Search Results (45,247)

Background and Clinical Significance: Inflammatory myopericardial syndrome is an umbrella term recently introduced by the European Society of Cardiology, which encapsulates the overlap that exists in clinical practice between myocardial and pericardial disease. It has a heterogeneous aetiology and a broad spectrum of severity in terms of its clinical features. Toxoplasma gondii is a rare but recognised infectious cause of myopericarditis and is typically seen in immunocompromised individuals. Case Presentation: We present the case of a young, immunocompetent male, presenting with pleuritic chest pain following a recent flu-like illness. Investigations revealed an acute myocardial injury based on elevated troponin T levels, in the absence of ventricular dysfunction. Toxoplasma immunoserology was consistent with primary toxoplasma infection. The remainder of his viral panel was negative. There was prompt symptom improvement following commencement of treatment with colchicine and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging post-discharge revealed findings consistent with prior myocarditis. Conclusions: This case is an example of the rare occurrence of toxoplasma myopericarditis in an immunocompetent individual. Cardiac MRI is an invaluable imaging modality used to evaluate myocardial function and tissue characteristics in patients presenting with inflammatory myopericardial syndrome. Full article

This study investigates an IPS-type Metglas/PMN-PT laminated magnetoelectric composite and its feasibility as a reciprocal mechanical magnetoelectric antenna for low-frequency transmission and reception. Finite-element simulations under quasi-static and frequency-domain conditions reveal strong magnetoelectric coupling under an optimal DC bias field, with both the direct magnetoelectric effect (DME) and converse magnetoelectric effect (CME) exhibiting pronounced resonance near 14.5 kHz, governed by the same longitudinal extensional vibration mode. Five IPS samples were fabricated and experimentally characterized. All devices showed resonant frequencies within 14.1–14.5 kHz, peak DME coefficients of 3.0 × 10⁶ to 3.9 × 10⁶ pC/Oe, and peak CME coefficients of 12.0~15.8 Oe·cm/V, confirming good fabrication consistency, transmit–receive reciprocity, and array-integration potential. The parallel IPS antenna generated a magnetic flux density of 37 nT at 1 m, and exhibited an equivalent magnetic noise of 63 fT/Hz^1/2 at 14.45 kHz. These results demonstrate that the proposed IPS structure combines high-sensitivity reception with efficient low-frequency transmission, showing strong potential for miniaturized, low-power, and long-range magnetic communication and underwater communication applications. Full article

Background: Risk stratification in non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remains challenging because left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) do not fully capture the underlying myocardial substrate. Septal native T1 mapping provides a quantitative assessment of diffuse myocardial abnormalities and may contribute to myocardial tissue characterization within a multiparametric CMR framework. Methods: This retrospective single-center study included 45 consecutive patients with non-ischemic DCM referred for clinically indicated CMR at Perrino Hospital, Brindisi, Italy, between November 2023 and November 2025. All examinations were performed using a standardized CMR protocol including cine imaging, LGE, and native T1 mapping on a 1.5-T Siemens Healthineers scanner. Septal native T1 was used as the primary mapping parameter because of its established reproducibility and robustness for myocardial tissue characterization. Patients were followed for a composite endpoint including all-cause mortality, major ventricular arrhythmic events, appropriate ICD therapy, and hospitalization for heart failure. Endpoint coding was verified, and all analyses were performed using the final validated dataset. Results: During a median follow-up of 15 months, 14 patients (31.1%) experienced the composite endpoint. Patients with events had lower LVEF (27.1 ± 7.8% vs. 48.3 ± 10.5%; p < 0.001), higher LVEDVi (142.6 ± 28.5 vs. 110.6 ± 23.4 mL/m²; p = 0.001), and higher septal native T1 values among patients with available T1 measurements (1047.5 ± 25.0 vs. 1031.5 ± 24.3 ms; p = 0.065). ROC analysis identified a septal native T1 threshold of 1042 ms for prediction of the composite endpoint, with an exploratory AUC of 0.70. Event-free survival was lower in patients with septal native T1 ≥ 1042 ms. Given the limited number of events, all regression and hierarchical analyses should be interpreted as exploratory and hypothesis-generating. Conclusions: Higher septal native T1 values were observed in patients experiencing adverse clinical outcomes; however, native T1 was not independently associated with the composite endpoint in exploratory Cox regression analyses. Full article

