Search Results (23,582)

Background/Objectives: Anastomotic leakage (AL) remains one of the most severe postoperative complications following colorectal surgery and is associated with increased morbidity, delayed adjuvant therapy, and impaired oncological outcomes in CRC patients. Increasing evidence suggests that alterations in the gut microbiome contribute to the pathogenesis of AL through effects on epithelial integrity, collagen metabolism, inflammatory pathways, and immune regulation. This review aimed to provide an updated overview of AL in CRC patients and to evaluate current evidence regarding the perioperative use of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics as microbiome-modulating interventions in reducing AL after radical CRC surgery. Methods: A comprehensive literature review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating perioperative microbiome-targeted interventions in CRC patients undergoing colorectal surgery was conducted. Searches of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Clarivate databases identified 477 records, of which 21 RCTs met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. Results: Current evidence supports the role of probiotics in modulating postoperative immune and inflammatory responses. Four studies demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in AL incidence. Perioperative probiotic administration was additionally associated with lower rates of infectious complications, attenuation of systemic inflammatory responses, and earlier recovery of bowel function. Multi-strain formulations containing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species appeared particularly promising. Overall, microbiome-targeted interventions were safe and well tolerated. However, treatment efficacy varied according to bacterial strain composition, dosage, and timing of administration. Conclusions: Perioperative microbiome modulation may contribute to restoration of gut microbial diversity and reduction in AL risk after radical CRC surgery. Multi-strain formulations containing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species appear particularly promising. Nevertheless, further large-scale, standardized clinical trials are required before definitive recommendations can be established. Full article

Aquaponics is an integrated and resource-efficient production system that combines aquaculture and hydroponics in a closed-loop environment with reduced water consumption and nutrient losses. The present study evaluated the nutritional composition, mineral profile, microbiological quality, and antioxidant-related phytochemical characteristics of red amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus L.) cultivated in a recirculating aquaponic system under controlled environmental conditions. Leaf biomass was analyzed for proximate composition, macro- and micronutrient content, total phenolic and flavonoid compounds, betalains, chlorophyll pigments, and antioxidant activity using standard analytical and spectrophotometric methods. The results demonstrated high crude protein content and substantial accumulation of essential minerals, particularly calcium, potassium, and magnesium. The analyzed biomass also exhibited elevated levels of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, betalains, and chlorophyll pigments associated with considerable antioxidant potential. The pigment profile suggested good physiological adaptation of plants to aquaponic cultivation conditions. In addition, microbiological analysis confirmed acceptable hygienic quality and safety of the harvested plant material. Overall, the findings indicate that red amaranth can be successfully cultivated in aquaponic systems while maintaining high nutritional value and functional food potential. The study highlights aquaponic cultivation as a sustainable approach to producing nutrient-dense leafy vegetables within environmentally responsible agricultural systems. Full article

Background/Objectives: Cyclodextrin-based ternary systems are widely used to improve the solubility of poorly soluble drugs. Amino acids such as L-arginine may further increase dissolved drug concentrations and reduce precipitation under physiologically relevant conditions. In many systems, apparent solubility enhancement is influenced simultaneously by drug ionization, inclusion complex formation, multicomponent interactions, and solid–liquid equilibria. This study presents a physicochemical modeling approach for analyzing pH-dependent solubility enhancement and precipitation behavior in drug–cyclodextrin–L-arginine systems. Methods: The model combines acid–base equilibria, binary inclusion complexation, ternary association, and explicit solid-phase partitioning within a unified mass-balance treatment. The approach was applied to representative ternary systems containing repaglinide, sulfadiazine, cefixime, and meloxicam. Results: Quantitative comparison with published phase-solubility data for the repaglinide–HPβCD–L-arginine system confirmed the numerical consistency of the model. The calculated profiles showed that enhanced solubilization and reduced precipitation occur only within specific pH regions determined by coupled equilibrium effects. For cefixime and meloxicam, the calculations were interpreted as predictive applications because directly comparable validation datasets were not available. Outside the favorable pH regions, a substantial fraction of the drug remained in the solid phase. Conclusions: These observations support the importance of pH and multicomponent interactions in controlling formulation performance in cyclodextrin-containing systems. The obtained profiles may support preliminary optimization of formulation pH and excipient composition before experimental screening. Full article

