Search Results (49,991)

When autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) travel in formation, mutual occlusion reduces the map features available to adaptive Monte Carlo localization (AMCL) and introduces robot body returns. This study proposes a Virtual-AMR LiDAR fusion method that transforms synchronized 2D scans into a common frame, tracks robot contours, estimates relative pose by KD-tree overlap matching, removes robot returns, and fuses environmental measurements for AMCL. The method was evaluated using two AMRs in a 3.1 m × 10 m indoor area with 4 m straight-line and turning trajectories. Four branch-wise configurations were tested in five repeated trials. Against an internal reference trajectory constructed from the planned path and motor encoder measurements rather than an independent ground truth system, the complete method achieved trial-level 2D RMSE values of 0.0412 ± 0.0083 m for the straight-line trajectory and 0.0511 ± 0.0104 m for the turning trajectory (mean ± sample standard deviation across five trials), while reducing localization drift and preventing the AMCL divergence observed under the tested mutual occlusion conditions. Full article

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) mediate endocrine and metabolic signalling. EV responses to shifts in substrate utilisation, from euketonaemia to hypoketonaemia, remain poorly understood. Chronic hyperinsulinaemia suppresses ketogenesis, causing hypoketonaemia; however, its impact on EV profiles in metabolically healthy individuals has not been characterised. We investigated the effects of hypoketonaemia on EV profiles in the KetoSAge cohort, examining associations between EV concentration, mean size, and modal size and metabolic–endocrine biomarkers. Ten lean (BMI, 20.52 ± 1.39 kg/m²), healthy premenopausal women (mean age, 32.30 ± 8.97 years) maintaining euketonaemia (mean 3.9 ± 2.3 years) completed a three-phase crossover trial, comprising 21 days each of: euketonaemia (baseline), induced-hypoketonaemia, and return-to-euketonaemia. No statistically significant phase-level differences in EV concentration or size parameters were detected. Linear mixed-effects analyses identified nominally significant associations between EV concentration and adiponectin, free T3, bilirubin, luteinising hormone, and epidermal growth factor, between EV mean size and HDL-cholesterol and between EV modal size and insulin, HOMA-IR, beta-hydroxybutyrate, GKI, thyroid hormones, ALT, AST, IL-6 and oestrogen (all unadjusted p < 0.05). However, none of these associations remained statistically significant after false discovery rate correction (FDR < 0.10). Hypoketonaemia via insulin-compensated euglycaemia revealed coordinated EV–biomarker relationships across metabolic–endocrine, hepatic and inflammatory pathways. Although exploratory, these findings suggest that EV profiles may reflect an insulin-responsive signalling network linked to the systemic bioenergetic state, highlighting their potential as early indicators of metabolic–endocrine adaptation. Full article

Drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae is a serious clinical problem, and bacteriophages are being investigated again as antibacterial agents. This study describes the phenotypic characterization and a preliminary in vivo evaluation of vB_Kpn_NIIPB-V0006, a bacteriophage isolated locally on a drug-resistant clinical K. pneumoniae strain. The genome of the phage was not sequenced. It has therefore not been screened for lysogeny-associated, toxin, virulence or antimicrobial resistance genes, and the results below describe what the phage does, not whether it is suitable for therapy. We assessed plaque morphology, specific lytic activity, titer, host range on a limited non-target panel, particle morphology, adsorption, one-step growth, chloroform exposure, the frequency of phage-resistant host variants, endotoxin reduction, short-term safety in mice and antibacterial effect in guinea pigs. The phage lysed the target strain, with an Appelman activity of 10⁻⁸ and a titer of 1.7 × 10¹¹ PFU/mL. Processing with 1-octanol lowered endotoxin content from 1200 to 12 EU/mL and preserved 80% of infective activity. Mice given the preparation intraperitoneally showed no mortality and no visible acute toxicity over 14 days. In guinea pigs with systemic K. pneumoniae infection, survival was the primary outcome: 0.5 mL three times daily gave 6/6 survivors against 1/6 in untreated controls (p = 0.015). Splenic bacterial burden, a secondary outcome, was also lower in that group (2.64 against 4.41 log₁₀ CFU/g). Two features of the design bias this second comparison in favor of treatment, since survivors and non-survivors were sampled at different times, and phage being carried over into the plating step is likely to have lowered colony counts. The 1.77 log₁₀ difference should therefore be read as an upper bound. The phage merits further study, but whole-genome sequencing, confirmation of the host species, host-range testing against diverse clinical isolates and a controlled comparison with antibiotic treatment are all needed before any therapeutic claim can be made. Full article

