Search Results (1,112)

Life satisfaction (LS) is an important indicator of subjective well-being among college students. However, relatively few studies have integrated variable-centered and person-centered approaches to examine the associations among physical activity (PA), social support (SS), and LS in female college students. This cross-sectional study surveyed 2097 female college students from 11 universities in Jiangxi Province, China. PA, SS, and LS were assessed using self-report questionnaires. A mediation model was used to examine whether SS statistically mediated the association between PA and LS after controlling for education level and place of origin. Latent profile analysis was then conducted using six LS items, and the BCH method was used to compare PA and SS across profiles. The results showed that PA was positively associated with SS and LS, and SS was positively associated with LS. The indirect association between PA and LS through SS was statistically significant, suggesting a partial statistical mediation pattern. Latent profile analysis identified three level-based LS profiles: low-, medium-, and high-LS profiles. PA and SS increased progressively across these profiles, with the highest levels in the high-LS profile and the lowest levels in the low-LS profile. These findings suggest that PA, SS, and LS are closely interrelated and that meaningful quantitative heterogeneity exists in LS among female college students. Given the cross-sectional design and convenience sampling, the findings should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than causal effects. Full article

Cardiovascular–kidney–metabolic (CKM) syndrome is a systemic, interdependent disorder arising from the convergence of metabolic dysfunction, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular pathology. Anchored in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) framework, this review advances a “parallel hit” model, primarily based on evidence from experimental animal studies, particularly rodent models, posited that early-life environmental insults concurrently program structural and functional vulnerabilities in both renal and central nervous system hubs. These early perturbations prime susceptibility long before clinical manifestations emerge. CKM progression is conceptualized as a two-stage trajectory, with an initial phase of parallel programming affecting kidney and brain development, followed by a transition to maladaptive bidirectional crosstalk. In the later phase, heightened efferent sympathetic outflow and aberrant afferent renal signaling—potentiated by uremic toxin accumulation, neuroinflammation, and blood–brain barrier disruption—drive a self-perpetuating cycle that accelerates cardiorenal and metabolic injury. Key integrative mechanisms, including oxidative stress, chronic low-grade inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and gut microbiota dysbiosis, serve as convergent pathways linking early-life exposures to adult CKM phenotypes. These pathways not only sustain disease progression but also represent actionable therapeutic targets. Importantly, this framework underscores the translational potential of early-life “reprogramming” strategies. Interventions such as precision nutrition, antioxidant supplementation, microbiota-directed therapies (including prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics), and mechanism-based pharmacotherapies may mitigate or reverse maladaptive programming. However, much of the current mechanistic evidence remains preclinical, and further human studies are needed to validate these pathways and therapeutic approaches. Collectively, this dual-hub paradigm reframes CKM syndrome as a life-course continuum rather than a late-stage comorbidity cluster, emphasizing the necessity of early, mechanism-driven interventions to stabilize the brain–kidney axis and improve long-term cardiovascular–kidney–metabolic outcomes. Full article