We introduce the String Ensemble Chords Dataset (SECD), a large-scale controlled compositional audio dataset comprising 287,088 harmonic-interval and chord instances constructed through additive superposition of professionally recorded isolated string notes from the Philharmonia Orchestra into duo-, trio-, and quartet-like four-voice mixtures. Each mixture includes exact per-voice metadata for absolute pitch, dynamic marking, and playing technique, and the corpus is organised into six dataset groups covering harmonic intervals, triads, and seventh chords under loose and strict metadata-consistency conditions. To demonstrate dataset utility, we define four representative and reproducible reference benchmarks: ensemble size recognition, triad chord quality identification, per-instrument dynamics classification, and playing technique-family recognition. Baseline Audio Spectrogram Transformer (AST) models achieve test accuracies of 98.67%, 93.73%, 98.19%, and 99.39%, with corresponding macro-F1 scores of 98.64%, 93.73%, 98.01%, and 97.29%, under a complete-instance-disjoint, in-domain evaluation protocol. These results provide reproducible reference performance for the selected SECD tasks and demonstrate the corpus’s utility for controlled analysis of harmonic, timbral, dynamic, and textural attributes in classical string audio. The full SECD corpus is released through Zenodo as constructed audio mixtures with accompanying metadata, while the project GitHub repository provides the EXP1–EXP4 benchmark code, saved split definitions, and the mini-SECD demonstration package for lightweight reproducibility. Full article

Fungal communities associated with the phyllosphere can influence plant health, stress responses, and disease dynamics in managed crop systems. However, limited information is available on fungal microbiome structure across phyllosphere compartments of Eucalyptus cinerea cultivated for cut foliage production. In this study, fungal communities (including epiphytic and endophytic fungi) associated with leaf, stem, and bark tissues of intensively managed E. cinerea grown in Ireland were characterised using ITS amplicon sequencing. Samples were collected from five trees, with tissues pooled by compartment to generate 15 biological samples. Following quality control and denoising, 405 fungal amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were retained for analysis. Observed richness, Shannon and Simpson indices, and Faith’s phylogenetic diversity differed among compartments, with bark exhibiting higher values than leaf and stem tissues (p < 0.05). PERMANOVA analysis indicated that both compartment (R² = 0.239, p = 0.002) and tree identity (R² = 0.451, p = 0.002) significantly influenced fungal community composition. Bark communities were dominated by Diaporthe (52.9%), Peniophora (12.8%), and Talaromyces (10.4%), whereas leaf and stem communities were characterised primarily by Vishniacozyma and Sporobolomyces. Differential abundance analysis identified 26 and 23 differentially abundant ASVs between bark and leaf, and bark and stem tissues, respectively, whereas no significant differences were detected between leaf and stem communities. Weighted UniFrac analyses further revealed separation of bark-associated communities from photosynthetic tissues. These findings demonstrate compartment-associated variation in fungal community structure within the phyllosphere of managed E. cinerea and highlight the importance of considering both host-level and tissue-level effects in plant microbiome studies. This study provides a baseline assessment of fungal assemblages associated with commercially managed Eucalyptus under Irish growing conditions and supports future investigations into the functional significance of these microbial communities for plant health and resilience. Full article

