Search Results (8,446)

The expansion of ruminant production has increased methane (CH₄) emissions, highlighting the need for nutritional strategies that improve productivity while mitigating environmental impacts. Yaks, generally considered low CH₄ producers, are increasingly raised under intensive winter-housed systems on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau, highlighting the need to assess how dietary concentrate-to-forage (C:F) ratios affect both CH₄ emissions and growth performance. This study investigated the effects of three dietary C:F ratios [L-C (48:52), M-C (60:40), H-C (72:28)] on growth performance, ruminal fermentation, microbial diversity (n = 6 per group) and CH₄ emission (n = 3 per group) in winter-housed yaks. The results indicated that average daily gain (ADG) was significantly higher in M-C and H-C, while the feed-to-gain ratio (F/G) was significantly lower in M-C and H-C than in L-C (p < 0.05). Total CH₄ production (g/day) did not differ among treatments (p > 0.05), while CH₄ yield per unit body weight gain (CH₄/BWG) was significantly reduced in M-C and H-C (p < 0.05). The protozoal count was significantly lower in H-C, and the proportions of isobutyrate and isovalerate were significantly higher in H-C and M-C compared with L-C (p < 0.05). 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that increasing the C:F ratio reduced the relative abundance of the archaeal genus Methanobrevibacter, while Thermogymnomonas exhibited a significant increase (p < 0.05). Collectively, these findings indicate that increasing the C:F ratio in winter-housed yaks improves growth efficiency and lowers CH₄/kg BWG, with the M-C group showing the most favorable balance between productivity and environmental sustainability. Full article

Early diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is critical for preventing irreversible vision loss, but precise lesion annotation by ophthalmologists is the dominant cost in building any clinical-grade DR detection model. The structural problem in real hospital settings is not labeling cost per se, but expert availability: ophthalmologists’ time is bounded by clinical duties, so the active-learning (AL) cycle can iterate only a handful of times in practice. We frame this constraint explicitly and ask which AL designs work best under a tight expert budget. We propose Virtuous Cycle, a Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) pipeline that integrates (i) a YOLOv8x-based object detector for microaneurysms, hemorrhages, and exudates, (ii) four AL sampling strategies (Average Confidence, Random, Hybrid-Diversity, Monte Carlo Dropout), and (iii) an in-hospital annotation platform (Diavision Studio) in which clinicians refine AI pre-labels rather than draw from scratch. We evaluate Virtuous Cycle on a real-world fundus dataset from the National Medical Center (NMC) across eight AL rounds, expanding the labeled pool from 81 images (R0) to 481 images (R8) within the actual expert-time budget of two ophthalmologists. Across three independent random seeds, random sampling dominates at cold start (mean mAP@50 $0.14\to 0.25$ over R0–R1), whereas Hybrid-Diversity converges to the highest mAP@50, Precision, and Recall by R7 (431 images; mAP@50 $0.40$, Precision $0.55$, Recall $0.41$), with MC Dropout close behind; by R8, the labeled pool is exhausted and all strategies converge to the same final model. A clinician crossover analysis of 36 paired clinical images, controlling for per-clinician speed bias and per-image difficulty bias, shows no statistically significant difference in overall per-image labeling time between AI-assisted and manual annotation ($p=0.52$), but a statistically significant increase in confirmed lesion detections under AI assistance ($p=0.0058$), driven predominantly (84–$100\%$ of the net increase) by microaneurysms, the lesion type most prone to being missed unaided. The results indicate that, under expert-budget constraints, AL strategy choice should be staged: random sampling for cold start, uncertainty-and-diversity sampling once the model has matured, and that AI assistance trades a modest, lesion-burden-dependent time cost for a measurable gain in the sensitivity of microaneurysm detection. Full article

