Search Results (368)

The World Health Organization targets hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination as a public-health threat by 2030. Phetchabun province, in lower northern Thailand, has historically reported one of the country’s highest HCV seroprevalence rates. We describe a province-wide, decentralized test-to-treat micro-elimination program implemented within Thailand’s universal health-coverage system. Adults aged 35–64 years (2020–2024) and individuals born before 1992 (late 2023) across all 11 districts were screened using fingerstick anti-HCV rapid diagnostic tests at sub-district health-promoting hospitals. Reactive participants underwent confirmatory HCV-RNA testing at three regional nodes. Eligible patients received pangenotypic sofosbuvir/velpatasvir for 12 weeks, with ribavirin added for cirrhosis. Sustained virological response at 12 weeks post-treatment (SVR12) was the primary outcome. Of 400,567 targeted individuals, 389,547 (97.3%) were screened; 18,340 (4.71%) were anti-HCV reactive. Confirmatory HCV-RNA testing was completed in 14,845 (80.9%), of whom 10,996 (74.1%) had active infection. Of 8961 treatment-eligible patients, 8842 (98.7%) received DAA therapy. Among 6719 evaluable for SVR12, 6474 (96.4%) achieved cure. This simplified, domestically financed, decentralized test-to-treat model achieved WHO-target-level diagnosis, treatment, and cure rates at provincial scale, offering a scalable framework for HCV micro-elimination in low- and middle-income countries. Full article

In backfill mining of metal mines, the sedimentation and shrinkage of backfill slurry critically affect roof-contact quality and stope stability. This study investigates these characteristics for unsorted tailings backfill slurry from the Daye Iron Mine through laboratory experiments and develops a prediction model for the shrinkage rate. Tests examined the effects of cement-to-tailings ratio (1:4 to 1:20) and slurry concentration (65% to 71%) on shrinkage rate over curing time. A crested porcupine optimizer-backpropagation (CPO-BP) neural network model was developed to predict the shrinkage rate and compared with the traditional BP model. The robustness and generalization capability of the model were further verified by repeated five-fold cross-validation and by comparison with the GA-BP, PSO-BP, random forest, support vector regression, and XGBoost models. Results show that shrinkage predominantly occurs within the first 8 h and stabilizes after 24 h; high-concentration slurries stabilize earlier. At a fixed concentration, the shrinkage rate increases with decreasing cement-to-tailings ratio; at a fixed ratio, it decreases with increasing concentration. The CPO-BP model significantly outperforms the BP model, achieving a mean squared error (MSE) of 3.0767 × 10⁻⁶, a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.4528 × 10⁻³, and a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.94946 on the test set. For the Daye Iron Mine, a slurry concentration of 69–71% reduces shrinkage height and improves roof-contact rate. This study reveals the evolution of shrinkage rate with curing time, cement-to-tailings ratio, and concentration, demonstrates the effectiveness of the CPO-BP model, and optimizes the backfilling scheme, providing a theoretical basis for roof-contact quality control in practice. Full article

In this study, we explore the static and dynamic mechanical responses of layered cemented backfill subjected to blasting loads. Variable-rate uniaxial compression tests and Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) numerical simulations were performed on specimens with three different interlayer cement-to-tailings ratios. All samples were cured for 28 days before testing. The test results reveal that uniaxial compressive strength rises and then falls with increasing loading rates, and mixed tensile-shear failure dominates quasi-static loading conditions. The interlayer cement-to-tailings ratio dominates the bearing capacity of backfill. At the test loading rate of 0.02 mm/s, lowering the interlayer ratio from 1:4 to 1:8 sharply reduces peak strength from 5.595 MPa to 1.285 MPa, with a total drop of 77.0%. SHPB simulation results show obvious strain-rate hardening under dynamic impact. For samples with an interlayer ratio of 1:4, dynamic compressive strength increases from 5.38 MPa to 6.16 MPa as impact velocity rises from 4 m/s to 13 m/s, a 14.5% improvement caused by rapid compaction of internal micropores. Combining damage mechanics and energy conservation principles, we establish a dynamic damage constitutive model that couples inherent layered interfacial damage with blasting-induced dynamic disturbance. Model predictions match experimental measurements well. The peak strength error is only 1.3% at a loading rate of 0.005 mm/s, and peak deviations for all test cases are controlled within 5.0%. This work quantitatively clarifies the static and dynamic mechanical evolution of layered cemented backfill, and provides solid theoretical support for mixture proportion design and blasting stability assessment in high-stage sequential backfilling mining. Full article

