Search Results (25,617)

The cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, is a globally important pest of stored products, and prolonged fumigant use has accelerated resistance development. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are key phase II detoxification enzymes that mediate insect tolerance to xenobiotics. In this study, we identified nine GST genes (LsGSTs) in L. serricorne and classified them into four cytosolic classes, namely epsilon, delta, theta, and sigma, based on phylogenetic analysis. Most LsGSTs were predominantly expressed during larval stages, while LsGSTs7 showed peak expression in adults. Tissue-specific profiling revealed predominant expression in metabolically active organs, including the fat body, Malpighian tubules, and midgut. Inhibition of GST activity using diethyl maleate (DEM) significantly increased larval susceptibility to three emerging fumigants: ethyl formate, benzothiazole, and methyl isothiocyanate. Exposure to LC₃₀ and LC₅₀ concentrations of these fumigants induced up-regulation of multiple LsGSTs, highlighting fumigant-specific detoxification responses. RNA interference targeting nine fumigant-inducible LsGSTs markedly elevated mortality and decreased total GST activity under fumigant stress. Furthermore, recombinant LsGSTs6 protein effectively metabolized methyl isothiocyanate, confirming their direct role in fumigant detoxification. Collectively, these findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying GST-mediated tolerance in L. serricorne and identify specific GST isoenzymes as promising molecular targets for innovative resistance management strategies in stored-product pest control. Full article

Introduction: Work engagement among nurse case managers is central to safe, efficient, person-centred care, yet organisational and team-level factors that support engagement or mitigate burnout remain poorly synthesised. Aim: To map organisational and team-level strategies that enhance work engagement or reduce burnout among nurse case managers and aligned roles, as well as to consider their applicability to Gulf health systems. Method: We conducted a scoping review in accordance with the Arksey and O’Malley framework as refined by Levac et al. and reported it in line with PRISMA-ScR and PRISMA-S guidance. Six databases and targeted sources were searched for English-language records published between 2015 and 2025. Two reviewers independently screened titles/abstracts and full texts against predefined eligibility criteria, charted data using a piloted form, and synthesised findings thematically against Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) domains. Results: Of 303 records identified, 248 were screened after deduplication, and 11 studies were included. Across nine health systems, findings were mapped to three JD-R domains: job resources, job demands, and personal resources. The most recurrent resource-related strategies involved structural supports, staffing stability, coordination infrastructure, and supportive leadership or team practices. Key demands included role complexity, high caseloads, coordination workload, discharge pressures, and staffing instability. Personal-resource approaches were fewer and mainly involved stress management, communication, and reflective practice interventions. Engagement was infrequently measured directly, and only one empirical intervention study originated from a Gulf health system. Conclusions: This JD-R-informed scoping review suggests that strengthening structural, staffing, and coordination resources, alongside supportive leadership and team climates, may be important for sustaining engagement and limiting burnout among nurse case managers. However, these findings should be interpreted as exploratory signals that map the current evidence landscape rather than definitive evidence of effectiveness. Multi-component JD-R-informed bundles in Gulf region health systems should therefore be prioritised for context-sensitive co-design, piloting, and evaluation. Full article

Addressing the lack of high-fidelity test cycles for fuel cell light-duty trucks, this paper proposes an automated driving cycle construction method that integrates unsupervised clustering and reinforcement learning. Firstly, based on large-sample real-world driving data, four libraries of typical driving pattern segments are extracted through dimensionality reduction via Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and K-means clustering. Subsequently, the cycle construction process is formulated as a sequential decision-making problem, and a framework based on the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm, incorporating an action masking mechanism, is designed. This framework innovatively injects macro-level time budget allocation as a hard constraint into the agent’s policy space via action masking, while utilizing micro-level Markov transition probabilities as a soft guide. This dual approach drives the agent to learn an optimal segment concatenation strategy, thereby simultaneously ensuring both the macro-level statistical representativeness and the micro-level driving logic coherence of the synthesized cycle. Validation results demonstrate that the cycle constructed by the proposed method achieves an average relative error of only 7.53% in key characteristic parameters, and its joint speed-acceleration distribution exhibits a similarity as high as 0.9886 with the original data, significantly outperforming traditional methods such as the clustering method, the Markov chain method, and standard driving cycles. This study provides an effective tool for generating high-fidelity driving cycles and testing energy management strategies for fuel cell commercial vehicles. Full article

