Search Results (7,884)

This study revises the genus Cyanoboletus (Boletaceae) in the Mediterranean Basin, integrating single-locus and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses (ITS, LSU, tef1-α, and rpb2), morphological characterisation, ecology, and arsenic accumulation in basidiomes. Morphological descriptions (including a new form, Cyanoboletus mediterraneensis f. pallidus), comprehensive sampling, type studies, biogeography, macro- and microphotographs, an identification key, and a historical overview of the nomenclatural issues surrounding C. pulverulentus, C. poikilochromus, and C. mediterraneensis are given. An epitype collection is designated for C. pulverulentus. A new method to measure spore suprahilar depression has been proposed, which allowed more clear morphological separation between C. mediterraneensis and C. pulverulentus. This method may prove useful for species delimitation in other fungal groups that have asymmetric basidiospores. Additionally, we generated a new ITS sequence of the C. sinopulverulentus holotype and inferred its conspecificity with the later described C. flavocontextus. Furthermore, notes on the taxonomy of Boletus gabretae are presented, and its placement in the genus Neoboletus is suggested. Cyanoboletus is confirmed as a strongly supported generic clade encompassing 21 monophyletic species-level clades, 14 of which represent known species, and seven are undescribed taxa. The synonymy of Cupreoboletus with Cyanoboletus is also verified. This publication provides the tools to delimit Cyanoboletus species that have important conservation value, which can be used by conservationists, ecologists, and citizen scientists. It also highlights species-specific arsenic hyperaccumulation in C. pulverulentus, contributing to a better understanding of fungal metal uptake. Our study indicates that within Cyanoboletus, only C. pulverulentus demonstrates this characteristic and is the only known member of Boletales that possesses a high arsenic accumulation ability. Full article

Background: The epiligament (EL) of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) has recently attracted increasing attention as a biologically active structure. Emerging evidence suggests that it may contribute to ligament healing by providing progenitor cells, vascular components, and signaling mediators. However, its cellular composition and possible regional variability remain insufficiently characterized. Aim: This study evaluated the expression of vimentin, S100 protein, and epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) to better characterize the EL compared with the ligament proper (LP). Methods: Twelve human MCLs obtained from twelve deceased donors were divided into proximal, middle, and distal segments. Thirty-six paraffin blocks were prepared, from which 180 sections were obtained and equally assigned for immunohistochemical staining of vimentin, S100 protein, and EMA (60 slides for each marker). Systematic quantification of seven to eight non-overlapping microscopic fields per slide generated 900 standardized observations for each investigated marker. This sampling strategy provided 150 measurements for each sub-region (EL and LP across the three anatomical segments). Immunoreactivity was quantified using ImageJ software. Statistical differences were analyzed using a robust two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), while biological associations between markers were assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation analysis. Results: Vimentin and S100 expression were consistently higher in the EL than in the LP across all anatomical regions (p < 0.0001). The highest vimentin values were observed in the proximal region (median 17.34 vs. 10.14) and distal region (median 19.34 vs. 11.23), whereas S100 showed the greatest expression in the proximal (median 16.9 vs. 7.2) and distal regions (median 14.1 vs. 8.9). EMA expression was generally lower overall; however, it remained significantly higher in the EL than in the LP within the proximal (median 6.87 vs. 5.77) and middle regions (median 4.80 vs. 3.26). No significant difference was identified in the distal region. Spearman rank correlation analysis demonstrated significant positive associations among all investigated markers (p < 0.001), with the strongest relationship observed between vimentin and S100 protein (Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.430). Conclusions: The EL of the MCL is a structurally and biologically distinct component, characterized by significantly higher expressions of vimentin, S100, and EMA than the LP. The significant positive correlations observed among these markers support the concept that the EL functions as an integrated biological microenvironment with clear regional heterogeneity, particularly within the proximal and distal segments. Further studies are warranted to clarify the functional relevance of these findings and their potential implications for clinical management and ligament healing strategies. Full article