The circadian rhythm is an internal timing system formed by the body’s adaptation to the Earth’s rotation, which helps maintain homeostasis by regulating physiological, metabolic, and behavioral activities. The gut microbiota (GM), the largest microbial ecosystem in the human body, exhibits a bidirectional regulatory relationship with the host circadian clock. Emerging evidence indicates that circadian rhythm disruption (CRD) is linked to disturbances in the diurnal oscillations and compositional balance of the GM, accompanied by reduced short-chain fatty acid levels, increased lipopolysaccharide leakage, and altered tryptophan metabolism. These microbial abnormalities may be involved in anxiety-like behaviors through three major pathways: neuroendocrine (hyperactivation of the HPA axis), immune (microglia-mediated neuroinflammation), and neurotransmitter (imbalance of the serotonergic and dopaminergic systems). Conversely, microbial metabolites such as butyrate and secondary bile acids may reciprocally regulate peripheral clock gene expression, forming a complex “circadian rhythm–GM–anxiety” interaction network. This review summarizes the molecular basis of circadian–GM interactions, potential GM-mediated mechanisms linking CRD with anxiety, and emerging intervention strategies including chrononutrition (time-restricted feeding, sequential nutrient intake), microbiota-targeted therapies (probiotics/prebiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation), and light therapy and melatonin supplementation. Future directions should focus on cell-specific mechanisms using single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, developing personalized interventions that integrate chronotype and microbiome profiling, and conducting large-scale randomized controlled trials to facilitate clinical translation. This review provides a framework for understanding the integrative role of circadian biology and gut microbiota in anxiety and may help develop precision intervention paradigms. Full article

Developing advanced bioinspired photoprotective barrier from marine resources represents a critical frontier of bioprocessing. This study established a rational design and implementation of effective photoprotective surface-coating eumelanin from ink of an Indian squid (Uroteuthis duvaucelii). The Central Composite Design was developed to optimize extraction and functionalization parameters of eumelanin on quartz substrates, strategically developing the matrix for peak optical attenuation within the potential Far-UVC window (220 nm). Translational photoprotective efficacy of the surface, as well as finished eumelanin on quartz surface, was validated by subjecting them to a challenging macro-level biological assay using a hospital-grade 254 nm ultraviolet germicidal source (125 µWcm⁻²). Quantitative physical dosimetry established that the squid eumelanin coating (A254 = 1.00) reduced internal transmittance to approximately 10%, successfully dampening the incident fluence from 0.225 J cm⁻² down to a heavily attenuated 0.0225 J cm⁻² at the biological sample plane. While unshielded control indicator microbial strains suffered complete lethal inactivation, the eumelanin barrier maintained exceptional cell viability, yielding biological shielding efficiencies of 98% for Bacillus subtilis, 96% for Staphylococcus aureus, and 92% for Escherichia coli. Characteristic features from FE-SEM, FTIR, and XRD analysis established that this superior photoprotective property is governed by the extensively conjugated, π-π-stacked indolic architecture possessing a characteristic 3.4 Å interlayer d-spacing, which facilitates rapid, non-radiative energy dissipation. This work establishes an effective framework for translating squid biomass into high-value, transparent optical barriers, providing a potential sustainable alternative to synthetic ultraviolet absorbers. Full article

Steam injection is an energy-intensive enhanced-oil-recovery method for high-viscosity reservoirs, and its performance is controlled by coupled heat delivery, steam condensation, temperature-dependent viscosity reduction, mobility change and reservoir filtration response. This study develops an experimentally validated physics-motivated residual-learning framework for forecasting oil production and selecting thermally rational steam-supply regimes. The model combines a physics-motivated semi-empirical baseline describing useful steam-related heat input, calibrated viscosity transformation, mobility growth, steam–oil ratio and a thermal-energy efficiency index with a residual-learning block fitted to measured regime-level records. The supervised forecasting task was performed at the regime level using 200 operating-regime records treated as the effective modelling units, with nested logs aggregated within regimes and within-group dependence examined through campaign-, reservoir-state- and well-availability-based checks. The 4800 steam-injection log entries and 4800 production-response log entries were treated as nested time-resolved measurements used only for regime-level aggregation, feature construction and quality-control checks; they were not counted as independent training samples. Blind-test validation produced R² values of 0.974 for oil rate, 0.988 for cumulative oil production, 0.731 for steam–oil ratio and 0.828 for the thermal-energy efficiency index; the corresponding MAPE values were 4.56%, 3.86%, 4.48% and 3.29%, respectively. The error structure shows higher uncertainty for composite indicators than for direct production responses, which is consistent with the measurement chain. Response-surface and Pareto analyses identify bounded steam-supply operating regions where production gain remains balanced against specific steam consumption and the thermal-energy efficiency index. Full article