Background: Trans-resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxystilbene) is a natural polyphenolic antioxidant widely used in anti-aging dermocosmetics for its strong radical-scavenging capacity and its activation of cell-protective pathways such as sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). However, its poor aqueous solubility, photochemical lability, and low bioavailability limit its incorporation into topical formulations and its delivery into the skin. Objective: In this study, ethosomal nanocarriers were designed as a phospholipid–ethanol vesicular system to solubilize, stabilize, and control the release of trans-resveratrol for dermocosmetic applications. Microfluidization is not a commonly used method; however, circulating the formulation through the interaction chamber under optimized pressure can produce ethosomes with desirable colloidal stability by this simple process. Methods: Resveratrol-loaded ethosomes were prepared with synthetic phosphatidylcholine (Lipoid P75), ethanol, and vitamin E. Microfluidization was optimized by varying the number of high-pressure homogenization cycles and the applied pressure. Vesicle size, size distribution and distribution uniformity, zeta potential, pH, conductivity, density, and long-term stability were monitored for up to 180 days; morphology was examined by cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM) and molecular compatibility by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. A trans-resveratrol high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay was developed and validated according to International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) Q2 guidelines for quantitative analysis. Encapsulation efficiency was determined by HPLC after ultracentrifugation, cytotoxicity was assessed in human keratinocytes (HaCaT), and in vitro release was evaluated using Franz diffusion cells with two different membranes. Results: All ethosome formulations yielded a nanoscale size distribution (median diameter around 190 nm for loaded and around 90 nm for unloaded) and good colloidal stability, with absolute zeta potentials above the 30 mV threshold at early time points and a skin-compatible pH (around 6.5). The optimized formulation (T16; 1.5% w/w trans-resveratrol, 5% w/w phosphatidylcholine (Lipoid P75), 0.3% w/w vitamin E and 30% w/w ethanol, processed with seven microfluidization cycles) achieved a high encapsulation efficiency (EE) of 95.5% on day 1. 84.2% EE was retained after 180 days, consistent with strong partitioning of the lipophilic active into the ethanol–phospholipid bilayer. FTIR confirmed preservation of the phospholipid bilayer and indicated non-covalent loading, with the resveratrol bands largely masked by the dominant lipid signals. Cryogenic Scanning Electron Microscopy (Cryo-SEM) confirmed near-spherical vesicles with narrow size distribution. In vitro release showed a sustained, controlled release profile relative to a 1.5% w/w resveratrol solution. Slower diffusion across the skin-mimicking Strat-M membrane was observed compared to cellulose acetate membrane. Conclusions: Optimized trans-resveratrol-loaded ethosomes represent a stable, efficient vesicular system enabling formulation stability and controlled topical release. The antioxidant and photoprotective efficacy of the loaded system was not assessed in this study and is identified as a topic for future work. Full article

Background: End-effector robotic devices are increasingly used in rehabilitation to retrain neural pathways through repetitive, task-specific exercise. However, the influence of movement kinematic variables remains unclear. This systematic review aimed to; (i) identify end-effector robotic systems used in upper- and lower-limb spinal cord injury rehabilitation, (ii) describe their technical specifications and operational use, and (iii) explore associations between device use characteristics and study outcomes. Methods: A systematic review of five databases was conducted from inception to June 2026. Results: Fifteen studies, ten lower-limb and five upper-limb, met the inclusion criteria. These covered five commercially available lower-limb devices and three upper-limb devices. Most lower-limb studies demonstrated moderate-to-large improvements in balance, ambulation (WISCI-II), walking endurance (6mWT), and independence (SCIM-III). End-effector training produced comparable outcomes to both conventional therapy and exoskeleton-based rehabilitation in controlled comparisons. Upper-limb studies showed substantial heterogeneity in outcome selection, reflecting diverse rehabilitation goals. Conclusions: WISCI-II and 10MWT were the most used lower-limb functional assessments, with SCIM-III used to assess independence for both upper- and lower-limb motor impairments. Reporting of kinematic settings are often limited and concentrated at study onset, limiting assessment of their contribution to outcomes. Reporting the progression of session-level metrics is needed to better understand how time-varying kinematics affect intervention effectiveness. Full article

