Search Results (21,289)

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remains a major global health challenge, prompting interest in plant-based interventions with multi-target metabolic effects. This study evaluated the individual and combined effects of Psidium guajava (PG) and Seriphium plumosum (SP) on hepatic and skeletal muscle glucose metabolism. Methods: HepG2 hepatocytes and differentiated C2C12 myotubes were treated with PG, SP, and a 1:1 PG+SP combination. Cell viability, glucose uptake, GLUT2 expression, glycogen content, and AMP levels were assessed. Interactions were evaluated using Bliss Independence, Combination Index (CI), Loewe Additivity, and Zero Interaction Potency (ZIP) models. Results: SP exhibited minimal cytotoxicity, whereas PG induced concentration-dependent reductions in HepG2 viability. The PG+SP combination maintained higher viability than PG alone and demonstrated additive-to-synergistic interactions (CI = 0.51–0.89). In HepG2 cells, all treatments significantly enhanced glucose uptake relative to controls (p < 0.05), with the combination achieving approximately 94% of the metformin response. The combination also significantly reduced GLUT2 expression, with the greatest effect observed at 125 + 125 µg/mL (0.77 ± 0.14-fold, p < 0.0001). In C2C12 myotubes, PG, SP, and PG+SP significantly increased glucose uptake and glycogen accumulation (p < 0.05). SP increased AMP levels at lower concentrations, whereas the PG+SP combination reduced AMP levels below control values. Synergy analyses consistently indicated concentration- and endpoint-dependent interactions ranging from additivity to synergy. Conclusions: The PG+SP combination co-ordinately modulated glucose uptake, glycogen storage, GLUT2 expression, and AMP-related energy status across hepatic and skeletal muscle models. These findings provide mechanistic support for further investigation of this botanical combination as a potential multi-target strategy for T2DM and metabolic dysfunction. Full article

Ehrlichia and Anaplasma are important tick-borne obligate intracellular bacteria that cause clinically and economically significant infections in humans and animals. Despite their importance, vaccine development for these pathogens remains limited, and the overall progression of vaccine-related research in this field has not been quantitatively characterized. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to characterize the trajectory and the research landscape of vaccine-related research for these pathogens. The literature was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection using the search terms (Ehrlichia OR ehrlichiosis OR Anaplasma OR anaplasmosis) AND (vaccine OR vaccines). A total of 483 publications published between 1965 and 2025 were included in the analysis. Bibliometric analyses were conducted using Biblioshiny (Version 4.3.3) and VOSviewer (Version 1.6.20) to assess publication trends, citation patterns, leading countries, institutions, and major research themes. The literature showed gradual growth over time, with more consistent publication output from the late 1990s onward. Scientific output was concentrated in a relatively small number of countries and institutions, led by the United States, South Africa, Brazil, Spain, and France. Keyword frequency and co-occurrence analyses showed that the field has been shaped mainly by bovine anaplasmosis, heartwater, and tick-associated vaccine research, with Anaplasma marginale and Ehrlichia ruminantium emerging as dominant pathogen-focused themes. Major surface proteins, msp1a, subolesin, and Bm86, appeared frequently, indicating continued interest in both pathogen-derived and tick-associated vaccine targets. In contrast, human and canine pathogens such as Ehrlichia chaffeensis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Ehrlichia canis were less represented. Our analysis maps the research landscape of Ehrlichia and Anaplasma vaccine development, quantifying how research activity has been distributed across pathogens, geographic regions, institutions, collaborations, and vaccine-related themes. It also identifies areas that remain comparatively less represented in the published literature and provides a quantitative baseline for future comparisons with independent measures of disease burden and research funding data. Full article