Sericin-derived oligopeptides (SDOs) from the Bombyx mori yellow silk cocoons show strong bioactive properties. However, clinical safety data on SDOs produced by specific enzymatic hydrolysis with a particular serine-rich (20.5%) and aspartic acid-rich (16.9%) composition is required to obtain regulatory approval as a novel food ingredient. This Phase 0 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluated the short-term safety, tolerability, and gut microbiota effects of SDOs supplementation in healthy adults. Forty-two healthy volunteers were randomized (1:1:1) to receive daily doses of placebo, 0.9 g SDOs or 1.8 g SDOs for eight weeks. Primary safety endpoints included vital signs, hematology, and comprehensive clinical chemistry (renal and hepatic functions). Secondary outcomes included lipid profiles, oxidative stress markers (hs-CRP, TAC, SOD, MDA) and gut microbiota composition analyzed by 16S rRNA metagenome sequencing. Forty-one participants (97.6%) completed the study with high compliance (>98%). No serious adverse events were reported. All primary clinical parameters remained within clinically normal ranges, and no significant differences between groups were observed throughout the study (p > 0.05). No adverse effects on fasting blood glucose, lipid profiles or systemic oxidative stress were observed after SDOs supplementation. Importantly, 16S rRNA sequencing analysis showed that SDOs maintained gut microbial homeostasis throughout the 8-week intervention period, with Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes as the predominant phyla in the core community structure. Oral intake of enzymatically generated SDOs up to 1.8 g/day in healthy adults was well-tolerated with only occasional mild and transient gastrointestinal symptoms that did not appear to be dose-dependent. These first preliminary findings suggest a favorable safety profile for this unique peptide preparation, supporting its potential evaluation as a novel food ingredient and providing a reasonable basis for future, larger-scale trials to evaluate its efficacy in metabolic health. Full article

The skin is the largest organ of the human body and, due to its direct contact with the external environment, is one of the most vulnerable tissues. Traditional medical bandages and gauze exhibit limited efficacy in wound management, often neglecting the control of wound inflammation and the promotion of skin regeneration. Hydrogels, as an emerging material, possess appropriate swelling capacity, oxygen permeability, and the ability to absorb wound exudates, thereby facilitating wound healing, making them an ideal choice for functional applications in skin tissue engineering. In this study, dual-treated balsa wood (BWSM) was used as the hydrogel substrate, with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), chitosan (CS), and zinc gluconate (ZnG) used as the primary raw materials. The BWSM/PVA/CS/ZnG hydrogel was prepared via gamma-ray irradiation. Balsa wood treated with alkaline solutions, hydrogen peroxide solutions, and microwave treatment processing exhibited enhanced transparency, increased porosity, improved thermal stability and swelling rates, while retaining adequate mechanical strength. Gamma-ray irradiation of the BWSM/PVA/CS/ZnG hydrogel wound dressing demonstrated sustained drug release and antibacterial efficacy through release and antimicrobial tests. Animal experiments showed that the BWSM/PVA/CS/ZnG composite hydrogel promoted wound healing in mice and effectively prevented scar formation. The aforementioned results demonstrate that the PVA/CS/ZnG composite hydrogel loaded with balsa wood exhibits durable antibacterial properties and high mechanical strength and promotes wound healing, making it suitable for applications in biomedical materials such as wound dressings. Full article