Spontaneous imbibition (SI) is the key mechanism governing oil production in fractured carbonates, where capillary forces drive oil from the low-permeability matrix into the fractures. Its application is limited by the strongly oil-wet nature of carbonate rocks and by high interfacial tension (IFT), which restrict the capillary forces needed to mobilize oil from the matrix. This work examines whether a combined low-salinity water (LSW)-surfactant enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process can be optimized for SI by tuning the potential determining ions (PDIs) of the hybrid-stage brine. Experiments were performed with a fixed LSW preconditioning stage, while the hybrid-stage composition and surfactant concentration were varied. Contact angle screening of three ion-modified LSW formulations showed that LSW3Ca3Mg-SO₄, with tripled Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, reduced the contact angle from 178.5° to 47.3° within 6 days and lowered the IFT from 33.2 to 17.5 mN/m without surfactant. In SI tests on limestone cores, ion-modified hybrid systems showed substantially higher early-time imbibition rates than conventional LSW-surfactant systems, together with equal or higher ultimate recovery. Notably, with 0.5 wt.% surfactant the ion-modified system reached an early-time rate of 0.75%/h and 36.36% of the original oil in place (OOIP), compared with 0.36%/h and 35.94% OOIP for conventional LSW with 1.0 wt.% surfactant, i.e., at half the surfactant dosage. Wettability-controlled systems, such as ion-modified LSW without surfactant, accelerate early imbibition but recover only about 6-7% OOIP regardless of ionic tuning. IFT reduction, in contrast, is considered to lower the capillary resistance in tight pore throats, allowing much higher recovery even while the rock surface remains oil-wet (40.15% OOIP with the ion-modified hybrid system at 1.0 wt.% surfactant). These findings suggest that tuning the ionic composition of the hybrid-stage brine can accelerate SI and allow a lower surfactant dosage, pointing to a potentially cost-effective ionic design strategy for EOR in fractured carbonate reservoirs. Full article

The continuous thickening and high-concentration discharge of fine unclassified sulfide ore tailings remain a critical challenge for deep-mine cemented paste backfill systems, yet a systematic optimization framework integrating flocculation chemistry, hydrodynamic simulation, and continuous discharge control has been lacking. This study fills this gap by combining experimental flocculation–settlement tests, response surface methodology (RSM), CFD-PBM-KTGF numerical simulations, and industrial-scale validation for a vertical sand tank operating at over 1000 m depth. A non-ionic polyacrylamide with an optimized molecular weight was selected, achieving a settling velocity approximately five times that of natural sedimentation. Response surface methodology (RSM) analysis revealed that slurry solids concentration, flocculant solution concentration, and flocculant dosage were all significant individual factors affecting the solid flux, whereas none of their pairwise interactions were statistically significant. The optimized parameters achieved a target solid flux that meets the mine’s backfill capacity requirements. CFD-PBM simulations revealed that floc growth occurs predominantly in the mid-depth zone and established a stable sand bed height of 12 m for continuous discharge. A 34 h industrial trial validated the optimized conditions, maintaining average underflow and overflow concentrations well within industrial specifications while achieving a stable dynamic mass balance. This work provides a comprehensive, experimentally validated framework for optimizing tailings thickening and continuous gravity discharge, offering both theoretical guidance and practical reference for deep-mine backfill operations. Full article

Three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) printing expand the design space for nano-enabled soft robots intended for cancer diagnosis and therapy. This structured narrative review separates three evidence classes: core systems satisfying all scope criteria, adjacent technologies satisfying only part of the definition, and enabling technologies not yet integrated as oncology soft robots. The revised evidence set contains 12 core reports, 7 adjacent comparators and 68 enabling methods, standards or background reports. Study-level analysis using independent manufacturing, biological, workflow and safety (M/B/W/S) axes shows that the core literature is dominated by single-platform, in vitro therapeutic demonstrations with absent or short-term safety evidence (S0-S1). No core study established cancer-specific diagnostic sensitivity or specificity, no human validation was identified, and only two systems were classified as genuine or candidate 4D platforms under a strict programmed-transformation definition. Hydrogel, magnetic, photothermal, conductive, imaging-active and melanin-based materials are evaluated together with printability, dose, localization, sterilization, retrieval, degradation and nanoparticle fate. Translation requires reproducible manufacture, quantitative application endpoints, exposure-matched safety testing and comparison with established oncology workflows. The principal gap is not the availability of additional functions, but the lack of integrated evidence connecting controlled manufacture to clinically meaningful diagnosis or therapy. These findings apply only to the studies identified within the predefined search and eligibility framework and do not establish the absence of relevant evidence elsewhere. Full article

