Search Results (2,434)

Early weaning of piglets elicits weaning stress, which in turn induces oxidative stress and consequently impairs growth and development. Hydrogen-rich water (HRW), characterized by selective antioxidant properties, mitigates oxidative stress damage and serves as an ideal intervention. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of HRW on weaned piglets, specifically investigating its impact on growth performance, diarrhea incidence, antioxidant function, intestinal morphology, gut microbiota, and hepatic metabolites. The results demonstrate that HRW significantly increased the average daily feed intake and significantly reduced the diarrhea rate in weaned piglets. Analysis of serum oxidative stress indicators revealed that HRW significantly elevated the activities of total antioxidant capacity and total superoxide dismutase while significantly decreasing malondialdehyde concentration. Assessment of intestinal morphology showed that HRW significantly increased the villus height to crypt depth ratio in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. Microbial analysis indicated that HRW significantly increased the abundance of Prevotella in the colon. Furthermore, HRW increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria, such as Akkermansia, in the jejunum and cecum, while concurrently reducing the abundance of harmful bacteria like Escherichia. Hepatic metabolite profiling revealed that HRW significantly altered the metabolite composition in the liver of weaned piglets. Differentially abundant metabolites were enriched in oxidative stress-related KEGG pathways, including ABC transporters; pyruvate metabolism; autophagy; FoxO signaling pathway; glutathione metabolism; ferroptosis; and AMPK signaling pathways. In conclusion, HRW alleviates diarrhea and promotes growth in weaned piglets by enhancing antioxidant capacity. These findings provide a scientific foundation for the application of HRW in swine production and serve as a reference for further exploration into the mechanisms underlying HRW’s effects on animal health and productivity. Full article

Art therapy serves as a crucial intervention modality for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), demonstrating unique value in emotional expression, sensory integration, and social communication. However, current practice presents critical challenges, including the disconnect between design expertise and clinical needs, unclear mechanisms of environmental factors’ impact on therapeutic outcomes, and insufficient evidence-based support for technology integration. Purpose: This study aimed to construct an evidence-based theoretical framework for art therapy environment design for children with autism, clarifying the relationship between environmental design elements and therapeutic effectiveness. Methodology: Based on the Web of Science database, this study employed a dual-track approach comprising bibliometric analysis and micro-qualitative content analysis to systematically examine the knowledge structure and developmental trends. Research hotspots were identified through keyword co-occurrence network analysis using CiteSpace, while 24 representative design cases were analyzed to gain insights into design concepts, emerging technologies, and implementation principles. Key Findings: Through keyword network visualization analysis, this study identified ten primary research clusters that were systematically categorized into four core design elements: sensory feedback design, behavioral guidance design, emotional resonance design, and therapeutic support design. A responsive therapeutic environment conceptual framework was proposed, encompassing four interconnected components based on the ABC model from positive psychology: emotional, sensory, environmental, and behavioral dimensions. Evidence-based design principles were established emphasizing child-centeredness, the promotion of multisensory expression, the achievement of dynamic feedback, and appropriate technology integration. Research Contribution: This research establishes theoretical connections between environmental design elements and art therapy effectiveness, providing a systematic design guidance framework for interdisciplinary teams, including environmental designers, clinical practitioners, technology developers, and healthcare administrators. The framework positions technology as a therapeutic mediator rather than a driver, ensuring technological integration supports rather than interferes with children’s natural creative impulses. This contributes to creating more effective environmental spaces for art therapy activities for children with autism while aligning with SDG3 goals for promoting mental health and reducing inequalities in therapeutic access. Full article