Glass-transition-driven shape memory polymers are promising materials for 4D printing because their thermally activated transition enables programmed deformation and recovery without relying on melting or crystallization-driven switching. In this study, PDMS-MMA-modified photocurable networks were designed for vat photopolymerization-based 4D printing by varying PDMS-MMA content and switching monomer structure while maintaining a fixed TMPTMA crosslinker content. The resin formulations were prepared using tert-butyl acrylate (tBA) or isobornyl acrylate (IBOA) as switching monomers, PDMS-MMA as a flexible mobility-regulating segment, and TMPTMA as a multifunctional crosslinker. The effects of formulation composition on printability, network formation, thermal stability, thermomechanical transition, mechanical properties, and shape memory behavior were systematically investigated. FT-IR analysis confirmed effective photocuring of the acrylate/methacrylate networks, while rheological evaluation showed that resin viscosity depended on monomer structure and PDMS-MMA content. DMA results revealed thermomechanical transition, although some formulations exhibited broad tan δ responses due to network heterogeneity and distributed segmental relaxation. Based on resin printability, printed-part resolution, and relatively well-defined tan δ transitions, T-15 and I-15 were selected as representative formulations for quantitative shape memory evaluation. Shape memory testing was conducted under force-control mode because stable strain-controlled programming was not achievable for the printed specimens. Both T-15 and I-15 exhibited high shape fixity over two programming–recovery cycles. I-15 showed stable recovery behavior with recovery ratios of 91.51% and 95.87%, whereas T-15 showed apparent over-recovery with recovery ratios exceeding 100%, likely due to residual stress release during reheating. Overall, these results demonstrate that thermally activated shape-memory performance is governed not only by the nominal transition temperature but also by the coupled effects of PDMS-mediated segmental mobility, switching monomer structure, mechanical integrity, and elastic energy storage within a fixed crosslinked network framework. Full article

Background: Conventional ophthalmic eye drops have low bioavailability (<5%) and poor patient adherence, driving the development of sustained-release ophthalmic drug delivery systems. The lacrimal drainage system represents a unique anatomical site for minimally invasive depot formulations. Objective: To summarize and critically appraise punctal and intracanalicular drug delivery systems, occlusive devices, and in situ-forming hydrogels with respect to composition, release mechanisms, clinical efficacy, safety, and critical quality attributes (CQAs). Methods: A narrative literature review was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.gov, and patent/regulatory sources, including FDA materials and Google Patents, covering 2001–2026. Anatomical features, materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients, release profiles, and adverse events were analyzed. Results: Seventy-one sources were included. Occlusive plugs without an active pharmaceutical ingredient demonstrate premature expulsion in up to 57.4% of cases and bacterial colonization in 44%. Drug delivery systems provide release from 7 days (PEGDA hydrogels) to 3 months (Eximore, Ocular Therapeutix™). DEXTENZA^® (dexamethasone) is FDA-approved for postoperative inflammation, whereas pivotal trials of travoprost (OTX-TP) and latanoprost systems (L-PPDS, EXP-LP) did not demonstrate superiority over placebo or eye drops. In situ systems eliminate size-fitting requirements but face challenges related to gelation control and biodegradation. Conclusions: We propose the following candidate CQAs: retention (>80% over 4 weeks), swelling degree (30–60%), controlled burst release (<40% within 24 h), and mechanical compatibility. The proposed QTPP matrices for punctal, intracanalicular, and in situ systems may guide the development of ophthalmic drug delivery platforms. Full article

