Search Results (8,054)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are produced primarily by incomplete combustion of organic materials, including biomass burning, vehicle exhaust, and forest fires. Exposure to PAHs can induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress, leading to lipid peroxidation and DNA damage. Biomass burning is a major environmental and public health problem in Chiang Mai province, containing particulate matter linked with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. This prospective observational study aimed to evaluate the association between oxidative stress biomarkers and PAH exposure. A total of 152 participants comprised healthy controls (88), diabetes patients (35), hypertension patients (15) and diabetes + hypertension patients (14). Only participants aged more than 18 years were included. Participants who had acute respiratory infection or malignancies were excluded. This study was conducted in the pre-burning (December) and post-burning (May) periods by measuring biomarkers such as 1-OHP, MDA and 8-OHdG. Urinary 1-OHP increased significantly in the post-burning period from 0.21 ± 0.50 to 0.87 ± 1.25 μmol/mol creatinine (p < 0.001). Serum 8-OHdG increased significantly in all participants from 51.04 ± 24.90 to 66.08 ± 27.82 pg/mL (p < 0.001) and increased significantly in the diabetic and hypertension group. Serum MDA did not show any significant change post-burning (6.09 ± 3.71 to 6.00 ± 3.71 nmol/mL; p = 0.825), but MDA significantly decreased in the diabetic group (p = 0.017). 8-OHdG tended to increase in all clinical groups in the post-burning season compared to the pre-burning season, indicating oxidative DNA damage. 8-OHdG was found to be a sensitive biomarker of oxidative stress, suggesting its potential as an early indicator in haze season in vulnerable populations. Full article

Fusarium mycotoxins are major contaminants of human and animal feed and pose significant risks to health. A recent recommendation from the European Commission drastically decreased the maximum tolerated concentrations of fumonisins (FBs) and deoxynivalenol (DON) in poultry feed. The objectives of this study were to characterize the effects of a 14-day exposure to a diet containing 7.5 mg FB1 + FB2/kg, 2.5 mg DON/kg and 0.6 mg zearalenone (FDZ diet) in turkeys and chickens, and to assess the persistence of these effects following withdrawal of the contaminated diet. No clinical signs of toxicity were observed in either species, and markers of hepatic oxidative damage remained unchanged. In contrast, sphingolipidome alterations were detected, being more pronounced in turkeys than chickens and more persistent in the liver than in plasma. The C22–C24:C16 ratios measured across several sphingolipid (SL) classes emerged as sensitive biomarkers of FB exposure, whereas the sphinganine:sphingosine ratio (Sa:So) remained unchanged. Determination of the 90th percentile (P90) thresholds for SL ratios in unexposed animals provided good-to-excellent discrimination between exposed and unexposed animals. Notably, this conservative percentile-based approach detected FB exposure using the Sa:So ratio despite the absence of significant differences in group means. Multivariate analysis of the complete sphingolipidome provided the highest discriminatory power, distinguishing exposed from unexposed turkeys and chickens for up to four days after withdrawal of the FDZ diet. Finally, the biological significance of alterations in d18:1P, 18:0/2:0, 18:1/16:0, and dihydrosphingolipids induced by the FDZ diet is discussed. Full article

Background/Objectives: Pregnant women are vulnerable to endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA). However, associations of maternal BPA exposure with oxidative stress, inflammation, the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), dietary total antioxidant capacity (DTAC), and fetal/neonatal outcomes remain unclear. This study evaluated urinary and estimated dietary BPA exposure in conjunction with DII and DTAC during late pregnancy and examined their associations with maternal oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers and fetal/neonatal outcomes. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 86 third-trimester pregnant women at a Turkish tertiary hospital. BPA exposure was assessed using creatinine-adjusted urinary BPA concentrations and dietary intake estimated from 3-day dietary records and a food frequency questionnaire. Urinary and serum biomarkers were measured, and DII and DTAC scores calculated. Analyses included correlation, multivariable regression, and mediation. Results: Creatinine-adjusted urinary BPA correlated strongly with urinary 8-isoprostane (r = 0.694, p < 0.001) and 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG; r = 0.880, p < 0.001), but not after multivariable adjustment. Neither urinary nor dietary BPA exposure showed consistent adjusted associations with serum oxidative stress or inflammatory biomarkers or significant associations with fetal/neonatal outcomes. DII and DTAC correlated with selected inflammatory biomarkers, particularly TNF-α. Dietary BPA hazard quotients exceeded 1 using EFSA’s updated 2023 tolerable daily intake, suggesting a potential health concern. Conclusions: Urinary BPA correlated strongly with urinary oxidative damage biomarkers, but not after multivariable adjustment. Neither urinary nor dietary BPA showed consistent adjusted associations with maternal oxidative stress or inflammatory biomarkers or significant associations with fetal/neonatal outcomes. DII and DTAC may be related to inflammatory biomarker variability in late pregnancy. Full article