Background: Anatomical variations are inevitable part of studying the human body. Very often, muscles of the limbs may show atypical attachments, extra or fewer muscle bellies. These variations are likely rooted in limb development. Our goal was to thoroughly study and describe the variations in the lateral wrist extensors. Our initial goal was to attempt to explain the developmental processes that occur before the formation of these variations, with a focus on the interconnecting tendons. Methods: We used a standard dissection technique, paying extra attention to the space between the two radial wrist extensors to properly visualize interconnecting tendons. Taking advantage of the chi square test, we compared the observed vs the expected random distribution of interconnecting tendons. Results: In this article, we systematically studied the variations in the interconnecting tendons of the lateral carpal extensors in 58 upper limbs of our cadaver donors used for the education of medical students. The main variation we found is interconnecting tendons between the extensor carpi radialis longus and extensor carpi radialis brevis. The insertion and origin of the interconnecting tendons were consistent: it either originates from the middle of the ECRB body and inserts medial to ECRL tendon or it originates from the ventral side ECRL and inserts ventral to the ECRB tendon. We supplemented them with two dissections of fetal upper limbs (at GW 12 and GW 17). Statistical analysis of the distribution of single vs double interconnecting tendons suggests that they are dependent events, consistent with literature data. Conclusions: Based on our observations and the literature, we propose that oblique muscle division and a mismatch between the muscle fission plane and the initial distal tendon fission plane may result in the observed phenotype. We also suggest that the origin of the extra numerary tenons form ECRL body may play a role when choosing which one to mobilize for tendon transfer. Full article

Background: De novo (pretreatment) EGFR T790M mutation is a rare molecular finding in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and has historically been associated with primary resistance to first- and second-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Evidence guiding optimal first-line management in this subgroup, particularly in elderly patients, remains limited. Case Presentation: We report a case of an elderly patient with treatment-naïve advanced non-squamous NSCLC harboring a concurrent EGFR exon 19 deletion and de novo EGFR T790M mutation. Given the patient’s age, significant cardiopulmonary comorbidities, and absence of rapidly progressive disease, a multidisciplinary tumor board recommended first-line osimertinib monotherapy. Treatment was well tolerated, with rapid improvement in performance status and no clinically significant adverse events. Serial contrast-enhanced CT restaging demonstrated RECIST 1.1–defined stable disease, without development of new visceral, nodal, cerebral, or osseous metastases. The patient remains on continuous osimertinib therapy with durable disease control at the time of manuscript preparation. Conclusion: Primary EGFR T790M–positive NSCLC can achieve durable disease control with first-line osimertinib, even in advanced age. While combination strategies with chemotherapy may improve survival outcomes in selected patients, treatment decisions in elderly individuals must carefully balance efficacy, toxicity, and quality of life. Chronological age alone should not discourage active targeted treatment when guided by molecular profiling and comprehensive clinical assessment. Full article

In recent years, the escalation of international and internal conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa and Bulgaria’s geographical location, which places it on the route of those seeking protection from these regions in Europe, has led to a significant increase in the number of refugee children arriving in Bulgaria. According to Eurostat data, Bulgaria ranks fourth in terms of the number of unaccompanied refugee children in the European Union. In this article, the possibilities for achieving the welfare of refugee children and their successful integration into society are considered as a result of the intersection of two main trends—state legislation and public policies aimed at guaranteeing the best interests of refugee children, and public opinion about refugee children, which, in some cases, cause the failure of positive state measures and policies. The data on public attitudes towards refugee children used here are the result of an empirical study conducted in 2021 by the authors of this article. The results show that while state legislation and public policies are evolving towards ensuring the best interests of the child, the same cannot be said for public attitudes and the distance that the local population demonstrates towards refugee children. Full article

The Modified Anderson–Björck method is a new, robust, and efficient bracketing root-finding algorithm. It combines bisection with the Anderson–Björk method to achieve both fast performance and worst-case optimality. It relies on linearity check criteria for switching methods and uses Anderson–Björk corrections to overcome the fixed endpoint issue of false-position. Initial benchmarks of this method have shown certain performance advantages compared to other methods, such as Ridders, Brent and ITP. In this paper, we propose further improvements to this method and perform some additional analysis and benchmarks of its behavior and performance. Full article

