Search Results (1,361)

Background: Inter-limb asymmetry has been widely studied as a potential determinant of physical performance in able-bodied athletes; however, its functional relevance in athletes with neurological impairments such as spastic hemiparesis remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the associations between lower-limb isometric strength, inter-limb asymmetry, physical performance, and match external-load variables in elite CP football players. Methods: Eleven male football players with spastic hemiparesis from the Spanish national team competing at the 2024 IFCPF World Cup participated in this observational cross-sectional study. Maximal isometric strength of the plantar flexors, adductors, and hamstrings was assessed using a belt-stabilised dynamometer. Inter-limb asymmetry was calculated as a percentage difference between affected and non-affected limbs. Physical performance was evaluated using sprint, change-of-direction, dribbling, and intermittent endurance tests. Match external-load variables were collected during official competition using inertial measurement units. Associations were analysed using Spearman’s rank correlations, and between-group comparisons were conducted using a median split based on asymmetry magnitude. Results: Inter-limb asymmetry did not significantly differentiate physical performance outcomes across any field-based tests (p > 0.05). Associations between isometric strength or asymmetry and field-based performance were limited and did not remain statistically significant after false discovery rate correction. In contrast, plantar flexor asymmetry showed significant negative associations with mechanical work (ρ = −0.84; q = 0.010) and metabolic power (ρ = −0.83; q = 0.010), which remained robust after multiple-comparison control. Conclusions: Inter-limb strength asymmetry did not appear to be a primary determinant of field-based physical performance in CP football players with spastic hemiparesis. Most associations between strength, asymmetry, and performance should be considered exploratory. However, plantar flexor asymmetry showed a consistent association with selected mechanical and metabolic match-load variables, suggesting that neuromuscular asymmetry may influence specific aspects of match demands. Given the exploratory team-study design and limited sample size, these findings should be interpreted cautiously and require confirmation in larger cohorts. Full article

Background and Objectives: Ventilation tube insertion (VTI) is the most commonly performed surgical procedure for otitis media with effusion (OME) in children. While the factors associated with tube extrusion have been investigated, their quantitative impact on the timing of extrusion remains insufficiently characterized. This study aimed to identify independent factors associated with ventilation tube extrusion time and to quantify the magnitude and direction of their effect using survival analysis methodology. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 150 patients (262 ears) who underwent VTI with Shepard-type tubes for OME at a tertiary referral center between February 2019 and July 2025. Patient-level variables (age, sex, laterality, allergic rhinitis, secondhand smoke exposure, adenoidectomy, and tonsillectomy) were analyzed per patient (n = 150), while ear-specific variables (effusion type, history of previous VTI, and tube obstruction) were analyzed per ear (n = 262). Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed to identify independent factors associated with extrusion time. Kaplan–Meier survival curves with log-rank tests were used to compare median extrusion times between groups. Results: The mean ventilation tube extrusion time was 280.38 ± 99.24 days (9.35 ± 3.30 months). Three independent factors significantly associated with shorter extrusion time were identified in multivariate analysis: tube obstruction during follow-up (HR = 2.629, 95% CI: 1.731–3.993, p < 0.001), history of previous VTI (HR = 2.292, 95% CI: 1.678–3.131, p < 0.001), and serous effusion type compared to glue (HR = 1.914, 95% CI: 1.455–2.517, p < 0.001). Age, sex, laterality, allergic rhinitis, secondhand smoke exposure, adenoidectomy, and tonsillectomy were not significantly associated with extrusion time. Conclusions: History of previous VTI, serous effusion type, and tube obstruction during follow-up were independently associated with shorter ventilation tube extrusion time. Notably, tube obstruction during follow-up, which has not been previously evaluated as a factor associated with extrusion time in survival analyses of tube retention, demonstrated the strongest independent effect on extrusion timing. These findings may assist clinicians in anticipating tube behavior and individualizing postoperative follow-up schedules. Full article