People with diabetes often have a high rate of oral implant failure and unstable long-term treatment effects. It is urgent to find the potential mechanisms and effective cure methods to address the increasing demand for dental restoration in recent years. This paper aims to find an influential factor, and a probable treatment resulting from it, to improve poor osseointegration and achieve favorable bone regeneration. To find out the influential factor of poor diabetic osseointegration, we compared marginal bone loss among patients taking different hypoglycemic drugs. To verify our pre-clinical findings, we performed in vitro experiments as well as micro-CT, fluorescence intensity, and histopathological analysis methods after establishing a diabetic rat model controlled by different systemic hypoglycemic drugs. To enhance implant osseointegration and find out the underlying mechanism, we proposed the GelMA–alogliptin hydrogel system and tested the scratch wound healing, cell adhesion, CCK-8, live-dead cell staining, osteogenesis, qPCR, and Western blot methods based on diabetic rat-derived BMSCs, HUVECs and BMMS, as well as the in vivo experiments in diabetic rats. People with diabetes under DPP4i (alogliptin) exhibit the lowest marginal bone loss. The systemic alogliptin and locally delivered peri-implant GelMA–alogliptin hydrogel treatment promoted bone regeneration around diabetic implants, enhanced diabetic-derived BMSC activity and migration through GLP1R/GSK3β/β-catenin and induced osteogenic differentiation, and promoted vascular regeneration and inflammation control. Alogliptin has positive effects on the oral implant health of people with diabetes. A locally delivered GelMA–alogliptin hydrogel system exhibits competitive ability to improve diabetic bone microenvironment and enhance implant osseointegration. Full article

A cure-dependent viscoelastic constitutive model is developed to describe the stress response of epoxy resin during curing. The progressive formation of the load-carrying network is represented phenomenologically through cure-dependent equilibrium and Maxwell-branch stiffness functions. A one-dimensional history-integral equation is derived and extended to non-isothermal conditions by incorporating temperature-dependent stiffness and reduced-time effects. Explicit stress-increment equations are then obtained for one-dimensional and three-dimensional isotropic materials and implemented in ABAQUS through a UMAT. Two idealized numerical cases are used to verify the consistency between the UMAT results and direct constitutive calculations. An illustrative encapsulation model further shows that different assumptions regarding the curing-dependent stiffness factor produce substantial differences in peak and final stresses. An additional cooling-rate sensitivity analysis shows that increasing the cooling rate increases the magnitude of the final compressive stress because less time is available for viscoelastic relaxation. A formal tensorial extension is also provided for anisotropic thermosetting materials, although it is not numerically assessed. The present results constitute constitutive and numerical verification rather than material-specific experimental validation. Full article

Directing a stream of air across the tooth when light curing resin-based composites (RBCs) may affect their degree of conversion (DC), maximum rate of polymerization (RP_max), and in vitro intrapulpal temperature. Methods: Filtek One Bulk Fill and VisCalor bulk were preheated according to the manufacturer’s instructions and used to fill a Class I cavity in a molar at 32 °C. A stream of air at either 15 or 30 psi was directed across the tooth from an air-water syringe positioned 1 cm from the buccal surface. The RBCs were light-cured for 20 s using the Bluephase N, and the DC and RP_max were determined from real-time FT-IR data. A T-type thermocouple positioned inside the pulp chamber recorded the temperature. DC and RP_max data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, whereas temperature was analyzed using two-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey post hoc tests. Results: Directing a stream of air at the tooth produced no significant differences in the DC and RP_max. The temperature change (ΔT) decreased compared to when no air was delivered. No significant difference in ΔT was found between the two air pressures. Conclusions: Directing a stream of air across the tooth when the preheated RBC was inserted did not affect the polymerization kinetics. The air stream reduced the temperature rise inside the pulp chamber as the RBC was light-cured. Clinical Significance: Directing a stream of air across the tooth at either 15 psi or 30 psi during light curing is an easy method to reduce the temperature increase inside the pulp chamber without affecting the polymerization kinetics of the evaluated preheated RBCs in this in vitro model. Full article