Online parameter identification is important for sensorless permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drives because motor parameter variation can reduce the accuracy of the controller and observer. However, in the background of sensorless control, the accuracy of online parameter identification is significantly affected by rotor position estimation errors and inverter nonlinearity. To address these problems, this paper proposes a high-frequency d-axis voltage injection-based online parameter identification method with inverter nonlinearity compensation. The proposed online identification method can identify the stator resistance and d-axis inductance independently. It not only overcomes the rank-deficiency problem in conventional voltage-equation-based identification, but also shows through theoretical analysis that the identification results are insensitive to rotor position estimation errors. To improve the identification accuracy, the influence and importance of inverter nonlinearity on parameter identification are analyzed, and a compensation method based on zero-sequence voltage characteristics and a feedforward neural network is developed. The identified voltage error is compensated through equivalent dead-time correction. Simulation and experimental results verify the advantages of the proposed method under different operating conditions. Full article

As a rare metal element, niobium is widely used in steel, electronics, aerospace and many other fields. Eschynite is one of the most important niobium-bearing minerals in Bayan Obo niobium ores. Investigating the beneficiation process and associated reagents is of great significance for improving niobium resource utilization. In this study, mixed ore with eschynite as the main niobium-bearing mineral was used as the research object. Under the condition that the Nb₂O₅ grade of the feed ore was 0.37%, a niobium concentrate with an Nb₂O₅ grade of 5.250% was obtained through one rougher stage and four cleaner stages, followed by magnetic separation. The content of eschynite in the niobium concentrate increased from 0.76% in the run-of-mine ore to 26.32%, with an enrichment ratio of 34.63 times, and the proportion of eschynite in all niobium-bearing minerals rose from 50.67% to 86.10%. Experimental results show that the combined flotation–magnetic separation process can realize the efficient concentration of niobium minerals dominated by eschynite, providing a technical reference for the subsequent development and utilization of eschynite-type niobium ore resources. Full article

Background/Objectives: Prostate biopsy is essential for diagnosing prostate cancer. Social determinants of health (SDOH), including socioeconomic status, race, occupation, education, and environment, affect access, outcomes, and quality of life. Recognizing disparities from technology access to complications is crucial for equitable care. A systematic review examined how SDOH impacts biopsy access, technology, and complications. Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus was performed to identify eligible studies published through February 2026. We included studies that evaluated the association between one or more SDOHs and prostate biopsy. Relevant outcomes included biopsy utilization, use of specific biopsy technologies (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided, transperineal), and post-procedural complications. Results: Nine observational studies met the inclusion criteria. The findings revealed disparities across three key domains. First, access to advanced biopsy technology was uneven. Four studies showed that Black men were significantly less likely than White men to receive MRI-guided biopsies. Additionally, post-biopsy outcomes showed that Black and Hispanic men faced significantly higher rates of post-biopsy infection and hospitalization compared to White men. Lastly, patients in rural areas, those in public hospitals, and individuals with lower socioeconomic status demonstrated reduced access to modern techniques, including MRI-guided or transperineal biopsy. Conclusions: Social and economic factors influence who receives a prostate biopsy and who has access to advanced technologies. Minority and low-income patients face diagnosis barriers and higher complication rates, highlighting systemic inequities. The healthcare system often rewards access over need, and without bold policy changes, gaps in technology and resources will worsen, moving us further from truly equitable prostate cancer care. Full article

