Search Results (13,128)

Contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) is an important complication of renal angiography in patients with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (RAS). We investigated the associations of the triglyceride–glucose (TyG) index, atherogenic coefficient (AC) and lipoprotein combined index (LCI) with CA-AKI in this population. This retrospective single-center study included 147 consecutive patients with atherosclerotic RAS undergoing renal angiography with or without renal artery intervention. CA-AKI was defined using a creatinine-based definition based on serum creatinine changes within 48–72 h after contrast exposure. Continuous variables were retained in their continuous form in the primary logistic regression analyses, and separate multivariable models were constructed for the TyG index, AC, and LCI, each adjusted for chronic kidney disease (CKD), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and contrast volume. Firth penalized logistic regression was performed as a sensitivity analysis. CA-AKI occurred in 22 patients (15.0%). In the adjusted model, a higher TyG index was associated with increased odds of CA-AKI (OR 4.263 per 1-unit increase, 95% CI 1.120–16.228; p = 0.034), whereas AC (OR 1.581, 95% CI 0.891–2.807; p = 0.118) and LCI (OR 1.047 per 10,000-unit increase, 95% CI 0.966–1.136; p = 0.264) were not significantly associated with CA-AKI. The association of the TyG index with CA-AKI remained significant in Firth penalized logistic regression (OR 3.48, 95% CI 1.17–14.33; p = 0.020). Higher contrast volume and lower LVEF were consistently associated with CA-AKI across the multivariable models. These findings suggest that the TyG index is associated with susceptibility to CA-AKI in patients with atherosclerotic RAS, although prospective validation is required before clinical application. Full article

Indoor exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a major environmental-health concern in Northern China, where severe ambient pollution, coal-based district heating and diverse residential building stocks coexist. Previous studies have been constrained by small numbers of independent residences, limited geographic coverage, and predominantly pairwise (bivariate) analyses. This study presents a seasonal monitoring campaign covering 48 residences across eight Northern Chinese cities. Paired indoor and outdoor PM2.5 was measured at 5 min intervals and aggregated to 31,094 valid hourly observations (from 32,256 scheduled hourly slots after exclusion of 1162 h with missing or invalid 5 min readings) over seven consecutive days in four seasons, alongside building, behavioural and meteorological covariates. Because repeated hourly measurements are clustered within residences, the primary analysis is a linear mixed-effects model (LMM) with a residence-level random intercept and a first-order autoregressive residual structure (marginal R² = 0.71; conditional R² = 0.91; intra-class correlation = 0.34), supported by ordinary-least-squares (OLS) models with CR2 finite-cluster-robust standard errors and a daily average sensitivity analysis. Adjusted LMM coefficients indicate that outdoor PM2.5 (β = 0.872, p < 0.001), window-open fraction (β = 0.548, p < 0.001) and cooking events (β = 0.046, p < 0.001) were positively, and air-purifier operation (purifier-on fraction β = −0.902, p < 0.001) was negatively, associated with indoor PM2.5; continuous purifier operation was associated with 59.4% lower indoor PM2.5 (an observational association, not a causal effect). Building-level infiltration factors (F_inf) averaged 0.28 ± 0.15. Estimated outdoor contributions to indoor PM2.5 ranged from 54.8% to 66.3% across an assumed penetration factor of p = 0.6–1.0 (60.7% at p = 0.8), peaking in the heating season. The mass-balance analysis estimated a median deposition rate of 0.53 h⁻¹ and a median air change rate of 0.52 h⁻¹ (window-open periods > 2 h⁻¹); these are model-derived, not directly measured quantities. These findings provide multivariable, cluster-aware evidence for envelope airtightness, informed window operation and correct air-purifier use to reduce residential PM2.5 exposure in Northern China. Full article