Background and Objectives: Periodontal diseases are highly prevalent worldwide and have been associated with impaired oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). However, the strength and direction of this association remain inconsistent, particularly when sociodemographic and behavioural factors are considered. The aim of this study was to evaluate the independent association between periodontal status and OHRQoL in Bulgarian adults attending a university dental clinic, while accounting for sociodemographic factors and sleep quality, which was included as a clinically relevant behavioural determinant of oral health-related quality of life. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 504 adult participants (≥18 years) who underwent comprehensive periodontal examination and completed validated questionnaires. OHRQoL was assessed using the culturally adapted Bulgarian version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14), and sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Due to the skewed distribution of OHIP-14 scores, the outcome was dichotomized at the sample median. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess independent associations, adjusting for age, sex, education, financial status, place of residence, and sleep quality. Results: Periodontal status, sex, and sleep quality were independently associated with impaired OHRQoL. Females demonstrated lower odds of impaired OHRQoL compared to males (OR = 0.636; 95% CI: 0.428–0.924; p = 0.025). Poor sleep quality was associated with increased odds of impaired OHRQoL (OR = 1.554; 95% CI: 1.041–2.321; p = 0.031). Periodontitis was significantly associated with impaired OHRQoL (OR = 3.526; 95% CI: 2.073–5.998; p < 0.001), reflecting a complex relationship between clinical periodontal status and subjective health perception. Conclusions: OHRQoL is influenced by a multifactorial framework integrating periodontal status, behavioural factors, and sociodemographic characteristics. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating patient-reported outcomes into periodontal assessment and support a biopsychosocial approach to oral health research. Full article

Exercise induces rapid systemic metabolic perturbations, but the chemical organization of post-exercise recovery remains incompletely resolved across public LC-MS datasets. Here, we performed a public-data reanalysis of human exercise metabolomics to determine whether named metabolites can be organized into chemically interpretable recovery landscapes. The primary dataset was the Metabolomics Workbench race-walking study ST003348/PR002083, which includes serum LC-MS profiles from race-walking athletes sampled at rest, immediately after exercise, and after 3 h and 22 h of recovery. Two independent public exercise datasets, ST003662/PR002271 and ST001789/PR001133, were used to externally validate the direction of change. Named features were deduplicated by RefMet identity, log2 fold-changes were estimated with paired subject-level contrasts, and false-discovery-rate correction was applied within each time point. We assigned rule-based chemical classes and summarized residual 22 h displacement as the median absolute paired log2 fold-change within each chemical class. This quantity was used only as a transparent descriptive aggregation of the observed 22 h contrasts, not as an independent, validated, or outcome-linked recovery index. In the primary dataset, 561 deduplicated features were retained from 19 subjects with a complete time point structure. Immediate post-exercise perturbation was detected in 188 features, whereas only seven features remained significantly displaced at 22 h. Lipids and lipid mediators showed the largest immediate chemical-class perturbation, while vitamins/steroids/signaling molecules and lipids had the highest class-level residual 22 h displacement—kinetic classification identified 180 acute-and-recovered features, 33 delayed/3 h-dominant features, and seven persistent features. External validation was strongest in the independent plasma running dataset ST001789, where primary acute responders showed 90.7% sign concordance at Time 0 and 75.9% at 60 min. By contrast, the DBS/VAMS dataset ST003662 showed weak and non-significant direction-of-change concordance, indicating limited transportability to that matrix/protocol. Overall, this study does not claim discovery of new exercise metabolites or pathways; it provides a reproducible applied chemistry framework for describing exercise recovery as a structured metabolochemical process rather than a purely physiological endpoint. Full article

Reliable star formation rates (SFRs) are essential for studying the connection between black hole growth and quasar host galaxies. We study the far-infrared (FIR) SFRs and the host galaxy properties of 202 SDSS and PG quasars at $0.02<z\lesssim 0.8$, spanning $log({\mathrm{SFR}}_{\mathrm{FIR}}/M_{\odot }{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1})\simeq -0.45$–$2.76$, using multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) decomposition. The photometry covers wavelengths from the optical to the FIR and is supplemented by JCMT/SCUBA-2 observations at 450 and 850 $\mathsf{\mu }$m. We model the SEDs with CIGALE and AGNfitter and adopt multiple cold dust templates to quantify systematic uncertainties. The median model-dependent scatter among the five FIR SFR estimates is $0.14$ dex, and AGNfitter gives FIR SFRs lower than the mean CIGALE estimate by a median of $0.09$ dex. For the 58 quasars with SCUBA-2 coverage, including SCUBA-2 data changes the adopted FIR SFR by only ∼0.01 dex on average but can affect individual sources with limited Herschel coverage or radio-loud emission. Within our FIR-constrained sample, many quasar hosts lie on or above the star-forming main sequence, but the redshift-dependent FIR selection of the SDSS subsample limits conclusions about the full quasar-host population. We find no clear correlation between the main-sequence (MS) offset and the direct Eddington ratio, while the offset is positively related to the infrared-based $L_{\mathrm{tor}}/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ proxy. The minimum radiation field intensity in the dust model, $U_{\min }$, increases with bolometric luminosity and dust temperature. WISE W2 (4.6 $\mathsf{\mu }$m) and W3 (12 $\mathsf{\mu }$m) combined with Herschel bands can also provide useful empirical indicators of $f_{\mathrm{AGN}}$. Full article