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) are physically complementary non-destructive evaluation methods for reinforced concrete, yet their integrated diagnostic use has been limited by the absence of controlled, ground-truth-validated calibration of the joint-signature space. This paper presents a laboratory calibration programme in which a single C30/37 reinforced concrete beam (3000 mm × 300 mm × 200 mm, three T12 bars at 35 mm cover, CEM I 42.5N, w/c = 0.50) was sequentially conditioned through four controlled deterioration states—intact reference (Model A), water-filled saw-cut crack (Model B), full saturation by seven-day top-surface ponding (Model C), and chloride-induced active corrosion (Model D). Seven RES2DINV inverted ERT sections at three electrode spacings (a = 7, 15, and 30 mm) and three 800 MHz GPR profiles were acquired across the four known ground-truth conditions. The intact-reference resistivity ρ₀ = 558 Ω·m (full-section median of the mlab dataset at a = 7 mm) and GPR-calibrated velocity v = 0.095 ± 0.008 m/ns (from hyperbola fitting at 35 mm rebar cover) establish the absolute baselines. The four conditions produce systematically distinct joint signatures: Model A exhibits uniform high resistivity with clean rebar hyperbolae and no anomalous reflections; Model B produces a localised ERT low-ρ anomaly (ρ_min = 1.46 Ω·m) co-located with a negative-polarity (R = −0.68) GPR crack-mouth reflection confirming water-fill; Model C produces pervasive low-ρ with a smooth depth gradient and 50–65% GPR amplitude attenuation (−6.0 to −9.1 dB); Model D produces the same bulk GPR signatures as Model C but with a critically different ERT spatial texture—a heterogeneous near-surface layer above a sharp boundary at z ≈ 40 mm with depth-preferential low-ρ concentrated at rebar level. This depth-preferential signature, quantified here by a reproducible Depth-Preferential Index (DPI), is the primary ERT-only diagnostic criterion distinguishing active corrosion from pervasive saturation. For the Model C versus Model D distinction, the GPR response is non-discriminating; this high-risk distinction is resolved exclusively by the ERT depth-preferential criterion. The calibration demonstrates that GPR and ERT are physically non-redundant in the strict sense: neither method alone can unambiguously discriminate all four states, but their combination yields correct classification within the controlled laboratory conditions and subject to the stated qualification conditions. The corrosion state was confirmed at the regime level (chloride above the depassivation threshold, under accelerated polarisation) but was not quantified electrochemically, so the depth-preferential signature is interpreted as an indirect spatial proxy for active corrosion rather than a measurement of corrosion rate. Seven failure modes are quantitatively characterised and embedded in the framework as a priori qualification conditions. The calibrated reference values (ρ₀, A₀, Stage 2 thresholds, depth-preferential criterion) are specific to the laboratory mix and curing history and require local Stage 1 recalibration for field application. Full article

Background/Objectives: In Italy, one- and five-year survival of primary liver cancer patients have increased in recent decades and were higher after hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than after intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). This study aimed to estimate the complete prevalence and cure indicators (long-term survival) after liver cancer diagnosis by histologic type. Methods: Data from 31 Italian cancer registries, covering 28,057,000 residents (47% of the population), were included. The complete prevalence was calculated in 2018. The mixture-cure model was used to estimate the cure fraction (CF, proportion of newly diagnosed patients with the same life expectancy as the general population), the cure prevalence (prevalent patients who will not die as a result of cancer) and the life expectancy of fatal cases (LEF). Results: In 2018, 31,723 Italians (53 per 100,000) lived after a liver cancer diagnosis. Among them, the cure prevalence was 23.3% for HCC and 40.3% for ICC. The CF remained <10% for cases diagnosed in recent decades. Higher and rising CF rates were observed between 2005 and 2015 only among patients with HCC aged <45 years (2% of all cases), with an increase from 13% to 22% in men and from 19% to 29% in women, and among patients aged 45–54 years (8% of all cases), with an increase from 7% to 15% in men and from 11% to 19% in women. The LEF for HCC in 2015 was 29 months for both sexes, an 8-month increase since 2005. Conclusions: No substantial advantage nor favourable trends in the CF was apparent for older patients with HCC as compared to those with ICC, with some progresses for the small age groups of <45 years. A clear-cut increase in CF of patients with HCC aged under 55 years occurred in the 2010s decade, with no changes for older patients. This was accompanied by an increase in the LEF. Although limited by a considerable proportion of liver cancers of unspecified histologic type, the cure indicators presented here may help monitor the long-term effects of therapeutic advances and of surveillance programmes for people with cirrhosis and HCV infection. Full article

