Search Results (1,980)

Glucose transport across biological membranes in mammals depends primarily on two transporter families: the facilitative glucose transporters of the SLC2 family and the sodium-dependent cotransporters of the SLC5 family. Together, these proteins mediate tissue-specific glucose uptake, epithelial absorption and reabsorption, nutrient sensing, and adaptive responses to metabolic stress. This review summarizes current knowledge of transporter classification, structural mechanism, tissue distribution, intracellular trafficking, and disease associations, with emphasis on GLUT1, GLUT2, GLUT3, GLUT4, SGLT1, and SGLT2. It also discusses less well-characterized members of the extended GLUT family, the therapeutic implications of SGLT inhibition, and unresolved questions regarding transporter specificity. Furthermore, the review integrates emerging evidence on CAR-T cell engineering, Alport syndrome, lupus nephritis, erythropoietic responses, and the reduction in dementia risk associated with transporter modulation. Full article

Implant-associated infections remain a major challenge in bone-related biomedical applications, where bacterial colonization and biofilm formation can compromise tissue integration and clinical performance. This study reports the mechanochemical synthesis, physicochemical characterization, antimicrobial activity, antibiofilm performance, and short-term fibroblast cytocompatibility of a TiO₂-containing bovine-derived biogenic hydroxyapatite ceramic composite (BHAp-TiO₂). The composite was prepared by high-energy mechanical milling using 10 wt% TiO₂ and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. XRD/Rietveld analysis identified a multiphase ceramic composite composed of hydroxyapatite, whitlockite, and rutile TiO₂, with no evidence of Ti⁴⁺ substitution into the hydroxyapatite lattice or detectable anatase within the XRD/Rietveld detection limit. SEM-EDS confirmed the granular agglomerated morphology of the powders and the elemental presence of Ti in BHAp-TiO₂. Compared with pristine BHAp, BHAp-TiO₂ produced a concentration-dependent reduction in AlamarBlue^®-derived bacterial metabolic activity against five clinically relevant planktonic strains. At 200 µg/mL, residual metabolic activity decreased to 10.90–32.90%, depending on the bacterial species, with the strongest response observed for Escherichia coli. In crystal violet assays, BHAp-TiO₂ markedly inhibited Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm biomass, reaching 91.9 ± 3.4% inhibition at 200 µg/mL. In NIH/3T3 fibroblasts, BHAp-TiO₂ preserved short-term cytocompatibility after 24 h of direct exposure within the 0.1–100 µg/mL range, with MTT- and AlamarBlue^®-derived responses remaining close to or above the 80% cytotoxicity limit. Overall, BHAp-TiO₂ is best interpreted as a rutile TiO₂-containing biogenic calcium phosphate ceramic composite with enhanced antimicrobial and antibiofilm performance while maintaining short-term fibroblast cytocompatibility under the evaluated conditions. Full article

Background: Technostress has emerged as a major occupational health concern in increasingly digitalized workplaces. Although organizational and technological determinants of technostress have been widely investigated, the potential influence of healthy lifestyle behaviors remains poorly understood. This study aimed to evaluate the association between a combined Healthy Lifestyle Score (HLS) and technostress in a large cross-sectional sample of Spanish workers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 104,175 workers who underwent routine occupational health examinations between January 2021 and December 2024. The Healthy Lifestyle Score was constructed by assigning one point each for regular physical activity, high adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and non-smoking status, resulting in scores ranging from 0 to 3. Technostress was assessed using the Technostress Short Questionnaire (TCS-Short) and categorized as low, moderate, high, or very high. Logistic regression models were used to estimate crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for high-to-very high technostress according to HLS categories. Results: Significant differences in technostress levels were observed across HLS categories (p < 0.001). The prevalence of high-to-very high technostress was 50.8% among workers with HLS = 0 and 50.7% among those with HLS = 1, decreasing markedly to 7.5% and 7.2% among workers with HLS = 2 and HLS = 3, respectively. After adjustment for sex, age, educational level, and social class, participants with HLS = 2 and HLS = 3 exhibited substantially lower odds of high technostress (OR = 0.073, 95% CI 0.068–0.078 and OR = 0.074, 95% CI 0.069–0.079, respectively) compared with those with HLS = 0. The categorical analysis suggested a threshold-like rather than progressive association, with substantially lower odds of high-to-very high technostress observed among workers with HLS = 2 and HLS = 3, whereas HLS = 1 did not show lower odds compared with HLS = 0. The final model demonstrated excellent discrimination (AUC = 0.902). Conclusions: Healthy lifestyle profiles were strongly associated with technostress in this large cross-sectional occupational sample. Workers with HLS = 2 and HLS = 3 showed markedly lower odds of high-to-very high technostress than those with HLS = 0, whereas HLS = 1 did not show lower odds. Component-specific analyses indicated that the associations differed substantially across the behaviors comprising the score, supporting interpretation of the HLS as an unweighted behavioral count rather than as a measure of equivalent contributions from each component. Full article