In this work, Ce-doped ZnO thin films at various contents of cerium were deposited on glass substrates by thermal vacuum evaporation to study the influence of Ce concentration on their optical, structural, morphological, and photocatalytic behavior. Pure ZnO and Ce-doped ZnO films doped with 2% and 5% Ce were characterized by SEM, XRD, AFM, UV–VIS spectroscopy, and ellipsometry. The XRD analysis confirmed that all the films retained the hexagonal wurtzite structure, while Ce incorporation induced lattice strain and reduced crystallite size, particularly at higher doping levels. SEM and AFM studies showed that films with 2% Ce exhibited smaller grain size and lower roughness, whereas 5% Ce-doped films showed grain growth and increased roughness. Pure ZnO films displayed high transparency (>90%), whereas Ce incorporation caused a red shift in the absorption edge and narrowing of the optical band gap due to defect-related states and lattice distortion. Photocatalytic experiments revealed that Ce doping improved charge carrier separation and increased the number of oxygen vacancies. Among all samples, the 2% Ce-doped ZnO film demonstrated the highest photocatalytic efficiency. These findings highlight the importance of controlled Ce doping in tuning the microstructure, optical properties, and photocatalytic performance of ZnO thin films, making them suitable for environmental remediation and optoelectronic applications. Full article

Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is the primary fertility preservation strategy for prepubertal girls and patients requiring urgent gonadotoxic therapy. However, the risk of reintroducing malignant cells has prompted the development of safer alternatives, including follicle isolation followed by three-dimensional scaffold encapsulation for transplantation. Fibrin is a promising biomaterial for bioengineered ovary construction, although its ability to support early human follicle maintenance remains unclear. Follicles isolated from cryopreserved ovarian tissues of six patients were encapsulated within fibrin scaffolds of graded concentrations (high, medium, low). After 7 days of in vitro culture, follicle survival and diameter change were quantified. A total of 282 follicles (45.4 ± 10.1 µm) were embedded into fibrin scaffolds. After culture, 237 viable follicles were detected, yielding an overall survival of 84%. Follicle diameter increased to 58.8 ± 12.0 µm. Follicle survival rates were comparable across groups, while mean follicle diameter was 56.3 ± 12.5 µm (high), 61.9 ± 13.4 µm (medium), and 57.4 ± 9.3 µm (low). Follicles cultured in medium-concentration fibrin demonstrated significantly larger diameters compared with both high and low groups (p < 0.05), with no difference between high and low groups. Fibrin-based bioprosthetic ovary scaffolds support short-term in vitro maintenance of isolated human follicles, preserving spherical morphology and granulosa cell layer integrity. Medium-concentration fibrin was associated with greater follicle diameter expansion compared with higher and lower concentrations, indicating that scaffold composition influences early morphometric changes during in vitro follicle culture. Full article

Reliable determination of radon adsorption properties in candidate adsorbents is essential for developing highly sensitive methods capable of measuring low ²²²Rn activity concentrations in air. Such measurements are increasingly important in environmental monitoring, climate research, and low-background experiments. Conventional approaches for determining the adsorption coefficient and heat of adsorption are labor- and time-intensive, limiting their suitability for comparative studies under identical conditions. Here, a recently proposed method is applied for the first time in a systematic comparative study. The approach couples solid-state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) with adsorbents that simultaneously act as radon collectors and alpha emitters, enabling fully parallel exposure and signal acquisition across multiple samples. Eight adsorbents—three activated carbon fabrics, two bulk activated carbons, and three synthetic zeolites—were evaluated simultaneously over a temperature range of 0–46.5 °C. Activated carbon fabrics exhibited the highest adsorption coefficients, with ACC-5092-10 reaching 11.8 ± 1.3 m³/kg at 20 °C. The heats of adsorption ranged from 24.8 ± 3.9 to 33.3 ± 5.0 kJ/mol, consistent with the literature values. For synthetic zeolites, the adsorption coefficient increased linearly with the Si:Al ratio. The influence of water content was further investigated for the five best-performing materials. The most hydrophobic material, zeolite SA-25 (Si:Al = 25), showed only a 25% reduction in adsorption coefficient under saturated humidity, whereas activated carbons exhibited strong suppression. These results demonstrate the practicality, sensitivity, and efficiency of the SSNTD–adsorbent method for comparative radon adsorption studies. Full article