Humpback whales traditionally fast during migration and on breeding grounds, relying on reserved energy within blubber to sustain them. However, occurrences of feeding along migration routes and within breeding grounds have been documented for several populations, suggesting an intrinsic ability to adapt to changing conditions and prey variability. This systematic quantitative literature review yielded 77 publications, demonstrating that humpback whales feed outside their polar and sub-polar feeding grounds globally. We identified that the feeding documented within this review could generally be attributed to either opportunistic/supplementary feeding, or the identification of new or expansion of current feeding grounds. Key findings included substantial feeding behaviour in productive regions with high prey availability, including off eastern Australia, South Africa, and along the coasts of North and South America. Ontogenetic drivers may also encourage younger whales to forego migration to breeding grounds and remain along migratory routes during winter to exploit seasonally available prey. The definition of this feeding behaviour lacks specificity and may lead to underrepresentation in the literature, underscoring the need to investigate its prevalence and contribution to the behavioural budgets of these populations. Our study improves current understanding of the scope of feeding away from polar and sub-polar regions and encourages future work to further understand the drivers of the behaviour. Full article

Aquaculture has become the fastest-growing food-production sector worldwide, with increasing reliance on plant-based feed ingredients such as maize, soybean, wheat, rice, and oilseed meals. Although these ingredients reduce dependence on fishmeal, they are highly susceptible to fungal contamination and subsequent mycotoxin production. Global surveys reveal widespread contamination of aquafeeds with major regulated mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, fumonisins, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, ochratoxin A, and T-2 toxin, alongside emerging toxins such as enniatins, beauvericins, and sterigmatocystin metabolites. Aflatoxin B₁ is the most prevalent and toxic mycotoxin, with contamination prevalence often exceeding 80–100% in Africa and Asia with contamination levels surpassing 400 µg/kg in some regions of these continents. Fumonisins, deoxynivalenol, and zearalenone are also commonly detected, with fumonisins levels occasionally exceeding 7000 µg/kg. Mycotoxins induce diverse toxic effects in fish, including growth suppression, hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, immunosuppression, oxidative stress, reproductive dysfunction, and mortality. Collectively, these findings highlight the urgent need for improved surveillance, feed management, and harmonized regulations addressing multi-mycotoxin exposure to safeguard aquaculture productivity, fish, and public health. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the global mycotoxin contamination patterns, analytical detection methods in fish feed and processed seafood as well as the toxicological effects of mycotoxins, with emphasis on species-specific responses and food safety implications. Full article

Processing tubers such as potato, sweet potato, cassava, and yam, as well as legumes such as soybean, pea, chickpea, bean, and lentil, generates substantial quantities of peels, pulps, husks, and press cakes that retain considerable nutritional and functional value despite often being discarded. Microbial fermentation has emerged as a low-cost and scalable approach for valorising these residues into functional ingredients with improved digestibility and enhanced bioactive-compound content. This study synthesises the composition of major tuber and legume by-products, the solid-state and submerged fermentation systems employed for their bioconversion, and the biochemical and functional transformations achieved through fermentation, including improvements in antioxidant activity, prebiotic potential, antihyperglycaemic properties, and protein quality. The emerging applications of these fermented by-products in bakery products, dairy alternatives, snacks, nutraceuticals, and the conceptually related field of gut-microbiome-guided precision nutrition are also examined. Persistent challenges, including compositional variability, safety monitoring, and regulatory classification, are critically evaluated alongside strategies for addressing these limitations. Overall, fermentation-based valorisation of tuber and legume residues represents a scientifically credible and environmentally sustainable strategy for transforming agri-food waste streams into value-added, functional nutrition ingredients. Full article