This paper presents the closed-loop integration of three neural estimators within a physically based guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) architecture for a canard-controlled rocket. The estimators support Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) carrier-phase ambiguity processing, reconstruct the gravity vector in body axes, and correct the terminal line-of-sight (LOS) estimate obtained by fusing GNSS, inertial measurement unit (IMU), and semi-active laser (SAL) quadrant-detector information. Building on earlier specialized or partially integrated studies, the contribution is the simultaneous embedding of the three estimators in a common nonlinear six-degree-of-freedom closed loop and their evaluation, against a matched model-based baseline and an eight-configuration ablation study, under nominal, wind, high-angular-rate, GNSS-degradation, and combined-disturbance scenarios. By combining complementary attitude, gravity, and target-relative information while retaining physical validation and model-based fallback, the architecture is designed to improve navigation resilience and functional coverage across multiple sensor-degradation modes. All 500 closed-loop evaluation trajectories completed without numerical divergence. The overall trajectory-averaged squared vector errors were $4.13\times {10}^{-3}{\mathrm{m}}^2/{\mathrm{s}}^4$ for gravity and $1.59\times {10}^{-3}$(dimensionless, corresponding to a $2.3^{\circ }$ RMS-equivalent angular error) for LOS; under combined disturbances, their mean errors were 3.08 and 2.99 times the corresponding nominal values. Relative to the matched model-based baseline, the integrated architecture improved the GNSS ambiguity fix-success rate from $96.4\%$ to $97.9\%$ and reduced terminal-guidance circular error probable (CEP50) from $0.49$ m to $0.35$ m (an absolute reduction of $0.140$ m; paired-bootstrap $95\%$ CI $[0.118,0.156]$ m), corresponding to a $28.6\%$ relative reduction, and the ablation study indicated a near-additive, monotonically improving contribution from each of the three modules. The results demonstrate simultaneous operation of the three modules as active components of the propagated GNC loop over the tested conditions, with a quantified improvement over the matched conventional configuration. Full article

Background/Objectives: Endogenously produced ethanol (EndoEth) from a dysbiotic microbiome is an under-recognized pathogenic factor in metabolic diseases, including type-2 diabetes (T2DM). EndoEth is any systemically detectable alcohol in abstinent individuals. We aimed to assess EndoEth changes, its correlation with patients’ characteristics, metabolic indices, the disease outcomes, and its biomarker and independent risk factor characteristics as compared to healthy controls. Methods: EndoEth was cross-sectionally assayed using a specific enzymatic colorimetric method in 125 abstinent T2DM patients and 55 matching healthy controls. Its associations with glycemic control [fasting blood glucose (FBG), HbA1c, and triglyceride–glucose insulin resistance (TyG-IR) index], lipid profile [total, LDL-(LDL-C), and HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TGs)], and the disease duration, treatment and microvascular complication profile (ophthalmopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy) were assessed. Its biomarker ability was assessed using the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Results: Significantly higher levels of EndoEth were detected in T2DM patients. EndoEth had significant associations with disease duration, complications particularly ophthalmopathy, insulin treatment, fasting blood glucose, TyG-IR index, and plasma triglycerides. Complications were also significantly associated with age, male gender, disease duration, FBG and total cholesterol. ROC curve analysis showed acceptable moderate ability of plasma EndoEth to discriminate against T2DM complications (AUC mean ± standard error = 0.766 ± 0.047, p = 0.001, and at a cut-off ≥ 0.016 µmol/mL, sensitivity = 75.7% and specificity = 61.0%). Conclusions: EndoEth is higher in abstinent T2DM patients than in healthy controls, and is correlated with disease duration, insulin resistance and treatment and complications, particularly for ophthalmopathy. It had a moderate biomarker performance (AUC = 0.766) in discriminating against diabetic complications. Full article