This study investigates metakaolin-based geopolymer recycled mortar (GRM) in which recycled fine aggregate (RFA) was volumetrically replaced by pumice powder (PP) at 0% and 60–100%. Ambient compressive and tensile bond strengths were measured, followed by exposure to 600–800 °C for 1–3 h. The evaluation encompassed mass loss ratio, residual mechanical properties, temperature sensitivity, micro-phase evolution, and strength-normalized carbon intensity. Results demonstrated that PP replacement produced a non-monotonic response, governed by the trade-off between improved particle packing and the depletion of the rigid granular skeleton. Among the PP-containing mixtures, PP₇₀ (70% replacement) showed a comparatively favorable mechanical response, with an ambient compressive strength of 31.7 MPa and a mean residual compressive strength of 18.8 MPa (59.3% of its initial value) after exposure to 800 °C for 3 h. Notably, tensile bond strength exhibited greater temperature sensitivity than compressive strength, with deterioration accelerating significantly above 700 °C. SEM and XRD analyses elucidated this macroscopic divergence via a two-stage damage mechanism: while dehydration and matrix contraction dominated at 600 °C, prolonged exposure at 800 °C induced structural rearrangement, with the dominant damage becoming increasingly concentrated at the RFA–matrix interface. Although substituting RFA with processed PP inherently increased the absolute embodied carbon, PP₇₀ exhibited the lowest strength-normalized carbon intensity among the modified mixtures after exposure to 800 °C for 3 h. These findings indicate that, among the investigated high-volume PP mixtures, PP₇₀ provided a comparatively favorable compromise between thermal-mechanical performance and environmental cost. Full article

High-pressure premixed H₂/O₂ combustion in closed vessels involves short chemical time scales, strong compression-wave feedback, and repeated end-wall reflections, making the onset of deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) highly sensitive to gas-dynamic–chemical coupling. This review focuses on DDT developing from the acceleration of an initially premixed flame in closed, high-pressure H₂/O₂ systems. Studies of H₂/air, diluted mixtures, and open or semi-closed configurations are considered only where they provide relevant mechanistic or methodological insight, and their applicability to closed, high-pressure, undiluted H₂/O₂ conditions is assessed explicitly. The review synthesizes confined flame acceleration, induction-time gradients, coherent energy release, and shock–flame interaction together with H₂/O₂ chemical kinetics, compressible reactive-flow modeling, multidimensional simulations, and model validation. The reviewed evidence indicates that the transition is governed by the coupled evolution of flame-area growth and compression waves, restructuring of the induction-time field, local energy release, and the establishment of persistent shock–reaction coupling. Initial pressure and temperature, mixture distribution, ignition strategy, geometry, vessel scale, and thermal boundaries influence this process by modifying intrinsic reaction scales, wave phasing, reflection paths, and heat and momentum losses. Numerical predictions remain sensitive to chemical kinetics, transport treatment, numerical dissipation, wall modeling, dimensionality, mesh resolution, and the definition of the DDT event. Accordingly, DDT identification based only on peak pressure or a short interval of near-CJ wave velocity can be ambiguous, whereas multi-observable validation using pressure, wave or flame position, reaction-zone information, and coupling persistence provides a more reliable basis for model assessment. The principal remaining gap is the limited availability of complete-process, three-dimensional experiment–simulation datasets for fully closed vessels containing high-pressure, undiluted H₂/O₂. Full article

A series of N-phenyl-3-(thiophen-2-yl)acrylamide derivatives were designed and synthesized to investigate the influence of electronic and steric modifications on cytotoxic activity. Although related thiophene-containing acrylamides have been reported, the specific compounds studied in this study have not been previously described. Structural variations were introduced at the para position of the N-phenyl ring (H, CF₃, and OCF₃) and at the 5-position of the thiophene ring (H and CH₃) to enable preliminary structure–activity relationship (SAR) analysis. The target compounds were synthesized via Knoevenagel–Doebner condensation, followed by carbodiimide-mediated amide coupling. The compounds were characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Computational evaluation indicated compliance with Lipinski’s rule of five and the absence of predicted mutagenic, tumorigenic, irritant, and reproductive risks. Cytotoxic activity was determined using the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay against human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS), colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2), oral squamous cell carcinoma (HSC-3), hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cell lines and non-cancerous human dermal fibroblasts (HDF). Compounds 11 and 16 displayed the most consistent activity, with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values of 379, 420, and 265 μM and 272, 256, and 242 μM against AGS, Caco-2, and MCF-7 cells, respectively. MCF-7 cells were the most sensitive model. The most active derivative was compound 16, suggesting that the combination of a 5-methylthiophene moiety and a para-CF₃ substituent may be beneficial within this limited compound series. These findings provide a preliminary evaluation of this scaffold and will help guide future studies on structural modifications. Full article