Background/Objectives: This study evaluated the effects of a compound probiotic fermented feed (CPFF) containing Lactobacillus plantarum, Bacillus subtilis, yeast, and Aspergillus niger on rumen in vitro fermentation, in situ feed degradation, and growth performance in beef cattle. Methods: We established a control group (CON) and experimental groups with 2%, 4%, and 8% CPFF supplementation for in vitro fermentation. Results: The results indicated that the NH₃-N concentration in the 4% CPFF group was significantly higher than in the other groups (p < 0.001). Similarly, microbial crude protein (MCP) production was significantly greater in the 4% CPFF group compared to the CON group (p = 0.016). The molar proportions of acetate, butyrate, isobutyrate, and valerate were significantly higher in the 2% and 4% CPFF groups than in the control group (p < 0.001), while propionate levels were significantly lower (p < 0.001). After 48 h, gas production was highest in the 4% CPFF group. Based on improvements in gas production, MCP synthesis, and fermentation intensity, the 4% inclusion level was determined to be optimal for further studies. We conducted an in situ degradation trial using 4% CPFF. Results showed that at 12 h, the neutral detergent fiber (NDF) degradation rate in the 4% CPFF group was significantly higher than in the CON group at 4, 8, 12, and 48 h (p < 0.05). At 48 h, the acid detergent fiber (ADF) degradation rate in the 4% CPFF group was also significantly higher than in the CON group (p < 0.001), and this group exhibited a significant increase in crude protein (CP) degradation (p = 0.030). We analyzed rumen fluid samples from both the CON and 4% CPFF groups after in vitro fermentation using 16S rRNA sequencing and untargeted metabolomics. Microbial community analysis revealed significantly increased abundances of functional bacterial groups such as Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group, Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, and UCG-002 in the 4% CPFF group (p < 0.05). Differential metabolites were primarily involved in pathways related to tryptophan metabolism, and tyrosine metabolism signaling. A feeding trial was conducted by adding 4% CPFF to the diet of Angus growing cattle. The results indicated that average daily gain (ADG) (p = 0.004) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) (p = 0.001) were significantly higher in the CPFF group than in the CON group. Conclusions: In conclusion, our results demonstrate that CPFF enhances rumen fermentation activity, optimizes the microbiota and metabolic profiles of rumen fluid, and improves the average daily gain of beef cattle. This research provides a valuable theoretical basis for applying CPFF in beef cattle breeding. Full article

Human factors remain the dominant contributor to cybersecurity incidents, yet awareness training produces only moderate and often non-durable behaviour change, and most evaluated programs are either purely digital or evaluated only at the framework level. This study addresses two gaps: the scarcity of empirical and demographically stratified evidence for multi-modal community-facing awareness programs, and the lack of an explicit account of how artificial intelligence (AI) should be integrated into such programs rather than treated as an optional add-on. We evaluate Cyber4Me, a four-stage individual-awareness intervention (community roadshows, structured training, a hackathon, and a physical–digital escape room) that is wrapped in a cross-cutting AI adaptive layer built entirely on structured performance and behaviour data baseline competency tiering, awareness–behaviour gap detection, predictive early-warning, and personalised recommendation, with no reliance on free text. Using a single-group pre–post design with 130 participants in the UK Black Country region and a multi-dimensional Likert instrument, all four competency domains (confidence, familiarity, GDPR knowledge, incident-response preparedness) improved significantly (paired-t, all $p<0.001$; large within-participant effects, Cohen’s $d\ge 1.0$). Improvement was strongly moderated by demographics: older adults gained most in familiarity, undergraduates in confidence, and lower-education participants in regulatory knowledge. The contributions are as follows: transparent and demographically stratified pre–post evidence for a multi-modal awareness program with effect sizes reported; a fitness-for-purpose comparison against contemporary analogs (KnowBe4, Proofpoint, CyberPatriot, iCAT, CAT-RWE, GPT-CSAT, escape-room studies) that treats AI as a first-class design dimension; and an articulated AI integration architecture for the framework, demonstrated offline on the cohort using only structured performance and behaviour data (no free text). In this architecture, a gradient-boosted classifier assigns participants to three baseline competency tiers at 93.1% cross-validated accuracy; these tiers differ sharply in measured improvement (ANOVA $F=68.8$, $p<0.001$; Foundational $+1.79$ vs. Applied $+0.30$ scale points), an awareness–behaviour gap segment is detected and predicted from intake signals alone (AUC $=0.73$), and a recommender routes participants to personalised follow-on tracks. As the design is single-group and self-reported, results are reported as evidence of within-participant change associated with the intervention rather than as a causal efficacy estimate, and the AI layer is demonstrated for feasibility rather than being evaluated as a separate trial arm; the scope is explicitly individual security awareness and behaviour, not technical network, IIoT, or cloud security. Full article