Introduction: The Lebranche mullet (Mugil liza) is a commercially important fish species in southeastern and southern Brazil, which serves as the primary spawning ground for the Southern stock that supports the Brazilian industrial seine fleet. However, this stock’s distribution extends into Argentine waters (northern Patagonian shelf), and the connectivity between mullets caught in Brazil and their breeding areas across South America remains poorly understood. The authors hypothesized that adult mullets landed by the Brazilian fleet consist of two distinct groups: A local group originating in Brazilian waters (BR1) and a migratory group (BR2) that uses nursery areas in Argentina (AR). BR2 presumably returns to its original nursery grounds after spawning, to recover reproductive tissues, following a different migratory pattern than BR1. Objectives: To test this, the study analyzed the micro-chemical life history of 134 otoliths from mullets aged 0+ to 11 years using LA-ICP-MS. Methodology: Two elemental ratios (Ba/Ca and Sr/Ca) were measured from the otolith core to the edge and modelled using a generalized additive model for scale and shape (GAMLSS). Life history transitions were evaluated by pairwise comparisons of fitted values among ages. Results: GAMLSS showed that Ba/Ca ratios differed significantly among groups (AR ≠ BR1 ≠ BR2). In contrast, Sr/Ca ratios were similar between AR and BR2 during the first four years of life, significantly differing from those of BR1. Using empirically established thresholds for estuarine vs. marine habitats, the study determined that BR2 individuals leave nursery areas between ages 5 and 6, migrate back around age 8, and live there one last time after age 10 (the species’ maximum age). BR1 leaves nurseries after age 4 and returns between ages 5 and 6, exhibiting a shorter reproductive cycle. Importantly, the analysis of reproductive tissue mass showed that the weight after age 7 approximately matched the weight at age 3. After recovery, reproductive tissues doubled in weight before the second migration to spawn at sea. Conclusions: These findings provide crucial insights into M. liza’s life cycle, highlighting the need for shared stock management not only with neighboring nations (Argentina and Brazil) but also on a regional scale. Full article

Surface engineering strongly influences the performance, reliability, and safety of medical and biomedical devices, yet failures often originate at interfaces rather than in bulk materials alone. This review addresses the fragmented evidence base linking coating selection, interphase design, qualification testing, advanced characterization, and data-driven durability analysis. The objective is to provide an integrative, failure-mode-based framework for implants, reusable instruments, inhalation systems, diagnostics, wearables, and implantable electronics. A narrative synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature in coatings, biomaterials, electrochemistry, reliability, standards, and materials informatics was conducted, with qualitative tables used only when protocols were too heterogeneous for numerical pooling. The review compares physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD/PECVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), sol–gel/organically modified silica (ORMOSIL) hybrids, plasma polymers, parylene, bioactive or antimicrobial surfaces, and electronic encapsulation strategies. The main finding is that no universally superior coating exists; reliable performance depends on matching architecture and characterization to the dominant failure pathway, substrate compliance, geometry, sterilization or physiologic exposure, and the standards-constrained endpoint. The review further shows how electrochemical diagnostics, interfacial mechanics, multiphysics models, survival/reliability statistics, and carefully governed AI workflows can be combined to support service-life prediction and decision-oriented qualification. Full article

The absence of a culturally adapted instrument to assess menopause-specific quality of life in Vietnamese women limits both clinical practice and research in this population. This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and psychometrically validate the Vietnamese version of the Utian Quality of Life (VN-UQOL) Scale. A cross-sectional design was employed with 384 community-dwelling postmenopausal women aged 46–65 years. The UQOL was translated and adapted following established guidelines, including forward-back translation, expert review, and pilot testing. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha, construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and concurrent validity via Pearson correlations with the Vietnamese Menopause Rating Scale (VN-MRS). The VN-UQOL demonstrated excellent internal consistency, with a total scale Cronbach’s alpha of 0.87 and sub-scale alphas ranging from 0.81 to 0.93. Content validity indices (I-CVI, S-CVI) were 1.0. CFA confirmed the original four-factor structure, with all factor loadings exceeding 0.50 and good model fit indices (CFI = 0.921, RMSEA = 0.072). Concurrent validity was supported by significant negative correlations between the VN-UQOL sub-scales and corresponding VN-MRS domains (p < 0.01). The VN-UQOL is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing menopause-specific quality of life in Vietnamese women, providing a valuable tool for clinical practice and research in this underserved population. Full article

