Search Results (96)

Background and Objectives: There have been a limited number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing pharmacopuncture therapy (PPT) and physical therapy (PT) for chronic knee pain. In this study, we assess the feasibility, safety, and preliminary effectiveness of PPT compared to PT in patients with chronic knee pain. Materials and Methods: This pilot study was designed as a two-arm, parallel RCT. Patients were recruited through in-hospital advertisements. Forty patients aged 19 to 70 with knee pain with a numeric rating scale (NRS) score of 5, persisting for >3 months, were randomized into the PPT or PT group. The type of PT solution or PT method was not determined in advance, leaving it to the clinician’s judgment. Treatment was administered twice weekly for 3 weeks with a 6-week follow-up. The primary outcome was the NRS score for knee pain, whereas the secondary outcomes were the visual analog scale (VAS), knee range of motion, Korean Western Ontario and McMaster (K-WOMAC), Patient Global Impression of Change, and five-level EuroQol five-dimension scores. Additionally, adherence, acceptability, dropout rate, and adverse events were measured to assess the feasibility of a follow-up main study. The protocol was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06505681). Results: The PPT group showed significantly superior improvement compared with the PT group in the NRS (difference = −2.05, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −2.76 to −1.34), VAS (difference = −21.58, 95% CI: −29.42 to −13.74), and K-WOMAC scores (difference = −13.17, 95% CI: −21.67 to −4.67). Of the 55 patients who initially expressed interest in participation, 8 declined after receiving detailed information about this study. Among the forty enrolled participants, one patient in the PPT group dropped out, and one missed a single treatment session. Apart from these cases, all participants completed the assigned treatments and follow-up assessments, demonstrating high adherence. No serious adverse events were reported. Conclusions: PPT demonstrated excellent effectiveness in pain relief and functional improvement in these patients. Full article

To meet the growing needs of automobile users, and to provide services on demand with stable and efficient paths across different bands amidst this proliferation of users, an integrated approach to the software-defined vehicular network (SDVN) is proposed in this paper. Due to the significant increase in users, DSRC is already considered insufficient to fulfill modern needs. Hence, to enhance network performance and fulfill the growing needs of users in SDVN environments, we implement cognitive technology by integrating the DSRC, mmWave, and THz bands to find stable paths among different nodes. To manage these different technologies, an SDN controller is employed as the main controller (MC), recording the global state of all nodes within the network. Channel sensing is conducted individually for each technology, and sensing results—representing the number of available bands for secondary communications—are updated periodically in the MC. Consequently, the MC manages connections by switching between DSRC, mmWave, and THz bands, providing stable paths between the source and destination. The switching decision is taken by considering both the distance from the MC and the availability of channels among these three technologies. This cognitive integration of bands in SDVN improves performance in terms of network delay, packet delivery, and overhead ratio. Full article

Establishing a safe and stable routing path for a source–destination pair is necessary regardless of the weather conditions. The reason for this is that vehicles can improve safety on the road by exchanging messages and updating each other on the current conditions of both roads and vehicles. This paper intends to solve the problem of when foggy roads make it difficult for drivers to travel, especially when people encounter emergency situations and have no other option but to drive in foggy weather. Although the literature offers few solutions to the problem, no one has considered integrating software-defined networking into vehicular networks for foggy roads to create an optimal routing path. Moreover, it is of significance to mention that vehicles in adverse weather conditions travel following each other and maintaining a constant safety distance, which leads to the formation of a platoon. Considering this, we propose a heterogeneous communication protocol in a software-defined vehicular network to establish an optimal routing path using platoons on foggy highways. Different cases were tested to show how platoons behave in high connectivity and sparsity, achieving a maximum delivery ratio of 99%, a delay of 2 ms, an overhead of 55%, and an acceptable number of hops compared to reference schemes. Full article