Background: Mucinous adenocarcinoma (MAC) of the colorectum is a biologically distinct histological subtype whose prognostic significance may vary substantially according to primary tumor location. The impact of anatomical site on clinicopathological characteristics and long-term survival in MAC remains incompletely characterized. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of tumor location on oncological outcomes in patients with mucinous colorectal cancer using a large population-based dataset. Methods: Patients diagnosed with mucinous colorectal adenocarcinoma between 2000 and 2023 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Operated patients were stratified by anatomical location into three groups: right colon (cecum, ascending colon, hepatic flexure, transverse colon), left colon (splenic flexure, descending colon, sigmoid colon, rectosigmoid junction), and rectum. The primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). Survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan–Meier method with log-rank testing. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the independent association of tumor location with survival outcomes, adjusting for age at diagnosis, year of diagnosis, sex, AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) stage, tumor grade, receipt of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Temporal trends in survival were evaluated across four consecutive diagnostic periods: 2000–2005, 2006–2011, 2012–2017, and 2018–2023. Results: A total of 40,698 patients with mucinous colorectal cancer were identified, of whom 40,174 underwent cancer-directed surgery (right colon n = 25,317; left colon n = 10,408; rectum n = 4449). The right colon was the predominant site of disease (62.9%). Median age was highest in the right colon group (74.0 years) and lowest in the rectum (65.0 years), while female sex predominated in right-sided tumors (55.7%) and male sex in rectal tumors (61.1%). Chemotherapy and radiotherapy utilization were markedly higher in the rectal group (68.6% and 64.5%, respectively) compared with the right colon (28.8% and 1.1%). Median OS was equivalent in the right and left colon groups (87.0 months each) but declined to 80.0 months in the rectal group. All pairwise CSS comparisons were statistically significant (all p < 0.001). On multivariable analysis, using the right colon as reference, the adjusted hazard ratios for CSS were 1.33 (95% CI: 1.28–1.39) for the left colon and 1.45 (95% CI: 1.34–1.57) for the rectum (both p < 0.001). Despite receiving the highest rates of multimodal therapy, rectal MAC demonstrated the worst long-term CSS across all anatomical groups. Temporal analyses revealed consistent CSS improvements in right-sided and left-sided MAC over the study period, whereas rectal MAC showed a non-linear trajectory with a plateau in the most recent diagnostic cohort (2018–2023). Conclusions: Mucinous colorectal adenocarcinoma demonstrates substantial biological and prognostic heterogeneity according to anatomical tumor location. Right-sided MAC was the most prevalent subtype and exhibited superior cancer-specific survival despite older patient age and lower treatment intensity. Rectal MAC demonstrated the worst long-term outcomes despite high utilization of multimodal neoadjuvant therapy, consistent with the established reduced responsiveness of mucinous tumors to conventional chemoradiotherapy. These findings underscore the necessity of incorporating anatomical location and tumor biology into individualized risk stratification and therapeutic planning for patients with mucinous colorectal cancer. Full article

