Search Results (28,618)

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is widely used to evaluate the environmental impact of power generation systems and inform energy and climate policy decisions. In recent years, numerous LCA studies have examined the life-cycle implications of power plants utilizing renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel technologies. Nevertheless, the resultant data is fragmented, exhibiting significant diversity among investigations attributable to disparities in system boundaries, technical assumptions, and methodological selections. This document offers a systematic overview of peer-reviewed LCA studies and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) evaluating the environmental implications of predominant power production technologies, such as solar photovoltaic, wind, hydropower, nuclear, and natural gas power plants. Various environmental effect categories are evaluated, with a specific focus on Global Warming Potential as the most frequently reported and policy-relevant metric. The review consolidates documented impact ranges, assesses the effects of plant size and technological design, and evaluates the contribution of several life cycle stages to overall environmental performance. The findings emphasize prevalent tendencies and significant variability among technologies and studies, illustrating the susceptibility of LCA results to modeling assumptions and data sources. Although current LCAs offer relevant insights into the environmental impact of electricity generation, the review highlights enduring methodological deficiencies, particularly the inadequate handling of uncertainty, the static portrayal of long-lasting infrastructures, and the lack of explicit attention to technological risk. This study consolidates and critically evaluates existing literature, providing a thorough reference on the life-cycle environmental consequences of power plants and facilitating a more educated interpretation of LCA results within energy system planning and policy analysis. Full article

The Ras-related (RRAS) gene is a member of the Ras superfamily and remains largely uncharacterized compared to KRAS, NRAS, and HRAS. Its role in tumorigenesis remains poorly documented, as evidenced by its lack of canonical mutations in any cancer type. This study investigated the effects of the novel RRAS R78W and E63D mutants—identified in Filipino young-onset colorectal cancer (YO-CRC) patients—on cancer hallmarks. In silico analysis was performed to predict the effect of the mutations on RRAS structure. F-actin staining of transfected NIH3T3 cells displayed massive cytoskeletal remodeling and formation of migratory and invasive structures. RRAS R78W enhanced migration when compared to wild-type RRAS in NIH3T3 and HCT116 cells, whereas neither mutant affected invasive capacity. Both mutants did not abolish the pro-angiogenic ability of wild-type RRAS in endothelial tube formation assays. RRAS E63D conferred resistance to apoptosis in both cell lines. Both mutants had no effect on cellular proliferation in either cell line. Overexpression of both mutants did not increase Akt and Erk1/2 phosphorylation. In silico analysis further suggests that the mutations confer increased GEF-binding ability versus wild-type. Results of the study highlight the need to characterize Ras isoform- and mutation-specific phenotypic effects, which may have repercussions in CRC management. Full article

Background: Occupational gender segregation is a key driver of labor market inequality and is prominent across occupations, within occupations, and within workplace task groups. This paper explores how structural arrangements and cultural messages shape women’s preferences for working with men vs. women. With respect to structural arrangements, we analyze how women’s relative power on a team influences their partner preference. With respect to cultural messages, we examine how one common source of information that has the potential to either challenge or reify notions of gender difference—sexual harassment policy training—affects partner preference. Methods: We conducted a laboratory experiment in which we placed 100 college-aged women in positions they may commonly find themselves in at the start of a new job—identifying coworkers to partner with on group tasks—and varied (1) their relative power on the team (leader or helper) and (2) exposure to workplace training (sexual harassment or ergonomic computer setup). We then assessed their attitudinal and behavioral preference for working with a female vs. a male partner on a decision-making task. Results: Women, particularly women assigned to a leadership position, more often chose to work with a female partner. Sexual harassment training did not affect women leaders’ attitudes about working with a male partner but those in a helper role expressed more positive attitudes about working with a man after sexual harassment training. These findings document how macro-level processes can shape workplace gender segregation, thus identifying mechanisms underlying the reproduction of gender inequality. Full article