The development of high-performance copper alloys requires balancing mechanical strength and electrical conductivity, properties that are often inversely correlated due to competing strengthening mechanisms. This study presents a comparative machine learning analysis of Cu-Ni-Si and Cu low alloys using a curated dataset of 1690 entries derived from the Gorsse et al. database, comprising 1507 samples with hardness measurements and 1685 samples with electrical conductivity data. Three ensemble-based regression algorithms, Random Forest, XGBoost, and Gradient Boosting, were trained to predict Vickers hardness (HV) and electrical conductivity (%IACS) from an augmented feature set encompassing alloy composition, thermomechanical processing parameters, missingness indicators, and physics-informed descriptors (valence electron concentration, atomic size mismatch, electronegativity difference, and Ni:Si atomic ratio). XGBoost achieved optimal performance for hardness prediction (R² = 0.8554, RMSE = 29.90 HV), while Gradient Boosting performed best for electrical conductivity (R² = 0.8400, RMSE = 5.96%IACS). Averaged tree-based feature-importance analysis identified valence electron concentration as the most influential predictor for hardness (39.9%), followed by aging temperature (11.2%), while Cu content dominated conductivity prediction (37.7%), followed by aging time (8.9%). Complementary SHAP analysis confirmed these trends while revealing directional relationships and nonlinear feature interaction effects. Composition-grouped cross-validation by unique alloy formula (K = 10) yielded substantially lower performance, with grouped CV R² = 0.438 for hardness and 0.293 for conductivity, indicating that generalization to unseen alloy formulations remains limited. The models were further applied for practical tasks, including property prediction for new alloy compositions, processing parameter optimization via differential evolution with metallurgical constraints (achieving hardness up to 293.9 HV or conductivity up to 45.7%IACS for the same base composition, with prediction intervals reported), and inverse design to identify alloy formulations meeting specified target properties. This work demonstrates the potential of interpretable machine learning to support copper alloy development by enabling rapid computational screening of the compositional and processing parameter space, subject to the generalization limitations identified herein. Full article

In this study, we present new data about the cytotoxic activity of metal complexes of salinomycin with Co(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) against human cervical cancer (HeLa) and melanoma (A375, SH-4) cell lines. The effect of the compounds on cell viability and proliferation was evaluated in short-term experiments (up to 72 h) with monolayer cultures using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) test, neutral red uptake (NR), crystal violet staining (CV) and double staining with acridine orange (AO) and propidium iodide (PI). The cytotoxic effect of the metal complexes of salinomycin was found to be comparable and even superior to that of the commercial antitumor agents cisplatin and oxaliplatin. Long-term experiments revealed the ability of the compounds to completely suppress 3D cell growth when applied at concentrations ≥ 3.1 μM (for HeLa cells) and ≥6.2 µM (for A375 cells). Embryonic Lep-3 cells are highly sensitive to the influence of the complexes investigated, whereas non-tumor HaCaT human keratinocytes exhibit relatively higher resistance to their cytotoxic effect compared to tumor cell lines. The Zn(II) disalinomycinate exerted the highest selectivity index among the tested compounds against melanoma cells, whereas the non-coordinated antibiotic showed pronounced selectivity toward HeLa cells. Full article