Arteriovenous malformation (AVM) resections last 3–10 h, producing lengthy videos that are valuable but tedious to navigate manually. In this single-centre feasibility study, 20 AVM resection videos (499,744 frames at 1 fps) were annotated into six surgical scene classes using a predefined guideline; five cases were independently double-annotated (inter-rater Cohen’s kappa = 0.999) and the rest labelled by consensus. Three cascaded Inception-ResNet-v2 networks—direct six-class classification, a binary OK/NG usability filter, and six-class classification on OK-filtered frames—were trained under five-fold video-level cross-validation. Frame-level predictions were temporally reconstructed with a non-monotonic hidden semi-Markov model (HSMM) permitting clinically observed returns to earlier phases, and boundary accuracy was evaluated with a percentage mean absolute error (%MAE). The direct classifier reached a macro-averaged AUC of 0.946 (matching the ten-case AUC of 0.945); OK-filtered classification reached 0.951. The HSMM estimated phase transition time points with an overall %MAE of 3.27% (median 0.78%; about 13.7 min in a mean 7.0 h surgery) and captured the non-monotonic workflow in 3 of 20 cases that a strictly ordered decoder cannot. Because every predicted boundary coincides with a phase-map transition, the interpretable pipeline could narrow the review of multi-hour recordings; as a single-centre proof of concept, external multi-centre validation is required. Full article

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor, characterized by poor prognosis and a median survival of 12–18 months despite standard therapies such as surgery, radiation, and temozolomide chemotherapy. Its high cellular heterogeneity, along with complex mechanisms of therapy resistance, presents significant challenges for effective treatment. Conventional systemic chemotherapy is limited by the blood–brain barrier (BBB), systemic toxicity, and insufficient drug penetration into the tumor microenvironment. Emerging therapeutic strategies aim to overcome these barriers through novel chemotherapeutic agents, targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and smart drug delivery systems. Endovascular drug delivery, particularly super-selective intra-arterial cerebral infusion (SSIACI), offers a minimally invasive approach to directly target the tumor vasculature, potentially increasing drug concentration at the tumor site while reducing systemic exposure. Complementary techniques, such as MR-guided focused ultrasound, hyperosmotic disruption, and nanoparticle-based carriers, are being explored to enhance BBB penetration and retention of therapeutics within the tumor. Ongoing clinical trials and translational studies provide insights into optimizing these approaches, with future directions focused on precision medicine, biomarker-driven patient selection, and combination therapies. Integrating endovascular strategies with innovative chemotherapies and immunotherapies may transform GBM management, but further research is required to establish their efficacy and safety in clinical practice. Full article

Background: The 6 min walk test (6MWT) is the gold standard for field-based functional assessment, yet the 3 min walk test (3MWT) offers a time-efficient alternative. However, a lack of localised normative reference values (NRV) and an over-reliance on simple 6 min extrapolation limit its clinical utility. Objectives: To establish the NRV and reference equations for the 3MWT in a healthy cohort and investigate the physiological relationship between 3 min performance and 6 min predictions. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited healthy community-dwelling adults (aged 20 to 80, BMI < 27.5 kg/m²). Participants performed two 3MWT trials on a 30 m indoor course. Primary outcomes included the best 3MWT and physiological parameters. Reference equations were derived using multiple linear regression. Results: In total, 240 participants were recruited with an overall median 3MWT of 290 metres (m) (IQR 257.0–323.0). Males walked significantly farther than females (p = 0.002). While 3MWT remained stable across age decades in males (p = 0.225), females’ performance declined with age (p = 0.005). Older adults maintained walking distances comparable to younger cohorts by operating at a higher relative percentage of their predicted maximum heart rate and exhibiting prolonged recovery profiles. Doubling the 3MWT significantly overestimated 6 min capacity (p < 0.001), highlighting non-linear pacing strategies. Conclusions: This study provides the first age- and gender-specific NRV for the 3MWT in Singapore, supporting its use as a rapid functional walking assessment tool in healthy adults. The findings suggest that the 3MWT should not be interpreted as a direct linear surrogate for the 6MWT. Further research is required to validate these reference equations externally and determine their clinical sensitivity in disease populations. Full article