In response to the intensifying competition in the mold market and the increasingly stringent specifications of die forgings, the existing 55NiCrMoV7 (MES 1 steel) material can no longer meet the elevated demands of customers. Consequently, this study systematically optimizes the alloy composition of MES 1 steel by precisely adjusting the molybdenum (Mo) and vanadium (V) contents. The primary objective is to significantly enhance the microstructure and thermal–mechanical fatigue performance of the steel, thereby developing a high-performance, long-life hot working die steel designated as MES 2 steel. The thermal–mechanical fatigue (TMF) tests of two test steels were conducted in reverse mechanical strain control at 0.6% and 1.0% strain levels by a TMF servo-hydraulic testing system (MTS). The microstructures of the two steels were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results indicate that throughout the entire thermomechanical fatigue cycle, both steels exhibit initial hardening during the low-temperature half-cycle (tension half-cycle) and subsequent continuous softening during the high-temperature half-cycle (compression half-cycle). Furthermore, under the same strain condition, the cumulative cyclic softening damage of MES 1 steel is more pronounced than that of the newly developed MES 2 steel. The number, width, and length of cracks in MES 2 steel are smaller than those in MES 1 steel, and the thermomechanical fatigue life of MES 2 steel is significantly longer than that of MES 1 steel. The microstructures show that the main precipitate phase in MES 1 steel is Cr-dominated rod-shaped carbide. It presents obvious coarsening and is prone to inducing stress concentration, thus facilitating crack initiation and propagation. The precipitate phase in MES 2 steel is mainly MC carbide containing Mo and V. It has a high thermal activation energy and is dispersed in the matrix in the form of particles, pinning dislocations and grain boundaries. This effectively delays the reduction in dislocation density and grain growth, thus contributing positively to the improvement in thermomechanical fatigue performance. Full article

The Xiong’ershan district is situated on the southern margin of the North China Craton (NCC) and located within the Qinling–Dabieshan Orogen’s orogenic zone. It is adjacent to the XiaoQinling mining district and exhibits very favorable geological conditions for mineralization, as the district contains numerous gold deposits, positioning it as one of the key gold-producing areas of China. The Miaoling gold deposit is a hydrothermal deposit and is controlled by the Mesozoic nearly NS-trending fault. The ore bodies are hosted in the Mesoproterozoic Xiong’er Group of the Changcheng System of volcanic rocks, with reserves reaching large-scale levels. Pyrite is the main gold-bearing mineral and can be classified into four generations: early-stage fine- to medium-grained euhedral to subhedral cubic pyrite (Py1); medium- to coarse-grained euhedral to subhedral cubic granular pyrite in quartz veins (Py2a); fine-grained subhedral to anhedral disseminated pyrite in altered rocks (Py2b); and late-stage anhedral granular and fine-veinlet pyrite in later quartz veins (Py3). Through in situ trace element analysis of the pyrite using LA-ICP-MS, a positive correlation between Au and As was observed during the main mineralization stage; gold mainly exists as a solid solution within the pyrite lattice, and the ablation signal curve reflecting the intensity of trace element signals showed that gold also occurs as micron-scale mineral inclusions. The trace element content suggested a gradual increase in oxygen fugacity from Stage 1 to Stage 2, followed by a decrease from Stage 2 to Stage 3. The Co/Ni values in the pyrite (0.56 to 62.02, with an average of 12.34) exhibited characteristics of magmatic hydrothermal pyrite. The in situ sulfur isotope analysis of the pyrite using LA-MC-ICP-MS showed δ³⁴S values of 4.24‰ for Stage 1, −6.63‰ to −13.79‰ for Stage 2, and −4.31‰ to −5.15‰ for Stage 3. Considering sulfur isotope fractionation, the δ³⁴S value of the hydrothermal fluid during the main mineralization stage was calculated to be between 0.31‰ and 2.68‰. Full article

