Search Results (849)

Nursery-plant grading relies on morphological traits, but leaf metabolic variation associated with nursery-plant grade remains unclear. In this study, untargeted HPLC-QTOF-MS metabolomics was applied to mature and young leaves of Grade I, II, and III apple nursery plants to explore grade-associated metabolic variation and its relationship with growth performance. After quality filtering, 198 positive-ion features were retained from mature leaves, while 259 positive-ion and 8 negative-ion features were retained from young leaves. Multivariate analysis showed clear grade-associated separation in both leaf types, with stronger discrimination in young leaves. A combination of orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS) modeling and trend analysis identified 20 and 28 differential features in mature and young leaves, respectively. Cross-model prioritization further highlighted key metabolites putatively annotated as methyl nicotinate and 1-palmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine in mature leaves, and methyl nicotinate, nicotinamide riboside, cis-jasmone, and methyl (9Z,14Z)-12,13,16-trihydroxyoctadeca-9,14-dienoate in young leaves. These key metabolites were potentially associated with NAD precursor metabolism, membrane lipid remodeling, and oxylipin-related signaling. Correlation analysis showed that they were associated with both initial grading traits and post-transplant growth performance. These metabolites represent candidate molecular correlates of grade-associated physiological variation and growth performance in apple nursery plants. Full article

Asbestos contamination in drinking water remains an underexplored environmental issue despite the widespread historical use of asbestos-cement materials in water infrastructure and buildings worldwide. This study evaluated the occurrence and removal of asbestos fibers throughout the drinking water treatment chain in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, from source contamination to household filtration. Synthetic asbestos-contaminated water prepared from asbestos-cement roofing materials was treated using coagulation–flocculation with aluminum sulfate, a pilot-scale conventional treatment train, membrane filtration, and household point-of-use filtration systems. Asbestos quantification and mineral identification were performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), with results reported as million fibers per liter (MFL). Coagulation–flocculation achieved the highest removal efficiencies, reaching up to 99.8% at aluminum sulfate dosages between 35 and 45 mg/L. The pilot-scale treatment system substantially reduced asbestos concentrations, with granular filtration representing the principal removal barrier. Membrane filtration exhibited moderate and highly variable performance, with an average removal efficiency of 44.7%, whereas household filters showed inconsistent behavior and occasional concentration peaks associated with possible breakthrough or remobilization processes. The results demonstrate that asbestos removal is strongly governed by the treatment mechanism, with particle destabilization and aggregation outperforming technologies relying exclusively on physical retention. These findings support the progressive replacement of asbestos-containing water infrastructure as the primary long-term preventive strategy, complemented by targeted monitoring and optimized asbestos-removal treatment where fiber contamination is detected or a risk of release from legacy materials exists. Full article

Reliable drinking-water production is difficult on remote islands where brackish-water delivery is intermittent, technical personnel are scarce, and reverse-osmosis plants are manually operated. This study presents an operational characterization of an Internet of Things (IoT) retrofit deployed in Santa Cruz, Galápagos; it is not a controlled before-and-after effectiveness evaluation. An ESP32-based M5Stack Tough controller, distributed ESP-NOW sensing nodes, relay–contactor interfaces, a binary pressure permissive, and a ThingSpeak cloud layer were integrated without replacing the existing pumps and membranes. The exported primary-flow channel contained 4,603,989 numeric observations, including 500 pre-official test readings. Operational analyses used 4,603,489 numeric observations from the official monitoring period; 4,603,340 values remained after nominal-range filtering, and positive flow had a median of 12 L/min (interquartile range: 11–15 L/min). Among 332 logged high-pressure commands, 326 were preceded by a low-pressure command (98.2% unbounded command-state consistency), whereas 275 occurred within a 120 s analytical bound (82.8%). The median low-to-high command delay was 27 s (interquartile range: 11–70 s). Four organizational representatives completed a published 41-item Industry 4.0 maturity instrument before and after deployment; the self-reported overall mean was 0.26 at baseline and 1.95 post-deployment, and these results are interpreted descriptively. Energy-consumption and production data were confidential and unavailable to the authors, while water-quality variables were not measured. The contribution is therefore a long-duration, local-first legacy retrofit with auditable telemetry and explicit limitations, rather than a claim of optimized desalination performance. Full article