Polymeric micelles represent a fundamental self-assembled architecture of gel-based soft materials and have emerged as promising nanocarriers for anticancer drug delivery. Their performance is largely governed by the block composition of constituent copolymers, and understanding their self-assembly behavior provides critical insights into the rational design of gel-related drug delivery systems. In this work, dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations were performed to systematically investigate two types of mixed drug-loaded micellar systems self-assembled from a triblock copolymer mPEG-b-poly(2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)-b-PMMA (PDEAEMA, hereafter referred to as the DMA block for brevity) with either a diblock copolymer PDEAEMA-b-PMMA (polymer B) or PPEGMA-b-PDEAEMA (polymer C). By tailoring the ratios of hydrophobic (MMA, the constituent block of PMMA) and pH-sensitive (DMA) blocks, the protonation-responsive behavior, structural stability, drug loading capacity, and release kinetics of the micelles were comprehensively examined. The simulation results demonstrate that: (1) increasing the hydrophobic block ratio accelerates the protonation-triggered micellar swelling and drug release because the increased hydrophobic content enhances the core compactness which, upon protonation, generates a stronger driving force for chain extension, yet an optimal ratio (+16 MMA units) exists beyond which excessive hydrophobic blocks suppress release due to core densification; (2) increasing the pH-sensitive block ratio significantly enhances the maximum drug loading capacity (from 9.83% to 12.22% for the A/C system), but exerts only limited influence on the release rate; (3) the A/C mixed micelles with higher PEG content exhibit superior structural stability and drug loading capacity, while the A/B system with higher MMA content displays more sensitive pH-responsiveness. These findings reveal a competing mechanism between “protonation-driven force” and “structural resistance,” providing mesoscopic theoretical guidance for the rational design of pH-responsive polymeric nanocarriers and self-assembled soft materials via block ratio modulation. Full article

Background: Polyhydramnios is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes and is commonly assessed using either the amniotic fluid index (AFI) or the maximal vertical pocket (MVP). Although both methods are accepted in clinical practice, they frequently classify the same pregnancy differently, and their relative ability to predict adverse neonatal outcomes remains uncertain. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of pregnancies delivered at a tertiary university medical center between 2010 and 2025. Pregnancies with an AFI or MVP measurement within two weeks before delivery were eligible. Pregnancies complicated by diabetes mellitus or major fetal anomalies were excluded. Polyhydramnios severity was classified separately according to AFI and MVP criteria. The primary outcome was a composite of severe neonatal morbidity including neonatal intensive care unit admission, umbilical artery pH < 7.1, 5 min Apgar score < 7, or perinatal death. Separate multivariable logistic regression models were constructed for AFI- and MVP-based severity classifications. Results: Among 32,928 pregnancies, 3146 (9.6%) had polyhydramnios. Moderate-to-severe polyhydramnios defined by MVP was independently associated with severe neonatal morbidity (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.57–3.90; p < 0.001), whereas AFI-based severity classification was not (aOR 1.44, 95% CI 0.98–2.12; p = 0.07). Severe neonatal morbidity increased progressively with increasing MVP measurements. Mild polyhydramnios, regardless of the measurement method, was not associated with increased neonatal morbidity. Similar findings were observed in sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: MVP-based severity classification identified pregnancies at increased risk of severe neonatal morbidity, whereas AFI-based classification did not, at their conventional thresholds. These findings suggest that MVP may provide better risk stratification in pregnancies complicated by polyhydramnios and support prospective studies to validate its role in clinical management. Full article