Lactose is widely used as a pharmaceutical excipient, yet little is known about how its physicochemical behavior may be influenced by pretreatment history and weak environmental magnetic conditions. In this pilot study, we investigated oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) and UV absorbance of 0.2% aqueous lactose solutions prepared from lactose powders with different pretreatment histories: Active water, Native water, and untreated control. Samples were exposed for 30 min to three static magnetic field conditions: weak geomagnetic field (~4 µT), ambient geomagnetic field (~30 µT), and elevated static field (~750 µT). UV/VIS spectroscopy was performed in the 200–400 nm range, with particular focus on the deep-UV absorption maximum near 200 nm. The strongest differentiation between pretreated samples and control occurred under weak geomagnetic conditions. In this weak-field regime, pretreated lactose solutions showed higher ORP values and a same-direction trend toward increased UV absorbance near 200 nm relative to untreated lactose. Across all samples, both ORP and UV absorbance decreased with increasing magnetic field strength, indicating a consistent field-dependent shift in the overall physicochemical state of the lactose solutions, particularly in redox balance and deep-UV optical response. The same-direction changes in ORP and increased 200 nm absorbance at the group level suggests that weak-field conditions may influence oxidation-related processes, potentially including the formation or stabilization of lactose oxidation products such as lactobionic acid. These findings indicate that lactose-containing aqueous systems may be sensitive to both pretreatment history and low-intensity magnetic environments, with potential implications for pharmaceutical formulation stability, quality control, and biotechnological reproducibility. Full article

Reservoir effectiveness in marine shales is controlled not only by pore volume but also by pore-fluid occurrence, pore–throat connectivity, and mineral–organic matter coupling. In this study, the Permian Gufeng Formation shales from the Enshi area, western Hubei, South China, were investigated through an integrated analysis of total organic carbon (TOC), X-ray diffraction (XRD)-based mineral composition and lithofacies, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT), and entropy-weighted technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) evaluation. The TOC content ranges from 1.60% to 21.38% and shows clear vertical differentiation, with moderate but variable enrichment in the lower interval, reduced organic matter abundance in the middle interval, and pronounced organic enrichment in the upper interval. Mineral compositions demonstrate an upward transition from a mixed siliceous–carbonate system to a dominantly siliceous shale system. NMR results reveal strong heterogeneity in porosity, NMR-derived permeability, T2cutoff, bound-fluid saturation, and free-fluid saturation. Based on saturated and centrifuged T2 spectra, four descriptive reservoir response types were identified: short-T2-dominated micropore-bound response, intermediate-T2-dominated movable-fluid response, long-T2-enriched but low-efficiency response, and NMR-inferred enhanced mobility composite response. SEM observations show diverse pore types, including organic-matter-related pores, dissolution pores, interparticle pores, mineral-edge pores, pyrite intercrystalline pores, and local microfracture-like pores. Micro-CT results indicate that micrometer-scale pore bodies are commonly isolated, demonstrating that pore abundance or pore size alone cannot determine reservoir effectiveness. TOC mainly controls pore generation potential, whereas siliceous minerals, pore–throat connectivity, movable fluid proportion, and local fractures exert stronger controls on effective reservoir development. The most favorable reservoir responses are concentrated in the upper high-organic siliceous shale interval from A33 to A42, with local enhanced responses in A16 and A21. These results provide an integrated framework for evaluating reservoir heterogeneity and favorable intervals in complex marine shale systems. Full article

Magnetic flux leakage (MFL) testing is a vital non-destructive testing method used to identify defects in oil and gas pipelines and critical components. However, variations in defect geometry and testing conditions can lead to inaccurate data and imbalanced feature distributions, which compromise detection outcomes. To address these challenges, this paper presents a defect classification approach for MFL testing based on generating expansion and the Dual-Channel Vision Transformer (DC-ViT). First, COMSOL finite element software (version 6.1) was used to simulate magnetic flux leakage for different types of pipeline defects. Axial and radial dual-channel signals were extracted to create the initial dataset. Next, a Conditional Variational Autoencoder (CVAE) was used for Generate Expansion to effectively mitigate sample scarcity and defect category imbalance. Finally, the DC-ViT model was constructed and trained using the Generate Expansion dataset as input to achieve multidimensional feature fusion and classification prediction for defects. Experimental results demonstrate 97.97% detection accuracy. The DC-ViT model outperforms traditional convolutional neural networks and single-channel models in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. These results validate the method’s effectiveness and robustness in complex defect scenarios and offer a novel approach to magnetic leakage signal detection. Full article