Background: This study investigated the generation of dissolved methylmercury (diss-MeHg) under oxic conditions in the surface waters of Minamata Bay. Although mercury methylation has been extensively investigated under reducing conditions, its occurrence under oxic conditions remains poorly understood. Methods: Incubation conditions capable of artificially inducing mercury methylation were established for the first time. Incubation parameters were optimized using surface seawater samples. Results: Diss-MeHg production was positively correlated with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations (1–5 mg/L). The highest methylation was observed at 22 °C and 32.5‰ salinity, though no statistically significant differences were observed within the ranges of 18–22 °C and 30.5–34.5‰. Under the optimized conditions (22 °C, 32.5‰, 5 mg/L DOC), seawater samples were sequentially filtered through membranes of various pore sizes. Diss-MeHg was detected in fractions filtered through 0.8- and 3-µm membrane filters but was absent from the 0.45- and 0.2-µm fractions. Additionally, autoclaving the 0.8 µm filtrate prevented diss-MeHg production. Conclusions: These findings suggest the presence of a distinct biological mercury methylation process operating under oxic conditions in surface seawater. Full article

Background: Identification of tumor-specific cell surface targets is a critical step in the development of precision oncology therapeutics, including radioligand- and antibody-based approaches. However, existing strategies often rely on single-layer analyses and lack systematic integration of proteomic, genomic, and clinical metadata. Methods: We developed a multi-layered proteogenomic filtering framework integrating quantitative proteomics from colorectal cancer (CRC) cohorts with curated metadata on protein localization, normal tissue expression, and druggability. Eleven complementary filtering strategies were applied, followed by manual curation for extracellular accessibility and composite scoring based on protein rank, localization, and clinical relevance. Results: Application of the pipeline to metastatic CRC (mCRC) identified multiple high-confidence candidate targets, including GPRC5A, SLC2A1, CD47, DPEP1 and IFITM1. The average pairwise overlap between filtering strategies was low (0.11), indicating limited redundancy and complementary target identification across approaches. Importantly, candidates detected by multiple strategies were significantly enriched for established biomarkers (FAP, CEACAM5, ITGAV, ITGB4), which were exclusively found among multi-strategy candidates (10.3% vs. 0%; Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.0064), supporting overlap-based prioritization as a marker of biological and translational relevance. Composite scoring further prioritized GPRC5A as a leading candidate. Additional validation layers supported tumor-enriched expression, plasma membrane localization, and relevance across multiple cancer indications. Conclusions: This study presents a scalable framework for prioritization of cell surface therapeutic targets, using mCRC as proof-of-concept indication. By integrating multiple data layers and incorporating translational criteria early in the discovery process, this approach may facilitate more efficient identification of targets for downstream development, including antibody- and radioligand-based therapies. Full article

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) measures spontaneous temporal fluorescence fluctuations within a femtolitre observation volume to extract, with single-molecule sensitivity, the concentration, mobility, oligomeric state, and interactions of proteins in living cells. This review traces how FCS and its spatiotemporal derivatives, implemented on different types of optical microscopes, have mapped protein trafficking across the three physically distinct environments a protein must navigate from the cell surface to its genomic targets. At the plasma membrane, FCS resolves nanodomains with millisecond confinement times and distinguishes cytoskeletal corralling from cholesterol-dependent trapping through the FCS diffusion law, revealing how receptor signalling is organised below the diffraction limit. In the cytoplasm, FCS quantifies how macromolecular crowding slows protein diffusion by a factor of 3–4 relative to water, drives anomalous sub-diffusion, and coexists with directed transport, while resolving the markedly slower dynamics of liquid–liquid phase-separated condensates. In the nucleus, FCS-derived pair correlation and brightness analyses show that chromatin acts as a size-selective filter where an inert protein dimer can take more than 10-fold longer than its monomer to traverse the same nuclear distance, and that this oligomeric-state-dependent gating governs the genomic access of transcription factors. Across all three compartments, a protein’s diffusive behaviour is not incidental to its function but is itself a direct readout of the physical organisation of its environment, establishing FCS as a uniquely quantitative bridge between molecular dynamics and cellular decision-making. Full article