Background and Objectives: The main aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of cervical pain on the quality of life of patients with multiple sclerosis in comparison with a group of healthy people (without diseases of the Central Nervous System). Materials and Methods: Data were collected at the Specialist Hospital St. Łukasz in Końskie (Poland) in the period from November 2023 to August 2024. The inclusion criteria for this study were as follows: age (20–50 years), women and men, healthy people (without diseases of the Central Nervous System) and people suffering from multiple sclerosis. People from the study group were diagnosed according to the McDonald criteria and tested with the EDSS. The mobility of the cervical spine was measured, and neck pain was assessed using the following: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Laitinen Scale and the Neck Disability Index (NDI). All participants self-assessed their quality of life using EuroQol 5D-5L (EQ-5D-5L). Results: 80 people took part in this study, the vast majority of whom were women (71.3%). The most common form of multiple sclerosis was relapsing-remitting (75.0%), and the average EDSS score was higher in the male group (1.6 ± 1.8). Cervical spine pain was reported by 27 people from the study group (67.5%) and 16 people from the control group (40.0%). In both groups, the cervical spine mobility was lower in people with neck pain. The level of cervical spine pain was statistically significantly (p < 0.05) higher in women, people living in small towns and in people with multiple sclerosis, depending on the type of disease and its duration. Cervical spine pain in people with multiple sclerosis was higher in all three scales (VAS mean = 5.7, ES = 0.79; Laitinen Scale mean = 10.1, ES = 0.60; and NDI Scale mean = 21.1, ES = 0.89). The study group obtained significantly higher scores on the EQ-5D scale (mean = 15.3; ES = 0.79) and EQ-VAS (mean = 53.2; ES = 0.94). Conclusions: This study proved that cervical spine pain is more common among people with multiple sclerosis. In these people, this problem is rarely diagnosed and properly treated. Full article

Mesona chinensis Benth. (or Platostoma palustre (Blume) A. J. Paton), an edible and medicinal plant, is the main ingredient in black jelly, Hsian-tsao tea, and beverages, and its processed products are popular in China as well as in Southeast Asian countries. Previous studies have shown that the alcohol extract of Mesona chinensis Benth. (MC) can reduce the accumulation of oleic acid and ameliorate hyperlipidemia. However, researchers have not yet determined whether it could improve intestinal permeability and metabolic dysfunction by controlling gut microbial dysbiosis and thus reducing hyperlipidemia. This study aimed to explore the potential mechanism by which MC regulates metabolic function disorders in hyperlipidemic high-fat diet (HFD)-fed rats and mice from the perspective of gut microbiota. This study analyzed the effects of MC on metabolic indices related to hyperlipidemia in HFD-fed rats and the abundance and diversity of the gut microbiota via 16S rRNA V3–4 region pyrosequencing to investigate the regulation of the gut microbiota by MC. We further confirmed that MC ameliorates hyperlipidemia by regulating the gut microbiota by simultaneously administering antibiotics and MC to C57BL/6 mice and measuring their metabolic indices. These results indicate that MC reduces the lipid concentration in the serum of HFD-fed rats, thereby significantly alleviating hyperlipidemia, and regulates the abundance ratio and diversity of the gut microbiota, thereby exerting a beneficial effect on hyperlipidemia. Our further antibiotic experiments in mice revealed that the administration of MC was unable to reduce body weight or serum and organ lipid concentrations in the antibiotic-treated group of hyperlipidemic mice. This study provides evidence that the microbiota is an alternative target for the antihyperlipidemic effect of MC. Full article

The paper partially covered Active Constrained Layer Damping (ACLD) cantilever beams’ dynamic modeling, active vibration control, and parameter optimization techniques as the main topic of this research. The dynamic model of the viscoelastic sandwich beam is created by merging the finite element approach with the Golla Hughes McTavish (GHM) model. The governing equation is constructed based on Hamilton’s principle. After the joint reduction of physical space and state space, the model is modified to comply with the demands of active control. The control parameters are optimized based on the Kalman filter and genetic algorithm. The effect of various ACLD coverage architectures and excitation signals on the system’s vibration is investigated. According to the research, the genetic algorithm’s optimization iteration can quickly find the best solution while achieving accurate model tracking, increasing the effectiveness and precision of active control. The Kalman filter can effectively suppress the impact of vibration and noise exposure to random excitation on the system. Full article