Background and Objectives: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), including gestational hypertension (GHT) and preeclampsia (PE), share clinical features but differ in pathophysiology and risk profile. Pancreatic stone protein (PSP), a pancreas-derived acute-phase glycoprotein, has emerged as a biomarker of systemic stress. We investigated whether PSP could discriminate PE from both GHT and normotensive pregnancy, and whether this discrimination extends beyond the discriminatory information captured by conventional CBC-derived inflammatory indices. Materials and Methods: In this prospective case–control study, 84 pregnant women were enrolled across three groups: normotensive controls (n = 42), GHT (n = 20), and PE (n = 22). Serum PSP was measured by ELISA. Seven CBC-derived inflammatory indices (NLR, PLR, MLR, SII, SIRI, PIV, AISI) were calculated. Three-group comparisons used Kruskal–Wallis or ANOVA with appropriate post hoc testing. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed across multiple clinical scenarios. Binary and multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted with control as the reference category. Results: Median serum PSP levels showed a progressive elevation across the HDP spectrum: 6.91 (5.47–9.73), 9.08 (8.29–10.36), and 11.07 (10.03–11.83) ng/mL for control, GHT, and PE groups, respectively (Kruskal–Wallis p < 0.001). All three pairwise comparisons remained significant after Bonferroni correction (control vs. GHT, p = 0.035; control vs. PE, p < 0.001; GHT vs. PE, p = 0.002). PSP showed moderate-to-good exploratory discriminatory performance for PE versus control (AUC 0.83; sensitivity 95.5%, specificity 66.7% at 8.61 ng/mL), PE versus GHT (AUC 0.80; sensitivity 68.2%, specificity 85.0% at 10.70 ng/mL), and PE versus all non-PE participants (AUC 0.82). None of the inflammatory indices reached statistical significance (all p > 0.05), although several (MLR p = 0.072; SIRI p = 0.071) showed borderline upward trends consistent with the severity gradient. Multinomial logistic regression showed a consistent graded association: each 1 ng/mL increase in PSP was associated with a 42% increase in the odds of GHT (vs. control) (OR 1.42; 95% CI: 1.05–1.92; p = 0.022) and approximately threefold higher odds of PE (vs. control) (OR 2.99; 95% CI: 1.57–5.68; p = 0.001). Conclusions: Serum PSP demonstrated a graded increase across the HDP spectrum and showed moderate-to-good discriminatory performance for PE, including differentiation from GHT. These findings suggest that PSP may capture biological information not reflected by conventional CBC-derived inflammatory indices. However, the proposed cutoffs should be regarded as exploratory, and larger multicenter studies with gestational-age-matched controls and direct comparison with angiogenic biomarkers are required before clinical implementation. Full article

Background/Objectives: Intestinal failure-associated liver disease (IFALD), characterized by steatosis and/or cholestasis, may develop in patients receiving long-term parenteral nutrition (PN) for chronic intestinal failure. This study aimed to evaluate the histopathological features and clinical outcomes of IFALD in children with short bowel syndrome (SBS) enrolled in an Intestinal Rehabilitation Program (IRP) between 2015 and 2022. Methods: Data from 72 children with SBS requiring PN were retrospectively reviewed. Liver biopsy specimens were obtained during bowel-lengthening procedures or surgical exploration. Histopathological findings and clinical outcomes were analyzed. Active IFALD (phase 1) (cholestasis/inflammation; see below for full description) is diagnosed when serum direct/conjugated bilirubin is >1.0–2.0 mg/dL and >20% of total serum bilirubin in infants and children who have received PN for at least 14 days, and in whom other causes of cholestasis have been excluded. Liver histology may show cellular and canalicular cholestasis, bile ductular reaction, and portal bile plugs similar to those observed in extrahepatic biliary obstruction, variable portal inflammation, steatosis, and periportal fibrosis of all stages, as well as prominent liver macrophages. Chronic IFALD is the persistent form of intestinal failure-associated liver disease characterized by established hepatic fibrosis and/or cirrhosis resulting from prolonged intestinal failure and parenteral nutrition exposure, with or without persistent biochemical evidence of cholestasis. Results: Sixteen patients underwent diagnostic liver biopsy at a median age of 14 months (range, 3–62 months). Histopathological evaluation demonstrated cholestasis in 13 patients (81.3%) and steatosis in 2 patients (12.5%). Among patients with cholestasis, intracellular and canalicular patterns were observed in 10 (62.5%) and 6 (37.5%) patients, respectively. Fibrosis was identified in 5 patients (31.3%), including stage 1 in 3, stage 2 in 1, and stage 3 (bridging) in 1. Active IFALD and chronic IFALD were detected in 13 and 5 patients, respectively. One patient died due to IFALD-related end-stage liver disease. Conclusions: IFALD remains a significant and potentially fatal complication in children with SBS receiving long-term PN. Histopathological evidence of liver injury may precede biochemical abnormalities, emphasizing the importance of early surveillance, optimization of PN strategies, and timely achievement of enteral autonomy. Full article