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of digested dairy manure produces hydrochar and a nitrogen-rich post-liquid. This study evaluated a submerged tubular expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) gas-permeable membrane (GPM) system for ammonia recovery from post-HTC liquid derived from digested dairy manure, focusing on the effects of feed temperature, acid circulation rate, and feed volume-to-membrane surface area ratio (FV/MS). Compared with filtered digested manure, the post-HTC liquid had a similar total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) concentration (1151 vs. 1164 mg N L⁻¹) but a slightly higher pH (8.38 vs. 7.94), which favored ammonia transfer. Increasing feed temperature from 20 to 60 °C raised 24 h TAN recovery from 63.5% to 99.6% and average TAN transfer flux from 11.1 to 17.7 g m⁻² d⁻¹, although it also increased water vapor crossover and diluted the acid trapping solution. Increasing acid circulation from 10 to 30 mL min⁻¹ improved 48 h TAN recovery from 85.2% to 94.0%, while a further increase to 50 mL min⁻¹ produced only a small additional gain. In contrast, elevating FV/MS from 0.015 to 0.045 m³ m⁻² reduced 48 h TAN recovery from 94.0% to 59.6% while increasing average TAN transfer flux from 8.2 to 16.2 g m⁻² d⁻¹ because larger feed volumes sustained the concentration driving force for a longer period. Nitrogen mass balance showed that more than 94–99% of the initial TAN was accounted under most conditions, with only a small fraction lost to volatilization. Full article

We develop a versatile description of Fabry–Pérot resonators comprising internal dielectric structures, based on transfer matrices and interpreted from a non-Hermitian one-pole self-energy viewpoint. For a two-mirror cavity containing an internal slab of arbitrary thickness and refractive index, we derive closed-form expressions for transmission and identify cavity poles as zeros of the reduced denominator in the complex-frequency plane. For a weak-reflector, we obtain leading-order expressions for the pole shifts of individual modes and show that the resulting mode pulling and linewidth change are, respectively, governed by the imaginary and real parts of a single complex quantity formed by the coherent sum of two mirror-side scattering paths. These expressions provide placement criteria for dispersive or dissipative operation and support practical workflows for extracting weak-reflector parameters from measured resonance traces, predicting slab-modified cavity spectra from the empty cavity calibration, and designing doubly resonant cavities with fine constraints on slab position. We extend the consideration to multiple reflectors, with emphasis on two-membrane and three-mirror geometries, relevant to coupled filter cavities and membrane-in-the-middle architectures. The coupled-pole parametrization relates these configurations, providing a compact framework for the analysis and design of composite Fabry–Pérot elements for precision filtering and quantum-noise shaping in advanced interferometric experiments. Full article

Accurate voltage degradation prediction is essential for health management and lifetime extension of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems. During long-term constant-current operation, stack voltage evolves nonlinearly and is influenced by coupled variations in temperature, pressure, flow rate, and humidity, while many deep learning-based models lack physical interpretability. This study proposes an interpretable Transformer-based framework for PEMFC voltage degradation prediction under constant-current operation. The framework integrates outlier correction, interpolation, Savitzky–Golay filtering, Z-score normalization, sliding-window reconstruction, Transformer-based prediction, and feature-ablation interpretation. Using multivariate sensor measurements and historical voltage as inputs, the Transformer was compared with RNN, LSTM, and GRU baselines under identical preprocessing and evaluation conditions. The models were evaluated chronologically by continuously applying the sliding-window model over the held-out final 20% of the aging sequence. The Transformer achieved the best performance, with MAE of 8.2 × 10⁻⁴, RMSE of 1.18 × 10⁻³, MAPE of 0.0256%, and R² of 0.9961. Compared with the second-best RNN model, it reduced MAE, RMSE, and MAPE by 9.89%, 7.81%, and 9.86%, respectively. Feature ablation showed that flow- and pressure-related variables contributed 50.08% and 26.78% of the total importance, respectively. Full article