Adequate soil quality is essential for ensuring the productivity and sustainability of agriculture, with soil pH being a key variable due to its influence on nutrient availability, microbial activity, and plant development. This study proposes a Mamdani fuzzy inference system (FIS) optimized through metaheuristic algorithms for soil pH prediction in papaya (Carica papaya L.) cultivation, a crop highly sensitive to pH fluctuations within the rhizosphere. Soil temperature and soil moisture were used as independent variables, while the estimated soil pH constituted the dependent variable of the system. Three optimization techniques—genetic algorithms (GAs), Differential Evolution (DE), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)—were evaluated to optimize the membership functions and fuzzy rule base of the Mamdani FIS. Model performance was assessed through 30 independent runs using 1500 records collected from a commercial papaya plantation. Across the 30 independent runs, the GA-optimized model achieved the best overall predictive performance, with a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.3636 ± 0.0035, Mean Relative Error (MRE) of 0.0554 ± 0.0004, and mean coefficient of determination (r²) of 0.8699 ± 0.0048. The best observed GA values were an MAE of 0.3305, MRE of 0.0513, and r² of 0.8957. In addition, a web-based decision support platform and an automated Telegram alert system were developed for event-driven pH alert notification. The results confirm that GA-optimized fuzzy systems constitute an effective, interpretable, and practical tool for pH-based soil condition monitoring and agronomic decision support in precision agriculture. Full article

Southeastern Spain is a region of moderate-to-high seismic risk, where reliable seismic event detection is a prerequisite for earthquake early warning systems. This paper presents a seismic event detection pipeline based on the Wavelet Scattering Transform (WST) with a ZNE component-feature ensemble, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and a Support Vector Machine (SVM), developed for the Valencian Community Seismic Network (SISCOVA) in Spain. The pipeline is evaluated on a local dataset of labeled three-component traces spanning January 2025 through mid-March 2026 and benchmarked against a classical recursive STA/LTA detector and three state-of-the-art pretrained deep learning models evaluated in a zero-shot transfer setting. Under known signal-to-noise ratio conditions, the proposed approach achieves an accuracy and F1-score of 98.82%, outperforming both the STA/LTA baseline and all evaluated deep learning models. Qualitative validation on continuous full-day recordings from the SISCOVA network further confirms its operational viability. These results demonstrate that WST-based feature extraction, combined with classical machine learning, provides an effective and computationally efficient alternative for seismic event detection in local seismic networks. Full article

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) deployment requires simultaneous coordination of spatially distributed biomass supply chains and nonlinear conversion technologies. This study develops an integrated multiscale optimization framework for SAF production in Mexico using second-generation sugarcane bagasse as the lignocellulosic resource for alcohol-intermediate production, followed by an intensified Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) upgrading stage targeting Mexico City Airport. A multi-period mixed-integer linear programming model optimizes harvest-area selection, biorefinery location, biomass allocation, inventory, production, and distribution, while an Aspen Plus model of an intensified Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) process with reactive distillation is optimized using Differential Evolution with Tabu List. In this framework, the ATJ block is not modeled as direct biomass-to-jet conversion. In the base case, ethanol is used as the representative alcohol intermediate. Therefore, the upstream biomass-to-alcohol section is represented through an effective bagasse-to-ethanol coefficient, whereas the Aspen Plus–DETL model explicitly describes the downstream ethanol-to-ATJ-range hydrocarbon blendstock upgrading section through dehydration, ethylene oligomerization, hydrogenation, and fractionation. Process yield, production cost, environmental impact, and feasible capacity are fed back into the supply chain model, making process performance endogenous rather than fixed. Results show that the decoupled supply chain baseline favors large production capacities, reducing TAC from approximately 1010 to 340 USD/tSAF and system-level EI99 from 1.110 to 1.059 kPt EI99/tSAF as capacity increases from 80,000 to 490,000 tSAF/year. This corresponds to an environmental reduction of approximately 5.2%. In contrast, isolated ATJ optimization exhibits nonlinear scale-dependent behavior, with process-only EI99 decreasing from approximately 1.70 to 0.55 kPt EI99/tSAF. The integrated framework identifies an intermediate capacity region of 120,000–300,000 tSAF/year, with TAC values of approximately 3400–6800 USD/tSAF and total EI99 values of approximately 0.78–1.31 kPt EI99/tSAF. The integrated base case at 200,000 tSAF/year has an EI99 value of approximately 1.063 kPt EI99/tSAF. Full article