Objectives: We compared patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in persons with hemophilia A (PwHA) by inhibitor status and prescribed treatment products. Methods: Hematology Utilization Group VIII study enrolled PwHA aged ≥ 2 years to collect PRO data via surveys. A clinical chart review documented the hemophilic severity, inhibitor level and treatment regimen. PROs were compared across inhibitor status and prescribed treatment products. Results: Among 85 enrolled PwHA, 9 (10.6%) had active inhibitors, 22 (25.9%) had tolerized inhibitors, and 54 (63.5%) had no inhibitors. The no-inhibitor group was significantly older (mean: 29.3 ± 13.5 years) than the tolerized (16.3 ± 9.5 years) and active inhibitor (21.9 ± 19.1 years; p = 0.001) groups. A larger proportion of participants with active inhibitors (66.7%) and no inhibitors (53.7%) reported having bleeds in the previous month compared to those with tolerized inhibitors (22.7%, p = 0.02). After covariate adjustment for age and hemophilia severity, the tolerized inhibitor group showed the lowest estimated number of joint bleeds compared to those of the no inhibitor and active inhibitor groups (p = 0.08), and the highest EQ-5D index score (p = 0.09). Emicizumab users reported significantly fewer bleeds in the previous months than those who were prescribed standard or extended half-life factor VIII (33.3% vs. 58.6%, 64.3%, p = 0.04). Conclusions: Participants with active inhibitors experienced joint bleeding rates similar to those of participants without inhibitors, likely attributable to emicizumab use. Tolerized participants reported the fewest joint bleeds and highest quality-of-life scores, potentially reflecting younger age and possible greater prophylaxis adherence. Emicizumab was associated with lower bleed rates compared to standard or extended half-life factor VIII products. Full article

Barley grown in temperate regions is often challenged by powdery mildew disease. An effective solution is mildew resistance locus o (mlo)-based resistance, which is monogenic, durable, and broad-spectrum. While the pleiotropic effects of mlo mutations on above-ground tissues are well documented, their impact on the root-associated microbiome remains underexplored. We utilized CRISPR/Cas9 to generate novel mlo mutant lines and evaluated their resistance to causal fungus Blumeria hordei. We further examined if mlo knockout has any impact on the overall root microbiome diversity and composition under field-like conditions and applied DESeq2 to compare the abundance of microbial taxa between mutants and wild type. We created five novel resistant mlo lines, including the first mutants with amino acid alterations in the protein’s extracellular region. Mutant lines showed significantly reduced B. hordei colony formation (0.5–5%). While microbial alpha and beta diversity were not significantly altered, a few microbial taxa displayed time-dependent shifts in abundance. Overall, our study demonstrates the effectiveness of CRISPR/Cas9 in generating mlo-based resistance. Moreover, the study revealed functionally important residues in the protein’s extracellular region. Finally, we present the first evidence of limited mlo-associated effects on root microbiome diversity and relative abundance of microbial taxa. Full article

Background: In the Americas, the number of people living with diabetes is expected to rise from 92 million in 2024 to 120 million by 2050. Indigenous populations may experience distinct biological, environmental, and sociocultural risk factors; however, they are often treated as a homogeneous group in epidemiological research, and consolidated evidence on diabetes prevalence across diverse Indigenous populations remains limited. This scoping review examines the prevalence of diabetes among Indigenous populations in the Americas. Methods: Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we conducted a systematic scoping review of population-based studies reporting the prevalence of diabetes among Indigenous adult populations in the Americas. Searches were performed in PubMed and Scopus. Collected data included study location, Indigenous group, population characteristics, diagnostic criteria, and test used and reported prevalence estimates. Results: Sixty documents encompassing 73 studies met the inclusion criteria, representing 45,503 individuals from 16 countries between 1975 and 2025. The total number of ethnic groups represented was 111, and 12 studies did not identify a specific ethnic group. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) was the most frequently used diagnostic method, followed by the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Estimates of the prevalence of diabetes varied widely across populations, regions, and time periods. Five studies—from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Paraguay—did not identify any cases of diabetes. Among studies reporting cases, prevalence ranged from 1 to 70% in North America, 5 to 14% in Central America, and 1 to 29% in South America. Conclusions: The prevalence of diabetes among Indigenous populations varied widely across the region, with substantially higher estimates reported in North America than in Central and South America. The decline in published studies in recent years suggests reduced research attention to this topic. The marked heterogeneity identified in this review underscores the need for standardized measurement approaches to support population-specific strategies aligned with personalized care and precision public health. Full article