The disposal of construction and demolition waste (CDW) and the rehabilitation of water-rich goafs present two pressing challenges in sustainable mining and geotechnical engineering. This study introduces a bio-carbonated reactive magnesia cement (RMC) technology to solidify CDW for goaf backfilling applications. A comprehensive experimental program was conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties, water stability, and durability of bio-carbonated RMC-solidified CDW under simulated water-rich goaf environments. The unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the 16% RMC specimens reached 3.12 MPa after 28 days, which was approximately 21% higher than that of the 12% Portland cement (OPC) control. Under dynamic water erosion conditions of 1.0 m/s for 72 h, the 16% RMC specimens showed a mass loss rate of 2.68% and a strength retention rate of 84.2%, both of which were superior to those of the 12% OPC control. The water–land strength ratio of the 16% RMC specimens reached 0.90 after 28 days of immersion, and the strength retention rate remained at 73.1% after 12 wet–dry cycles. Compared to the OPC control, these two indicators respectively represent a precise increase of 25% and approximately 60%. Microstructural analysis revealed that hydrated magnesium carbonates (HMCs), including nesquehonite and hydromagnesite, formed a dense spatial network that binds CDW particles and blocks pore channels. Additionally, a random forest model quantified the relative importance of RMC content, curing age, and carbonation degree on UCS, confirming that RMC dosage and the extent of carbonation are the dominant controlling factors. The optimal RMC content was determined to be 16%, balancing performance and cost. This study demonstrates that bio-carbonated RMC-solidified CDW is a technically viable and low-carbon backfill material with substantial CO₂ sequestration potential for water-rich goafs. Full article

Surface fire frequently occurs beneath the canopy of North American forests under moderate wind speed and moisture-deficit conditions. Surface rate of spread (sROS) models can provide guidance for suppression operations and can be incorporated into fire growth modelling systems and other tools. We used a database of primarily Canadian experimental surface fires in conifer and deciduous stands from multiple sites to fit empirical sROS models for operational use and compare with pre-existing models. Various predictor combinations represented fires in boreal conifer (BOCON), deciduous, and Ponderosa pine-dominated stands, the latter analyzed to estimate grass-curing influence. The main predictors were wind speed (WS₁₀), estimated fuel moisture, and Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) System components (original and stand-adjusted). The ensuing fitted models (N = 51–93) were evaluated using standard metrics and tested using an independent conifer dataset (N = 26). The simplest model finds BOCON sROS to be equal to 1.2% of the WS₁₀, 1/7th the speed of crown fire spread under similar conditions; it is easily calculated as 20% of WS₁₀ using a common unit conversion (WS₁₀ in km h⁻¹, sROS in m min⁻¹). The best-performing sROS models displayed nonlinear-sigmoidal responses to wind and litter moisture variables, including the Initial Spread Index (ISI), and improved upon pre-existing models. Estimated accuracy was mostly +/− 2–4 m min⁻¹ within the range of the data in both training and validation datasets. These models reflect a dataset gathered from multiple sites using varying experimental methods. While imprecise, they are suitable for many applications, including operational forecasting and designing hazard reduction treatments. Full article

The skin is the largest organ of the human body and acts as a major protective barrier against external agents. However, the highly organized stratum corneum limits the effective delivery of many therapeutic compounds, especially hydrophilic and high-molecular-weight drugs. Conventional topical formulations often exhibit poor permeability, low bioavailability, and limited targeting efficiency. This review discusses recent advances in nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems, including bio-based, biodegradable, and biocompatible polymeric nanocarriers for dermal and transdermal applications, with particular emphasis on vesicular, polymeric, and hybrid nanosystems. Nanocarriers such as liposomes, ethosomes, transfersomes, polymeric nanoparticles, micelles, nanogels, and lipid–polymer hybrid systems have demonstrated improved drug solubility, stability, controlled release, and skin permeation for localized (dermal) delivery compared with conventional formulations. In addition, biodegradable polymeric materials enhance dermal deposition and prolong drug retention, leading to improved therapeutic efficacy. These nanosystems can facilitate enhanced transdermal drug transport under optimized conditions; however, the extent of systemic delivery varies widely depending on drug physicochemical properties, formulation characteristics, and application conditions. Drug transport may occur through intercellular, transcellular, and follicular pathways, resulting in enhanced bioavailability and site-specific delivery. Claims regarding transdermal (systemic) absorption are restricted to cases supported by in vivo or clinical evidence. Furthermore, combining nanocarriers with microneedles and stimuli-responsive platforms has expanded the potential for controlled and on-demand transdermal delivery. Recent preclinical and clinical studies have reported that nanocarrier-based methotrexate gels reduced PASI-like scores by over 70% in psoriatic models, while oleic acid vesicle formulations achieved more than 95% cure rates in rodent models of tinea corporis. Despite these advances, challenges related to large-scale production, stability, regulatory approval, and clinical translation remain significant. Future developments integrating smart nanocarriers, bio-based polymeric biomaterials, wearable technologies, and AI-assisted design may improve personalized dermatological therapies. These innovations in nanocarrier drug delivery are accelerating the translation of advanced therapies to the clinic, promising safer, more effective and personalized dermatological treatments. Full article