Non-invasive temperature estimation during online operation is a critical challenge in enclosed micro-reaction systems, particularly when the thermal mass of the working fluid varies dynamically or is uncertain. Conventional model-based approaches typically rely on fixed thermal parameters, leading to significant estimation errors when the actual reagent volume deviates from nominal conditions. To address this limitation, this study proposes a volume-adaptive temperature estimation framework applied to an ultrafast quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) system. By modeling the heat-transfer pathways via a simplified resistance–capacitance (RC) network, a nonlinear least squares (NLS) algorithm within an output-error (OE) framework is employed to identify key thermal parameters online. The framework separates the estimation into an offline calibration stage—where a thermocouple-equipped chip provides ground-truth data—and an online deployment stage that relies solely on non-invasive external measurements. This approach allows the system to explicitly compensate for volume-induced variations in thermal inertia. Validation experiments on an ultrafast qPCR platform with reagent volumes ranging from 100 to 250 $\mathsf{\mu }\mathrm{L}$ and heating rates exceeding 20 °C/s demonstrate that the method achieves robust performance, maintaining a mean absolute error (MAE) of reagent temperature at 0.24 ℃ and restricting the average volume estimation error to within 1.37 $\mathsf{\mu }\mathrm{L}$. DNA gel electrophoresis results further confirm the biological reliability of the temperature prediction strategy by verifying amplification specificity. This work provides a generalised solution for precise thermal management in micro-systems subject to variable thermal loads. Full article

The rapid expansion of seaweed aquaculture has profound impacts on coastal ecosystems, yet the lack of long-term, high-precision spatiotemporal monitoring methods has constrained systematic understanding of aquaculture dynamics and their environmental effects. This study integrated Landsat (1984–2025) and Sentinel-2 (2015–2025) imagery with an attention-enhanced U-Net deep learning model to achieve 41 years of continuous monitoring of seaweed aquaculture in the Dongtou Archipelago, Zhejiang Province, China. The model achieved high extraction accuracy for both Landsat and Sentinel-2 aquaculture areas (F1 scores of 0.972 and 0.979, respectively). On this basis, the cultivation zones were further classified into Porphyra sp. and Sargassum fusiforme cultivation areas by incorporating local aquaculture planning and field survey data. Results showed that the aquaculture area underwent three developmental stages: slow initiation (1984–2000, <3 km²), rapid expansion (2001–2015, 3–8 km²), and high-level fluctuation (post-2015, typically 8–20 km²), reaching a peak of ~30 km² during 2018–2019. Long-term retrieval of water quality parameters revealed that the decline in total suspended matter (from ~80 to 60 mg/L) and chlorophyll (from ~3 to 2 μg/L) within aquaculture zones was significantly greater than that in non-aquaculture areas, providing direct observational evidence for local water quality improvement by appropriately scaled aquaculture. Meanwhile, sea surface temperature showed a sustained increasing trend, with extremely high-temperature days (≥25 °C) exhibiting strong interannual variability, posing potential thermal stress risks to cold-preferring seaweed species. The NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and FAI (Floating Algae Index) indices effectively captured aquaculture phenology (seeding, growth, maturation, harvest), with their interannual peaks exhibiting an inverted U-shaped correlation with corresponding yields (R = 0.82 and 0.79, respectively, based on quadratic regression fitting), preliminarily demonstrating the potential of remote sensing in indicating density-dependent effects. This study systematically demonstrates the comprehensive capability of multi-source satellite remote sensing in long-term dynamic monitoring, environmental effect assessment, and yield relationship analysis of seaweed aquaculture, providing key technical support and scientific basis for aquaculture carrying capacity management and ecological risk prevention in island waters. Full article

Background/Objectives: Globally, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients struggle to meet the expectation of being active in their daily lives. The burden on these individuals is twofold, including physical limitations and emotional stress, which make looking after themselves a major challenge. Supporting self-management requires more than just offering strategies; it requires fitness. Whether we are proposing new daily habits or creative outlets like ceramic workshops, it is essential to tap into the patient’s perspective to understand exactly what kind of support will resonate with them. This study explored how ceramic workshops can help people with RA to build resilience and improve their well-being. Methods: Using a phenomenological study design, we interviewed 16 patients with RA in Hong Kong who engaged in ceramic workshops. These participants were selected through purposive sampling, and their insights were gathered via semi-structured interviews. We applied Colaizzi’s seven-step method to analyze the findings. Results: Four key themes emerged: (i) embodied manageability; (ii) clear comprehension of body limits; (iii) the meaningfulness of creating art; and (iv) supporting resilience. Conclusions: This study reveals that effective self-management support should prioritize patient-driven needs, particularly peer interaction and high-demand creative pursuits such as ceramic workshops. Full article