Steep slope failures adjacent to residential areas are becoming an increasingly serious hazard. However, satellite-based monitoring is often limited by revisit time and spatial resolution, which can impede the timely identification of small, precursory deformations. To support dense in situ surveillance, embedded glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) sensor rods were installed in a susceptible slope, and ground-displacement data were recorded at 5 min intervals for five months. Based on these multivariate time series, we propose PRISM-TAD, a masked Transformer-based anomaly detection approach that integrates kinematic priors computed from displacement and velocity to model normal slope dynamics and detect departures from typical behavior. The proposed method was benchmarked against six baselines: robust velocity threshold screening, PCA-based reconstruction, Isolation Forest, one-class SVM, a 1D convolutional autoencoder, and a standard Transformer reconstructor. In a field test using a documented slope failure case in Seocheon, PRISM-TAD generated an alert approximately 22 h before collapse while yielding the lowest false alarm rate. Although some baseline methods showed longer nominal lead times, they produced substantially more false positives. Overall, the results suggest that coupling high-frequency IoT displacement sensing with domain-informed deep learning can enhance the operational reliability of early warning for slope failures. Full article

The increasing coexistence of oncological disease and cardiovascular implantable technology poses complex clinical challenges that require close collaboration among cardiologists, electrophysiologists, radiation oncologists, and medical physicists. A structured, systematic, and multidisciplinary approach is essential for the safe management of cancer patients with a cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) undergoing radiation therapy. This document reports a consensus statement issued by the Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists (ANMCO), aiming to provide practical guidance for clinicians involved across the entire care continuum of this high-risk patient population. A comprehensive pre-treatment evaluation is strongly recommended, including detailed assessment of the type of radiotherapy, treatment planning parameters, device characteristics, and patient-specific cardiac conditions, to minimize the risk of CIED malfunction. Particular emphasis is placed on risk stratification before radiation therapy, as well as on the appropriate timing and modality of cardiological assessments during treatment and in the post-therapy follow-up phase. The document offers an overview of oncological electrophysiology and the mechanisms of radiation-induced damage to cardiac devices with the goal of supporting standardized, safe, and effective clinical practice in this evolving field. Full article

General-purpose large language models excel at open-domain question answering, but in railway operation and maintenance (O&M) scenarios they still suffer from hallucinated knowledge and poor domain adaptation. In practice, railway O&M knowledge mainly arises from two heterogeneous sources: spatio-temporal data such as train trajectories, which are organized along the spatial layout of railway lines, and domain documents such as operating rules, which exhibit varying degrees of structural regularity. Traditional retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems usually flatten these multi-source data into a single unstructured text space and perform global retrieval in one embedding space, which easily introduces noisy context and makes it difficult to precisely target knowledge for specific lines, sections, or equipment states. To overcome these limitations, we propose CARAG, a context-aware RAG framework tailored to railway O&M data. CARAG treats domain documents and spatial data as a unified knowledge substrate and builds a spatial knowledge graph with concept and instance levels. On top of this knowledge graph, a GraphReAct-based multi-turn interaction mechanism guides the LLM to reason and act over the concept knowledge graph, dynamically navigating to spatially and semantically relevant candidate regions, within which vector retrieval and instance-level graph retrieval are performed. Experiments show that CARAG significantly outperforms baseline RAG methods on RAGAS metrics, confirming the effectiveness of structure-guided multi-step reasoning for question answering over multi-source heterogeneous railway O&M data. Full article