Malaria diagnosis in Equatorial Guinea (EG) is based on conventional microscopy, sometimes combined with rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). However, some laboratories, such as the Baney Research Laboratory (BRL) have implemented molecular technology for the diagnosis of infectious diseases. This study aimed to evaluate, for the first time in EG, a LAMP method for malaria diagnosis, comparing its performance with conventional microscopy performed in EG and with LAMP and PCR diagnostic methods performed at the National Centre of Tropical Medicine (NCTM), Spain. A total of 178 blood samples (including P. falciparum samples and malaria-negative controls) were evaluated using Dual-LAMP-Pspp and Nested-PCR-Pf in Equatorial Guinea. Dual-LAMP-Pspp performed at the BRL showed sensitivity and specificity values of 97.28% and 100%, respectively, for malaria diagnosis, with no differences between colorimetric and fluorescence-based result readings. Meanwhile, Nested-PCR-Pf showed a sensitivity of 87.07% and a specificity of 100%. Comparison of parasite densities determined by Dual-LAMP-Pspp and conventional microscopy showed a significant moderate negative correlation (correlation coefficient = −0.584). The comparison of Dual-LAMP-Pspp results between BRL and NCTM showed a kappa coefficient of 0.93, whereas the kappa coefficient of the Nested-PCR-Pf assay was 0.70. These findings indicate that Dual-LAMP-Pspp and Nested-PCR-Pf are suitable methods for malaria diagnosis in EG. However, the Dual-LAMP-Pspp assay was easy to perform and interpret and provided results in a shorter time than Nested-PCR-Pf. Full article

Background/Objectives: Positive psychological constructs such as psychological well-being, resilience, subjective vitality, and mental toughness are fundamental to students’ emotional adjustment and overall development. Physical activity (PA) is a modifiable factor known to enhance these variables; however, the influence of its timing throughout the day remains underexplored. This systematic review aimed to examine the effects of PA on psychological well-being, resilience, subjective vitality, and mental toughness in children and adolescents, considering the timing of implementation—before, during, or after school hours—and the specific characteristics of the activities performed. Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, a comprehensive search was conducted in Scopus, PubMed, ERIC, and Web of Science, identifying 29 studies published between 2014 and 2026, comprising 12 cross-sectional and 17 longitudinal studies. Results: Overall, PA was positively associated with all four psychological variables across different times of the day. PA before school, such as active commuting and active starts, was primarily associated with higher in well-being and vitality. During-school interventions, particularly structured programs such as active breaks and cooperative games, were associated with better resilience, emotional self-regulation, and prosocial behavior. After-school PA, especially organized and voluntary activities, was associated with higher resilience and mental toughness. The effects varied according to the intensity, structure, social context, and student role, with moderate-to-vigorous intensities and cooperative formats producing the most consistent benefits. Conclusions: In conclusion, PA appears to exert a beneficial influence on positive psychological development, with variations depending on the time and mode of practice. Schools, particularly through Physical Education programs, constitute a key context for promoting students’ emotional, motivational, and behavioral health. Full article