Over the past decade, microplastic pollution has emerged as a subject of considerable interest and extensive research, with implications for human health and ecosystems. This paper briefly summarized the sources of microplastics and their distribution in the soil. It comprehensively addressed the effects of microplastics on the soil–plant system, including the impacts on soil physicochemical properties and plant rhizosphere microbial communities. The effects of microplastics on plant growth, along with their transformation and accumulation within plants, were evaluated. Microplastics can adhere to soil particles and root surfaces and, under certain conditions, may associate with outer root tissues or enter plants through damaged or vulnerable sites. Their presence in the soil–plant system may interfere with water and nutrient uptake, affect photosynthesis, and induce cytotoxic or genotoxic responses. Furthermore, the co-occurrence of microplastics with toxic substances or soil remediation materials may exacerbate the adverse effects on plants and ecosystems. Future research should focus on the development of methods for detecting microplastics in soils and plants and investigate the interactions between microplastics and other environmental factors within the soil–plant system. Further investigation is required regarding the role of microplastics in hyperaccumulating plants, particularly concerning plant-based methods for removing heavy metal pollutants. This study establishes a scientific basis for understanding the effects of microplastics on soil–plant systems. Full article

Reflective cracking is one of the primary causes of premature deterioration in asphalt-overlaid Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements, reducing service life and increasing maintenance costs. Since crack initiation begins within the underlying PCC layer before becoming visible at the pavement surface, conventional inspection methods have limited capability for early damage detection and continuous monitoring. This study presents a hybrid experimental–numerical framework for monitoring and interpreting bottom-up reflective cracking by integrating Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR)-based Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing (DFOS), laboratory-scale three-point bending tests, and finite element (ABAQUS) modeling. Rectangular and semi-cylindrical asphalt-overlaid PCC specimens were instrumented with surface-bonded distributed optical fibers arranged in a serpentine sensing layout with approximately 20 mm spacing to continuously monitor strain evolution during flexural loading. In both tested specimen configurations, the three-point bending tests produced bottom-up crack initiation at the predefined notch within the PCC layer, followed by crack propagation toward the asphalt overlay. Crack-width measurements showed that the maximum crack opening occurred near the notch and progressively decreased toward the asphalt overlay, consistent with the expected flexural stress distribution. The OFDR-based DFOS system successfully identified localized strain concentrations associated with crack initiation and propagation, demonstrating its capability for continuous distributed monitoring of fracture evolution. Finite-element simulations identified tensile stress and strain-localization patterns that showed good qualitative spatial correspondence with the experimentally observed cracking region and distributed strain measurements. The combined experimental, sensing, and numerical results demonstrate the proposed framework’s capability to monitor and interpret bottom-up reflective cracking and highlight the potential of OFDR-based distributed fiber-optic sensing for structural health monitoring, condition assessment, and future field-scale monitoring of rehabilitated concrete pavements. Full article

Rice is a staple grain crop central to China’s food security. As the core production region of single-cropping rice, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River face escalating high daytime and nighttime temperatures and compound drought–heat stress amid global warming. The accurate assessment of heat hazards is therefore pivotal for regional yield stability and disaster mitigation. Based on meteorological, remote-sensing, and soil data, together with county-level rice yield statistics from 150 major producing counties spanning 1991 to 2024 (5009 county-year calibration units), we first constructed a composite heat damage index (CHI) by integrating daytime harmful accumulated temperature (Ha), nighttime harmful accumulated temperature (HNa), and the Vegetation Health Index (VHI). We then implemented a gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) machine learning framework in which yield loss was imposed as a physical constraint. This framework was benchmarked against convolutional neural network (CNN), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM) models, with the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) method used for attribution analysis and an independent temporal partitioning strategy applied for model validation. The results indicate the following: (1) compared to the single daytime heat damage index, the CHI elevated the yield correlation coefficient from 0.52 to 0.63; (2) with yield constraint calibration, the model attained a balanced accuracy of 92.6% and 94.0% consistency with historical disaster records; (3) regional heat hazard presents a spatial pattern of “high in inland areas and low in coastal areas,” with the heading–flowering stage as the critical sensitive period; and (4) high nighttime temperature accounts for approximately 20% of the model’s relative importance, with higher discriminative sensitivity for high-grade hazards, while the amplifying effect of water deficit on heat stress maintains a stable relative importance of around 16%. In this study, the coupled optimization of traditional assessment paradigms and data-driven approaches is achieved, providing a methodological reference for refined growth stage–specific heat hazard assessment. Its cross-regional portability and independent predictive validity require further validation. Full article