Background: The candidate therapeutic peptide TnP demonstrates broad, system-level regulatory capacity, revealed through integrated network analysis from transcriptomic data in zebrafish. Our study primarily identifies TnP as a multifaceted modulator of drug metabolism, wound healing, proteolytic activity, and pigmentation pathways. Results: Transcriptomic profiling of TnP-treated larvae following tail fin amputation revealed 558 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), categorized into four functional networks: (1) drug-metabolizing enzymes (cyp3a65, cyp1a) and transporters (SLC/ABC families), where TnP alters xenobiotic processing through Phase I/II modulation; (2) cellular trafficking and immune regulation, with upregulated myosin genes (myhb/mylz3) enhancing wound repair and tlr5-cdc42 signaling fine-tuning inflammation; (3) proteolytic cascades (c6ast4, prss1) coupled to autophagy (ulk1a, atg2a) and metabolic rewiring (g6pca.1-tg axis); and (4) melanogenesis-circadian networks (pmela/dct-fbxl3l) linked to ubiquitin-mediated protein turnover. Key findings highlight TnP’s unique coordination of rapid (protease activation) and sustained (metabolic adaptation) responses, enabled by short network path lengths (1.6–2.1 edges). Hub genes, such as nr1i2 (pxr), ppara, and bcl6aa/b, mediate crosstalk between these systems, while potential risks—including muscle hypercontractility (myhb overexpression) or cardiovascular effects (ace2-ppp3ccb)—underscore the need for targeted delivery. The zebrafish model validated TnP-conserved mechanisms with human relevance, particularly in drug metabolism and tissue repair. TnP’s ability to synchronize extracellular matrix remodeling, immune resolution, and metabolic homeostasis supports its development for the treatment of fibrosis, metabolic disorders, and inflammatory conditions. Conclusions: Future work should focus on optimizing tissue-specific delivery and assessing genetic variability to advance clinical translation. This system-level analysis positions TnP as a model example for next-generation multi-pathway therapeutics. Full article

The ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCG2 plays a critical role in drug pharmacokinetics and multidrug resistance in cancer therapy. Two common nonsynonymous polymorphisms, rs2231137 (V12M) and rs2231142 (Q141K), are associated with altered ABCG2 function, drug response, and disease susceptibility. However, the functional impact of their haplotype remains poorly understood. In this study, we established Flp-In™-293 cell lines stably expressing ABCG2 (12M/141K) and systematically compared their expression and drug resistance profiles with those of cells expressing ABCG2 (12V/141Q) (WT), ABCG2 (12M/141Q), and ABCG2 (12V/141K). The mRNA of ABCG2 (12M/141K) was expressed at levels comparable to those of the other variants in cells. Cells expressing ABCG2 (12M/141K) exhibited significantly higher resistance to mitoxantrone (10.7-fold) and SN-38 (5.99-fold) than the mock cells. While ABCG2 (12M/141Q) conferred the highest resistance among the tested variants, the ABCG2 (12M/141K) haplotype showed a trend toward higher mitoxantrone resistance than the ABCG2 (12V/141Q) (WT) (p = 0.066), suggesting a haplotype-specific effect. These findings provide novel insights into haplotype-based modulation of ABCG2 function and its contribution to multidrug resistance, with potential implications for optimizing personalized chemotherapy strategies. Full article

Background: The use of lower limb prosthesis can impact all aspects of daily life, activities and participation. Various studies have compared the microprocessor-controlled knee (MPK) to the non-microprocessor-controlled knee (NMPK) using a variety of different outcome measures, but results are inconsistent and raise the question of which type of knee is most effective. Therefore, we aimed to assess the effect of MPKs compared to NMPKs across all classified ICF domains in adult prosthesis users. Methods: Participants performed baseline measurements with the NMPK (T0). One week later, they started a four-to-six-week trial period with the MPK. Afterward, measurements were repeated with the MPK (T1). Functional tests (6MWT, TUG-test and activity monitor) and questionnaires (ABC, SQUASH, USER-P and PEQ) were used. For statistical analyses, paired t-tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and Chi² test were applied. The Benjamini–Hochberg procedure was applied to correct for multiple testing. Results: Twenty-five participants were included. Using an MPK compared to an NMPK significantly resulted in improvements in balance and walking confidence, safety, walking distance and self-reported walking ability, as well as a decrease in number of stumbles and falls. Additionally, participants using an MPK were significantly more satisfied with their participation, experienced fewer restrictions, reported greater satisfaction with the appearance and utility of the MPK, experienced less social burden and reported better well-being, compared to using an NMPK. Conclusions: Using an MPK instead of an NMPK can lead to significant improvements in all classified ICF domains, such as improved walking ability, confidence and satisfaction and reduced fall risk. Full article