To support the design of low-damage harvesting and transportation equipment, clarify the damage-formation mechanism under drop impact, and quantitatively predict impact-induced damage volume, this study investigated the cucumber cultivar “Zhongnong Cuiyu No. 3”. Mechanical and creep tests were conducted to determine the biomechanical parameters of the peel, flesh, and core. Based on the distinct internal tissue structure of the cucumber, a three-layer viscoelastic finite element (FE) model was developed. Tissue-specific damage thresholds were applied to calculate the dynamic damage volume throughout the entire impact process. Using a Box–Behnken design, a quadratic response surface model was established to analyze the effects of drop angle, drop height, and logarithmic contact stiffness on the log-transformed damage volume. The framework was subsequently validated through physical drop tests, tissue staining, and sliced-image analysis. Simulation results indicated that as drop height increased from 0.10 to 1.00 m, the maximum von Mises equivalent stress increased from 1.19–1.57 MPa to 2.49–3.30 MPa, with high-stress regions expanding significantly along the longitudinal axis of the fruit. The fitted response surface model yielded an R², adjusted R², and predicted R² of 0.9934, 0.9849, and 0.8943, respectively. Drop height showed the largest contribution to damage-volume variation, followed by a pronounced quadratic effect of drop angle, whereas contact stiffness showed a weaker influence within the tested range. Physical validation showed that the experimental damage volume generally increased with drop height and that the horizontal orientation (0° impact angle) produced lower damage than the inclined postures at medium and high drop heights. The numerical predictions reproduced the overall damage trend and approximate magnitude under several tested conditions, although condition-dependent deviations remained. Larger relative deviations at low damage levels were associated with the small absolute damage volume, biological variability, background micro-damage, staining response, and image-quantification uncertainty. The proposed framework effectively links tissue viscoelasticity, whole-fruit impact response, and three-dimensional damage volume, providing a robust theoretical basis for drop-risk assessment and the optimization of low-damage vegetable mechanization systems. Full article

Wind energy is becoming increasingly important in meeting energy security, grid reliability, and the growing electricity demand. The rapid increase in the number and prevalence of wind turbines has triggered the need for fast, cost-effective, reliable, and easy-to-implement inspection systems. Automated detection of coating defects is important for the maintenance and corrosion prevention of the turbines. In this context, this study aimed to compare and evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of deep learning models for detection of coating defects from images. In this context, the study evaluates five object detection models, RT-DETR-L, YOLOv8-M, YOLOv9-C, YOLO11-L, and YOLO26-L, on an open coating-defect dataset, with inclusion, pinhole, and scratch classes. Each model was trained with 3 random seeds for images of 640 × 640 and 1088 × 1088-pixel resolutions. At 1088 × 1088, YOLO26-L achieved the highest mean mAP50–95 (0.1142), while RT-DETR-L achieved the highest recall (0.5591) and F1 score (0.2217) at the operating confidence threshold of 0.25; RT-DETR-L was also the slowest model (59.8 ms/image). YOLOv8-M achieved a mean mAP50–95 of 0.0976 together with the lowest latency (34.2 ms/image) and lowest true batch-size-1 peak GPU-memory allocation (278 MB). Reducing the resolution to 640 × 640 lowered mAP50–95 by 25.4% for YOLOv8-M and 33.6% for RT-DETR-L while reducing latency and memory use. The results revealed a pronounced accuracy-efficiency trade-off rather than universal superiority of one model for coating defect detection for wind turbine towers. The dataset was acquired during the wind-tower painting process under controlled industrial imaging conditions, so the results characterise in-process coating inspection rather than the inspection of weathered, in-service turbines. Because only three random seeds were used, paired comparisons between individual models were not statistically conclusive (8 of 100 pairwise tests reached p < 0.05) and the reported rankings are descriptive. Applying operating thresholds—determined on the validation set for each model—to the independent test set altered the architectural ranking. At 1088 × 1088 resolution, YOLO26-L surpassed RT-DETR-L to achieve the highest mean F1 score, whereas at 640 × 640 resolution, RT-DETR-L’s ranking dropped significantly. The fact that the selected thresholds range from 0.076 to 0.456 indicates that the differences observed at the common threshold of 0.25 are sensitive to the choice of threshold. While the mAP50–95 decreased by approximately half in the 640 × 640 evaluation—where data leakage was eliminated—the 1088 × 1088 results were considered optimistic, as they were obtained based on the previous segmentation. Full article