Objectives: Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, and cardiometabolic comorbidity, have been increasingly associated with cognitive impairment and dementia. These associations, however, remain underexplored and underappreciated in middle-aged individuals with AF. This study aimed to explore the associations of early cognitive impairment with the presence of cardiometabolic comorbidities and potential associations with echocardiographic markers in middle-aged patients with and without AF. Methods: Between 2023–2024, fifty-six consecutive outpatients with a diagnosis of AF aged 45–65 years underwent clinical evaluation, transthoracic echocardiography, and comprehensive neuropsychological assessment using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease battery (CERAD). A control group of 58 age group-matched individuals without known cardiometabolic disease was included in comparative cognitive analyses. Results: Patients with AF and cardiometabolic comorbidities demonstrated early cognitive deficits, particularly in episodic memory and visuospatial functions, detectable even in individuals with normal MoCA scores, compared with the control group. However, no associations were observed between cognitive performance and conventional echocardiographic parameters in the group with AF. Conclusions: This study corroborated prior evidence of an association between cardiometabolic impairment and subtle cognitive impairment, but did not identify a specific contribution of echocardiography markers. More extensive and sensitive biomarkers of left atrial structure and function may be required to detect harmful associations with subtle cognitive impairment in middle-aged individuals. Further prospective studies, with a more balanced control for comorbidities, are warranted to clarify the clinical relevance of atrial structural remodeling in this context. Full article

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) typically develops in individuals with established risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol use, yet an increasing number of cases occur in young non-smoking, non-drinking (NSND) patients. We report a case of oral tongue OSCC in a 33-year-old woman who is a never-smoker and never-drinker without identifiable environmental or local risk factors. The patient underwent surgical treatment followed by adjuvant radiotherapy and remains disease-free 15 months after therapy. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) revealed a pathogenic truncating TP53 mutation together with additional somatic alterations affecting genes involved in DNA repair, hypoxia adaptation, mitochondrial function, and epigenetic regulation. The heterogeneous mutational profile suggests branched tumor evolution and the involvement of non-classical tumorigenic pathways. This report contributes to the growing evidence that OSCC in young NSND patients represents a biologically distinct subgroup and demonstrates the value of comprehensive genomic profiling for improving understanding of tumor heterogeneity and potential molecular drivers in the absence of traditional carcinogenic exposures. Full article

Matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), which are activated during malignancy growth and metastasis, have been a focus of current anticancer research and development. The selective recognition and precise inhibition of active MMPs could limit cancer progression. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a well-established local treatment for solid tumors. MMPs are expressed primarily in the vicinity of the tumor, and PDT strongly influences this process. However, in rare cases, PDT can activate MMPs. An improved PDT outcome was observed with the action of an MMP inhibitor (MMPI), namely Prinomastat. Research on this topic remains limited, presenting a substantial opportunity for further investigations. Various small-molecule compounds have been designed to target MMPs as potential inhibitors, but clinical trials have not confirmed their efficacy in vitro or in vivo. Currently, novel MMPIs with complex chemical structures are being designed and have shown high efficacy in initial preclinical studies. This review aims to provide a critical overview of recent advances in the use of cancer-related MMPs as therapeutic targets, along with new innovative approaches to targeting them. The effects of PDT on cancer-related MMPs, along with the advantages of combining therapies that could enhance curative efficacy, are discussed. The novel inhibitory approaches that regulate cancer-related MMPs are summarized. Full article

We present a short review dedicated to low-lying meson states. We present all meson nonets, which consist from up, down and strange light quarks. We consider the scalar nonet as a basic nonet. We work in the framework of the massless Nambu–Jona-Lasinio $U_R\left(3\right)\times U_L\left(3\right)$ quark model. The collective meson states are described through initially bare quark–antiquark pairs, whose condensates lead simultaneously to spontaneous breaking of the chiral and the flavour symmetry. After quantisation and the spontaneous breaking of the chiral symmetry, when quarks obtain constituent nonzero masses, they become dressed. We present an explanation of the inverse mass hierarchy of the low-lying nonet of the scalar mesons. The proposed explanation is based on symmetry principles. It is shown that, due to the flavour symmetry breaking, two isodoublets of $K_0^{*}\left(700\right)$ mesons play the role of Goldstone bosons. It is also proven that there exists a solution with almost degenerate masses of the $a_0\left(980\right)$ and $f_0\left(980\right)$ mesons and a zero mass of the $f_0\left(500\right)$ meson. Short description of the physical properties of other meson nonets is provided. In particular unique mass relations among the different nonets, which are experimentally confirmed, are presented. Full article