Search Results (773)

If untreated, skin wounds can lead to severe complications. Depending on the type of injury, long-term antibiotic administration is often required, and this decreases patient compliance. This limitation could be addressed by applying dressings capable of preventing infections by controlling drug release to the wound site. In this research, biodegradable wound dressings were investigated, based on natural polymers chitosan and alginate and incorporating the broad-spectrum gentamicin as antibiotic. Specifically, gentamicin was loaded into alginate nanoparticles, which were then loaded into chitosan-based films. This approach aimed at obtaining a system capable of modulating antibiotic release. The obtained nanoparticles had an average diameter of 86 nm and polydispersity index of 0.15. Antibiotic loading was around 600 µg/mg, with loading efficiency close to 100%. Films incorporating nanoparticles were compared to control films, which contained only gentamicin. Results showed that nanoparticles incorporation decreased film’s swelling in phosphate buffer saline, thus leading to a decrease in burst release while cytocompatibility for human dermal fibroblasts was maintained. Antibacterial activity was confirmed against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Moreover, the antibiotic was released as a function of pH, with distinct behavior at pHs ranging from 7.4 to 5.5. This indicates that alginate nanoparticles dispersed in chitosan films effectively release gentamicin on demand. Full article

Arecaceae (palms) constitute a highly diversified family of monocots, distributed especially in tropical and subtropical areas, including approximately 2600 species and 180 genera. Palms originated by the end of the Early Cretaceous, with most genus-level cladogenetic events occurring from the Eocene and Oligocene onward. Meligethinae (pollen beetles) are a large subfamily of Nitidulidae (Coleoptera), including just under 700 described species, and some 50 genera. Meligethinae are widespread in the Palearctic, Afrotropical, and Oriental Regions. All meligethine species are associated with flowers or inflorescences of several plant families, both dicots (the great majority) and monocots (around 7%); approximately 80% of known species are thought to be monophagous or strictly oligophagous at the larval stage. The origin of Meligethinae is debated, although combined paleontological, paleogeographical, and molecular evidence suggests placing it somewhere in the Paleotropics around the Eocene–Oligocene boundary, ca. 35–40 Mya. This article reviews the insect–host plant relationships of all known genera and species of Meligethinae associated with Arecaceae, currently including some 40 species and just under ten genera (including a possibly new African one). The role of adults as effective and important pollinators of their host palms (also in terms of provided ecosystem services) has been demonstrated in some common palm species. All Meligethinae living on palms show rather close phylogenetic relationships with one another and with the mainly Eastern Palearctic genus Meligethes Stephens, 1830 and related genera (associated with dicots of the families Rosaceae, Brassicaceae, or Cleomaceae). Molecular data suggests that the palm-associated Paleotropical genus Meligethinus Grouvelle, 1906 constitutes the sister-group of Meligethes and allied genera. Some hypotheses are presented on the evolution of Meligethinae associated with palms and their probably rather recent (early Miocene–Pleistocene) radiation on their host plants. Meligethinae likely radiated on palms long after the diversification of their hosts, and their recent evolution was driven by repeated radiation on pre-existing and diverse palm taxa, rather than ancient host associations and coevolution. Finally, this article also briefly summarized the relationships that other unrelated groups of Nitidulidae have established with palms around the world. Full article

We studied Galápagos barn owls on Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos Archipelago. We collected and analyzed pellets to determine diet composition. Barn-owl diet consisted—in terms of biomass—of ~89% rodents and ~10% insects. Bird remains occurred in 1% of the pellets. Foraging was studied with data loggers, a method not previously applied to the study of Galápagos barn owls. Owls rested during the day in natural and human-built roosts such as lava holes, trees, or huts. Night-time foraging was characterized by periods during which the bird moved and periods during which the bird stayed within one place, with the latter amounting to ~56% of the time away from the day roost. Birds began foraging shortly after sunset and returned to their day roost before sunrise. The duration of foraging was approximately 11 h per night. Foraging areas were small (median value: 0.28 km²). Although our data demonstrate a continued presence of the subspecies, we regard the situation for this subspecies as labile, as multiple threats, such as road kills, poisoning, and intentional killing by farmers, have increased recently, and suggest the development of a management plan to improve its conservation. Full article