Food adulteration is a critical global threat to public health, economic stability, and social welfare. It primarily occurs in two forms: intentional and incidental. Intentional adulteration, or economically motivated adulteration, involves deliberately adding fraudulent or toxic substances such as hazardous ripening agents and harmful coloring to increase profitability. Substitution of food species is also a widely practiced form. Such adulteration can cause severe acute and chronic health issues, ranging from gastrointestinal distress to cancer and organ failure. Incidental adulteration happens through accidental contamination during processing, storage, or distribution, involving hazards such as heavy metals, mycotoxins, and pesticides. Such contaminants also lead to severe chronic diseases and dangerous allergic reactions. Food adulteration also triggers massive socio-economic consequences. Food safety incidents such as the melamine milk crisis and the horsemeat scandal caused billions of dollars in losses due to healthcare costs, product recalls, damaged brand reputation, and disrupted international trade. Global entities such as the WHO, WTO, and Codex Alimentarius have established robust legislative frameworks. However, effective enforcement remains a significant challenge in many countries. To mitigate such harmful impacts, it is essential to strengthen global surveillance systems, enhance rapid analytical detection methods, and strictly enforce compliance with existing food safety regulations. Full article

Background/Objectives: Medical liability litigation in Romania has risen steadily over the past decade, yet the quantification of moral (non-pecuniary) damages remains entirely at the discretion of each judge, with no standardized reference. This raises concerns about consistency and predictability, with direct implications for healthcare professionals, who are increasingly exposed to this form of liability—a potential source of occupational stress—and to financial awards they cannot anticipate. The present pilot study analyzed Romanian court practice regarding the amount of moral damages awarded in cases of medical negligence resulting in the patient’s death. Methods: In a retrospective observational study, we examined ten final rulings (2018–2024; rejust.ro) convicting medical personnel for involuntary manslaughter (27 civil parties awarded). We computed the Claim-to-Award Ratio (CTAR), Claim Reduction Rate (CRR), Appeal Adjustment Rate (AAR), and Appeal Ratio (AR), Spearman correlation, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and linear regression. Results: Courts awarded on average only 18% of the amounts claimed (CRR 82%); claimed and awarded sums were correlated (ρ = 0.84, 95% CI 0.34–0.97, p = 0.0025; R² = 0.59). Appellate adjustments varied widely (AAR −84% to +79%; AR 0.16–1.79), with no systematic difference between instances (Wilcoxon p = 0.463; R² = 0.01). Comparable cases yielded substantially different awards. Conclusions: Moral damages in fatal malpractice show no recognizable pattern of quantification. This structural unpredictability leaves physicians without a reliable benchmark for their financial risk and may amplify the occupational stress and impaired well-being already linked to litigation, supporting the need for guiding reference standards. Full article

The study compares the effects of policosanol (Poli), atorvastatin (Ator), and their combination (Poli+Ator) in mitigating high-cholesterol and high-galactose (HCHG) diet-induced metabolic stress and organ damage in zebrafish. After 22 weeks of feeding, the lowest survival probability was observed in the Ator-supplemented group (0.64). In comparison, the Poli and Poli+Ator-supplemented groups showed higher survival probabilities of 0.76 and 0.71, respectively. Compared with Poli, Ator supplementation had a greater effect in mitigating HCHG-induced dyslipidemia. Nonetheless, Poli+Ator demonstrated a significantly greater effect than Ator and Poli in reducing total blood cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and in elevating the HDL-C/TC ratio. No significant effect of Ator supplementation was observed on the HCHG-induced elevations in blood glucose and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels or the diminished sulfhydryl content; however, Poli alone and Poli+Ator significantly improved blood glucose, MDA, and sulfhydryl content. Consistently, the non-significant effect of Ator on the amputated tail fin regeneration was substantially improved by the Poli+Ator supplementation. In addition, Poli and Poli+Ator markedly reduce liver steatosis, neutrophil infiltration, and interleukin (IL)-6 production, while inhibiting the generation of oxidative species and senescent-positive cells in the kidney and preventing intestinal fibrosis. Also, Poli and Poli+Ator substantially minimize HCHG-triggered oxidative stress in reproductive organs, enhance spermatozoa count in the testis and substantially improve the embryo-producing ability of zebrafish. The study outlines the beneficial effect of Poli and Poli+Ator in mitigating HCHG-induced dyslipidemia, organ damage, and reproductive health. Full article

