Search Results (441)

A comprehensive study on the distribution characteristics and exploitation strategies of remaining oil was carried out in the Ordovician ultra-deep fault-controlled fractured–vuggy carbonate reservoir within the Shunbei No. 1 strike–slip fault zone. This research addresses challenges such as severe watered-out and gas channeling encountered during multi-stage development, marking a shift toward a development phase focused on residual oil recovery. By integrating seismic attributes, drilling, logging, and production performance data—and building upon previous methodologies of “hierarchical constraint and genetic modeling”—a three-dimensional geological model was constructed with a five-tiered architecture: strike–slip fault affected zone, fault-controlled unit, cave-like structure, cluster fillings, and fracture zone. Numerical simulations were subsequently performed based on this model. The results demonstrate that the distribution of remaining oil is dominantly controlled by the coupling between key geological factors—including fault kinematics, reservoir architecture formed by karst evolution, and fracture–vug connectivity—and the injection–production well pattern. Three major categories with five sub-types of residual oil distribution patterns were identified: (1) local low permeability, weak hydrodynamics; (2) shielded connectivity pathways; and (3) Well Pattern-Dependent. Accordingly, two types of potential-tapping measures are proposed: improve well control through optimized well placement and sidetrack drilling and reservoir flow field modification via adjusted injection–production parameters and sealing of high-permeability channels. Techniques such as gas (nitrogen) huff-and-puff, gravity-assisted segregation, and injection–production pattern restructuring are recommended to improve reserve control and sweep efficiency, thereby increasing ultimate recovery. This study provides valuable guidance for the efficient development of similar ultra-deep fractured–vuggy carbonate reservoirs. Full article

Background and purpose: The role of adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer treated with breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and systemic therapy remains uncertain in the era of HER2-targeted regimens. This study evaluates the survival impact of RT in patients aligned with the HERO RT de-escalation trial (NRG-BR008). Materials and methods: We queried the National Cancer Database for patients with early-stage HER2-positive invasive breast carcinoma treated with BCS and systemic therapy, stratified into HERO trial-aligned cohorts: Arm 1 (adjuvant systemic therapy) vs. Arm 2 (neoadjuvant systemic therapy, pathologic complete response). Within each cohort, patients receiving adjuvant RT were compared with those omitting RT. In the primary analysis, patients were propensity score matched (PSM) on demographics, diagnosis years, tumor characteristics, and trial stratification variables. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was additionally performed as a sensitivity analysis. Overall survival was evaluated using Kaplan–Meier, Cox regression, and restricted mean survival time (RMST). Results: In Arm 1 (818 patients, 94 deaths), 5-year OS was 96.9% with RT vs. 88.0% without RT, and 10-year OS was 94.3% vs. 68.5% (log-rank p < 0.001). RT omission was associated with higher mortality in the PSM Cox model (HR, 4.78; 95% CI, 2.84–8.02; p < 0.001), with an RMST advantage favoring RT of +2.86 months at 5 years and +12.55 months at 10 years (p < 0.001). In Arm 2 (176 patients, 10 deaths), 5-year OS was 97.6% with RT vs. 91.1% without RT, and OS at 107 months was 94.8% vs. 91.1% (log-rank p = 0.13). RT omission was not statistically significant in the PSM Cox model (HR, 3.40; 95% CI, 0.82–14.05; p = 0.09), though RMST favored RT (+1.83 months at 5 years, p = 0.004; +3.91 months at 107 months, p = 0.03). IPTW analyses were directionally consistent in Arm 1 (HR, 3.26; 95% CI, 2.52–4.21; p < 0.001) and inconclusive in Arm 2 (HR, 1.78; 95% CI, 0.80–3.95; p = 0.16). Conclusions: In this HERO-aligned national cohort, RT omission was associated with inferior OS in patients treated with adjuvant systemic therapy after BCS. Findings in the neoadjuvant pCR cohort were imprecise and hypothesis-generating. Given the retrospective registry design, lack of recurrence-specific endpoints, and potential residual confounding, results should not be interpreted as causal but support continued RT use outside prospective de-escalation trials. Full article