Undergraduate nursing students are trained to promote health in clinical and community settings, but their own health-promoting behaviors occur in the context of academic demands, clinical training, work responsibilities, and limited time for self-care. The primary objective of this cross-sectional analytic study was to estimate the adjusted association between health-professional advice seeking and global Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) scores among 506 undergraduate nursing students at the Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara. Secondary analyses described HPLP-II scores, stress ratings, information sources, subscale-specific associations, and propensity-score sensitivity analyses; exploratory analyses evaluated HPLP-II psychometrics, level-based lifestyle profiles, and stress-by-advice-seeking interaction. The overall median HPLP-II score was 2.40 (IQR: 2.06, 2.79). Internal consistency was high for the global scale (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.961) and ranged from acceptable to high across subscales (alpha = 0.812–0.900). Ordinal exploratory factor analysis using polychoric correlations supported exploratory use of the theoretical six-domain structure but did not provide confirmatory validation; parallel analysis suggested eight factors. Two level-based lifestyle profiles were identified: Low HPLP (58.1%) and High HPLP (41.9%), reflecting broad score-level separation rather than distinct validated phenotypes. In the primary HC3 robust model, health-professional advice seeking was associated with higher global HPLP-II scores (b = 0.242, 95% CI: 0.140, 0.344; p < 0.001), whereas academic stress and vacation-period stress showed small inverse adjusted associations with HPLP-II scores. Sensitivity analyses, including IPTW, a modified HPLP-II score excluding Health Responsibility, and a model excluding willingness to improve lifestyle, showed advice-seeking coefficients in the same positive direction. The exploratory stress-by-advice-seeking interaction was not statistically significant. Findings should be interpreted as associations rather than causal effects. Full article

Accurate crop evapotranspiration (ET_c) estimation at high spatial and temporal resolution remains a major challenge for precision irrigation. This study presents a multi-sensor data fusion framework combining daily MODIS (250 m), Sentinel-2 (10 m), and Landsat 8/9 (30 m) imagery with FAO-56 Penman–Monteith reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) to generate pixel-wise daily ET_c maps for irrigated maize (Zea mays L.) near Nyírbátor, Hungary, over six growing seasons (2020–2025). The proposed Median Time Series Model exploits field-scale MODIS NDVI as a temporal backbone and derives pixel-wise linear transfer functions to reconstruct daily NDVI at 10–30 m resolution. Three gap-filling strategies were compared; the median approach yielded the highest agreement (NDVI reconstruction R² = 0.81; RMSE = 0.19 (NDVI units); pixel-wise correlation 0.70–0.85) and effectively suppressed sub-pixel spectral mixture artefacts. Sentinel-2 consistently outperformed Landsat 8/9 (pixel-wise R² = 0.36–0.78 vs. 0.001–0.91). A nonlinear power crop coefficient model (K_c = a · NDVI^b) proved more robust than linear rescaling (mean validation R² of 0.80 (power) vs. 0.71 (rescale) across Sentinel-2 seasons; both methods were positive in all six seasons after correcting an unconstrained-fit artefact). Seasonal ET_c ranged from 313 to 545 mm, with cumulative water deficits reaching −334 mm during the 2021 drought. Six-year mean seasonal ET_c (428–483 mm for Sentinel-2) falls within the 400–600 mm range published for irrigated maize under comparable continental conditions, with season-integrated ET_c/ET₀ ratios (rescale method mean 0.86; power method mean 0.84) consistent with expected FAO-56 K_c trajectories. Cross-validation against an independent MATLAB implementation confirmed algorithmic consistency (reference ET₀ (R² = 0.88–0.91, Pearson r = 0.97–1.00)) and daily ET_c while identifying meteorological input as the dominant source of absolute ET_c uncertainty (estimated at ±15–30% through first-order error propagation). Plausibility assessment was limited to comparison with published seasonal benchmarks and an independent algorithmic implementation; no eddy covariance or lysimeter measurements were available for direct ET_c validation. Full article