PM₁₀ filters provide short-term quantitative information on particle-bound potentially toxic elements (PTEs), whereas mosses integrate deposition and accumulation over longer periods but do not provide air-volume-normalised concentrations. Their combined use may therefore provide a more complete assessment of atmospheric PTE deposition. The study aimed to assess whether active moss biomonitoring and filter-based PM₁₀ monitoring provide complementary information on atmospheric deposition of PTEs under comparable exposure conditions. During the six-month campaign in Opole, PM₁₀ was collected during repeated 24 h sampling events, while three moss species: Pleurozium schreberi, Sphagnum fallax, and Dicranum polysetum were exposed cumulatively. PTE concentrations were determined by ICP-MS; particle-size descriptors, including Q₁₀, Q₅₀, and Q₉₀, were analysed for a subset of filters, whereas net concentration change and RAF were calculated relative to identically processed unexposed moss controls. Spearman correlation, PCA, and Bray–Curtis dissimilarity were used for data analysis. The material retained on the PM₁₀ filters was dominated by Fe, Zn, and Pb, whilst elevated peak values for Cd, Zn, and Pb indicated episodic enrichment in some samples. In mosses, Pb and Co showed the most consistent relative enrichment, while mean RAF exceeded 1.0 for five elements in P. schreberi and two elements each in D. polysetum and S. fallax. PCA separated PM₁₀ from moss profiles, with the first two components explaining 80.4% of the variance, while PM₁₀-moss Bray–Curtis distances ranged from 0.75 to 0.81. The results indicate that PM₁₀ filters and mosses record different but complementary aspects of the atmospheric PTE signal. The simultaneous use of both methods allows the atmospheric PTE signal to be interpreted at two levels: the short-term composition of PM₁₀ material retained on the filters, and the long-term retention and accumulation of elements within the moss matrix. Full article

Ecological disturbance is rarely included as an internal factor in ultimate pit limit design. As a result, conventional methods based on profit maximization are limited in their ability to support green and efficient open-pit mine designing. In this study, an ecological cost accounting model for open-pit mining was developed based on the DPSIR framework. In the proposed model, land occupation and associated ecosystem degradation cost, carbon emission cost, environmental pollution control cost during the mining period, ecological monitoring and maintenance cost, and post-closure reclamation cost were monetized and integrated with economic profit. On this basis, an economic–ecological comprehensive benefit was defined as the difference between economic profit and total ecological cost. This comprehensive benefit was used to support ultimate pit limit scheme selection and the assessment of slope angle optimization potential. A set of candidate ultimate pit limit schemes was generated for a large open-pit iron mine under different combinations of zonal slope angles and open-pit scales. The ecological costs of the candidate schemes were mainly between USD 1160 million and USD 1350 million. In terms of cost composition, land occupation and associated ecosystem degradation cost accounted for approximately 67.3% of the total ecological cost. After ecological cost was included, the peak of the economic–ecological comprehensive benefit shifted toward a smaller open-pit scale, indicating that profit maximization alone may lead to excessive pit expansion. Zonal sensitivity analysis showed that the strongest responses on slope angle optimization potential were found in Zones 4# and 3#. For each 1° increase in slope angle, average increases of approximately USD 41.38 million and USD 35.32 million in pit profit were obtained in Zones 4# and 3#, respectively. Full article

Given the prevalence of chronic wounds and soft tissue defects, which are associated with major complications such as persistent inflammation, poor vascularization, infection risk, and delayed tissue remodeling, there is a need for new materials that can overcome these limitations. Fibrin-based materials have attracted researchers’ attention for their roles in hemostasis and wound healing, as well as their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and ability to mimic the extracellular matrix. Regarding the clinical applicability of fibrin-based materials, they are currently available on the market as fibrin sealants. However, efforts are underway to improve their properties by developing hydrogels, platelet-derived fibrin matrices, and composite scaffolds that enhance mechanical stability, bioactivity, and the controlled release of cells or therapeutic agents. In addition, the number of clinical studies and registered clinical trials reflects interest in the potential applicability of fibrin-based materials in medical applications. However, the available clinical evidence remains limited for many emerging systems, and further validation is required. Although significant limitations remain, including rapid degradation, variable mechanical strength, and the need for standardized manufacturing processes, recent advances in hybrid systems and biofabrication technologies suggest promising future potential for personalized regenerative therapies. Full article