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a major foodborne pathogen worldwide, responsible for seafood-associated poisoning. Among its toxin genes, tdh2 is the most critical. To investigate the role of tdh2 in V. parahaemolyticus under gastrointestinal conditions, we constructed tdh2 deletion and complementation strains and compared their survival under acid (pH 3 and 4) and bile stress (2%). The results showed that tdh2 expression was significantly upregulated under cold (4 °C) and bile stress (0.9%). Survival assays and PI staining revealed that the tdh2 mutant strain (VP: △tdh2) was more sensitive to acid and bile stress than the wild-type (WT), and this sensitivity was rescued by tdh2 complementation. These findings suggest that tdh2 plays a protective role in enhancing V. parahaemolyticus tolerance to acid and bile stress. In the VP: △tdh2 strain, seven genes were significantly upregulated and six were downregulated as a result of tdh2 deletion. These genes included VPA1332 (vtrA), VPA1348 (vtrB), VP2467 (ompU), VP0301 and VP1995 (ABC transporters), VP0527 (nhaR), and VP2553 (rpoS), among others. Additionally, LC-MS/MS analysis identified 12 differential metabolites between the WT and VP: △tdh2 strains, including phosphatidylserine (PS) (17:2 (9Z,12Z) /0:0 and 20:1 (11Z) /0:0), phosphatidylglycerol (PG) (17:0/0:0), flavin mononucleotide (FMN), and various nucleotides. The protective mechanism of tdh2 may involve preserving cell membrane permeability through regulation of ompU and ABC transporters and enhancing electron transfer efficiency via regulation of nhaR. The resulting reduction in ATP, DNA, and RNA synthesis—along with changes in membrane permeability and electron transfer due to decreased FMN—likely contributed to the reduced survival of the VP: △tdh2 strain. Meanwhile, the cells actively synthesized phospholipids to repair membrane damage, leading to increased levels of PS and PG. This study provides important insights into strategies for preventing and controlling food poisoning caused by tdh⁺ V. parahaemolyticus. Full article

In precision manufacturing, selecting the most economically viable process is essential for low-volume, high-complexity applications. This study compares the machining process (MP), conventional investment casting (CIC), and rapid prototyping (RP) through a mathematical cost model based on the activity-based costing (ABC) approach. The model captures detailed cost drivers across design, logistics, production, and environmental dimensions. Results show that MP incurs the highest production cost (94.45%) but minimal logistics (3.43%). CIC bears the highest total cost and significant production overhead (93.2%), while RIC achieves the lowest total cost, driven by major savings in production (84.6%) and labor. Although RIC has slightly higher logistics than MP, it demonstrates superior economic efficiency for small-batch, high-accuracy production. This study provides a unified quantitative framework for cost comparison and offers valuable guidance for manufacturers aiming to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and profitability across diverse fabrication strategies. Full article

Intersectionality is a concept used to explain the power dynamics and inequalities that some groups experience owing to the interconnection of social differences such as in gender, sexual identity, poverty status, race, geographic location, disability, and education. The relation between software engineering, feminism, and intersectionality has been addressed by some studies thus far, but it has never been codified before. In this paper, we employ the commonly used ABC Framework for empirical software engineering to show the contributions of intersectional software engineering (ISE) as a field of software engineering. In addition, we highlight the power dynamic, unique to ISE studies, and define gender-forward intersectionality as a way to use gender as a starting point to identify and examine inequalities and discrimination. We show that ISE is a field of study in software engineering that uses gender-forward intersectionality to produce knowledge about power dynamics in software engineering in its specific domains and environments. Employing empirical software engineering research strategies, we explain the importance of recognizing and evaluating ISE through four dimensions of dynamics, which are people, processes, products, and policies. Beginning with a set of 10 seminal papers that enable us to define the initial concepts and the query for the systematic mapping study, we conduct a systematic mapping study leads to a dataset of 140 primary papers, of which 15 are chosen as example papers. We apply the principles of ISE to these example papers to show how the field functions. Finally, we conclude the paper by advocating the recognition of ISE as a specialized field of study in software engineering. Full article

