation in structured environments, where the user continuously senses, decides, and acts, steering based on audio feedback, with the resulting motion changing what the system subsequently senses.

Autophagic dysfunction is a recurrent feature of neurodegenerative disease, but increased pathway activity does not necessarily indicate effective cargo clearance. This review examines autophagic flux as a multistep quality-control process in which cargo recognition, autophagosome formation, intracellular transport, lysosomal fusion, degradation, and metabolite recovery must remain functionally coupled. We discuss how bottlenecks at different stages generate distinct consequences across neurons, microglia, astrocytes, oligodendrocyte-lineage cells, and neural stem or progenitor cells, and compare disease-specific patterns in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. These disorders exhibit overlapping but context-dependent autophagy–lysosomal defects, including impaired cargo recognition, mitochondrial turnover, autophagosome transport, lysosomal degradation, and cell-specific cargo processing. These mechanistic differences support defect-directed therapeutic strategies, although evidence that correcting individual bottlenecks restores autophagic flux and improves clinical outcomes remains limited. Upstream induction may be ineffective when downstream transport, fusion, or lysosomal degradation is impaired. Therapeutic strategies should therefore be evaluated using mechanism-appropriate measures of target engagement and downstream cargo degradation. Defining autophagic flux at cell- and compartment-specific resolution may help distinguish productive clearance from nonspecific pathway activation across disease stages, genotypes, and clinically distinct patient populations.

The anti-seasonal drawdown zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) presents a unique ecological filter characterized by prolonged winter flooding and summer drought. This study investigated plant functional traits (PFTs) and CSR (Competitor–Stress tolerator–Ruderal) ecological strategies across an elevation gradient (145–175 m) in the TGR drawdown zone and the adjacent non-inundated reservoir shore slope (>175 m), to examine plant adaptation to the hydrological gradient. We measured 15 PFTs from 32 dominant species across three sites and calculated CSR strategies using three leaf traits (leaf area, specific leaf area, and leaf dry matter content). The results showed that elevation zone had significant effects on PH, SDMC, LL/LW, SLW, LDMC, SPAD, and SRA. LL/LW, LDMC, RL and FRTD were identified as hub traits in the trait correlation network. Stem traits were significantly related to slope, flooding and TP. Overall mean CSR values for the plant community were 47.90% for C, 37.01% for S, and 15.10% for R. However, the data revealed a clear elevation-dependent shift in the C–S balance: S declined from 45.78% in Zone I to 21.46% in Zone IV, while C increased from 41.86% to 55.61% and R increased to 22.93% in Zone IV. Key stress-tolerant species, such as Cynodon dactylon and Cyperus rotundus exhibited high CS-strategy values across all elevations. CSR strategies were correlated with SWC, flooding, elevation, TC and TN. Correlation heatmaps revealed distinct trait–strategy syndromes: the C strategy was negatively correlated with SDMC and LL/LW but positively correlated with SPAD and LN, whereas the S strategy showed the exact opposite pattern. Water-related factors mainly drove the C and S strategies, with SWC negatively correlated with C and flooding duration negatively correlated with S. These are correlative associations rather than causal pathways. These observed associations are consistent with the hypothesis that intense hydrological stress acts as an environmental filter shaping plant ecological strategies, although the historical filtering process itself is not directly observed in this cross-sectional study. Within this framework, niche differentiation is realized through subtle trait variations and mixed strategies.

Conventional methods for constructing long-cantilever cap beams supported by double-column piers in urban expressway viaducts lead to substantial traffic disruption, inefficient use of constrained urban space, and high temporary construction costs. To address this, we propose a modular reusable rotation system together with a corresponding construction method. A five-stage construction procedure was developed, comprising system installation, offset casting, rotational construction, connection-segment construction, and system dismantling. Using the eastward extension of the Gongye North Road Expressway in Jinan as the engineering case, finite element models of the split and integrated systems were established using the DonSys supercomputing simulation platform to investigate the static responses at different construction stages. The stresses and deformations of the rotation system were compared before and after introducing auxiliary supports comprising dual-purpose reaction supports and sand jacks. The results indicate that, under the specified loads and boundary conditions, the load-bearing rigid frame exhibits higher stresses and vertical displacements under the split system condition than under the integrated system condition. With the auxiliary supports installed, part of the vertical load is transferred through the bottom formwork and sand jacks to the reaction supports, reducing the load carried by the rigid frame. Consequently, the maximum tensile and compressive stresses decrease from 188.20 and 202.61 MPa to 67.56 and 71.14 MPa, respectively, while the maximum vertical displacement decreases from 7.54 to 2.60 mm, corresponding to a reduction of 65.52%. These findings provide a reference for the structural design and construction deformation control of similar cap beam rotation systems under constrained site conditions. The actual construction response and reusability of the system require further validation through testing and field monitoring.