Emotional information often modulates recognition memory, but the relative roles of arousal and valence remain debated, partly because many studies rely on normative emotion categories rather than individualized affective experience. This study examined whether post-test individualized arousal and valence ratings were associated with recognition-confidence responses to emotional Chinese words and whether the learning task influenced later recognition. Forty participants studied neutral, positive, and negative words under semantic-judgment and recognition-judgment learning conditions. After a 24 h delay, they completed a six-point old/new confidence test and then rated each final-test word for valence and arousal. Linear mixed-effects models showed that individualized arousal was more consistently associated with stronger old-response confidence than individualized valence, with a nonlinear increase at higher arousal levels. Semantic-judgment learning was followed by higher old-item confidence and hit probability than recognition-judgment learning. Descriptive signal-detection summaries indicated that valence-category effects were more evident in false-alarm rates, response criterion, and d′ (sensitivity index) estimates than in the primary old-response confidence model. Because affective ratings were collected after recognition, these findings should be interpreted as associative rather than causal, and they highlight the need to distinguish recognition confidence, response bias, and memory sensitivity in emotional memory research. Full article

Background/Objectives: Glucose variability (GV) and the lactate-to-albumin ratio (LAR) have been associated with adverse outcomes in critically ill patients, but their incremental prognostic contribution beyond established severity assessment remains uncertain. This study evaluated the associations of GV and LAR with subsequent mortality and their incremental value beyond APACHE II in a conditional 48 h landmark cohort. Methods: This single-center retrospective cohort study included 384 critically ill adults who were alive and remained in the ICU through 48 h and had sufficient glucose, lactate, and albumin measurements. GV was quantified using the coefficient of variation (CV) from six glucose measurements closest to 0, 8, 16, 24, 32, and 48 h. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality during the 7 days following the 48 h landmark. Firth penalized logistic regression was used for prognostic modeling. Incremental performance was assessed sequentially for APACHE II, APACHE II + LAR, and APACHE II + LAR + GV using discrimination, calibration, Brier score, bootstrap internal validation, and decision-curve analysis. Sensitivity analyses adjusted for mean glycemia and restricted predictor information to the first 24 h. Results: Eighty-eight patients (22.9%) died during the 7-day post-landmark period. APACHE II (OR: 1.19 per point, 95% CI: 1.12–1.27; p < 0.001), LAR (OR: 1.97 per unit, 95% CI: 1.48–2.69; p < 0.001), and GV (OR: 1.07 per 1-percentage-point increase in CV, 95% CI: 1.02–1.11; p = 0.002) were independently associated with mortality. The AUC increased from 0.804 for APACHE II alone to 0.844 after addition of LAR and to 0.857 after further addition of GV. The additional AUC increase attributable to GV after LAR was modest (ΔAUC = 0.013, 95% CI: −0.004 to 0.030; p = 0.145), although model fit and Brier performance improved. The optimism-corrected C-index of the integrated model was 0.851. GV remained independently associated with mortality after adjustment for mean glucose (OR: 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02–1.11; p = 0.002) and in the temporally matched 24 h analysis (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01–1.09; p = 0.008). Conclusions: Among critically ill adults who survived to a 48 h landmark, LAR and GV provided prognostic information beyond APACHE II. Most of the incremental improvement in discrimination was attributable to LAR, whereas GV provided a smaller additional contribution that remained consistent across sensitivity analyses. These findings support further evaluation of LAR and GV as complementary prognostic markers, but external validation is required before clinical implementation. Full article