Background/Objectives: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) responds only partially to pharmacologic monotherapy. Combination procedural regimens incorporating platelet-rich plasma (PRP), stromal vascular fraction (SVF), and botulinum toxin (BTX) have been reported, but objective quantitative trichoscopic data on multimodal single-session protocols are limited. We retrospectively quantified the trichoscopic response to a four-component single-session scalp procedure used in routine clinical practice. Methods: Fifty-one consecutive AGA patients underwent a single-session procedure combining partial temporalis muscle resection with silicone implantation, negative-pressure scalp stimulation, and BTX, PRP, and SVF injections; 28 completed ≥ 4-month follow-up. Standardized 60× videodermoscopy at five predefined scalp locations was archived for paired quantitative analysis in six patients (30 location pairs, of which 28 were analyzable after excluding two pairs for motion artifact), with one additional patient imaged at four years. Six trichoscopic outcomes were derived by automated image analysis (Otsu thresholding, skeletonization, distance-transform shaft thickness); the primary analysis was performed at the patient level (n = 6) and a supporting analysis at the panel level (n = 28), each using paired Student’s t-tests. Results: In the primary patient-level analysis (n = 6 patients), five of six trichoscopic outcomes improved significantly at 3–4-month follow-up, each with a large effect size: median shaft thickness +54% (p = 0.025), terminal-hair proportion +52% (p = 0.028), vellus-hair proportion −33% (p = 0.011), diameter heterogeneity −14% (p = 0.017), and mean shaft thickness +33% (p = 0.029); hair coverage increased but did not reach statistical significance (+11%, p = 0.125). The supporting panel-level analysis (n = 28 paired panels) was concordant in direction and significant for all six metrics. In a single illustrative case followed for four years (n = 1; exploratory), mean shaft thickness gain (+41%, p = 0.039) and vellus reduction (−36%, p = 0.025) were sustained, while the transient coverage gain at 3–4 months (+38%, p = 0.007) partially receded. Conclusions: In this preliminary case series, the integrative procedure was associated with quantifiable trichoscopic re-thickening rather than gross densification, with sustained shaft-caliber gain at four years in the long-term case. Causal attribution to any single component is not possible from this single-arm design; prospective controlled trials are required. Full article

Background: Heat exposure is a leading climate-related health threat, yet whether the heat–disease burden relationship is moderated by national adaptive capacity remains poorly quantified at the global level. We examined associations between heat exposure and cause-specific disability-adjusted life year (DALY) burden across climate vulnerability strata and projected future burden to 2050 under IPCC AR6 warming scenarios. Methods: We constructed a country–year panel spanning 187 countries and 34 years (1990–2023) by merging ERA5 reanalysis temperature data; GBD 2023 DALY rates for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and chronic respiratory diseases (CRD); ND-GAIN adaptive-capacity scores; and WHO GHO health system indicators. Countries were stratified into adaptive-capacity tertiles (Low: n = 63; Medium: n = 62; High: n = 62). We used two-way fixed-effects panel regression with country-clustered standard errors, a formal Chow test of slope equality, lagged exposure models, and a benefit-of-adaptation counterfactual. Future DALY burden was projected to 2030, 2045, and 2050 using country-specific ERA5 warming trends scaled to IPCC AR6 SSP scenario multipliers. Findings: The heat–CVD dose–response was 26 times larger in Low versus High adaptive-capacity countries (β = −346.2 vs. −13.1 DALY years per 100,000 per °C). The Chow test confirmed statistically significant slope heterogeneity across tertiles for all three outcomes (CVD: F = 22.0, p < 0.0001; CKD: F = 14.9, p < 0.0001; CRD: F = 9.4, p < 0.0001). CKD burden rose 47·8% globally between 1990 and 2023, with the strongest within-country heat–CKD association in Medium adaptive-capacity countries (β = −61.5, p < 0.0001). These findings were robust to lagged exposure specifications. Under SSP5-8.5 by 2050, Low adaptive-capacity countries face a projected CVD DALY rate change 23 times larger than High adaptive-capacity countries (−16.2% vs. −0.7%). Upgrading Low adaptive-capacity countries to High tertile standards would avert 15.6% of projected CVD DALY burden under SSP5-8.5 by 2050. Conclusions: Adaptive capacity substantially moderates the health consequences of heat exposure. The quantified benefit of adaptation investment—expressed as averted DALY burden—provides a direct metric for health-system strengthening and climate adaptation financing, particularly in low-income settings facing the steepest projected burden increases. These results position adaptive capacity as a critical social determinant of planetary health, linking Earth-system boundary transgression to inequitably distributed human disease burden across the global community. Full article