Electric vehicles (EVs) are central to low-carbon urban mobility, but range anxiety persists. In real fleet operations, vehicles are rarely discharged to low State-of-Charge (SOC), so the remaining driving range (RDR) labels are incomplete, hindering accurate RDR prediction and analysis of operating conditions. This paper proposes a label completion framework that reconstructs low SOC mileage and a hybrid mileage-factor-oriented residual regressor (MF-CMR) to learn mileage factors under SOC imbalance. Applied to one year of data from eight EVs in Guangzhou, China, the method achieves a mean absolute error of 0.88 and a coefficient of determination of 0.64, yielding completed trip-level RDR labels whose distribution centers around 241.73 km. Using the completed labels, a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with ambient temperature and driving style as factors shows that temperature is the dominant determinant of RDR, while driving style exerts a secondary but substantial effect, with a significant interaction. Together, the label completion framework and the quantified impacts of temperature and driving style enable more reliable RDR estimation from fleet logs, offering a quantitative basis for dispatching policies, charging margins, and eco-driving guidance in EV fleet services involving long distance trips or low SOC deep discharge scenarios. Full article

This study evaluated the clinical bactericidal efficacy and safety of a novel chlorine dioxide teat disinfectant compared to a traditional iodine glycerin disinfectant in dairy cows. The randomized controlled trial included long-term natural exposure (100 cows) and teat surface disinfection (40 cows) experiments. Key metrics assessed were somatic cell count (SCC), teat skin health (dryness, roughness, hyperkeratosis), and bacterial reduction rates against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus spp. Results demonstrated that the chlorine dioxide teat disinfectant achieved comparable to iodine glycerin disinfectant in controlling the rate of SCC exceeding the threhold (3.57% vs. 4.50% at day 10; p > 0.05), teat skin dryness, end roughness, and hyperkeratosis severity showed no significant differences over time or between iodine glycerin (control) and chlorine dioxide teat disinfectant groups (all p > 0.05). Notably, quantitative bacteriological assessment revealed significantly higher log₁₀ reduction values for chlorine dioxide teat disinfectant (2.14) versus iodine glycerin controls (1.93; p < 0.05). Microbiological evaluation further demonstrated complete pathogen eradication (100.00%) by chlorine dioxide across all isolates (S. aureus, E. coli, Streptococcus spp.), whereas iodine glycerin achieved 99.84–100.00% bactericidal rates. The findings suggest that chlorine dioxide teat disinfectant is a sustainable and effective alternative to iodine glycerin disinfectant, offering robust antimicrobial activity, improved teat condition, and reduced residue concerns. Further multicenter studies are warranted to validate these outcomes under diverse herd management conditions. Full article

Predicting neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in breast cancer remains critical for optimizing treatment strategies, yet robust predictive biomarkers are lacking. This study implemented an ensemble machine learning approach to identify a gene expression signature predicting pathological complete response (pCR) versus residual disease (RD) using bulk RNA-sequencing data from GSE163882 (138 RD, 80 pCR). We employed TMM normalization with differential expression analysis (250 genes, FDR < 0.05, |log2FC| ≥ 1), ensemble feature selection across five classifiers (Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, SVM, k-NN, and Neural Network) with 10-fold repeated cross-validation, and stacked ensemble development. Consensus selection identified a 17-gene signature consistently ranked across algorithms. The stacked ensemble achieved 0.97 AUC post-testing on hold-out test data. External validation on the independent GSE240671 cohort (37 pCR, 25 RD) following ComBat batch correction achieved ROC AUC of 0.78 and PR AUC of 0.85 with isotonic calibration, demonstrating balanced accuracy of 0.71 and 0.86 sensitivity for pCR detection. Pathway enrichment revealed associations with cell cycle regulation (E2F3, MKI67), DNA repair (BRCA2), and transcriptional control (MED1), with six priority genes (MED1, BRCA2, E2F3, PITPNB, H1-1, and FARP2) showing established breast cancer relevance. This externally validated 17-gene signature provides a biologically grounded tool for NAC response prediction in precision oncology. Full article