Significant research efforts have recently focused on nanomaterial processing for gas sensors and related sensing applications. However, the major challenges in the field involve the choice of material for the sensing layer of the sensor device element, together with the right structure, assembly, and morphology through which the full sensing properties of the material can be realised. Herein, we critically review the hierarchical nanostructures of V₂O₅ nanomaterial for application in gas sensing technology. Beyond the sheet structure, which serves as the fundamental building block of the V₂O₅’smolecular arrangement, nanostructures ranging from nanobelts to nanowires, nanorods, nanoribbons, nanofibres, nanotubes, and thin films were discovered as preferred configurations and thermodynamically favourable structures, according to many synthesis processes. Ethanol (C₂H₅OH) and Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) gases were identified as preferred molecules commonly detected by various V₂O₅ morphologies, with the nanotube structure showing preferential sensitivity and selectivity to C₂H₅OH. We also discuss perspectives from density functional theory (DFT) studies of V₂O₅ nanostructures and other (2D) materials structures for gas sensing applications. The studies highlight enhanced adsorption energy, increase conductivity, and band gap variation as a result of an upper shift in the Fermi level, all as a consequence of surface interaction between semiconductor crystal orientation and chemical molecules. Finally, our calculations of the optimised parameters for α-V₂O₅ orthorhombic structure showed good agreement with experimental and other theoretical data in the literature. The adsorption energy profile for NO₂ molecules revealed that the Ag-doped surface exhibits the most negative adsorption energy compared with the clean surface and other doped surfaces. Full article

VirtIO devices process guest inputs through virtqueues whose queue roles, buffer directions, scatter–gather layouts, and lengths jointly determine how requests reach device-specific handlers. Existing virtual-device fuzzers primarily mutate low-level PIO, MMIO, and DMA interactions, which often fail to form protocol-consistent VirtIO requests and may collect feedback before deferred processing completes. We present Ouroboros, a protocol-sensitive fuzzing framework that raises the input abstraction to Virtqueue Events and aligns feedback collection with Request Lifecycles. Its protocol-semantics-aware input model separates protocol context from device payload, normalizes shared VirtIO constraints, and materializes requests at the request-consumption boundary. Its protocol-flow-aware execution mechanism tracks each event through synchronous or deferred processing until completion, release, or bounded timeout. We implement Ouroboros on QEMU and integrate it with AFL++ in persistent mode. Across six VirtIO devices and ten 24-h runs per target, Ouroboros increases average final branch coverage from 12.25% to 22.65% and raises the average Valid Input Ratio from 0.24% to 38.47%. It also discovers 10 previously unreported bugs across four QEMU VirtIO device implementations, all of which have been reported to the QEMU maintainers. These results show that aligning fuzzing inputs and feedback with VirtIO request semantics substantially improves exploration of device-specific logic. Full article

Background/Objectives: Active-duty military personnel may use caffeinated and sweetened beverages to manage alertness and fatigue, but co-occurring beverage behaviours are rarely examined. We identified beverage-frequency co-consumption profiles in Spanish Army personnel and tested their cross-sectional associations with self-reported sleep and habitual physical fatigue. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1155 active-duty Spanish Army personnel. Latent classes were estimated from ordinal frequencies of caffeinated beverages, sugar-sweetened beverages, and energy drinks; these indicators represented frequency categories rather than caffeine dose, sugar intake, or standardized serving size. Adjusted outcome models incorporated classification uncertainty and controlled for demographic, occupational, training, hydration, alcohol, smoking, and recruitment-cohort covariates. Results: A three-class solution identified lower-frequency (47.7%), intermediate-frequency (28.3%), and higher-frequency (24.0%) profiles. Compared with the lower-frequency profile, the higher-frequency profile was associated with 0.230 h less sleep per night (95% CI −0.416 to −0.045; q = 0.022), 2.129 percentage points lower sleep efficiency (95% CI −4.177 to −0.082; q = 0.041), and 0.395 points greater habitual physical fatigue (95% CI 0.077 to 0.714; q = 0.022). Sensitivity analyses were directionally consistent. Conclusions: Beverage-frequency responses clustered into three profiles. The higher-frequency profile was cross-sectionally associated with shorter self-reported sleep, lower sleep efficiency, and higher habitual physical fatigue. The sleep-duration contrast was approximately 13.8 min/night, but the clinical or perceptible relevance of the sleep-efficiency and fatigue differences cannot be established from these self-reported measures. Prospective studies with product-specific dose and timing data are required to establish temporality and practical relevance. Full article