This study investigated the effect of MoS₂/graphite lubricant composition on the high-temperature compaction behavior, local mechanical uniformity, and microstructural characteristics of Fe–5.0 wt.%Si SMCs. Nine lubricant compositions were prepared by varying MoS₂ and graphite contents, and their friction behavior, Vickers hardness, and compaction behavior were evaluated experimentally and by FEA. One-way ANOVA confirmed that lubricant composition significantly affected the Vickers hardness response (F = 4.245, p = 0.000273). The measured friction coefficients were applied as interface friction conditions in FEA, and the relative density, effective strain, and absolute hydrostatic stress distributions were compared. Among the investigated compositions, C3, containing 1.0 wt.% MoS₂ and 0.3 wt.% graphite, showed the lowest friction coefficient and Vickers hardness standard deviation. In FEA, C3 also showed balanced relative density, effective strain, and hydrostatic stress distributions. XRD confirmed the α-Fe-based bcc Fe–Si matrix, while SEM-EDS indicated locally distributed lubricant-derived residual regions. Therefore, C3 was selected as the most balanced lubricant composition within the investigated range. Future studies will evaluate electromagnetic properties, including core loss and magnetic permeability. Full article

Spiking neural networks (SNNs) are well suited for modeling temporally evolving information due to their event-driven and dynamic neuronal mechanisms. Nevertheless, the majority of existing SNN topologies are constructed through algorithmic procedures rather than guided by constraints from biological brain connectivity, which weakens their biological plausibility. In our earlier work, we developed a spiking neural network (SNN) by incorporating topological information from functional brain networks extracted from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of healthy individuals, and named the resulting model fMRISNN. Nevertheless, the fMRI data used in previous work were resting-state fMRI. Compared with resting-state fMRI, task-state fMRI can capture brain-region coordination patterns induced by specific task stimuli, and the resulting functional brain network is therefore more closely related to the corresponding task. Motivated by this advantage, this study replaces the resting-state topology used in previous fMRISNN studies with a task-state, number/digit-related fMRI topology and validates the resulting Task-fMRISNN on handwritten digit recognition. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed Task-fMRISNN outperforms the Rest-fMRISNN in terms of recognition accuracy, lesion robustness, and noise robustness. In addition, the Task-fMRISNN achieves significantly better performance than several baseline models constructed using algorithmically generated topologies. While deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) may deliver superior absolute recognition performance, the proposed fMRISNN provides a more compact model structure and shows potential resource-efficiency advantages due to its sparse and event-driven computational characteristics. Full article

Renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) is currently assessed by invasive biopsy. This prospective study developed and validated a noninvasive random forest model combining multiparametric MRI and clinical biomarkers for identifying severe RIF in 116 patients with biopsy-confirmed renal disease. Quantitative parameters were extracted from IVIM, ASL, phase-contrast MRI, T1 mapping, and BOLD sequences. Fibrosis was classified as mild (<25%) or severe (≥25%). In the held-out test set, the random forest model achieved an AUC of 0.89 (95% CI 0.82–0.96), sensitivity of 0.91, and specificity of 0.73, significantly outperforming clinical-only (AUC 0.63), MRI-only (AUC 0.63), and combined LASSO logistic regression (AUC 0.73) benchmarks. The model also demonstrated superior calibration (Brier score 0.154) and net clinical benefit on decision curve analysis. This integrated MRI–clinical model shows promise for noninvasive identification of severe RIF and warrants external prospective validation. Full article