Cosmetic wastewater is increasingly recognized not only as a disposal problem but also as a potential source of recoverable water and formulation-derived compounds. This review critically examines the relationship between cosmetic formulation chemistry, wastewater composition, pollutant removal mechanisms, membrane separation, fouling behaviour, and reuse-oriented treatment design. Cosmetic wastewater shows high compositional variability, with reported COD values ranging from approximately 2400 mg O₂/L to more than 100,000 mg O₂/L, depending on product type, cleaning practices, and raw material losses. Surfactants, emulsifiers, oils, polymeric thickeners, preservatives, fragrances, UV filters, dyes, and microplastics contribute differently to organic load, emulsion stability, toxicity, and treatment resistance. Conventional treatment processes reduce coarse, suspended, emulsified, and biodegradable fractions, but they are limited by low biodegradability, sludge generation, inhibitory compounds, and incomplete removal of persistent micropollutants. Advanced oxidation, adsorption, electrochemical processes, and hybrid systems can improve the transformation, phase transfer, retention, and polishing of recalcitrant compounds, with AOPs typically achieving COD removal of approximately 55–85% and hybrid systems improving overall performance by about 10–25% compared with biological treatment alone. Membrane technologies are evaluated as selective barriers enabling clarification, polishing, water reuse, and resource recovery. MBRs can remove more than 90–95% of COD and BOD₅, while NF/RO polishing may reject more than 90–95% of selected recalcitrant organics and microcontaminants. The novelty of this review lies in shifting the discussion from end-of-pipe wastewater treatment toward source-oriented recovery, integrated treatment trains, and mechanism-based selection of technologies before cosmetic wastewater becomes diluted, mixed, and difficult to reuse. Full article

Voltage-sensitive ion channels are glycoprotein macromolecules that carry ion currents across membranes of nerve and muscle fibers. The hypothesis presented helps explain the changes that convert an insulating ion channel into an ion conductor, stating that it undergoes a structural transformation on threshold reduction in the voltage across the membrane. Experimental data show that the excitable membrane is a ferroelectric liquid crystal. The Channel Activation by Electrostatic Repulsion hypothesis proposes the following: electrical attractions between boundary surface charges compress the polar channel into a compact smectic phase with induced dipoles. Critical depolarization eliminates surface charges and dipoles, decreasing the dielectric permittivity of the ion channel. This increases the repulsive electrostatic forces between positively charged residues in the four S4 segments. These forces form a selectivity filter dome and cause a proteinquake to a chiral nematic phase. The selectivity filter allows ions to enter as it strips their hydration waters. The permeant ions occupy hydrogen bonds of ion-conducting helices, displacing protons. Disordered regions between adjacent helices form liquid line defects. In the thermal chaos of physiological temperature, a line defect occasionally connects the inner and outer surfaces, forming a transient ion pathway that carries unpredictable surges of permeant ion currents, as observed in experiments. Tests for this hypothesis are proposed. Full article

We have developed a quantitative method for characterizing the actual multilayer polymer material-made membranes’ architecture with a computer analysis of their scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The proposed approach consists of contour morphological heterogeneity function (CMHF) calculations. The approbation was carried out on polysulfone, polytetrafluoroethylene and polyimide-made membranes. The corresponding CMHF series were computed for different depths. It was possible to identify the structural zones’ location for all the considered membranes. The developed technique provides the possibility of standardizing the SEM images’ analysis and determining the thicknesses of the surface, transition and volumetric layers of filtering and separating equipment elements. The suggested algorithm can automate the membrane’s structure and architecture metrological analysis with computer vision techniques. Full article