Interactions between soil bacteria and free-living bacterivorous nematodes influence nutrient cycling, microbial community dynamics, and rhizosphere processes, yet the behavioural responses of nematodes to bacterial traits remain poorly understood. This study investigated the relationship between bacterial phenotypic traits and the behavioural responses of Metarhabditis rainai isolated from ginger rhizosphere soil in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Three bacterial isolates (Stenotrophomonas chelatiphaga, Bacillus sp., and Aeromonas sp.) were characterized for hemolytic activity, motility, biofilm formation, and gentamicin susceptibility. Molecular analyses of 18S and 16S rDNA confirmed the identities of the nematode and bacterial isolates. Nematode attraction was evaluated using an in vitro feeding preference assay. Significant effects of bacterial isolate, time, and their interaction were detected (p < 0.0001), indicating distinct behavioural responses among treatments. Aeromonas sp. elicited the strongest attraction, followed by Bacillus sp., whereas S. chelatiphaga induced a weaker response. Bacterial phenotypic traits varied among isolates, with Bacillus sp. exhibiting the highest hemolytic activity, motility, and gentamicin resistance. Overall, M. rainai displayed selective attraction toward different bacterial isolates, and these responses coincided with variation in bacterial traits. However, no direct causal relationship between individual bacterial traits and nematode behaviour was established. Full article

Cloacal swabs were collected from 12 Eurasian goshawk chicks during routine veterinary inspections to evaluate the gut-associated virome of goshawks used for falconry. The material was used for metagenomic screening with high-throughput sequencing. Sequences belonging to several viral families (Poxviridae, Circoviridae, Anelloviridae, Retroviridae, Parvoviridae and Astroviridae) were detected and their occurrence differed across samples G1-G12. Most of the identified sequences were highly similar to those of viruses that infect poultry, suggesting a probable alimentary transmission route. Two complete genomes of closely related chicken astroviruses, most likely strains belonging to subgroup Biii, were identified. Their ORF2 proteins shared 98.78% amino acid identity. Another complete genome was identified as that of pigeon circovirus with 98.96% nucleotide identity to a strain previously reported from China. A parvovirus genome sequence, distinct from those of known members of the genus Aveparvovirus genus was also identified. This parvovirus genome sequence represents approximately 86% of the average aveparvovirus genome length (5422 bp) and contains three open reading frames. The sequence lacks the 3′ region of the capsid gene is missing and the 3′ UTR. The NS1 protein sequence of this virus shares 52.42% amino acid identity with that of its closest relative, the nonstructural protein of silver pheasant parvovirus. These findings suggest that parvovirus infection may occur in birds of prey and that the detected virus may represent a novel member of the genus Aveparvovirus. The infected bird showed no clinical symptoms during sampling; thus, the role of this parvovirus in raptor pathology as well as the possibility that it was of dietary origin remains unknown and requires further investigation. Full article

The increasing sophistication of cyber threats and severe class imbalance in network traffic continue to challenge traditional intrusion detection systems. This study proposes a hybrid framework that integrates SMOTE and CTGAN for minority-class augmentation, a Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) network for supervised traffic classification, and a benign-trained Variational Autoencoder (VAE) for validating low-confidence predictions. The framework was evaluated on the CSE-CIC-IDS2018 dataset. On a final holdout test partition of 2,759,227 network flows, it achieved a binary accuracy of 98.51%, an F1-score of 92.59%, and a ROC-AUC of 0.9935. In the 15-class evaluation, it achieved 98.50% accuracy and a weighted F1-score of 98.42%, while stratified 10-fold cross-validation yielded a mean accuracy of 98.79%. The VAE was activated for 519,389 low-confidence flows, representing 18.82% of the complete holdout test partition, and primarily reduced false-positive predictions, although this improvement was accompanied by a measurable reduction in attack recall. SHAP analysis was applied to the supervised Bi-LSTM component to provide feature-level interpretability. The framework also achieved a mean inference latency of 0.5195 ms per network flow. These findings demonstrate strong aggregate detection performance, stable generalisation, effective false-alarm reduction, and low inference latency, while highlighting continuing challenges in rare-class and open-set detection. Full article

The efficient utilization of underexploited biomass resources for renewable energy production requires reliable engineering data on their mechanical behaviour during processing. However, information on the compressive mechanical properties of Canarium schweinfurthii seeds, a promising oil-bearing biomass resource, remains scarce. This study investigated the effects of moisture content (3.89–25.65%, db) and loading orientation (horizontal and vertical) on the compressive mechanical properties of the seeds using a universal testing machine. Measured parameters included rupture force, rupture energy, bio-yield force, bio-yield energy, deformation at rupture point, and hardness. Moisture content significantly influenced the measured mechanical properties under both horizontal and vertical loading orientations (<!-- MathType@Translator@5@5@MathML2 (no namespace).tdl@MathML 2.0 (no namespace)@ --> Full article