Pellets produced from raw or torrefied shredded logging residues have been investigated in the study. The research material came from pine and spruce stands in Poland, Slovakia, Czechia and Hungary. Torrefaction temperatures (T_t) of 250, 300, and 400 °C were applied. Before pressure agglomeration, 3% wheat flour was added to the torrefaction material as a binding agent. Pellets with a diameter of 8 mm were produced at constant humidity, compaction pressure (P) of 140 or 180 MPa and agglomeration temperature (T_a) of 100, 120 or 140 °C. The produced pellets were assessed for their physicomechanical parameters (density, radial compressive strength, compression ratio, modulus of elasticity), chemical parameters (extractive compounds, cellulose, lignin) and energy parameters (ash content, elemental composition, calorific value). The results were subjected to basic statistical analysis and multi-way ANOVA. The produced pellets varied in physical, mechanical, chemical and energy properties. A significant effect of torrefaction temperature, agglomeration temperature and compaction pressure on the results was observed. In terms of physicomechanical parameters, the best pellets were produced from the raw material, while in terms of energy parameters, those produced from the torrefied material were superior. Pellets of satisfactory quality produced from torrefied logging residues could be obtained at T_t = 250 °C, T_a = 120 °C and P = 180 MPa. Pellets with specific density of approximately 1.1 g·cm⁻³, radial compressive strength of 3–3.5 MPa, modulus of elasticity of 60–80 MPa and calorific value of 20.3–23.8 MJ·kg⁻¹ were produced in the process. Full article

Respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, influenzas A and B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV-3), and rhinoviruses remain major causes of global morbidity. Their rapid evolution, high transmissibility, and limited therapeutic options, together with the absence of approved vaccines for several pathogens, highlight the need for broad-acting and pathogen-independent antiviral strategies. Nitric oxide exhibits antiviral activity through redox-dependent mechanisms, including S-nitrosylation of cysteine-containing viral proteins and disruption of redox-sensitive structural domains. Clinical studies conducted during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic demonstrated that a nitric oxide nasal spray (NONS) rapidly reduced nasal viral load and transmission. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro virucidal activity of the NONS against a panel of clinically relevant respiratory viruses representing four major virus families. Virus suspensions of approximately 10⁴ CCID₅₀ were exposed to a full-strength NONS for contact times ranging from 5 s to 2 min at room temperature, followed by neutralization and quantification of residual infectivity using endpoint dilution assays. The NONS rapidly reduced viral infectivity across all viruses tested, achieving >3 log₁₀ reductions within 2 min. SARS-CoV-2 variants including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron BA.1, and XBB 2.0 were reduced to levels at or below the assay detection limit within 30 s to 2 min. Influenza A and B viruses showed the fastest loss of infectivity, reaching detection limits within 10–15 s. RSV, hMPV, HPIV-3, and human rhinovirus 14 were similarly inactivated within 1–2 min. These findings demonstrate that the NONS exhibits rapid and broad-spectrum virucidal activity against diverse respiratory viruses and supports its potential role in pandemic preparedness but also seasonal use. Full article

Background/Objectives: Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) constitutes the predominant form of ovarian malignancies. The primary goal of this study was to determine predictors of patient survival and construct a nomogram for survival prediction in individuals diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was performed, including 418 patients who received treatment for epithelial ovarian cancer at Tu Du Hospital from January 2015 to December 2019. The median follow-up time was 77.1 months (range: 5.7–121.6 months). Survival analyses were conducted using the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. A nomogram was developed, incorporating KELIM and other statistically significant variables. Results: The median follow-up time was 77.1 months. The observed cumulative mortality rates were 1.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.7–3.2), 10.4% (95% CI: 7.8–13.8), and 16.5% (95% CI: 13.2–20.6) at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. Factors demonstrating a significant correlation with survival included KELIM < 1 (HR = 1.78 [95% CI: 1.16–2.72]), pre-treatment CA-125 levels ≥ 35 U/mL (HR = 2.47 [95% CI: 1.10–5.55]), FIGO stages III-IV (HR = 2.40 [95% CI: 1.36–4.21]), and the presence of residual tumor tissue following surgical intervention (HR = 3.14 [95% CI: 1.75–5.65]). Conclusions: Prognosis is significantly influenced by KELIM, pre-treatment CA-125, tumor stage, and residual tumor post-surgery. The nomogram developed here offers a tool to assist in personalized prognostic assessments of Vietnamese EOC patients. Full article