Objectives: To explore volumetric changes in the nasopharynx, oropharynx, hypopharynx, and total pharyngeal airway after Class II functional orthodontic treatment and to relate these anatomical changes to patient-reported breathing and sleep comfort. Methods: A retrospective observational study of 63 growing patients (11–14 years) with Class II mandibular retrusion was conducted. Pre- and post-treatment cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans (NewTom 5G) were exported as uncompressed digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) files and analyzed with Dolphin Imaging v11.9. The pharyngeal airway was manually segmented into naso-, oro-, and hypopharyngeal regions; volumes were measured twice by a single examiner to assess reliability. Inter-examiner reliability was assessed in a 15-patient subgroup. Patients completed a 5-point Likert rating of perceived breathing and sleep changes. Statistical tests included Wilcoxon signed-rank, Friedman with Holm post hoc, Mann–Whitney U, and Spearman correlation; p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Intra-examiner reliability was excellent (ICC1 mean 0.988), and inter-examiner reliability was good to excellent (ICC2 0.87–0.95). Mean total pharyngeal airway volume during the treatment interval in growing Class II patients treated with functional appliances increased from 18,183.62 mm³ at T0 to 23,524.42 mm³ at T1—an average augmentation of approximately 5340.80 mm³ (~29.4%). Regional gains followed the following pattern: Oropharynx > Nasopharynx > Hypopharynx. Nasopharyngeal and total airway changes were found to be associated with improvements in reported breathing (ρ = 0.79 and 0.69) and sleep comfort (total airway ρ = 0.74). Conclusions: Functional mandibular advancement in growing Class II patients was associated with enlargement of the pharyngeal airway—most notably in the oropharynx—and these volumetric gains were followed by improved patient-reported breathing and sleep comfort within the limitations of retrospective study design. Full article

Host microRNAs (miRNAs) are widely proposed as innate antiviral effectors against SARS-CoV-2, yet whether they actually restrict infection in lung epithelial cells remains unresolved. Two of the most-cited candidates, miR-29a-3p and miR-15b-5p, are predicted to bind both the viral genome and key entry/trafficking factors such as Furin and ATG9A, but functional evidence is fragmented and often contradictory. Here, we put both miRNAs to the test in human Calu-3 cells infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Beta and Omicron BA.1 variants, using parallel gain- and loss-of-function strategies coupled to RT-qPCR of viral and cellular transcripts and back-titration of infectious progeny on VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells. Both miRNAs transiently suppressed viral gene expression at 6 hpi, but this early dampening was followed by a marked transcript rebound at 24 hpi, especially for Omicron, with virtually no impact on total extracellular viral RNA. More strikingly, miR-15b modulation enhanced infectious virus output during Beta infection, and miR-29a overexpression boosted Omicron BA.1 infectivity, while Furin, ATG9A, AKT3, and TFEB showed only modest, condition-dependent shifts. Rather than acting as clean antiviral effectors, miR-29a and miR-15b emerge as context-dependent modulators that can paradoxically favor SARS-CoV-2 replication—a cautionary signal for miRNA-based antiviral strategies. Full article

Neonatal diarrhea remains a significant threat to piglet health, resulting in substantial economic losses worldwide. Among the viral pathogens associated with this condition, rotavirus (RV) has been extensively reported in Brazil; however, lineage-level classification of circulating strains remains limited. This study aimed to characterize G and P genotypes of porcine RV field strains associated with diarrhea in piglets in Southern Brazil. A total of 10 fecal samples were collected by field veterinarian from diarrheic suckling piglets aged 1 to 14 days and analyzed by RT-PCR for the detection of RV species A, B, C, and H. RV species A (RVA) was detected in 90% (9/10) of the samples, while no other RV species were identified. Genotyping based on the VP7 and VP4 genes revealed a single G3P[6] genotype combination in all RVA-positive samples. Nucleotide (nt) and deduced amino acid (aa) sequence analysis revealed high genetic similarity among strains, with values of up to 99.3% for nt and 98.0% for aa of the VP7 gene and 100% for the VP4 gene (nt and aa). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the VP7 sequences clustered with Brazilian G3 strains, forming a distinct group consistent with a novel lineage (putative G3-XII), whereas VP4 sequences supported a new sublineage (putative P[6]-Ig). These findings demonstrate low genetic variability of RVA field strains in this neonatal diarrhea outbreak, suggesting the circulation of a single viral population. They also emphasize the importance of continuous molecular surveillance to gain a deeper understanding of viral evolution and transmission dynamics in swine populations. Full article