Oral cancer remains a major global health problem with high morbidity and mortality rates, and despite advances in therapeutic approaches, challenges persist in early diagnosis and effective disease management. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and play fundamental roles in maintaining cellular homeostasis, as well as in the initiation and progression of multiple malignancies, including oral cancer. Dysregulation of miRNAs contributes to oral carcinogenesis by modulating key cellular processes such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Altered miRNA expression profiles have been consistently identified in oral cancer tissues and body fluids, including saliva and blood, supporting their potential utility as reliable biomarkers for early detection, prognosis, and disease monitoring. Circulating miRNAs, in particular, represent a promising non-invasive diagnostic tool for assessing disease progression and therapeutic response. Moreover, miRNAs are actively involved in regulating sensitivity and resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, with specific miRNAs either enhancing treatment efficacy or promoting therapeutic resistance. This review aims to highlight the critical role of miRNAs in oral cancer pathogenesis, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, exploring their potential as biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve early detection, patient outcomes, and personalized treatment strategies. Full article

A suicide epidemic exists among young U.S. veterans, with risk especially elevated in the first year of transition for the 200,000 servicemembers exiting the military annually. The VA Veteran Sponsorship Initiative (VSI) is a public–private-partnership between federal and community partners that aims to decrease suicides by providing a VA-certified volunteer peer sponsor and connection to community services. Onward Ops is a key community-based national program that enrolls, matches and manages the relationship between servicemembers and sponsors. A prior randomized controlled trial showed that the effectiveness of community interventions can be enhanced when augmented by an Onward Ops sponsor. In preparation for national implementation, we conducted a quasi-experimental, matched-cohort pilot to evaluate the feasibility of an adapted VSI protocol and then assessed effectiveness. The adaptations were executed using the Framework for Reporting Adaptations and Modifications-Enhanced between April 2021 and April 2023. The formative results supported the feasibility of the adaptations to enable proactive enrollment on military installations and expand data infrastructure, partnerships, peer sponsors, and VA clinical services. We then assessed the effectiveness for outcomes not studied in the original VSI trial for active-duty soldiers who enrolled between April and December 2023. After nearest-neighbor matching, the sample included 551 VSI participants and 551 soldiers transitioning as usual. The point-probability contrast or risk differences from the conditional logistic regression model indicated that the VSI caused a statistically significant increase in VA primary care utilization of 0.198 and a statistically significant decrease in suicide attempts of −0.019, both assessed 10 months post-military discharge. The study demonstrated the utility of public–private-partnerships, peer-sponsorship programs and enhanced VA services to support servicemembers during transition. Full article

To ensure high-quality and reliable service provision for customers, advanced optical networks without active elements have been developed to increase operating reliability, network scalability, and resource efficiency. To this end, wavelength division multiplexing-based passive optical networks (WDM-PON) now have a markedly enhanced role. An important aspect of the WDM-PON design is represented by traffic protection schemes, which play a key role in network reliability. Managing the power budget for optical links allows us to achieve a practically sustainable and realizable infrastructure of advanced passive optical networks. In this work, we focused on simulation model development for the power budget calculation for the WDM-PON optical link and the subsequent optical power budget evaluation of presumptive WDM-PON traffic protection schemes. Full article

In low-latency edge-intelligence scenarios such as autonomous driving and industrial edge analytics, the processing of large-scale sensor data imposes extremely stringent requirements on communication latency. However, the high overhead of the traditional TCP protocol makes it difficult to satisfy such demands, while the semantic gap between the high-performance RoCE protocol and the standard Socket API prevents existing applications from directly exploiting its advantages. To address this problem, this paper proposes TransBridge, a lightweight user-space communication middleware that transparently bridges TCP and RoCE. Its design is realized through three key innovations: a transparent user-space compatibility architecture that enables unmodified Socket-based applications to benefit from RoCE performance; a microsecond-level low-latency transmission engine that bypasses kernel and protocol stack overhead; and a lightweight lock-free resource management mechanism based on a decentralized peer-to-peer architecture and deferred buffer updates. Experiments on a real RoCE network show that TransBridge significantly outperforms mainstream schemes: it achieves an average round-trip latency of 5.926 $\mathsf{\mu }$s for 16 B messages and a throughput of 20.254 Gbps for 16 KB messages; in the Fast DDS application-level evaluation, it achieves a throughput of 188 Mbps and an average round-trip latency of about 150 $\mathsf{\mu }$s. The results indicate that TransBridge can provide transparent and effective RoCE acceleration for existing Socket-based applications in resource-constrained edge environments. Full article