Investment appraisal of agricultural projects (APs) is particularly demanding due to several factors. Namely, APs may have longer time horizons, higher external and internal volatility, and uncertainty caused by less control of production and external conditions (e.g., climatic conditions and market demand). Indeed, these APs may face high and different risks that should be managed properly. Nevertheless, both the literature and practice do not address such complexity and uncertainty conveniently. Thus, this research aimed to develop an integrative and easy-to-use framework to support the investment appraisal of APs, which goes beyond the traditional approach based on simple and deterministic models. This framework is based on an approach that includes several capital budgeting techniques integrating extended multi-index methodology (EMIM), Monte Carlo simulation (MCS), and real options analysis (ROA). This framework allows dealing with different risk and uncertainty scenarios and managerial flexibilities, which allow alternative and additional investment options. A simpler and easier approach can be particularly important for family agribusinesses, which usually do not use sophisticated decision-making tools. An AP in an agrosilvopastoral system (i.e., agriculture, livestock, forestry) was used to present and discuss the proposed methodology considering the relevance of such systems for sustainable agriculture and their higher risk and complexity when compared to traditional approaches. The main contribution of the framework is structuring a set of steps based on several tools to carry out investment appraisal in APs. Full article

Background and Objectives: This study aims to analyze survival in peritoneal and hemodialysis patients using chest radiography and biochemical parameters, determine common dialysis etiologies and causes of death, reveal prognostic factors, and contribute to clinical practice. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted with data from 33 peritoneal dialysis and 37 hemodialysis patients collected between October 2018 and February 2020. Survival and mortality were retrospectively tracked over 70 months (October 2018–June 2024). Chest X-ray measurements (cardiothoracic index, pulmonary vascular pedicle width, right pulmonary artery diameter, diaphragmatic height) and biochemical parameters (urea, albumin, creatinine, parathormone, ferritin, hemoglobin, arterial blood gas, potassium) were analyzed for their impact on survival. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, Bayesian analysis, McNemar test, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, Cox regression, Bayesian correlation test, linear regression analysis (scatter plot), and ROC analysis. SPSS 20.0 was used for data analysis, with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: Hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and urogenital disorders were the main dialysis etiologies. Peritonitis (38.5%) and cardiovascular diseases (47.4%) were the leading causes of death in peritoneal and hemodialysis patients, respectively. Significant chest X-ray differences included pulmonary vascular pedicle width and pulmonary artery diameter in hemodialysis and diaphragm height in peritoneal dialysis. Kaplan–Meier showed no survival difference between methods. Cox regression identified age, intact parathormone levels, iPTH/PVPW ratio, and clinical status as survival and mortality factors. The iPTH/PVPW ratio cut-off for mortality prediction was ≤6.8. Conclusions: Age, intact parathormone levels, pulmonary vascular pedicle width, and clinical status significantly impact survival in dialysis patients. Management of hypertension and diabetes, management and follow-up of urogenital disorders, infection control, patient education, and regular cardiovascular check-ups may improve survival rates. Additionally, the iPTH/PVPW ratio can predict mortality risk. Full article