Cadmium (Cd), a widespread pollutant, is primarily absorbed via diet and smoking. Chronic Cd exposure has been associated with various adverse health effects, including renal tubular and skeletal damage. Urinary Cd concentration accurately reflects cumulative Cd exposure owing to its strong correlation with renal cortical Cd levels. This study evaluated the accuracy of estimated lifetime Cd intake by examining its correlation with urinary Cd levels after soil remediation, an aspect unreported even in the Kakehashi River Basin. A total of 565 men and 450 women were included. Lifetime Cd intake (g) was estimated using an established exposure assessment model that incorporated individual residential history, rice Cd concentrations, and dietary assumptions. Urinary Cd concentrations were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Linear regression analyses were conducted between lifetime cadmium intake and urinary cadmium concentration. The obtained standardized regression coefficients were 0.49 for men and 0.54 for women (both p < 0.001), indicating strong associations. Despite possible exposure misclassification, these findings support the utility of lifetime cadmium intake as a useful surrogate indicator of cumulative cadmium exposure and provide further evidence for its application in risk assessment and the derivation of tolerable cadmium intake values. Full article

Inflammatory diseases are caused by overactivation of the immune system and lead to tissue damage; their high incidence and complications seriously threaten human health. Currently, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and immunosuppressants are the mainstay of clinical practice, but their long-term use can cause gastrointestinal damage, drug resistance, and other problems. In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine has become a research hotspot for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, among which Icariin (ICA), the main active ingredient of Epimedium, has demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory potential. In this review, a comprehensive literature search of PubMed and Web of Science was conducted, and original studies on the anti-inflammatory effects and mechanisms of ICA were included. The roles and mechanisms of ICA in inflammatory diseases in different systems are summarized. Specifically, ICA suppresses NF-κB and MAPK signaling, inhibits NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and activates the Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidant axis, thereby reducing the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β. Overall, the current evidence indicates broad anti-inflammatory effects of ICA across multiple organ systems, particularly in atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction; however, clinical translation is limited by poor bioavailability and the lack of standardized dosage data. Future efforts should focus on pharmacokinetic optimization and well-designed clinical trials to facilitate its application in inflammatory diseases. Full article

Tool wear degrades machining quality and, if unchecked, can progress to breakage, causing workpiece defects, downtime, and spindle damage; automatic tool condition monitoring is therefore essential. In real production, new and reground tools are used interchangeably and differ slightly in geometry and material, so the “normal” baseline shifts from one tool and mounting to the next. This makes both global-baseline diagnostics and deep-learning methods that require large labeled fault datasets difficult to apply. This study proposes a lightweight, self-referencing framework—whose per-tool baseline is built from acceptable-state data alone—for diagnosing milling tool wear under tool-to-tool variability. Its novelty lies not in the individual techniques—self-referencing, order tracking, and the Mahalanobis distance, which are established—but in their integration into a single framework, designed for fault-label-free operation, that rebuilds a dedicated baseline for every newly mounted tool. Whenever a tool is mounted, its own acceptable data, a short initial segment of machining taken as healthy immediately after mounting, form the baseline; kinematics-based order-tracked features from a single spindle-bearing accelerometer are used to compute the Mahalanobis distance from the acceptable state, which serves as a continuous health index. A warning limit set statistically from the acceptable data alone, together with a defect limit set as a pragmatic engineering multiple of it, separates the acceptable, warning, and defect grades. On four end mills of identical specification, the primary full-baseline analysis yielded a warning-detection AUC of 0.986 and a defect-detection AUC of 0.936; with a persistence rule, defect-grade wear was detected in all four tools with no false alarms in the acceptable state. Because the baseline is built from only a short acceptable segment and the computation is inexpensive, the framework is, in principle, suited to shop floors with frequent tool changes and to on-machine or edge deployment (not yet benchmarked on an edge device); the present validation, however, is limited to four tools and a single workpiece material under fixed cutting conditions with accelerated wear, so broader verification remains necessary. Full article