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) plays a pivotal role in global food security as a primary source of vegetable protein and oil. However, its production is increasingly jeopardized by the frequent concurrence of drought and heat stress, a scenario predicted to intensify under ongoing climate change. While the effects of individual stresses have been well documented, the combined occurrence of drought and heat imposes unique physiological challenges, such as the conflict between stomatal closure for water conservation and transpirational cooling, that critically impair yield stability. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the physiological and molecular mechanisms governing soybean responses to these combined stresses, with a specific focus on modifications of root system architecture and the sensitivity of biological nitrogen fixation. We critically analyze recent advances in genomic resources, highlighting key quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and multi-omics integration. Furthermore, we propose integrated breeding strategies that bridge conventional breeding with cutting-edge technologies, including high-throughput phenotyping, speed breeding, and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing, underpinned by high-throughput phenotyping and speed breeding. By presenting a roadmap for developing climate-smart soybean cultivars, this review aims to support sustainable agricultural practices that ensure both adaptation and mitigation in a changing climate. Full article

Background: Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tears are increasingly frequent among adolescents and are often accompanied by meniscal and chondral injuries that may compromise long-term outcomes. While risk factors are well documented in adults, they remain less well defined in younger patients, who present unique anatomical and activity-related characteristics. Understanding these associations is essential for optimizing surgical timing and outcomes in this age group. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of concomitant intra-articular injuries in adolescents undergoing ACL reconstruction and to identify associated risk factors. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 186 adolescents (12–18 years) who underwent primary ACL reconstruction using a bone–patellar tendon–bone (BPTB) autograft between 1999 and 2020. Demographic, anthropometric, and intraoperative findings on meniscal and chondral lesions were collected. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with concomitant injuries. Results: Concomitant intra-articular lesions were found in 108 of 186 patients (58.1%). Meniscal tears were the most common finding, involving the lateral meniscus in 27.4%, the medial meniscus in 18.8%, and both menisci in 11.9%. The posterior horn was the most common tear location, and longitudinal and bucket handle patterns predominated. Older age was associated with any concomitant lesion (p = 0.028), and surgical delay (p = 0.021) was associated with a higher likelihood of medial meniscal tears. Sex and BMI were not significantly associated. Conclusions: Concomitant injuries are common in adolescents undergoing ACL reconstruction. Older age and delayed surgery were associated with a higher likelihood of meniscal damage, emphasizing the need for early diagnosis and timely surgical management as potentially relevant to limiting long-term degenerative changes in young athletes. Level of evidence: Level III, retrospective study. Full article

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and its receptors CRHR1 and CRHR2 are major actors in the stress response and are well established as components of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Evidence also suggests they are expressed in peripheral tissues and, more interestingly, in the skin. While CRHR1 expression in keratinocytes is documented in terms of presence or absence, data on CRHR2 remain sparse. Moreover, there is no detailed description of the exact localization of CRHR1/2 receptors within the different layers of the epidermis, leaving this question fully unexplored. To better understand the link between stress and skin disorders, we aimed to investigate the differential expression of CRHR1 and CRHR2 in keratinocytes, depending on their level of differentiation. In vitro results demonstrated that CRHR1 appears to be more abundant at early stages of differentiation and CRHR2 at more advanced stages. Full article