Industrial control systems (ICSs) are the operational technology that monitors and directs physical processes across critical infrastructure. They sit at the core of Industry 4.0. Once these systems are connected to digital platforms and service chains, a flaw in one component is no longer confined to that component. Conventional practice still treats disclosed vulnerabilities as isolated events to be patched, which leaves an open question: does the way vulnerabilities accumulate across ICS infrastructure amount to systemic risk, a property of the system rather than of any single flaw? We examine this using the ICS-CERT Vulnerability Dataset, analysing 60,378 vulnerability-product records that cover 2327 unique Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) entries, 416 vendors and 14,577 affected products from 2012 to 2020. We construct a System Risk Index (SRI) that aggregates vulnerabilities to the vendor-year level, weighted by severity and exploitability. An ordinary least squares (OLS) model with heteroscedasticity-robust standard errors explains vulnerability severity (R² = 0.99). A second model explains system-level risk (R² = 0.91). Vulnerability-type diversity, measured through the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) taxonomy, is the strongest driver of SRI (β = 1.25, p < 0.001), ahead of mean exploitability (β = 0.29, p < 0.001) and product breadth (β = 0.06, p = 0.001). Annual ICS disclosures rose from 115 in 2012 to 503 in 2019, an increase of 337 per cent. Risk is concentrated: the five largest vendors account for 33.3 per cent of disclosed CVEs and more than 60 per cent of the cumulative SRI, with one vendor carrying over twice the cumulative SRI of the next. Quantile regression confirms the severity findings at the median. The pattern indicates that digital transformation redistributes risk into a connected, vendor-level property of the infrastructure beneath product–service delivery. Oversight should therefore track the diversity and exploitability of a vendor’s vulnerabilities rather than severity alone, concentrating scrutiny on the small set of vendors that carry most of the systemic exposure. Full article

The rapid expansion of Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems has intensified the need for distributed intelligence mechanisms that reduce direct raw-data exposure while remaining resilient to adversarial manipulation. Federated learning (FL) addresses part of this challenge by enabling collaborative model training without centralizing raw data, but it remains vulnerable to malicious client behavior, particularly model poisoning attacks that can substantially degrade global model quality. This paper investigates a blockchain-assisted, trust-aware FL framework for privacy-aware distributed intelligence in resource-constrained IoT systems, where the blockchain layer is used to support trust coordination, auditability, traceability, and tamper-resistant metadata recording rather than to directly improve predictive performance. The empirical study compares six aggregation strategies: FedAvg, coordinate-wise Median, Trimmed Mean, FLTrust, trust-aware weighted aggregation, and a hybrid trust-trimmed mean method. The primary evaluation is conducted on the UCI Human Activity Recognition (UCI HAR) dataset under Dirichlet-based non-IID client partitioning α = 0.1 and α = 1.0, partial client participation, and sign-flip model poisoning. Each configuration is evaluated over five independent runs. Under the severe 40% malicious-client stress test, FLTrust achieves the strongest mean robustness among the evaluated methods, reaching 0.4195 ± 0.1295 accuracy and 0.3108 ± 0.1294 macro-F1 for α = 0.1, and 0.6472 ± 0.0725 accuracy and 0.6014 ± 0.0949 macro-F1 for α = 1.0. In lower-intensity attack controls with 10% and 20% malicious clients, the trust-aware and hybrid trust-trimmed strategies are the most competitive, achieving the highest or near-highest mean performance without requiring a clean server-side reference set. Mechanism-level analysis shows that FLTrust is particularly effective in the severe setting because its reference-based scoring assigns near-zero weights to malicious clients, whereas trust-aware and hybrid methods rely on relative update consistency and are more affected by the interaction between poisoning and statistical heterogeneity. Globally, the results indicate that no single aggregation rule dominates all adversarial regimes. Instead, reference-based trust provides strong protection under severe poisoning, while trust-aware and hybrid aggregation offer competitive root-free alternatives under lower attack intensities. The findings also clarify that the privacy-preserving scope of the framework derives from FL-based data locality and does not constitute a formal cryptographic privacy guarantee. Full article