Nanoplastics and microplastics have become an increasing ecological and health concern due to their widespread presence in the environment and food chain. In this study, Caco-2 cells were used as an in vitro model of the human intestinal epithelium to investigate the cytotoxic effects of polystyrene nanoparticles and microparticles of varying sizes, concentrations, and surface modification. Oxidative stress and apoptosis were evaluated following particle exposure. Raman spectroscopy, combined with machine learning analysis, was employed to detect and characterize biochemical alterations in the cells. Several peak ratios were selected to cluster data depending on size. A correlation between apoptosis and both concentration and Raman score was established highlighting its potential as a non-invasive tool to monitor nanoparticle-induced cellular damage. Resveratrol pretreatment reduced some of these harmful effects of amine-modified nanoplastics, reducing reactive oxygen species generation. This study demonstrates the potential of combining Raman spectroscopy and machine learning to assess the cytotoxic effects of micro- and nanoplastics and identifies protective strategies such as antioxidant pretreatment. Full article

Intrinsically self-sensing cementitious composites offer a promising basis for continuous structural health monitoring. Their electrical response, however, is strongly affected by reversible moisture change and freeze–thaw exposure. This study presents a computational proof-of-concept for the AI-driven design of a federated digital-twin architecture for damage identification and adaptive sensing in sustainable self-sensing cementitious infrastructure. The framework is developed and evaluated entirely in software on a physics-based synthetic testbed. At its present maturity, it is therefore a digital-twin precursor rather than an operational digital twin: it has no calibrated physical counterpart and no live, two-way data coupling, and no experimental validation is claimed. A transparent, physics-based signal generator produces fractional-change-in-resistance signals for twelve virtual CNT/biochar-functionalized LC3 and geopolymer specimens. Each passes through four progressive damage stages interleaved with wet–dry and freeze–thaw conditioning. The framework integrates a CNN-LSTM damage classifier, unsupervised domain adaptation, federated learning, reinforcement-learning-based active sensing, and quantum-inspired aggregation optimization. On three unseen virtual specimens (654 evaluation windows), the CNN-LSTM achieved 70.3% four-stage accuracy (95% Wilson confidence interval 66.7–73.7%) and a macro-F1 score of 0.650, with per-specimen accuracy ranging from 63.8% to 77.1%. It reached 85.2% (95% CI 82.3–87.7%) for the damaged-versus-undamaged decision and reduced environment-induced false alarms by 74.7% (95% CI 61.7–83.4%) relative to a calibrated threshold detector. Federated averaging was less accurate and less stable than centralized training; the 5.2 percentage-point gain from quantum-inspired aggregation lies within the resolution of the evaluation set and is not established as a real improvement. The active-sensing controller reduced measurement cost by 98.9% but detected only four of 27 damage-progression events. All sensing data are synthetic, and every interval reported here is recomputed from the evaluation counts already reported rather than obtained from additional experiments. The results therefore establish algorithmic feasibility only and identify the components requiring refinement before experimental validation. Full article

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a mosquito-borne zoonotic pathogen that causes substantial livestock losses and a range of severe human illnesses, including hemorrhagic disease, hepatitis, retinitis, vision loss, and delayed encephalitis. Despite its public health and One Health importance, no approved RVFV-specific antiviral therapy or licensed human vaccine is available. Therapeutic development is challenged by the progression of RVFV disease from acute viremia and hepatic injury to delayed neurologic and ocular complications, highlighting the need for countermeasures that protect both systemic organs and CNS tissues. This review examines RVFV antiviral development in the context of neuroinvasive disease. We summarize evidence on RVFV neuroinvasion and central nervous system injury, including route-dependent entry, blood–brain barrier interactions, immune responses, neuroinflammation, and neuronal damage. We then evaluate major antiviral strategies by mechanism, treatment timing, tissue exposure, and central nervous system relevance. Finally, we propose that future RVFV therapeutics are assessed not only by survival, viremia, and hepatic viral-load endpoints, but also by blood–brain barrier penetration, brain pharmacokinetics, efficacy in neuroinvasive models, delayed-treatment activity, and protection against encephalitis-associated injury. This framework may help prioritize antivirals that control both acute systemic disease and delayed neurological complications. Full article