Precise prediction of pressure drop and drag-reduction performance is essential for improving the hydraulic efficiency and reducing the energy demand of crude-oil pipeline transportations. Therefore, this study aims to develop an integrated computational fluid dynamics (CFD)–machine learning (ML) framework for predicting pressure drop (∆p), drag reduction (DR), pumping power reduction (PPR), energy savings (ES), and flow-rate enhancement (Q) in turbulent crude-oil pipeline flow containing drag-reducing agents (DRAs). The investigated system considers the effect of pipeline length (L), diameter (D), surface roughness (ε), operating temperature (T), and DRA concentration (25–200 ppm). The Reynolds-average Navier–Stokes equations (RANS) were solved using the shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model approaching near-wall resolution of y⁺ ≈ 1 for DRA3 at 20 ppm. The CFD modelling was first used to validate an experimental benchmark and subsequently used to expand the available dataset over the investigated operating conditions. The combined experimental–CFD dataset was then employed to develop a multi-output Kolmogorov–Arnold network (KAN) surrogate model. The proposed framework predicted DR up to 44.2%, PPR of approximately 55 W, ES of 30%, and flow-rate enhancement up to 5–10(${\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{L}}{\mathrm{d}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{y}}}$). The KAN model effectively captured the nonlinear relationships among DRA characteristics, pipeline geometry, and operating conditions, achieving R² = 0.9318 for PPR prediction. The novelty of the proposed work lies in integrating a validated, near-wall-resolved SST k-ω CFD model with a multi-output KAN surrogate model, combining physics-based flow analysis with rapid data-driven prediction of hydraulic and energy-performance indicators. Full article

Closely related Aspergillus section Nigri species are difficult to resolve taxonomically, while short-read comparisons may be influenced by reference-genome choice. We applied reciprocal genome projection to 31 whole-genome sequencing libraries representing South African clinical section-Nigri isolates, Japanese and USA A. niger-labeled isolates, and A. welwitschiae-labeled isolates. Reads were aligned independently to A. niger ATCC 1015 and A. welwitschiae Aspwel1, followed by reference-specific differential-representation and KEGG analyses. Species-level classification showed substantial overlap between A. niger and A. welwitschiae. The A. welwitschiae–South African comparison identified 44 and 59 effect-qualified features under the respective projections, including 20 reciprocal feature pairs defining a reference-robust A. welwitschiae-associated core. The clinical Japanese–South African comparison identified 116 and 127 features, with 14 concordant KEGG orthologs involving sterol modification, protein prenylation, cofactor metabolism, redox processing, cell-wall turnover and ribosome maturation. No pathway remained significant after false discovery-rate correction; nominal pathway signals were reference-sensitive. Reciprocal projection, therefore, recovered localized cohort-associated genomic differentiation while identifying reference-conditioned effects. These findings represent differential genomic-read representation and do not independently establish copy-number variation, pathway activity, virulence or antifungal resistance. Full article

The cultic practices of ancient Israel, specifically with respect to ritual eating and sex, serve jointly as a unifying motif for 1 Corinthians 8–11. Eating and sexual intercourse are viewed as sacred acts because of their generative capacity. Sex and food were highly regulated in ancient Israel, yet eating was an essential part of Israelite ritual, while sex was forbidden. Paul’s discussion of various issues in 1 Corinthians 8–11 is linked in his discourse by the common thread of the generative and communicative power of food and sex. Full article