Background: Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) remains a major challenge in healthcare settings due to its persistence on inanimate surfaces and resistance to conventional cleaning methods. Bacteriophages (phages) represent a promising biocontrol option owing to their high specificity and lytic activity. Methods: This study evaluated the use of a personal hand-held vibrating mesh nebulizer (VMN) as a rapid and localized delivery platform for phage aerosols. Using two lytic phages (ϕ2, Podovirus; ϕ11, Myovirus), we assessed phage stability under different storage conditions, viability during VMN operation, and surface decontamination efficacy under varying spray parameters. Results: In saline, both phages showed optimal long-term stability at 4 °C, whereas storage at −20 °C resulted in a progressive reduction in infectivity exceeding 3 logs over the storage period. VMN aerosolization did not compromise viability. A 3 min spray achieved >99.9% surface reduction: ϕ2 was effective at 1 × 10⁷ PFU/mL, whereas ϕ11 required 1 × 10⁸ PFU/mL. Importantly, residual ϕ2 activity persisted for at least 24 h, preventing detectable recolonization under the assay conditions, while ϕ11 protection was limited to 6 h. Conclusions: These findings establish the hand-held sprayer as a practical, low-cost, and flexible approach to deliver viable phage aerosols, providing an effective complement to large-scale disinfection systems and offering a targeted strategy to enhance infection control in healthcare environments. Full article

We present LazyNet, a compact one-step neural-ODE model for single-cell CRISPR activation/interference (A/I) that operates directly on two-snapshot (“pre → post”) measurements and yields parameters with clear mechanistic meaning. The core log–linear–exp residual block exactly represents multiplicative effects, so synergistic multi-locus responses appear as explicit components rather than opaque composites. On a 53k-cell × 18k-gene neuronal Perturb-seq matrix, a three-replica LazyNet ensemble trained under a matched 1 h budget achieved strong threshold-free ranking and competitive error (genome-wide r ≈ 0.67) while running on CPUs. For comparison, we instantiated transformer (scGPT-style) and state-space (RetNet/CellFM-style) architectures from random initialization and trained them from scratch on the same dataset and within the same 1 h cap on a GPU platform, without any large-scale pretraining or external data. Under these strictly controlled, low-data conditions, LazyNet matched or exceeded their predictive performance while using far fewer parameters and resources. A T-cell screen included only for generalization showed the same ranking advantage under the identical evaluation pipeline. Beyond prediction, LazyNet exposes directed, local elasticities; averaging Jacobians across replicas produces a consensus interaction matrix from which compact subgraphs are extracted and evaluated at the module level. The resulting networks show coherent enrichment against authoritative resources (large-scale co-expression and curated functional associations) and concordance with orthogonal GPX4-knockout proteomes, recovering known ferroptosis regulators and nominating testable links in a lysosomal–mitochondrial–immune module. These results position LazyNet as a practical option for from-scratch, low-data CRISPR A/I studies where large-scale pretraining of foundation models is not feasible. Full article

Introduction: Glioblastomas have poor prognosis despite aggressive treatment. Patterns of recurrence and overall survival (OS) can be very different. The population with complete resection having a so-called good prognosis can nevertheless present poor OS. Our purpose was to assess the OS and patterns of recurrence thanks to multimodal statistical maps in glioblastoma with large extent of resection (residue < 10 mL). Methods: adult patients presenting IDH wild-type glioblastoma between 2013 and 2019 were selected. Clinical data and MRI characteristics were collected. Preoperative, postoperative, and recurrence volumes were segmented and normalized in the MNI space to compute statistical maps. Log-rank test and Cox model were used to assess OS and prognosis factors. Results: 60 patients were included. Mean residual volume was 0.89 ± 2 mL. Median OS was 22.3 months (95% CI: (20–35)). Initial location in the corpus callosum was associated with low OS (317 vs. 783 days, HR = 0.46, p = 0.003). At recurrence, KPS > 90 and tumor volume < 10 mL were associated with higher OS (p =0.006 and p = 0.05). Tumor contact with the SVZ as well as multifocal recurrence did not show any impact on the OS. Conclusions: High OS can be obtained thanks to surgery with residual volume < 10 mL. Invasion of the corpus callosum at diagnosis is associated with a poor prognosis despite a large extent of resection. Results suggest that large resection near the SVZ might decrease its putative influence on OS. Full article