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of various 3D printing resins and post-processing cleaning protocols on the physical and mechanical characteristics of printed dental models. Specifically, the research compared the effects of water-based vs. isopropyl alcohol (IPA)-based cleaning on surface morphology, mass, color stability, and mechanical durability. The findings revealed that surface roughness and microstructure remained constant regardless of the solvent used, indicating that these properties are primarily driven by resin composition and curing protocols. However, specimens cleaned with water exhibited slightly higher mass values due to moisture retention or lower evaporation rates. Color stability remained unaffected by the post-processing method. Most notably, water-cleaned models demonstrated superior mechanical durability and structural integrity compared to those processed with IPA, which is often associated with micro-fractures and excessive dehydration. Full article

Endometritis—inflammation of the endometrial lining—imposes a substantial reproductive and economic burden in both human gynecology and livestock production, where it is a leading cause of recurrent implantation failure in humans and the costliest reproductive disorder in cattle. Conventional management is overwhelmingly antibiotic-based, yet escalating antimicrobial resistance, tissue and milk residues, microbiota disruption and high relapse rates have eroded its efficacy and acceptability, creating an urgent need for mechanism-based, host-directed alternatives. Here we synthesize the expanding evidence positioning dietary flavonoids and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulations as such interventions. Across diverse compounds and preparations, anti-endometriotic activity converges on a tractable set of molecular nodes: TLR4/NF-κB signaling, the NLRP3 inflammasome–pyroptosis axis, the Keap1/Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidant program, PI3K/AKT and PPAR-γ signaling, ferroptosis, and the gut–uterus microbial–metabolite axis. Veterinary field studies report cure rates and fertility outcomes rivaling first-line antibiotics, while integrative case reports show benefit in antibiotic-refractory human chronic endometritis. Translation remains constrained by poor bioavailability, formulation heterogeneity, over-reliance on lipopolysaccharide-only models and a scarcity of randomized trials—barriers now addressable through nanocarrier delivery, network-pharmacology-guided standardization and biomarker-stratified designs. Flavonoids and TCM are best viewed not as substitutes for antibiotics but as a mechanistically rational, multi-target strategy aligned with One Health antimicrobial stewardship. Full article

Loess slopes are prone to rapid infiltration, surface erosion, and shallow instability under intense rainfall, highlighting the need for eco-friendly shallow protection methods with enhanced anti-seepage and erosion resistance. To improve the applicability of microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) in loess slope protection, this study proposes a combined MICP–sesbania gum (SG) modification method. Permeability tests, surface hardness tests, and indoor artificial rainfall model tests were conducted to systematically evaluate its effects on seepage control and the erosion resistance of loess slopes. The results show that calcium chloride provides a stronger permeability-reducing effect than calcium acetate. Compared with the MICP-only treatment, the combined MICP-SG treatment significantly reduces the permeability coefficient and increases surface hardness. Based on the overall modification performance, a cementation solution concentration of 1.0 mol/L and a curing time of 7 d were selected as suitable treatment parameters. Rainfall model tests further demonstrate that the combined treatment delays erosion failure, reduces infiltration rate and soil loss, and suppresses wetting front migration and internal water content response. These findings indicate that MICP combined with SG can effectively improve the anti-seepage, erosion resistance and surface stability of shallow loess slopes, providing experimental support for eco-friendly shallow slope protection in loess regions. Full article

This paper introduces a random activation framework for cure rate modeling that provides a novel latent mechanistic interpretation of the standard mixture cure model, utilizing a Waring-distributed number of latent causes. The proposed approach represents unobserved heterogeneity through a discrete latent variable interpreted as the number of potential risk factors, providing a flexible and biologically interpretable characterization of individual susceptibility. In contrast to classical competing risks models based on extremal operators or deterministic activation schemes, the event time is assumed to arise from a stochastic selection among latent causes. This random activation mechanism defines a unified probabilistic framework in which the cure fraction emerges naturally as the probability of having zero latent causes. The Waring distribution is adopted to model the latent count structure due to its hierarchical formulation, which accommodates overdispersion and heavy-tailed behavior strictly within the latent parametrization of individual risk factors. Under this framework, while the population survival function mathematically reduces to the classical mixture cure representation, the model provides an alternative structure where covariates directly impact the expected latent burden. Parameter estimation for the identifiable regression structure is performed via maximum likelihood, and the finite-sample performance of the estimators is assessed through Monte Carlo simulations, showing accurate parameter recovery and stable inferential properties. An application to real survival data illustrates the practical relevance and epidemiological interpretability of the proposed framework. Overall, this work extends the understanding of existing cure rate models by integrating latent count structures and stochastic activation within a coherent setting, providing a powerful interpretation tool for heterogeneous survival data with long-term survivors. Full article