This article examines how B. R. Ambedkar’s 1956 Buddhist conversion is re-narrativized in Mahar Dalit life writing as a foundational religious event that simultaneously embodies rupture and continuity. Drawing on three Marathi Dalit texts, Akkarmashi, Baluta and The Prisons We Broke, all examined in their published English translations, and situated within the theological framework of Ambedkar’s Buddha and His Dhamma, the study argues that Dalit authors transform the conversion event into a sacred narrative structure organized around suffering, awakening, and liberation. Rather than representing a simple rejection of religion, these narratives reconfigure the religious imagination by producing a form of counter-sacrality that both contests and reconstitutes the sacred: the suffering of the caste order is retrospectively sanctified as the necessary prehistory of collective rebirth, while the 1956 conversion is preserved as a permanently reactivatable origin point for ongoing religious and political life. The study proposes Dalit sacred time as a distinct analytical model of subaltern religious temporality, characterized by three features. By foregrounding a non-Western, intercultural case, the article engages directly with questions of continuity and contestation in the relationship between literature and religion, showing how literary texts can generate new forms of religious meaning beyond established traditions. Full article

Purpose: This study aims at the modification and psychometric evaluation of the “revised Illness Perception Questionnaire” (IPQ-R) for occupational dermatological rehabilitation. Methods: First, the questionnaire was modified for application in occupational dermatology. Subsequently, 254 patients of an inpatient rehabilitation programme participated in a cross-sectional survey. Afterwards, the dimensional analysis of the IPQ-R was conducted using principal component analysis. Separate analyses were conducted for the illness representations and the causal attribution scale. Results: A total of 228 participants were included in the analysis (age: M = 48.2 years; SD = 12.0; 53.9% female). The patient acceptance of the questionnaire was high (response rate 87.3%; rate of completion between 92.5% and 98.4%, N = 254). The IPQ-R for occupational dermatology consists of 29 items in the domain of illness representations, which include seven factors (illness coherence, emotional representations, consequences: implications for the structuring of own life, consequences: financial and social impacts, treatment control, personal control, and timeline acute/chronic). Six of these scales have acceptable-to-good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α 0.72–0.84); for one scale, the internal consistency is Cronbach’s α = 0.66. A separate analysis of the causes resulted in eight factors (psychological causes at work and during leisure time, attributions outside the workplace, skin cleansing and skin protection measures, behaviour-related risk factors, causes at work, other risk factors, external factors that cannot be influenced by the person, and climatic influences) with a total of 30 items. Five of the eight scales have an acceptable-to-good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α 0.71–0.83), and three scales are just below the acceptable range (Cronbach’s α 0.63–0.66). Conclusion: Overall, the initial psychometric results of the IPQ-R for occupational dermatology were satisfactory. However, additional validation steps are still required. The following differences to the original model should be considered when interpreting the available results: the factor “timeline cyclical” could not be replicated in this field of application. Additionally, two factors with different thematic emphases in the “consequences” section, besides effects on the personal way of life, social and financial consequences, became visible as well. Full article

Smartphones are now deeply embedded in daily life, but excessive dependence may increase the risk of nomophobia, which is associated with anxiety, sleep disruption, and reduced productivity. Existing screening methods mainly rely on self-reported questionnaires, which are subjective and difficult to scale for continuous monitoring. This study proposes a privacy-preserving federated deep learning framework for three-level nomophobia risk prediction (Normal, Mild, and Severe) using smartphone usage logs while keeping raw user data on local devices. The proposed pipeline uses a publicly available secondary dataset with 1000 original records and expands it to 100,000 records through constraint-aware synthetic augmentation. A continuous risk score is computed from standardized smartphone usage indicators and then converted into three classes using tertile-based thresholds. Several local architectures, including CNN, MLP, ResMLP, Wide & Deep, and a lightweight TabNet-style gated model, are evaluated under FedAvg. In the reported experiments, differential privacy is enabled through DP-SGD with gradient clipping and Gaussian noise. To protect update transmission, the framework applies protected update sharing through encrypted transport of masked updates. Each client masks its local update and encrypts the masked payload before transmission. This mechanism improves communication confidentiality and reduces the direct exposure of client updates. Under a fixed federated setup with five clients and 25 communication rounds, tabular models achieved near-ceiling performance on the constructed test set. The MLP achieved 99.12% accuracy, 99.12% F1-score, 0.9868 MCC, and 0.9997 AUC, while Wide & Deep achieved 98.95% accuracy, 98.95% F1-score, 0.9843 MCC, and 0.9997 AUC. In contrast, sequential models such as RNN and LSTM showed near-random performance, suggesting that the current aggregated feature representation is better suited to tabular learning than temporal modeling. These results indicate that the proposed federated pipeline can effectively learn the constructed nomophobia risk labels while preserving local data ownership. However, because the labels are derived from usage features rather than clinical or psychometric assessment, the findings should be interpreted as proof-of-concept results for constructed risk labels rather than evidence of clinical diagnostic validity. Full article