This qualitative study addresses a significant gap in existing literature concerning the emotional, psychological, and academic consequences of gender-based violence (GBV) among high school learners in Eswatini, a context where culturally embedded norms and systemic challenges may shape how GBV is experienced, disclosed, and addressed. While prior research underscores the detrimental effects of GBV, limited attention has been given to learners’ accounts within Eswatini’s socio-cultural landscape. Employing a qualitative descriptive design, data were collected from 36 learners (18 girls and 18 boys) across six high schools. Thirty learners participated in six focus group discussions, with five learners in each group, while an additional six learners participated in individual semi-structured interviews. No participant participated in both methods. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis. Three overarching themes were developed inductively: (1) emotional trauma and demotivation, characterised by feelings of worthlessness, fear, anxiety, and withdrawal; (2) psychological effects, including anxiety, shame, isolation, and psychological distress; and (3) a decline in academic performance and engagement, reflected in perceived difficulties with concentration, attendance, participation, motivation, and academic performance. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model was subsequently used as an interpretive lens to examine how individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and broader societal contexts shaped participants’ accounts. The study also considers similarities, differences, and contradictions in girls’ and boys’ accounts and recognises that participants occupy different positions in relation to GBV, including experiences of victimisation, witnessing, and acknowledgement of harmful behaviour. Because the study is qualitative and cross-sectional, the findings describe participants’ perceived relationships between GBV and educational and psychosocial experiences rather than establishing causal effects. The study highlights the importance of trauma-informed school environments, accessible psychosocial support, effective safeguarding and referral mechanisms, gender-responsive prevention, and coordinated interventions across ecological levels. Full article

High-dimensional gene expression datasets in chemometric and biomedical research present significant challenges for machine learning because the number of genes greatly exceeds the number of available samples, increasing the risk of overfitting and reducing classification reliability. Existing gene selection methods are often sensitive to noise and outliers, leading to unstable feature subsets and degraded classification performance. To address these limitations, this study proposes a Robust Masked Painter (RMP) framework that integrates robust measures of location and dispersion, namely the Median and the Rousseeuw & Croux statistic ($Q_n$), for reliable gene selection. The proposed framework operates in two stages. First, we identify informative genes using a round-robin strategy with a greedy search algorithm and robust core intervals to reduce the influence of noise and outliers. Second, Dominant Class (DC) analysis and Overlapping Scores (OS) further refine the selected gene subset by minimizing class overlap. We evaluate the proposed method on four publicly available gene expression datasets and compare it with several established feature selection methods using Random Forest, K-Nearest Neighbors, and Support Vector Machine classifiers. We assess classification performance using the Classification Error Rate. Experimental results and simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed RMP framework consistently outperforms competing methods by selecting highly informative genes that improve classification accuracy, robustness, and generalization. Full article

Dry anaerobic digestion (DAD) is increasingly recognized as a promising waste-to-energy pathway for treating high-solids organic wastes. However, the extent to which the contemporary peer-reviewed literature addresses conditions relevant to scalable implementation remains unclear. This systematic review synthesizes evidence from 148 studies on technological performance, process stability, scalability readiness, and deployment conditions. The evidence base was geographically and methodologically concentrated, with a predominance of laboratory-scale, batch-operated, and mesophilic systems. Co-digestion, pretreatment, operating-condition optimization, and recirculation were frequently investigated strategies. Methane performance varied substantially, reflecting differences in feedstock characteristics, solids content, reactor configurations, and operating conditions. Process stability remained a central concern, with pH, volatile fatty acids, and ammonia-related parameters the most frequently reported indicators, consistent with challenges associated with acidification, ammonia inhibition, and mass-transfer limitations. The scalability assessment showed that most studies provided limited evidence on advanced deployment maturity and enabling conditions, while commercial-scale implementation, financing, stakeholder engagement, and policy support were infrequently represented in the reviewed literature. The 2010–2025 peer-reviewed evidence base remains more strongly oriented toward technological and experimental optimization than integrated deployment-oriented assessment. Greater integration of long-term operational validation with techno-economic, institutional, and implementation-related evidence is needed to understand conditions for reliable and scalable DAD deployment. Full article