Compact malaria detectors for microcontrollers are almost always benchmarked on the NIH Malaria dataset with a per-cell random split. This leaks slide identity because the cells come from only about 200 slides and a random split mixes same-slide cells across training and testing. The leakage also distorts architectural conclusions: under a leakage-free slide-disjoint protocol, per-module ablation gains collapse to seed noise and an apparent cross-site robustness variant loses most of its advantage. Headline accuracy falls from 97.1% to 95.6%, a gap that sits within the cross-seed noise, and all eight tested architectures move the same way. The evidence is this unanimous direction, not the size of any single gap. This benchmarking finding is our main contribution. Two results survive. First, MalariaNet, our 21 K-parameter detector, reaches about 95.6% accuracy at 23.5 KB of INT8 weights, with a numerically faithful on-chip forward on an STM32H743 at a 1.2 FPS triage rate. Second, it is among the most interference-robust of the eight networks and the most robust microcontroller-deployable model. Scope is limited to single P. falciparum thin-smear cells. Slide-disjoint evaluation should become standard, and we provide MalariaNet as the first leakage-free, on-device-validated point-of-care malaria reference. Full article

Deploying medical visual question answering (VQA) systems over wireless networks introduces a fundamental challenge: channel-induced image degradation may corrupt the visual representations extracted by large vision-language models (VLMs), leading to unreliable diagnostic decisions. We investigate the robustness of frozen LLaVA-1.6, BLIP-2, and BioViL-T hidden-state features under additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), Rayleigh fading, and six combined JPEG-compression-plus-channel conditions (quality factors $q\in \{20,50,70\}$) across signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) from $-5$ to $+20$ dB. A lightweight MLP classifier is trained exclusively on clean features and evaluated on channel-degraded features, enabling controlled analysis of representation robustness without retraining. We introduce the Feature Robustness Score (FRS), defined as the difference between cosine similarity and normalized L2 drift of clean versus degraded features, together with a validation-set FRS threshold analysis as a label-free retraining criterion. A wavelet sub-band energy analysis further characterizes the spectral distribution of channel-induced feature drift. Experiments on PathVQA and VQA-RAD reveal four key findings: (1) LLaVA-1.6 features maintain cosine similarity above $0.98$ across all eight channel conditions and all SNR levels, with statistically significant MLP gains at every tested point ($p<0.05$, McNemar’s test); (2) BLIP-2 and BioViL-T features are less stable but still support consistent MLP improvements, with BioViL-T performing competitively on VQA-RAD, suggesting domain alignment matters; (3) JPEG compression quality ($q=20,50,70$) has negligible impact on feature drift, establishing VLM features as JPEG quality-invariant; and (4) wavelet analysis confirms that channel noise primarily affects high-frequency detail bands while preserving low-frequency semantic content. Full article

Background: Operating rooms generate substantial visual data that is rarely captured systematically. Image-based AI (IBAI) systems using computer vision offer a new approach to real-time perioperative workflow monitoring, but evidence of their impact on surgical case volume remains limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between deployment of an IBAI system and monthly surgical case volume in a high-acuity cardiothoracic operating suite, using synthetic control with difference-in-differences estimation. Methods: We deployed an IBAI system with wall-mounted cameras and a YOLO-based (You Only Look Once) object detection model coupled with a transformer-based event detector in a 15-room cardiothoracic suite at Houston Methodist Hospital (HMH), the tertiary academic hospital of Houston Methodist health system. The deployment was conducted under an IRB-determined quality improvement framework with patient consent for ambient video capture, defined retention limits, and restricted access to recordings. Over a 16-month period spanning 6 months pre-deployment and 10 months post-deployment, the system monitored 5417 surgical cases and automatically detected additional perioperative events including patient entry, draping, and room turnover. Using a synthetic control methodology, we compared post-deployment outcomes at the intervention site against a weighted combination drawn from a pool of 11 Houston Methodist sites that did not yet implement IBAI (116,098 cases across the comparison sites; 121,515 cases in the full analytic dataset). Results: The synthetic control analysis with difference-in-differences estimation showed a statistically significant increase of approximately 25 cases per month (95% CI 8.3 to 41.0; p < 0.01; Bonferroni-adjusted p < 0.05), corresponding to a 7% increase in monthly case volume relative to baseline. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that IBAI can meaningfully improve OR efficiency and support data-driven perioperative management. Future work should evaluate whether case volume gains generalize across other surgical specialties, assess changes in operational outcomes such as turnover time and first-case on-time starts, and examine clinicians’ perceptions of IBAI. Full article