Background: Early-life exposure to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) may increase adult cancer risk, but evidence from Asian populations remains limited. Taiwan’s nationwide indoor residual spraying (IRS) program during the 1950s provides a unique setting to examine long-term reproductive cancer risk associated with early-life DDT exposure. Methods: We conducted an ecological study using township-level DDT IRS frequency (0–5 times) as the exposure indicator. Individuals born between 1952 and 1958 were followed from 1979 to 2022 for incident reproductive cancers based on data from the Taiwan Cancer Registry. Poisson regression models were applied to estimate relative risks associated with each additional IRS exposure. Results: A total of 109,244 reproductive cancer cases were identified. Each additional DDT spraying round was associated with increased risks of breast, ovarian, corpus uteri, prostate, testicular, and cervical cancers (RRs = 1.01–1.16). Elevated risks were observed for testicular cancer (RR = 1.16, 95% CI: 1.01–1.23) and cervical cancer (RR = 1.01, 95% CI: 1.002–1.02), for which Asian epidemiological evidence remains limited. Higher exposure levels were also associated with differences in stage at diagnosis for breast cancer among women aged ≥55 years and for corpus uteri cancer. Conclusions: Early-life DDT exposure was associated with increased risks of several reproductive cancers. These findings support the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease framework and suggest that environmental exposures during critical developmental windows may influence long-term cancer risk. However, the findings should be interpreted cautiously given the ecological study design and potential residual confounding. Full article

Pregnancy represents a critical eco-biological window during which maternal physiology integrates environmental exposures, lifestyle factors, and interconnected microbial ecosystems to shape fetal development and long-term health. From a One Health perspective, defined here as the interconnection between maternal health, environmental determinants, and microbial ecosystems across generations, the maternal microbiome functions as a dynamic interface linking the external environment to the intrauterine milieu, translating ecological signals into immunological, metabolic, and neuroendocrine pathways that influence placental function and developmental programming. Across gut, vaginal, oral, and mammary niches, maternal microbial communities operate as an integrated network regulating systemic inflammation, metabolic homeostasis, and the production of bioactive metabolites, including short-chain fatty acids, bile acids, and tryptophan derivatives. This review proposes an integrated systems framework in which pregnancy is viewed as a transient ecological system shaped by ten interconnected maternal determinants, encompassing microbial niches, nutrition, lifestyle factors, medical interventions, mode of delivery, and postnatal microbial transmission, that converge on shared microbiome-mediated signaling pathways affecting fetal and neonatal immune, metabolic, and neurodevelopmental trajectories. Broader macro-environmental drivers, including biodiversity loss, urbanization, pollution, and industrialized lifestyles, are considered as upstream modulators of maternal microbial ecology within a One Health context. A systems model is presented to illustrate how environmental inputs are biologically transduced through maternal microbial networks to influence placental function, fetal development, and early-life health trajectories. Framing pregnancy as an integrated eco-biological continuum highlights the maternal microbiome as a central hub of intergenerational health and may support microbiome-informed preventive strategies and public health approaches aimed at reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) of early-life origin. Full article