Background: Salmonella infections pose a serious threat to both animal and human health worldwide. Notably, there is an increasing trend in the resistance of Salmonella to fluoroquinolones, the first-line drugs for clinical treatment. Methods: Utilizing Salmonella Typhimurium CICC 10420 as the test strain, ciprofloxacin was used for in vitro induction to develop the drug-resistant strain H1. Changes in the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of various antimicrobial agents were determined using the broth microdilution method. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were conducted to investigate alterations in gene and metabolite expression. A combined drug susceptibility test was performed to evaluate the potential of exogenous metabolites to restore antibiotic susceptibility. Results: The MICs of strain H1 for ofloxacin and enrofloxacin increased by 128- and 256-fold, respectively, and the strain also exhibited resistance to ceftriaxone, ampicillin, and tetracycline. A single-point mutation of Glu469Asp in the GyrB was detected in strain H1. Integrated multi-omics analysis showed significant differences in gene and metabolite expression across multiple pathways, including two-component systems, ABC transporters, pentose phosphate pathway, purine metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, pantothenate and coenzyme A biosynthesis, pyrimidine metabolism, arginine and proline biosynthesis, and glutathione metabolism. Notably, the addition of exogenous glutamine, in combination with tetracycline, significantly reduced the resistance of strain H1 to tetracycline. Conclusion: Ciprofloxacin-induced Salmonella resistance involves both target site mutations and extensive reprogramming of the metabolic network. Exogenous metabolite supplementation presents a promising strategy for reversing resistance and enhancing antibiotic efficacy. Full article

In the wake of the continuous development of the international strategic petroleum reserve system, the tonnage and quantity of oil tankers have been increasing. This trend has driven the expansion of offshore oil exploration and transportation, resulting in frequent incidents of ship oil spills. Catastrophic impacts have been exerted on the marine environment by these accidents, posing a serious threat to economic development and ecological security. Therefore, there is an urgent need for efficient and reliable methods to detect oil spills in a timely manner and minimize potential losses as much as possible. In response to this challenge, a marine radar oil film segmentation method based on feature fusion and the artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is proposed in this study. Initially, the raw experimental data are preprocessed to obtain denoised radar images. Subsequently, grayscale adjustment and local contrast enhancement operations are carried out on the denoised images. Next, the gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features and Tamura features are extracted from the locally contrast-enhanced images. Then, the generalized least squares (GLS) method is employed to fuse the extracted texture features, yielding a new feature fusion map. Afterwards, the optimal processing threshold is determined to obtain effective wave regions by using the bimodal graph direct method. Finally, the ABC algorithm is utilized to segment the oil films. This method can provide data support for oil spill detection in marine radar images. Full article

Cordyceps takaomontana is a medicinal fungus with significant pharmacological value, but how soil microbes promote its growth remains unclear. We established a solid-state co-culture system involving C. takaomontana synnemata and its native soil fungi of Fusarium paeoniae and Bjerkandera minispora. Both F. paeoniae and B. minispora significantly promoted synnematal growth and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities. Total triterpenoid content increased substantially. F. paeoniae markedly elevated levels of ergosterol peroxide, whereas B. minispora boosted accumulation of L-arabinose, ergotamine, and euphol. Metabolomics revealed that both fungi activated key metabolic pathways (including ABC transporters, mineral absorption, and protein digestion/absorption). F. paeoniae uniquely upregulated phenylalanine metabolism. This work elucidates the metabolic mechanisms underlying growth promotion of C. takaomontana mediated by F. paeoniae and B. minispora as well as deciphers potential pharmacologically active metabolites. These findings provide a foundation for strategically improving artificial cultivation and developing functional microbial inoculants. Full article