Obesity exhibits pronounced sex-dependent differences in susceptibility and progression; however, the molecular mechanisms coordinating central energy sensing with peripheral thermogenic responses remain incompletely defined. Selenoprotein F (SELENOF), an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident member of the selenoprotein family involved in protein quality control and redox-sensitive metabolic regulation, has not previously been investigated in the context of diet-induced obesity. In the present study, WT and SELENOF-deficient mice subjected to a 16-week high-fat diet (HFD) were combined with primary brown adipocyte experiments to determine the role of SELENOF in systemic metabolic homeostasis. SELENOF deficiency markedly aggravated HFD-induced weight gain, adipose tissue expansion, dyslipidemia, and hyperleptinemia selectively in female mice, whereas no genotype-dependent effects were observed in males. Mechanistically, SELENOF deficiency intensified hypothalamic ER stress and leptin resistance, as reflected by increased GRP78, p-IRE1α, and p-PERK expression together with SOCS3 upregulation, reduced STAT3 phosphorylation, and activation of the IKK/NF-κB inflammatory pathway. In parallel, SELENOF deficiency reduced circulating free triiodothyronine (FT₃) levels and the ratio of free triiodothyronine to free thyroxine (FT₃/FT₄ ratio), and suppressed DIO2 and UCP1 expression in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Experiments in primary brown adipocytes further showed that SELENOF deficiency did not disrupt proximal β3-adrenergic signaling but attenuated the downstream induction of DIO2 and UCP1. Collectively, these findings provide preliminary evidence that SELENOF is associated with sex-dependent metabolic adaptation during HFD-induced stress by linking hypothalamic proteostasis with the thyroid hormone-related thermogenic signaling program in BAT. Full article

Additively manufactured definitive restorative materials have gained popularity recently. The current in vitro study evaluated the effects of surface treatment and thermocycling on the shear bond strength (SBS) between four 3D-printed definitive restorative materials and a self-adhesive resin cement (SARC). Disc-shaped specimens were fabricated from four printable materials: two composite materials, Crowntec (Crowntec) and CRS Composite (Custom Resin Solutions), and two ceramic-filled composites, Alias Dental Crown (Alias) and Permanent Crown (PC) (n = 12 per subgroup). Specimens were divided into four surface treatment subgroups: control, 9% hydrofluoric acid etching (HF), 50 µm aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) airborne-particle abrasion (S50), and 110 µm Al₂O₃ airborne-particle abrasion (S110). SARC was applied using Teflon molds ($\varnothing 3 \times 3 \mathrm{m}\mathrm{m}$). After all specimens were stored in water at 37 °C for 24 h, half of the specimens were subjected to 10,000 thermocycles. Subsequently, SBS testing was performed for all specimens. Data were analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U tests (α = 0.05), and failure modes were classified microscopically. Before thermocycling, compared with control groups, HF significantly decreased SBS in Crowntec, whereas S110 significantly increased SBS in Alias (p < 0.05). After thermocycling, surface-treated CRS and Alias groups showed significantly higher SBS than controls (p < 0.05); Crowntec showed increased SBS after HF and S50, and Permanent Crown only after S50. No significant differences were found among control groups (p > 0.05). Surface-treated groups exhibited mainly mixed and cohesive failures. Surface treatments generally improved the SBS after thermocycling. Full article

Background/Objectives: Preterm infants have higher fat mass and lower lean mass at term-corrected age; however, whether these differences persist into preschool age remains unclear. This prospective observational cohort study aimed to compare body composition between very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) preterm (gestational age < 33 weeks) children and their term-born counterparts aged 5–6 years. Methods: Anthropometric data, body composition, blood biochemical parameters, and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR index) were compared between the preterm and term groups. Results: The study included 96 children (57 preterm and 39 term-born). Although lean mass index and fat mass index were comparable between groups, preterm children exhibited significantly higher insulin levels and HOMA-IR values after adjustment (p = 0.003 and p = 0.004, respectively). Within the preterm cohort, overweight/obesity was associated with higher trunk and total fat percentages, as well as higher HOMA-IR, compared with those of normal-weight or underweight children (all adjusted p < 0.001). Weight growth velocity from 2 to 5 years was positively associated with serum insulin, HOMA-IR, and both trunk and total body fat percentages. Additionally, girls in both groups displayed significantly higher trunk and total body fat percentages than boys. Conclusions: Children born very preterm with VLBW had higher fasting insulin levels and HOMA-IR, despite generally comparable DXA-derived LMI, FMI, and fat distribution at preschool age. Overweight status and rapid early childhood weight gain may contribute to increased metabolic risk in this population, highlighting the need for early metabolic monitoring and growth management. Future large-scale, long-term studies are required to confirm these findings. Full article