In the agricultural domain, the availability of labelled data for disease recognition tasks is often limited due to the cost and expertise required for annotation. In this paper, a novel semi-supervised learning framework named TOM-SSL is proposed for automatic tomato leaf disease recognition using pseudo-labelling. TOM-SSL effectively addresses the challenge of limited labelled data by leveraging a small labelled subset and confidently pseudo-labelled samples from a large pool of unlabelled data to improve classification performance. Utilising only 10% of the labelled data, the proposed framework with a MobileNetV3-Small backbone achieves the best accuracy at 72.51% on the tomato subset of the PlantVillage dataset and 70.87% on the Taiwan tomato leaf disease dataset across 10 disease categories in PlantVillage and 6 in the Taiwan dataset. While achieving recognition performance on par with current state-of-the-art supervised methods, notably, the proposed approach offers a tenfold enhancement in label efficiency. Full article

Climate change has accelerated the retreat of Andean glaciers, with significant recent losses in the tropical Andes. This study evaluates the extinction of the Carihuairazo volcano glacier (Ecuador), quantifying its area from 1312.5 m² in September 2023 to 101.2 m² in January 2024, its thickness (from 2.5 m to 0.71 m), and its volume (from 2638.85 m³ to 457.18 m³), before its complete deglaciation in February 2024; this rapid melting and its small size classify it as a glacierette. Multivariate analyses (PCA and biclustering) were performed to correlate climatic variables (temperature, solar radiation, precipitation, relative humidity, vapor pressure, and wind) with glacier surface and thickness. The PCA explained 70.26% of the total variance, with Axis 1 (28.01%) associated with extreme thermal conditions (temperatures up to 8.18 °C and radiation up to 16.14 kJ m⁻² day⁻¹), which probably drove its disappearance. Likewise, Axis 2 (21.56%) was related to favorable hydric conditions (precipitation between 39 and 94 mm) during the initial phase of glacier monitoring. Biclustering identified three groups of variables: Group 1 (temperature, solar radiation, and vapor pressure) contributed most to deglaciation; Group 2 (precipitation, humidity) apparently benefited initial stability; and Group 3 (wind) played a secondary role. These results, validated through in situ measurements, provide scientific evidence of the disappearance of the Carihuairazo volcano glacier by February 2024. They also corroborate earlier projections that anticipated its extinction by the middle of this decade. The early disappearance of this glacier highlights the vulnerability of small tropical Andean glaciers and underscores the urgent need for water security strategies focused on management, adaptation, and resilience. Full article

The use of Internet of Things (IoT) for sports innovation has transformed the way athletes train, compete, and recover in any sports activity. This study performs a bibliometric analysis to examine research trends, collaborations, and publications in the realm of IoT and Sports. Our analysis included 780 Scopus articles and 150 WoS articles published during 2012–2025, and duplicates were removed. We analyzed and visualized the bibliometric data using R version 3.6.1, VOSviewer version 1.6.20, and the bibliometrix library. The study provides insights from a bibliometric analysis, showcasing the allocation of topics, scientific contributions, patterns of co-authorship, prominent authors and their productivity over time, notable terms, key sources, publications with citations, analysis of citations, source-specific citation analysis, yearly publication patterns, and the distribution of research papers. The results indicate that China and India have the leading scientific production in the development of IoT and Sports research, with prominent authors like Anton Umek, Anton Kos, and Emiliano Schena making significant contributions. Wearable technology and wearable sensors are the most trending topics in IoT and Sports, followed by medical sciences and artificial intelligence paradigms. The analysis also emphasizes the importance of open-access journals like ‘Journal of Physics: Conference Series’ and ‘IEEE Access’ for their contributions to IoT and Sports research. Future research directions focus on enhancing effective, lightweight, and efficient wearable devices while implementing technologies like edge computing and lightweight AI in wearable technologies. Full article

Residents’ attitudes towards offshore wind farms have been researched extensively over the past few decades. In this research, the precept that offshore wind farms influence residents’ well-being is implicit. Only a few studies have directly examined residents’ knowledge, perceived benefits, and acceptance. This study attempts to go beyond attitude-based research and explicitly examines factors influencing acceptance decision-making. The data for this qualitative study was collected through face-to-face interviews at a proposed offshore wind farm site in Perth, Western Australia. Results from the study suggest that offshore wind farms are not perceived or responded to uniformly by residents. This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics and complexities behind identifying and explaining how residents of designated communities perceive offshore wind farms in a nuanced manner. Therefore, this study proffers significant theoretical discussions and practical implications regarding developing sustainable renewable energy alternatives in cities across Australia. Full article