Objective: T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a highly aggressive hematological malignancy with poor overall prognosis. This study systematically evaluates the anti-leukemic therapeutic potential and underlying redox-driven mechanisms of PZ2, a novel organic arsenic compound, in T-ALL. Methods: The cytotoxicity of PZ2 against T-ALL cell lines and normal cells was assessed to determine its therapeutic window. RNA-seq was utilized to map transcriptomic alterations. Intracellular redox homeostasis, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), cell cycle, and apoptosis were evaluated using flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. Ultrastructural changes and key protein expressions were analyzed via TEM, RT-qPCR, and immunoblotting. In vivo efficacy was validated using a T-ALL cell-line-derived xenograft (CDX) mouse model. Results: PZ2 exhibited superior cytotoxicity and an improved safety profile compared to inorganic arsenic trioxide (ATO). Transcriptomic data indicated strong enrichment in apoptosis and autophagy–lysosome pathways. PZ2 induced profound mitochondrial oxidative stress, leading to ROS accumulation, MMP loss, and subsequent activation of caspase-dependent apoptosis—effects that were completely rescued by ROS scavengers. Furthermore, PZ2 triggered G2/M phase arrest and activated autophagic flux (upregulated GABARAPL1 and LC3-II, degraded p62). Notably, pharmacological inhibition of autophagy rescued PZ2-induced apoptosis, revealing a pro-death autophagic mechanism. In vivo, PZ2 significantly suppressed tumor growth and prolonged survival without overt systemic toxicity. Conclusions: PZ2 exhibits potent anti-T-ALL activity that may involve a dual mechanism: ROS-dependent mitochondrial apoptosis and pro-death autophagy potentially associated with GABARAPL1. This novel organic arsenical may represent a promising and potentially safer alternative for leukemia therapy, and these findings suggest a potential interplay between oxidative stress and autophagic cell death. Full article

Background: Acute lung injury (ALI) features oxidative stress, macrophage dysfunction, and barrier disruption, with limited safe therapies. Plant-derived exosome-like nanovesicles (PENs) delivered noninvasively to the lung are promising but understudied. Methods: In vitro, HELNs were evaluated for their ability to scavenge ROS, restore mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) modulate M1/M2 polarization, and suppress pro-inflammatory cytokines. RNA-seq was also used to evaluate the TNF/NOD-like pathway and mitochondrial-related gene expression. In vivo, the evaluated parameters included biodistribution, therapeutic outcomes (lung wet/dry weight ratio, BALF protein concentration, MPO and MDA levels, histology), immune cell profiles, and cytokines. Biosafety was assessed via hematology, serum biochemistry, and histology. Results: In vitro, HELNs acted dose-dependently by scavenging ROS, recovering MMP, promoting M2 and suppressing M1 polarization, and reducing TNF-α, IL-6 release. Additionally, RNA-seq confirmed downregulation of TNF/NOD-like signals and regulated mitochondrial gene expression. In vivo, nebulized HELNs preferentially accumulated in inflamed lungs, with significantly higher pulmonary retention than intravenous delivery. HELNs reduced lung wet/dry weight ratio, BALF protein, MPO and MDA levels, and histological injury scores; decreased neutrophils and CD4⁺/CD8⁺ T cells; increased alveolar macrophages and Tregs; and lowered TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6. No significant systemic toxicity was observed. Conclusions: Nebulized HELNs offer a safe, effective, noninvasive ALI therapy by disrupting the oxidative stress-inflammation vicious cycles, reprogramming pulmonary immunity, and restoring barrier integrity, with strong translational potential. Full article

Autonomous underwater vehicles require the integration of inertial, velocity, optical, and acoustic measurements for reliable underwater navigation where GPS signals are unavailable or intermittent. During a mission, the utility of these modalities may vary due to changes in environmental visibility, Doppler velocity log tracking, acoustic geometries, or available infrastructure. While conventional approaches account for these differences with fixed measurement-level adaptations, they are insufficient to address the need to adjust the navigation modality used. We introduce a mode-aware multimodal navigation system that determines its current capabilities based on available sensor and estimator evidence and chooses from several distinct optical, DVL/inertial, LBL, USBL, relative dead-reckoning, and terminal navigation modes. We evaluated our proposed architecture via closed-loop simulation against a well-performing fixed configuration using both pre-determined testing scenarios and novel dynamically-changing test scenarios. In 400 tests involving dynamic scenarios, our approach reduced the horizontal root-mean-square error by 0.4262 m (−0.6052 m to −0.2608 m at 95% confidence interval) over the pre-selected configuration while selecting an appropriate viable mode 70.75% of the time during instances of sustained adaptation. Our system also demonstrated better transitions, which supports continuity and safety, but did not exhibit any measurable advantage in localization performance if the preselected fixed configuration was already suitable. Simulation results indicate that capability-aware navigation can enhance autonomous underwater vehicle performance when the best sensing configuration becomes unavailable after deployment. We also highlight the importance of switching selectivity as an engineering design consideration. Full article