Background/Objectives: Sweet potato is a tropical and subtropical crop and its growth and yield are susceptible to low-temperature stress. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the low temperature stress of sweetpotato are unknown. Methods: In this work, combined transcriptome and metabolism analysis was employed to investigate the low-temperature responses of two sweet potato cultivars, namely, the low-temperature-resistant cultivar “X33” and the low-temperature-sensitive cultivar “W7”. Results: The differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) of X33 at different time stages clustered in five profiles, while they clustered in four profiles of W7 with significant differences. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in X33 and W7 at different time points clustered in five profiles. More DEGs exhibited continuous or persistent positive responses to low-temperature stress in X33 than in W7. There were 1918 continuously upregulated genes and 6410 persistent upregulated genes in X33, whereas 1781 and 5804 were found in W7, respectively. Core genes involved in Ca²⁺ signaling, MAPK cascades, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling pathway, and transcription factor families (including bHLH, NAC, and WRKY) may play significant roles in response to low temperature in sweet potato. Thirty-one common differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) were identified in the two cultivars in response to low temperature. The KEGG analysis of these common DEMs mainly belonged to isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis, phosphonate and phosphinate metabolism, flavonoid biosynthesis, cysteine and methionine metabolism, glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism, ABC transporters, and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Five DEMs with identified Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways were selected for correlation analysis. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the carbohydrate metabolism, phenylpropanoid metabolism, and glutathione metabolism pathways were significantly enriched and played vital roles in low-temperature resistance in sweet potato. Conclusions: These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying plant cold tolerance and offer targets for molecular breeding efforts to enhance low-temperature resistance. Full article

This paper presents a hybrid indoor localization framework combining time difference of arrival (TDoA) measurements with a swarm intelligence optimization technique. To address the nonlinear optimization challenges in three-dimensional (3D) indoor localization via TDoA measurements, we systematically evaluate the artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm and chimpanzee optimization algorithm (ChOA). Through comprehensive Monte Carlo simulations in a cubic 3D environment with eight beacons, our comparative analysis reveals that the ChOA achieves superior localization accuracy while maintaining computational efficiency. Building upon the ChOA framework, we introduce a multi-beacon fusion strategy incorporating a local outlier factor-based linear weighting mechanism to enhance robustness against measurement noise and improve localization accuracy. This approach integrates spatial density estimation with geometrically consistent weighting of distributed beacons, effectively filtering measurement outliers through adaptive sensor fusion. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm exhibits excellent convergence performance under the condition of a low population size. Its anti-interference capability against Gaussian white noise is significantly improved compared with the baseline algorithms, and its anti-interference performance against multipath noise is consistent with that of the baseline algorithms. However, in terms of dealing with UWB device failures, the performance of the algorithm is slightly inferior. Meanwhile, the algorithm has relatively good time-lag performance and target-tracking performance. The study provides theoretical insights and practical guidelines for deploying reliable localization systems in complex indoor environments. Full article

Madangamine alkaloids have attracted considerable interest in the scientific community due to their complex polycyclic structures and potent biological activities. The six members identified to date have exhibited diverse and significant cytotoxic activities against various cancer cell lines. Despite their structural complexity, seven total syntheses—covering five of the six members—have been reported to date. These syntheses, involving 28 to 36 steps and global yields ranging from 0.006% to 0.029%, highlight the formidable challenge these compounds present. This review summarizes the key synthetic strategies developed to access critical fragments, including the construction of the ABC diazatricyclic core and the ACE ring systems. Approaches to assembling the ABCD and ABCE tetracyclic frameworks are also discussed. Finally, we highlight the completed total syntheses of madangamines A–E, with a focus on pivotal transformations and strategic innovations that have enabled progress in this field. Full article

Due to the limited quantity and high cost of high-quality three-dimensional annotations, generalized zero-shot point cloud segmentation aims to transfer the knowledge of seen to unseen classes by leveraging semantic correlations to achieve generalization purposes. Existing generative point cloud semantic segmentation approaches rely on generators trained on seen classes to synthesize visual features for unseen classes in order to help the segmentation model gain the ability of generalization, but this often leads to a bias toward seen classes. To address this issue, we propose a semantic-guided adaptive bias calibration approach with a dual-branch network architecture. This network consists of a novel visual–semantic fusion branch alongside the primary segmentation branch to suppress the bias toward seen classes. Specifically, the visual–semantic branch exploits the visual–semantic relevance of the synthetic features of unseen classes to provide auxiliary predictions. Furthermore, we introduce an adaptive bias calibration module that dynamically integrates the predictions from both the main and auxiliary branches to achieve unbiased segmentation results. Extensive experiments conducted on standard benchmarks demonstrate that our approach significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods on both seen and unseen classes, thereby validating the effectiveness of our approach. Full article