Indigenous students remain significantly underrepresented in medical education, contributing to persistent health inequities in their communities. Systemic barriers, including cultural isolation, inadequate resources, and biased curricula, hinder their success. But what if generative artificial intelligence (GAI) could be the game-changer? This scoping review explores the potential of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in making medical education more inclusive and supportive for Indigenous students through a comprehensive analysis of existing literature. From AI-powered engagement platforms to personalised learning systems and immersive simulations, GAI can be harnessed to bridge the gap. While GAI holds promise, challenges like biased datasets and limited access to technology must be addressed. To unlock GAI’s potential, we recommend faculty development, expansion of digital infrastructure, and Indigenous-led AI design. By carefully harnessing GAI, medical schools can take a crucial step towards creating a more diverse and equitable healthcare workforce, ultimately improving health outcomes for Indigenous communities. Full article

The article examines possible amendments to the Australian legislative regime regulating and protecting Indigenous cultural heritage in an offshore, including underwater, context. It suggests that there are significant reforms that are needed to bring the existing domestic legislative regime into conformity with the expectations of contemporary international law, particularly as manifested in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). In reaching this conclusion, the article proceeds by examining recent Australian jurisprudence and archaeological studies, considering offshore Indigenous cultural heritage as well as the current Australian domestic legislative framework. It then proceeds to examine the relevant provisions of both UNDRIP and the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH Convention). The article identifies that the UCH Convention operates to ignore any legitimate role for Indigenous peoples and does not provide an appropriate foundation for legislative reform. The article concludes by suggesting the content of appropriate legislative reforms that accord with the expectations in UNDRIP. Full article

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed RNA molecules generated through a non-canonical splicing event known as back-splicing. This particular class of non-coding RNAs has attracted growing interest due to its evolutionary conservation across eukaryotes, high expression in the central nervous system, and frequent dysregulation in various pathological conditions, including cancer. Traditionally, circRNAs have been characterised by their ability to function as microRNA (miRNA) and protein sponges. However, recent discoveries from multiple research groups have uncovered a novel and potentially transformative mechanism of action: the direct interaction of circRNAs with messenger RNAs (mRNAs) to regulate their fate. These interactions can influence mRNA stability and translation, revealing a new layer of post-transcriptional gene regulation. In this review, we present and analyse the latest evidence supporting the emerging role of circRNAs in diverse biological contexts. We highlight the growing body of research demonstrating circRNA-mRNA interactions as a functional regulatory mechanism and explore their involvement in key physiological and pathophysiological processes. Understanding this novel mechanism expands our knowledge of RNA-based regulation and opens new opportunities for therapeutic strategies targeting circRNA-mRNA networks in human disease. Full article

Despite the well-documented health risks of noise pollution, its impact remains overlooked mainly in life cycle assessment (LCA). This study introduces a methodological innovation by integrating both traffic and construction noise into the LCA framework for concrete construction, providing a more holistic and realistic evaluation of environmental and health impacts. By combining building information modeling (BIM) with LCA, the method automates material quantification and assesses both environmental and noise-related health burdens. A key advancement is the inclusion of health-based indicators, such as annoyance and sleep disturbance, quantified through disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Two scenarios are examined: (1) a comparative analysis of concrete versus timber flooring and (2) end-of-life options (reuse vs. landfill). The results reveal that concrete has up to 7.4 times greater environmental impact than timber, except in land use. When noise is included, its contribution ranges from 7–33% in low-density regions (Darwin) and 62–92% in high-density areas (NSW), underscoring the critical role of local context. Traffic noise emerged as the dominant source, while equipment-related noise was minimal (0.3–1.5% of total DALYs). Timber slightly reduced annoyance but showed similar sleep disturbance levels. Material reuse reduced midpoint environmental impacts by 67–99.78%. Sensitivity analysis confirmed that mitigation measures like double glazing can cut noise-related impacts by 2–10% in low-density settings and 31–45% in high-density settings, validating the robustness of this framework. Overall, this study establishes a foundation for integrating noise into LCA, supporting sustainable material choices, environmentally responsible construction, and health-centered policymaking, particularly in noise-sensitive urban development. Full article

This article identifies the nature of Traditional Owners’ interests in Sea Country and addresses issues associated with all offshore energy projects—gas and wind. Exploring the impacts of offshore development on First Nations’ cultural heritage, the article proposes integration of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), into the regulatory and legislative offshore environment. In the Australian context, this particularly regards administrative and regulatory reforms to overcome uncertainty arising from recent decisions in the Federal Court. The international focus on new energy has fast-tracked many processes that sideline First Nations’ rights, hitherto understood within the onshore minerals extraction regimes. The reforms proposed in this article recognise an international commitment to enact the principles contained in the UNDRIP and other relevant international law. Full article