This study combined lipidomic profiling and computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) to evaluate whether a TRIS–egg yolk extender preserves canine spermatozoa at both molecular and functional levels during 72 h of refrigerated storage. HILIC–ESI–HRMS was first used to distinguish sperm-derived lipids from extender-associated species. Lipid-focused feature filtering and multivariate analysis highlighted the seminolipid or sulfogalactosylglycerolipid SGG 32:0 as a major contributor to storage-related lipidomic variation. Together with three long-chain sphingomyelins, SM 46:5;O2, SM 48:5;O2, and SM 50:6;O2, SGG 32:0 was selected as a sperm-specific membrane marker. Targeted C30 reversed-phase LC–ESI–HRMS showed that these lipids progressively decreased during chilled storage, whereas their decline was significantly attenuated in extender-treated samples, with significant treatment × time interactions for all monitored species (p < 0.05). CASA confirmed the functional relevance of these molecular changes: in extender-treated semen, total motility was preserved during the first 24 h, whereas more evident impairment occurred at 48–72 h. Overall, these findings indicate that TRIS–egg yolk extender helps preserve canine semen by slowing the loss of sperm-specific membrane lipids and maintaining motility during chilled storage. SGG 32:0 may represent a candidate lipid marker for monitoring sperm membrane preservation. Full article

Luminescent sensing in aqueous media using organic small-molecule emitters is often constrained by water-induced fluorescence quenching and indicator leakage. In this study, a polymer-confined thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) material, poly-BrTPPz, was synthesized by covalently copolymerizing a donor–acceptor monomer into a polyacrylamide network. Density functional theory calculations indicate spatial frontier orbital separation. The polymer matrix restricts intramolecular motion, while the polar amide microenvironment provides a solid-state solvation effect, decreasing the reverse intersystem crossing barrier to activate delayed luminescence with a lifetime of 303 μs and a photoluminescence quantum yield of 69.1% in the solid state. In aqueous environments, the material exhibits a selective quenching response toward iron(III) ions (Fe³⁺) through a mechanism involving the inner filter effect and pyrazine-coordinated static quenching. To mitigate potential secondary environmental contamination, a transmembrane diffusion model was evaluated by encapsulating the polymer within a semi-permeable membrane, which limits indicator leakage while permitting analyte permeation. This work outlines a design approach for environment-responsive luminescent devices in closed aquatic systems. Full article

Background/Objectives: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in insect hemolymph are promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics, but their rapid screening from complex biological matrices remains difficult. This study aimed to develop a simple and efficient method for the enrichment and preliminary identification of putative AMPs from the hemolymph of Clanis bilineata tsingtauica larvae. Methods: Phospholipid-coated magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄@L) were prepared using membrane phospholipids identified from Enterococcus faecium by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. After nanoparticle characterization, enrichment conditions were optimized and the Fe₃O₄@L workflow was compared with a conventional ultrafiltration-electrophoresis-silver staining-mass spectrometry (UESM) method. Peptides were identified by de novo mass spectrometry, followed by sequence filtering, replicate screening, and in silico AMP prediction. Candidate peptides were chemically synthesized and evaluated for antibacterial activity, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), growth inhibition, morphological effects, and hemolytic activity. Results: Optimization of the Fe₃O₄@L method resulted in a 1.86-fold increase in peptide concentration in the enriched fraction. Compared with UESM, Fe₃O₄@L reduced the workflow from four steps to three and shortened processing time by 61.2%. De novo analysis generated 724 filtered peptides, of which 58 were reproducibly detected in at least two replicates, yielding five putative AMPs after activity prediction; no putative AMP was identified by UESM under the same conditions. Among the synthesized peptides, CBT-3 showed antibacterial activity against E. faecium and Escherichia coli, with MICs of 32 and 64 mg/L, respectively, and low hemolytic activity toward human erythrocytes. Conclusions: Fe₃O₄@L provides a simple and effective strategy for preliminary AMP screening from insect hemolymph, and CBT-3 represents a promising peptide candidate for further investigation. Full article