Astragalus membranaceus is a famous traditional medicinal plant. However, drought and cadmium (Cd) pollution are the main abiotic stress factors that affect plant growth and yield and the ability to improve the host’s stress resistance through the use of beneficial endophytic fungi. To evaluate the tolerance of dark septate endophytes (DSE) to various abiotic stresses, 10 DSE strains [Microsphaeropsis cytisi (Mc), Alternaria alstroemeriae (Aa), Stagonosporopsis lupini (Sl), Neocamarosporium phragmitis (Np), Paraphoma chlamydocopiosa (Pc), Macrophomina phaseolina (Mp’), Papulaspora equi (Pe), Alternaria tellustris (At), Macrophomina pseudophaseolina (Mp), and Paraphoma radicina (Pr)] were investigated under different drought and Cd stressors in vitro by using solid-plate cultures and liquid-shaker cultures in the current study. The experiments involved using varying concentrations of PEG (0, 9, 18, and 27%) and Cd²⁺ (0, 25, 50, and 100 mg/L) to simulate different stress conditions on DSE. Additionally, the effect of DSE (Np and At) on the growth of A. membranaceus at different field water capacities (70% and 40%) and at different CdCl₂ concentrations (0, 5, 10, and 15 mg Cd/kg) in soil was studied. The results demonstrated that the colony growth rates of Aa, Np, Pc, Mp’, and Mp were the first to reach the maximum diameter at a PEG concentration of 18%. Aa, Np, and At remained growth-active at 100 mg Cd/L. In addition, Aa, Np, and At were selected for drought and Cd stress tests. The results of the drought-combined-with-Cd-stress solid culture indicated that the growth rate of Np was significantly superior to that of the other strains. In the liquid culture condition, the biomasses of Np and Aa were the highest, with biomasses of 1.39 g and 1.23 g under the concentration of 18% + 25 mg Cd/L, and At had the highest biomass of 1.71 g at 18% + 50 mg Cd/L concentration, respectively. The CAT and POD activities of Np reached their peak levels at concentrations of 27% + 50 mg Cd/L and 27% + 25 mg Cd/L, respectively. Compared to the control, these levels indicated increases of 416.97% and 573.12%, respectively. Aa, Np, and At positively influenced SOD activity. The glutathione (GSH) contents of Aa, Np, and At were increased under different combined stressors of drought and Cd. The structural-equation-modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that Aa positively influenced biomass and negatively affected Cd content, while Np and At positively influenced Cd content. Under the stress of 40% field-water capacity and the synergistic stress of 40% field-water capacity and 5 mg Cd/kg soil, Np and At significantly increased root weight of A. membranaceus. This study provides guidance for the establishment of agricultural planting systems and has good development and utilization value. Full article

Predicting vehicle mobility is crucial in domains such as ride-hailing, where the balance between offer and demand is paramount. Since city road networks can be easily represented as graphs, recent works have exploited graph neural networks (GNNs) to produce more accurate predictions on real traffic data. However, a better understanding of the characteristics and limitations of this approach is needed. In this work, we compare several GNN aggregated mobility prediction schemes to a selection of other approaches in a very restricted and controlled simulation scenario. The city graph employed represents roads as directed edges and road intersections as nodes. Individual vehicle mobility is modeled as transitions between nodes in the graph. A time series of aggregated mobility is computed by counting vehicles in each node at any given time. Three main approaches are employed to construct the aggregated mobility predictors. First, the behavior of the moving individuals is assumed to follow a Markov chain (MC) model whose transition matrix is inferred via a least squares estimation procedure; the recurrent application of this MC provides the aggregated mobility prediction values. Second, a multilayer perceptron (MLP) is trained so that—given the node occupation at a given time—it can recursively provide predictions for the next values of the time series. Third, we train a GNN (according to the city graph) with the time series data via a supervised learning formulation that computes—through an embedding construction for each node in the graph—the aggregated mobility predictions. Some mobility patterns are simulated in the city to generate different time series for testing purposes. The proposed schemes are comparatively assessed compared to different baseline prediction procedures. The comparison illustrates several limitations of the GNN approaches in the selected scenario and uncovers future lines of investigation. Full article