Nitrogen is an essential element for plant growth, and both insufficient and excessive use of nitrogen have been shown to negatively affect sweet potato production. Nitrogen supply can affect carbon metabolism in plant storage organs; however, limited studies have examined its effects on the accumulation of non-structural carbohydrates (soluble sugar and starch) during the formation of sweet potato storage roots. Two pot trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of different nitrogen application levels and timings on the accumulation of non-structural carbohydrates during the formation of sweet potato storage roots. In the first experiment, plants were supplied with 0, 50, 100, or 200 mg/L of nitrogen. In the second experiment, the optimum nitrogen rate (100 mg/L) for storage root formation from the previous experiment was applied at five different times: nil N supply and nitrogen applied at planting or 3, 7, or 14 days after planting. A significant highest starch accumulation in roots during the first 35 days after transplanting was recorded in the 100 mg/L treatment. However, sweet potato required more nitrogen after storage root formation, as indicated by higher non-structural carbohydrate accumulation in roots (1905 mg/plant) in the 200 mg/L treatment at 49 days after planting. Earlier nitrogen applications promoted soluble sugar and starch accumulation in plants during storage root formation, with up to 5697 mg of non-structural carbohydrate accumulated in a plant. The study provided agronomic indicators that moderate nitrogen should be available in soil before or on planting day. Full article

Global warming is driving significant changes in aquatic ecosystems, where temperature fluctuations influence biological processes across multiple levels of organisation. As ectothermic organisms, fish are particularly susceptible, with even minor thermal shifts affecting their metabolism, behaviour, and overall fitness. Understanding these responses is essential for evaluating the ecological and evolutionary consequences of climate change. This study investigates the effects of acute (4-day) and chronic (21-day) exposure to three temperature regimes—18 °C (low), 26 °C (control), and 34 °C (high)—on the spatio-temporal shoaling behaviour of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). Groups of four fish were tested for six minutes in water maintained at the same temperature as their prior acclimation. Shoaling behaviour was assessed by analysing shoal structure—encompassing shoal dimensions and cohesion—as well as spatial positioning. Parameters measured included inter-fish distance, shoal volume, shoal area, homogeneity index, distance to the centroid, and the shoal’s vertical and horizontal distribution. Results revealed complex behavioural changes influenced by both temperature and duration of exposure. At 18 °C, zebrafish showed a marked preference for the bottom zone and exhibited no significant temporal modulation in exploratory behaviour—patterns indicative of heightened anxiety-like responses. In contrast, exposure to 34 °C resulted in increased shoal cohesion, particularly under chronic conditions, and a progressive increase in environmental exploration over the six-minute test period. This enhancement in exploratory activity was especially evident when compared to the first minute of the test and was characterised by greater vertical movement—reflected in the increased use of the upper zone—and broader horizontal exploration, including more frequent occupation of peripheral areas. These findings align with previous research linking thermal variation to neurobiological and proteomic alterations in zebrafish. By elucidating how temperature modulates social behaviour in ectotherms, this study offers valuable insights into the potential behavioural impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems. Full article

Plant polyphenols have emerged as potent bioactive molecules that can modulate key cellular pathways associated with aging and chronic disorders. The Mediterranean diet and the traditional Japanese style of life are rich in polyphenol-containing foods and beverages, and epidemiological evidence links these dietary patterns to increased longevity and reduced morbidity. This narrative review examines the chemical description of plant polyphenols, their mechanisms of action, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and hormetic effects, and how supplementation or a diet rich in these compounds may provide further life extension. We discuss the major classes of polyphenols present in the Mediterranean dietary pattern (e.g., resveratrol and hydroxytyrosol) and in the Japanese diet (e.g., epigallocatechin gallate and soy isoflavones), comparing their biological behaviors and cooperative effects on metabolic, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative conditions. We also examine a few preclinical and clinical studies that explain the beneficial impact of these chemicals on aging-associated biomarkers. Furthermore, both dietary habits are characterized by low consumption of processed foods and sugary carbonated drinks and reduced utilization of deep-frying with linoleic acid-rich oils, a practice that reduces the formation of harmful lipid peroxidation products, notably 4-hydroxynonenal, known to be implicated in accelerating the aging process. The Mediterranean dietary pattern is also characterized by a low/moderate daily consumption of wine, mainly red wine. This work debates emerging evidence addressing issues of bioavailability, dosage optimization, and formulation technologies for polyphenol supplementation, also comparing differences and similarities with the vegan and vegetarian diets. We also explore how these chemicals could modulate epigenetic modifications that affect gene expression patterns pertinent to health and aging. In conclusion, we aim to show a consolidated framework for the comprehension of how plant polyphenols could be utilized in nutritional strategies for potentiating life expectancy while stimulating further research on nutraceutical development. Full article