Honey fraud represents a persistent and analytically challenging form of food adulteration, driven by globalised supply chains, strong economic incentives and asymmetries in regulatory oversight and analytical capacity. Conventional physicochemical, spectroscopic and isotopic methods provide legally robust tools for routine control, yet increasingly struggle to detect sophisticated adulteration strategies that are compositionally optimised to mimic authentic honey profiles. These challenges are amplified in a global context, where heterogeneous enforcement landscapes and fragmented analytical infrastructures create exploitable vulnerabilities across international trade networks. This narrative review synthesises current knowledge on honey fraud typologies and critically evaluates established analytical approaches alongside emerging omics-based authentication strategies, including genomics, metabolomics, proteomics and microbiome profiling. Omics-based approaches extend authenticity assessment beyond single-marker paradigms by capturing multidimensional biological and compositional signatures, thereby improving sensitivity to subtle and system-aware fraud (i.e., adulteration strategies that adapt to prevailing analytical detection methods and regulatory thresholds) strategies. To maintain evidentiary clarity, this review explicitly distinguishes between analytically demonstrated vulnerabilities, technically feasible adulteration scenarios and fraud practices documented in regulatory or enforcement contexts. Advanced technology-driven strategies are therefore discussed as potential system-level risks rather than confirmed large-scale honey fraud cases. This differentiation not only safeguards evidentiary precision but also highlights the structural limits of purely analytical solutions. Beyond analytical performance, honey authentication is framed as a systemic challenge embedded in global food systems. This review highlights the need for integrated, data-driven and scalable authentication frameworks that align analytical innovation with reference harmonisation, governance structures and international regulatory cooperation to support resilient and globally robust honey authenticity control. Full article

In recent years, xylazine has emerged as a cutting agent combined with illicit drugs to extend their effects. The present study aimed to discover drug use patterns associated with xylazine-positive and -negative urine toxicology drug screens and to assess whether xylazine can be used as a marker for exposure to designer drugs/new psychoactive substances in our study population. This is a retrospective analysis of urine toxicology results from two different analytical platforms: a targeted, structurally confirmatory, high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay that quantifies 136 drugs and metabolites including xylazine; and a non-targeted ThermoFisher Orbitrap Tribrid mass spectrometry system (Thermo Scientific^TM, Bremen, Germany) in combination with database searches for the identification of drugs not captured by the targeted assay. All participants were patients receiving care through the Addiction Research and Treatment Services (ARTS), with documented substance misuse, undergoing routine urine drug toxicology testing at the iC42 Clinical Toxicology. Data analysis was performed using Sciex OS version 2.2.0.5738 after extraction using the targeted, structurally confirmatory and quantitative LC-MS/MS platform (SCIEX, Framingham, MA, USA). The drug patterns found in xylazine-positive and -negative urine samples were statistically significantly different (p < 0.001), indicating different consumption patterns associated with xylazine. Moreover, the overall concentrations of drugs (normalized to creatinine) were also statistically significantly different with higher concentrations in the urine samples that tested negative for xylazine. In contrast, samples that were positive for xylazine contained significantly higher concentrations of various designer drugs/new psychoactive substances as detected by the untargeted platform (p < 0.0001). The results indicated that xylazine has become increasingly common in Denver’s drug circulation and that xylazine may be used as a marker to prompt reflex testing with non-targeted high-resolution mass spectrometry assays in combination with database searches to test for the exposure to designer drugs/new psychoactive substances in our patient population. Full article

This paper examines the European Central Bank’s institutional capacity and readiness to introduce a digital euro in the context of accelerating digitalization, geopolitical uncertainty, and growing competition in the global monetary system. Rather than treating the digital euro primarily as a technological innovation, the study conceptualizes it as a multidimensional institutional project shaped by regulatory mandates, governance choices, stakeholder expectations and risk considerations. Drawing on institutional theory and stakeholder theory, the analysis adopts a qualitative research design combining semi-structured expert interviews with systematic document analysis of ECB and EU policy material. The findings indicate that while the ECB has developed a structured roadmap encompassing investigation, preparation and potential issuance phases, significant challenges remain across regulative, normative and cognitive dimensions of readiness. These challenges include tensions between privacy and compliance requirements, cybersecurity and interoperability risks, potential effects on financial stability, and the management of public trust and stakeholder acceptance. The paper argues that the success of a digital euro will depend not only on technical feasibility, but on the ECB’s ability to align design and implementation choices with institutional legitimacy and behavioral expectations. By integrating institutional readiness and risk analysis, the study contributes to the literature on central bank digital currencies and offers insights relevant to policymakers concerned with monetary sovereignty and financial resilience in the digital age. Full article