Background/Objectives: Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) remains clinically challenging because conventional clinicopathological markers do not fully explain variability in recurrence and survival. This systematic review and functional meta-synthesis aimed to identify and critically appraise studies using preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based radiomics, artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning, or quantitative MRI-derived models to predict recurrence and prognostic outcomes in OTSCC. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, and Embase were searched from inception to March 2026. Eligible studies included prognostic model investigations in adults with OTSCC or primary tongue cancer without reported base-of-tongue/oropharyngeal involvement, undergoing preoperative MRI and surgery, with recurrence- or survival-related follow-up. The primary synthesis was a functional meta-synthesis; pooling was not performed because studies were not sufficiently comparable. Results: Seven retrospective studies were included, with a summed descriptive sample of 1287 participants. The evidence base was heterogeneous in MRI sequences, segmentation workflows, model architecture, validation strategy, and endpoint definition. Functional meta-synthesis identified four domains: direct recurrence-oriented modeling, broader prognostic stratification, reported incremental or complementary value over clinical frameworks, and translational maturity/technical implementation. Several studies reported associations between MRI-derived signatures and recurrence- or survival-related outcomes, but findings were interpreted narratively because of differences in primary endpoints, imaging features, model design, validation methods, and outcome definitions. Most studies were judged at high overall risk of bias, and certainty of evidence ranged from low to very low. Conclusions: MRI-based radiomics and AI show preliminary promise for prognostic stratification in OTSCC, particularly recurrence-related risk refinement, but current evidence remains limited by retrospective design, heterogeneity, sparse external validation, and low certainty. Full article

Polysaccharide-based hydrogels represent promising platforms for the development of bioactive wound dressings due to their biocompatibility, bioadhesive properties, and ability to maintain a moist environment at the wound interface. In this study, polymeric films were developed from natural polysaccharides incorporating olive mill wastewater (OMW) as a natural antibacterial agent. Chitosan (medium molecular weight), sodium alginate, sodium hyaluronate, and xanthan gum were selected to prepare hydrogel formulations either as single polymers or binary mixtures. Hydrogels were prepared by aqueous dispersion under magnetic stirring and subsequently converted into films using a solvent casting method. The resulting films were characterized in terms of rheological behavior, pH, morphology, thickness and water content. The obtained hydrogel films showed good casting ability, producing smooth and homogeneous matrices with adequate deformability and skin adhesion. Furthermore, they demonstrated a suitable capacity to absorb and retain water, mimicking the management of wound exudate. OMW was incorporated into the hydrogel formulations as a source of phenolic compounds with well-known antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The presence of these bioactive compounds provides the films with potential antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against clinically relevant multidrug-resistant staphylococcal strains. These findings suggest that OMW-loaded polysaccharide hydrogels represent a promising and sustainable strategy for the development of antibacterial films for wound healing applications. Full article

Introduction: Currently, chronic kidney disease (CKD) is detected based on glomerular filtration rate (GFR), proteinuria levels or kidney biopsy. However, the development of MRI techniques and AI algorithms gives hope to the assessment of CKD activity and kidney function with profound MRI image analysis. Methods: MRI images from healthy volunteers with no history of CKD were compared with those from CKD patients who had undergone both kidney MRI and kidney biopsy; the latter group was also divided into two subgroups based on CKD histopathological activity. Patients from both groups were scanned using either a 1.5 T or 3 T MRI scanner following sequential allocation (nine healthy controls and 28 CKD patients and 11 healthy volunteers and 43 CKD patients respectively for each scanner). Results: The final algorithm based on T1-weighted, T2-weighted and DWI images was able to distinguish patients with sensitivity ranging 77.78–87.50%, specificity 86.67–94.12% and precision 77.78–87.50%. Features of T1-weighted images and of T2-weighted images were found to correlate strongly with GFR with coefficients ranging from −0.5922 to −0.7090 and from 0.6126 to 0.6380, respectively. Conclusions: MRI image texture analysis may be suitable for assessing CKD activity, irrespective of the type of MRI scanner used. Furthermore, MRI image texture features correlate with eGFR values. Full article