Background/Objectives: Lung cancer (LC) remains the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, despite advances in systemic and targeted therapies. A mechanism of survival of tumor cells is metabolic reprogramming, characterized by increased glucose uptake, aerobic glycolysis, and alterations in mitochondrial function. These adaptations seem to support tumor growth, immune evasion, and therapeutic resistance. In parallel, supportive care and specifically nutritional interventions have become essential components of modern oncology. The interplay between metabolic reprogramming and targeted nutritional strategies represents a promising area of investigation that bridges tumor biology with supportive care, aiming to enhance both therapeutic efficacy and patient quality of life. Methods: This narrative review explores the biological and pathophysiological rationale for the ketogenic diet (KD) as a possible complementary intervention in LC management and summarizes the published preclinical and clinical data supporting this rationale. Results: We discuss key aspects of tumor metabolism, including the Warburg effect, glucose dependency, oxidative stress regulation, fatty acid metabolism, lactate cycling and tumor microenvironment interactions, with particular emphasis on how carbohydrate restriction and ketosis may exacerbate mitochondrial dysfunction in cancer cells and modulate inflammatory pathways. Furthermore, we summarize available preclinical and clinical evidence evaluating the KD in oncology and, more specifically, in LC, focusing on feasibility, safety, metabolic effects, and potential synergy with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy. Conclusions: While preclinical models suggest enhanced treatment efficacy, clinical data remain limited and heterogeneous, with patient adherence representing a major challenge. Further well-designed longitudinal studies are required to clarify the therapeutic role of the ketogenic diet in lung cancer. Full article

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) has long been regarded as an organ-specific disorder. However, increasing evidence supports its systemic nature, with extrahepatic manifestations representing key aspects of clinical management. These manifestations can affect musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, haematologic, and other systems. They also reflect the complex interplay between systemic inflammation, concomitant autoimmune diseases, and drug-related toxicity. A careful evaluation is therefore essential to distinguish between these scenarios, especially for symptoms like fatigue and cytopenias. This narrative review provides a comprehensive, symptom-based overview of extrahepatic clinical and laboratory findings in AIH. By integrating current evidence with practical diagnostic considerations, it aims to offer clinicians a patient-centred and clinically relevant framework for navigating the multifaceted systemic landscape of AIH. Full article

Port cities represent an interdependent system in which port and urban activities overlap and develop. While ports serve as the gateway for the city, expanding market reach and attracting investments, cities provide the necessary labor and services required for the operation of the ports. However, the mutual relationship between ports and cities is threatened by conflicts such as urban sprawl, which leads to friction by taking the space needed for storing containers at ports. Similarly, ports generate high noise and air pollution, threatening the quality of life in urban centers. Therefore, implementing best practices to manage the port–city dichotomy is essential to ensure the coexistence of the port and city. This study re-examined the port–city relationship in the framework of urban planning to guide redevelopment decisions within the Piraeus city port in Greece. Data were collected through a mixed-methods approach involving secondary research and roundtable discussions. The findings showed that a key design parameter of the Piraeus city port is the development and exploitation of the city’s relationship with water, from a functional, spatial, and aesthetic point of view. Furthermore, a guide was developed to facilitate the redevelopment of the city port and improve decision-making. The recommendations also emphasize the integration of the port city into a global economic forum and highlight its dynamism, ensuring mutual benefits for the city and port. Full article

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease characterized by marked clinical heterogeneity. While the genetic architecture underlying disease susceptibility is well established, the role of genetic factors in shaping disease prognosis remains clearly defined. In this structured narrative review, we examine available evidence on genetic contribution to key MS prognostic domains. This includes clinical outcomes, such as age at onset, relapse rate, disability progression, neurological sequelae, and cognitive impairment. We also consider radiological measures like brain and spinal cord lesion burden, gadolinium-enhancing lesions, and atrophy, as well as laboratory biomarkers, such as oligoclonal bands and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) index. Overall, current evidence suggests that genetic influences on prognosis are modest and highly heterogeneous. Only a limited number of associations—primarily from genome-wide association studies (GWAS)—have shown consistent replication, whereas many reported findings come from small candidate-gene studies and remain unconfirmed. Among these, the largest GWAS on age-related Multiple Sclerosis Severity Score (MSSS) identified a locus in the DYSF–ZNF638 region reaching genome-wide significance. The strongest evidence from GWAS relates to relapse rate, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures (e.g., thalamic atrophy) and intrathecal IgG synthesis, the latter also reaching genome-wide significance. Interpretation of genotype–phenotype associations is further limited by small sample sizes, limited replication, heterogeneity in study design with the predominance of candidate-gene approaches, variability in outcome definitions, treatment exposure, and population ancestry. These limitations currently preclude the routine use of genetic markers for prognostic stratification in clinical practice. Larger studies and collaborative genetic consortia efforts are needed to improve statistical power and reproducibility. Additionally, emerging epigenetic studies may provide valuable insights into prognosis and disease management. Understanding which genetic factors can predict diverse MS courses could enhance patient management and enable personalized treatment approaches. Full article