Mine tailings management poses a major challenge, with up to 99% of the mined material remaining as finely ground residues. This study analyzes a SERNAGEOMIN database from 653 Chilean tailing deposits using a multivariate framework that integrates completeness assessments, descriptive statistics, and hierarchical clustering on log-transformed and standardized chemical concentrations of 56 elements in order to identify dominant geochemical patterns. This study aims to provide an integrated and systematic interpretation of the Chilean database, the most comprehensive public dataset on mine tailings in Chile. The results reveal four distinct geochemical profiles: (i) silicate copper tailings, rich in Cu and associated with a SiO₂-Al₂O₃ matrix; (ii) Zn-Pb-Cd-As polymetallic tailings, with the highest concentrations of heavy metals and rare earth elements (REEs), representing both high environmental risk and potential economic value; (iii) carbonate-matrix tailings (CaCO₃ and limestone), characterized by high CaO and loss of calcination (LOI) but low trace metal contents, suggesting buffering potential against acid mine drainage (AMD); and (iv) clay-rich tailings (kaolin and Au-Cu-Au), marked by high Al₂O₃ and anomalous Co enrichments, indicating unexploited potential for critical metal recovery. These profiles support applications such as their use as source signatures in receptor models and the classification of tailing deposits lacking geochemical information. Full article

This study proposes two optimization models and a column-generation algorithm, applied at the root node, to support tactical planning in sawmills by dynamically generating log cutting patterns aligned with sustainability and efficiency objectives. Starting from an industrial dataset containing 160 cutting patterns, the methodology iteratively incorporates new geometrically feasible configurations guided by the dual prices of a primary model, explicitly considering log supply, product demand, and alternative tactical criteria. Three computational experiments were conducted. The first assesses the convergence behavior of the algorithm and shows reductions in total log consumption of up to 31% as new patterns are generated. The second demonstrates that strategies aimed at minimizing log usage and residues can achieve near-optimal solutions with only 20–25 patterns, since additional configurations provide marginal improvements while increasing setup time and operational complexity. The third experiment confirms that near-optimal performance can be reached with a moderate number of active patterns, facilitating practical implementation in industrial settings. Overall, the proposed methodology offers a flexible and sustainability-oriented decision-support tool for sawmill tactical planning, improving raw-material utilization, reducing residues, and enhancing alignment between supply and demand while maintaining operational feasibility. Full article

Due to the influence of the complex underwater environment, the initial alignment method for Doppler velocity log (DVL)-aided strap-down inertial navigation systems (SINS) often suffer from performance degradation, especially when DVL measurements are contaminated by outliers. In this paper, an outlier-resistant Initial Alignment method with interference suppression for SINS/DVL integrated navigation system is proposed, by which, by constructing an improved Mahalanobis distance anomalous detection criterion, the anomaly of the residual vector composed of observation vectors is judged, and an adaptive weighting factor is introduced into the observation matrix to suppress the abnormal interference in the alignment process. Simulation and experimental results show that, compared with existing initial alignment methods, the proposed method achieves higher alignment accuracy in the presence of outliers, which is more suitable for the SINS/DVL integrated navigation system. Full article

Time-of-flight (ToF) image sensors must operate across a wide span of reflected-light intensities, from weak diffuse reflections to extremely strong retroreflections. We present a signal-intensity range-extension technique that linearizes the linear–logarithmic (Lin–Log) pixel response for short-pulse multi-tap indirect ToF (iToF) sensors. Per-pixel two-region (2R) and three-region (3R) models covering the linear, transition, and logarithmic regimes are derived and used to recover a near-linear signal. Compared with a two-region approach that does not linearize the transition region, the 3R method substantially improves linearity near the knee point if extremely high linearity is required. Experiments with a six-tap iToF imager validate the approach. Depth imaging shows that linearization with common parameters reduces average error but leaves pixel-wise deviations, whereas pixel-wise 3R linearization yields accurate and stable results. Range measurements with a retroreflective target moved from 1.8–13.0 m in 0.20 m steps and achieved centimeter-level resolution and reduced the linearity-error bound from ±6.7%FS to ±1.5%FS. Residual periodic deviations are attributed to small pulse-width mismatches between the illumination and demodulation gates. These results demonstrate that Lin–Log pixels, combined with pixel-wise three-region linearization, enable robust ToF sensing over an extended dynamic range suitable for practical environments with large reflectance variations. Full article