Reliable detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) in water is essential for public health water quality assessments, yet culture-based methods remain challenged by high background flora. This study compared the performance of mPA-C agar and the commercial RAPID’ P. aeruginosa (RAPID PA) agar in (ozone-) treated wastewater effluent and (spiked) swimming pond water and evaluated how presumptive colony colour definitions and confirmation steps affected performance characteristics. mPA-C showed strong matrix dependence and high observer variability due to a broad colour colony variation (of both PA and non-PA). RAPID PA produced clearer and more consistent pigmentation with relatively limited background growth and performed more consistently across matrices. Expanding the presumptive colony colour definition significantly improved sensitivity of RAPID PA with minimal loss of specificity. A quick subculturing step on RAPID PA for visual confirmation further enhanced specificity and markedly reduced false-positive rates. Extended incubation to 48 h increased performance only for swimming ponds. RAPID PA performed more consistently across matrices. Overall, using RAPID PA with expanded colour criteria and subculturing as a low-effort confirmation step enabled effective culture-based detection of P. aeruginosa in high-background-flora water samples. This medium represents a practical and robust alternative for routine monitoring. Full article

Transmission congestion has become a major challenge in deregulated power systems (DPS). Although flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices are effective for congestion management, their high installation cost and complex control requirements limit widespread deployment. This paper proposes a battery energy storage system (BESS)-based congestion mitigation approach for DPS. The optimal locations of BESS units are identified using bus sensitivity factors (BSFs), while a weighted-sum scalarized single-objective optimization problem involving active power loss, voltage deviation, and system security margin is solved using salp swarm optimization (SSO). The main contribution of this work is the integrated BSF–SSO framework, which combines sensitivity-based placement with an efficient metaheuristic optimization technique. The proposed methodology is validated on the IEEE 30-bus test system. Results show that the optimally placed BESS units reduce active power losses by 31.7% relative to the base case, while it is reduced by 39.1% when using the post contingency of 25 MW as the baseline, voltage deviation by approximately 30.26%, and the congestion security index by 25.14%, thereby significantly alleviating transmission congestion. In addition, reactive power flow distribution and 24 h state-of-charge (SoC) dynamics are analyzed to provide a more comprehensive assessment of system performance. Compared with FACTS-based solutions, the proposed approach offers superior technical and economic benefits. A parametric sensitivity analysis further shows that SSO attains near-optimal convergence with as few as 15 agents, offering a favorable accuracy-versus-runtime trade-off for real-time DPS operation; the main results reported in this study, however, were generated using the more conservative configuration of n = 30 agents to maximize solution robustness. Full article

Routine construction-dewatering logs can support monitoring decisions when their processing rules and inferential scope are explicitly defined. This study audited 594 well-period records from 11 wells at a single urban construction site in Loja, Ecuador. Reading dates span 618 days (15 July 2024–25 March 2026), with the first monitoring interval beginning on 10 July 2024. Construction drawings indicate well lengths of 15.5–19.0 m. Reconstructed quality-control rules classified 406 records as Valid, 113 as Valid with caution, and 75 as Not recommended. Among 519 usable observation pairs, 509 (98.1%) had non-five-day intervals, resulting in a median bias of +60.0% when a default five-day divisor was applied. The inclusive 13-date panel comprised 111 Valid and 32 caution observations and showed pronounced inter-well ordering (Kendall’s W = 0.946). Sensitivity analyses based on quality thresholds and reduced-well configurations quantified the dependence of results on record-retention rules. Ordinary Theil–Sen screening was complemented by an irregular-time, dependence-aware log-GLS analysis and conditional detectability estimates; therefore, temporal signals are interpreted as exploratory rather than diagnostic. Recalculated Hydro-Operational Monitoring Priority Scores (HOMPS) placed Wells 10, 2, 8, and 5 in the highest sample-defined priority tier. Well 10 remained the highest-priority well under every component-omission scenario, providing partial support for H3. The study provides a transparent and reproducible framework for auditing routine dewatering records and prioritizing monitoring attention while explicitly avoiding unsupported inference about aquifer stress. Full article