The feasibility of manufacturing high-performance components with complex structures is limited due to cracks in some superalloys fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM). By controlling the main process parameters such as scanning strategy, the adverse effects of cracks can be effectively reduced. In this paper, the effects of two different SLM scanning strategies with island and ‘back-and-forth’ and post-heat treatment on the cracks and mechanical properties of selective-laser-melted (SLMed) K438 alloy were investigated. The results show that the SLM method of the ‘back-and-forth’ scanning strategy had better lap and interlayer rotation angles and a more uniform distribution of laser energy compared with the island scanning strategy. The residual stress accumulation was reduced and crack formation was inhibited under this scanning strategy owing to the cooling and shrinkage process. In addition, the dislocation motion was hindered by the formation of uniformly dispersed MC carbides and γ’ phases during the SLM K438 alloy process, which resulted in the density of the as-built SLMed K438 alloy being up to 99.34%, the hardness up to 9.6 Gpa, and the tensile strength up to 1309 MPa. After post-heat treatment, the fine secondary γ’ phases were precipitated and dispersed uniformly in the Ni matrix, which effectively improved the Young’s modulus and tensile strength of the alloy by dispersing the stress-concentrated area. Full article

Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) is a cyanobacterial metabolite produced during cyanobacterial blooms and is toxic to aquatic animals, and the liver is the main targeted organ of MC-LR. To comprehensively understand the toxicity mechanism of chronic exposure to environmental levels of MC-LR on the liver of fish, juvenile Nile tilapia were exposed to 0 μg/L (control), 1 μg/L (M1), 3 μg/L (M3), 10 μg/L (M10), and 30 μg/L (M30) MC-LR for 60 days. Then, the liver hepatotoxicity induced by MC-LR exposure was systematically evaluated via histological and biochemical determinations, and the underlying mechanisms were explored through combining analysis of biochemical parameters, multi-omics (transcriptome and metabolome), and gene expression. The results exhibited that chronic MC-LR exposure caused slight liver minor structural damage and lipid accumulation in the M10 group, while resulting in serious histological damage and lipid accumulation in the M30 group, indicating obvious hepatotoxicity, which was confirmed by increased toxicity indexes (i.e., AST, ALT, and AKP). Transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis revealed that chronic MC-LR exposure induced extensive changes in gene expression and metabolites in six typical pathways, including oxidative stress, apoptosis, autophagy, amino acid metabolism, primary bile acid biosynthesis, and lipid metabolism. Taken together, chronic MC-LR exposure induced oxidative stress, apoptosis, and autophagy, inhibited primary bile acid biosynthesis, and caused fatty deposition in the liver of Nile tilapia. Full article

Cotton growth and yield are severely affected by abiotic stress worldwide. Mepiquate chloride (MC) and melatonin (MT) enhance crop growth and yield by reducing the negative effects of abiotic stress on various crops. Numerous studies have shown the pivotal role of MC and MT in regulating agricultural growth and yield. Nevertheless, an in-depth review of the prominent performance of these two hormones in controlling plant morpho-physiological activity and yield in cotton under abiotic stress still needs to be documented. This review highlights the effects of MC and MT on cotton morpho-physiological and biochemical activities; their biosynthetic, signaling, and transduction pathways; and yield under abiotic stress. Furthermore, we also describe some genes whose expressions are affected by these hormones when cotton plants are exposed to abiotic stress. The present review demonstrates that MC and MT alleviate the negative effects of abiotic stress in cotton and increase yield by improving its morpho-physiological and biochemical activities, such as cell enlargement; net photosynthesis activity; cytokinin contents; and the expression of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase. MT delays the expression of NCED1 and NCED2 genes involved in leaf senescence by decreasing the expression of ABA-biosynthesis genes and increasing the expression of the GhYUC5, GhGA3ox2, and GhIPT2 genes involved in indole-3-acetic acid, gibberellin, and cytokinin biosynthesis. Likewise, MC promotes lateral root formation by activating GA20x genes involved in gibberellin catabolism. Overall, MC and MT improve cotton’s physiological activity and antioxidant capacity and, as a result, improve the ability of the plant to resist abiotic stress. The main purpose of this review is to present an in-depth analysis of the performance of MC and MT under abiotic stress, which might help to better understand how these two hormones regulate cotton growth and productivity. Full article