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) durability under dynamic operation remains a major challenge because the observed voltage decay may combine persistent and transient performance changes. This study presents a condition-aware and data-driven analysis of PEMFC degradation under a dynamic fuel cell load cycle (FC-DLC). A public single-cell PEMFC dataset was reconstructed into 3076 dynamic cycles over 1008.24 h of operation and complemented with polarization curves measured directly after dynamic operation and after 12 h of shutdown rest. Load-resolved voltage indicators, polarization descriptors, direct-to-after-rest difference metrics, hysteresis indices, and uncertainty-evaluated short-horizon forecasting models were developed. The dynamic analysis showed that voltage degradation was strongly current-dependent, with the early-to-late voltage drop increasing from 23.09 mV at 0 A to more than 76 mV at the highest current levels. Over the common 100–1000 h comparison window, maximum power decreased by 9.31% in the direct condition and by 12.00% in the after-rest condition, whereas the voltage–current area decreased by 11.79% and 10.40%, respectively. Therefore, the after-rest temporal losses were not uniformly smaller and depended on the selected indicator and current region. The comparison between direct and after-rest curves revealed persistent after-rest minus direct voltage differences of 30–45 mV in medium- and high-current regions even after 1000 h. A sensitivity analysis showed that the voltage-cleaning threshold had no measurable effect on the reported dynamic indicators. For high-load voltage forecasting, Ridge regression achieved RMSE values of 0.00936 V and 0.01134 V at 50- and 100-cycle horizons, improving upon the persistence baseline by 29.7% and 23.5%, respectively. These error reductions were statistically significant, although the corresponding $R^2$ values remained negative on the late-life temporal holdout. The ablation analysis further showed that the complete feature set was not systematically optimal, and the best-performing feature group depended on the target and forecasting horizon. Nominal 90% conformal coverage was adequate at 50 cycles (91.25%) but decreased to 55.03% at 100 cycles, indicating loss of calibration under the longer temporal horizon. Overall, the proposed framework integrates load-dependent voltage-loss characterization, direct and after-rest measurement conditions, feature-group ablation, persistence benchmarking, and uncertainty evaluation without assigning the observed measurement-condition difference to a unique reversible or irreversible mechanism or claiming a validated remaining-useful-life or maintenance-decision system. Full article

In Amazonian Spodosols, soil acidity and nutrient constraints limit the cultivation of cutleaf groundcherry. One sustainable alternative for cultivating this species is the use of Trichoderma inoculants, but studies on their use in this crop are scarce. This study evaluated whether rice-based inocula of Trichoderma harzianum (TH) CCB-LA101 and T. viride (TV) CCB-LA103 improved growth and fruit production of cutleaf groundcherry and whether the responses varied with the application dose. Plants were grown in a randomized complete block design with a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement: two Trichoderma species and three inoculum doses applied to the soil (0, 4, and 8 g plant⁻¹; Trichoderma concentration of 3.2 × 10⁹ CFU g⁻¹). Species and dose affected fruit width, length, number, and yield, with TH more effective than TV at increasing fruit number and yield. The contrast between inoculated and non-inoculated plants was significant for all traits. The 8 g plant⁻¹ dose significantly increased fruit number and yield by 22.8% and 17.7%, respectively, relative to the non-inoculated control, whereas fruit width and fruit length decreased by 8.3% and 7.3%, respectively. Considering the six treatment combinations, the 8 g plant⁻¹ TH inoculum (TH8) was the only treatment to significantly increase fruit yield, with net returns for smallholders estimated at USD 1104.46 ha⁻¹. Therefore, under the tested conditions, TH8 could be used to grow cutleaf groundcherry in Amazonian Spodosols. Full article

We present a brief review that highlights the importance of III-Nitride semiconductor compounds according to their structural, compositional, morphological, and optical properties, which have significant applications in new semiconductor devices and play a fundamental role in modern electronic and optoelectronic technologies. The importance of sputtering as a viable alternative for obtaining III-Nitride semiconductor compounds is discussed. This is due to its versatility, cost, ease of handling, and advantages provided by the physics of its operation in obtaining thin films compared to techniques such as metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The physics of the sputtering method is briefly and clearly described, including magnetron configurations, plasma generation, energy dependence of sputtering, reactive sputtering, hysteresis effects, target types, and the importance of temperature and working distance between the substrate and target. In addition, the review of the literature on the application of sputtering for obtaining III-Nitride semiconductor compounds is presented. Furthermore, this review also highlights the future of sputtering, which is moving towards high-power pulsation, atomic-level precision, and AI-driven automation due to the miniaturization of electronics, advances in green technology, and innovations in plasma control to increase film density and reduce target material loss. Full article

Residential electricity tariff structures in emerging economies are often highly complex, dynamically combining regional climatic variables and multi-tiered price adjustments. In Mexico, despite a preferential scheme designed to mitigate seasonal expenditure fluctuations, baseline energy subsidies frequently fail to protect low-income households due to structural targeting inefficiencies based strictly on regional temperature thresholds rather than socioeconomic status. This study addresses this methodological and regulatory gap by developing the Energy-Economic Impact Index (EEII), a novel mathematical and heuristic framework that couples complex Increasing Block Tariffs (IBT) architecture with localized household income dynamics at the state level. The proposed methodology was comprehensively validated using synchronized biennial empirical datasets from all 32 Mexican states, combining Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) billing data and National Surveys of Household Income and Expenditures (ENIGH) spanning the 2018–2024 period. Quantitative results reveal a severe, non-linear escalation of the financial energy burden across the territory, demonstrating that rising residential electricity costs significantly outpaced domestic income growth trajectories. Notably, households situated within high-temperature geographic regimes (Tariffs 1D, 1E, and 1F) exhibited the most critical economic vulnerability, with the calculated energy cost impact absorbing up to 14.90% of the real monthly household income in 2024. Ultimately, the EEII framework proves to be a robust predictive and decision-support tool for energy policy planners aiming to optimize fiscal subsidy allocation, reduce energy poverty gaps, and mitigate socioeconomic risks in transition economies. Full article

While mining provides critical raw materials for modern infrastructure and the energy transition, it leaves behind severe environmental damages, such as soil mercury (Hg) contamination. In the present study, we present the first study evaluating the relationship of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus arhizus with Trifolium repens (white clover) as a novel nature-based mycoremediation strategy for mercury-stressed soils. Through a controlled 2 × 2 factorial experiment over six months, we demonstrate that P. arhizus significantly enhances both plant biomass and heavy-metal tolerance. Inoculation achieved a 9.53% reduction in soil Hg and drove a dramatic 53% increase in stem growth under Hg stress (compared to 36% in non-contaminated conditions) once the extraradicular mycelial network was established. Furthermore, we report novel soil-chemistry dynamics under Hg stress, including a 16% shift in electrical conductivity alongside unexpected increases in the available potassium (+9%) and phosphorus (+3%). These findings present first results for a novel approach of mycoremediation by incorporating P. arhizus into T. repens co-cultivation as a viable remediation strategy, prior to field-scale remediation. Full article

Background/Objectives: Adolescence is a key period for the development of physical activity habits and school-related behaviors. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) has been associated with cognitive and educational outcomes, but its relationship with different dimensions of school engagement in rural and urban contexts remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the association between weekly MVPA and behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement among adolescents attending rural and urban schools in southern Spain. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with 282 adolescents (199 from urban schools and 83 from rural schools). School engagement was assessed using the Spanish version of the School Engagement Measure, and weekly MVPA was measured using the PACE+ Adolescent Physical Activity Measure. Adolescents were classified as active or inactive according to whether they reported at least five days per week of MVPA. ANCOVA and binary logistic regression analyses were performed separately by school context, adjusting for age, sex, and BMI. Complementary interaction analyses were conducted to test whether the associations differed across school contexts. Results: No significant differences were found between rural and urban adolescents in MVPA or school engagement. In urban schools, active adolescents showed significantly higher cognitive engagement than inactive adolescents. Lower weekly MVPA was also associated with higher odds of low cognitive engagement in urban adolescents. No significant associations were observed for behavioral or emotional engagement, or among rural adolescents. Conclusions: In subgroup-specific analyses, weekly MVPA was associated with cognitive engagement among adolescents attending urban schools. Given the cross-sectional design, convenience sampling, and self-reported assessment of MVPA, these findings should be interpreted as correlational and cannot establish causality. Moreover, the interaction analyses provided no evidence that the association differed significantly between rural and urban school contexts. Full article

Phosphorus is recognized as one of the primary contributors to eutrophication in freshwater ecosystems. Among the various strategies proposed to mitigate its impact, adsorption-based removal has emerged as one of the most widely adopted and effective approaches globally. In this study, Zn/Al-layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were synthesized by varying the molar ratio of cations to obtain materials with different cationic densities. The materials were additionally modified via a co-precipitation method to incorporate titanium dioxide (TiO₂) or zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles to synthesize novel composite nanomaterials aimed at phosphate species removal from aqueous solutions. The resulting materials demonstrated orthophosphate adsorption capacities exceeding 45 mg/g in most cases. Adsorption kinetics were evaluated using pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order models, while equilibrium data were fit to the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The results indicated that the pseudo-second order model and the Langmuir isotherm provided the best fit, suggesting that the adsorption process is predominantly chemisorption occurring on a homogeneous monolayer. These findings highlight the potential of TiO₂/ZnO–LDH composites as efficient adsorbents for phosphorus remediation in aquatic environments. Full article