The rapid evolution of structural heart interventions, particularly transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER), and hybrid procedures, has significantly expanded treatment options for elderly, frail, and multimorbid patients previously considered high risk or inoperable. However, perioperative risk stratification in this population remains challenging. Traditional risk scores such as EuroSCORE, EuroSCORE II, STS-PROM, CHA₂DS₂-VASc, and HAS-BLED were developed and validated primarily in cohorts undergoing conventional open-heart surgery (CABG and surgical valve replacement) more than 15–25 years ago. This narrative review critically evaluates the performance and limitations of these classical models in contemporary populations undergoing modern structural cardiac interventions. Evidence from registries and meta-analyses indicates only moderate discriminatory ability and systematic calibration errors. EuroSCORE II and STS-PROM frequently overestimate risk in low- and intermediate-risk patients while underestimating it in high-risk and frail individuals, particularly regarding neurological, renal complications, and prolonged hospitalization. Similar limitations apply to CHA₂DS₂-VASc and HAS-BLED when used beyond their original scope in the peri-procedural setting of TAVI/TEER. The review highlights the growing role of frailty assessment, procedure-specific variables, and machine learning algorithms, which demonstrate superior predictive performance compared to conventional scores. Until dedicated, regularly updated risk models based on large TAVI/TEER registries become available, traditional scores should be used only as supportive tools within multidisciplinary Heart Team discussions that incorporate individual frailty, quality of life, and patient preferences. Full article

The development of a new-type power system requires addressing the long-timescale imbalance between electricity supply and demand caused by the high penetration of wind and solar energy, which places higher demands on the secure and stable operation of power systems. Conventional single-type energy storage cannot simultaneously satisfy short-term power regulation and medium- to long-term energy balancing requirements. Therefore, coordinated optimal allocation of multi-type energy storage is necessary. This study investigates the optimal capacity allocation of short- and long-duration energy storage in high-renewable-penetration power grids to improve renewable energy accommodation, enhance system flexibility, and optimize life-cycle cost. A mathematical model of a Multi-Type Energy Storage Coupled System (MTESCS) considering both power and energy balance is first established, together with a life-cycle economic model. Then, a source-load time-series reduction method based on Ward’s method is adopted to preserve the original temporal trends while reducing optimization complexity, and an optimal capacity allocation model is developed with the objective of minimizing system life-cycle cost. Finally, different storage configuration scenarios are constructed for comparative analyses under various renewable energy penetration levels. Results show that the proposed MTESCS can effectively improve renewable energy accommodation and economic performance, providing useful support for system design and engineering applications. Full article

Stellar irradiation is thought to be a significant contributor to the origin of life. Ultraviolet (UV) light interacting with iron cyanide complexes may play an important role in prebiotic chemistry. The UV–Visible (UV–Vis) spectra of these iron cyanide complexes can be measured by the same source that drives the chemistry, providing a real-time in situ quantitative analysis of prebiotically relevant, UV-driven photochemistry. We measure the UV–Vis absorbances of ferrocyanide and nitroprusside, and relate these absorbances to known concentrations. We show that these absorbances can be combined to accurately predict the concentrations of ferrocyanide–nitroprusside mixtures that could be generated from ferrocyanide and nitroxyl salts irradiated by ultraviolet light. The ferrocyanide molar attenuation coefficients were found to be maximal at the following: ${\epsilon }_{ferrocyanide}\left(340\mathrm{nm}\right)=(2.2\pm 0.4)\times {10}^3{\mathrm{dm}}^2{\mathrm{mol}}^{-1}$. Nitroprusside peaks show the following values: ${\epsilon }_{nitroprusside}\left(340\mathrm{nm}\right)=(4.1\pm 0.3)\times {10}^2{\mathrm{dm}}^2{\mathrm{mol}}^{-1}$, ${\epsilon }_{nitroprusside}\left(400\mathrm{nm}\right)=(1.71\pm 0.05)\times {10}^2{\mathrm{dm}}^2{\mathrm{mol}}^{-1}$, and ${\epsilon }_{nitroprusside}\left(500\mathrm{nm}\right)=62.1\pm 1.7{\mathrm{dm}}^2{\mathrm{mol}}^{-1}$. With the help of our measured absorbances, we consider ferrocyanide and nitroprusside to function as sunscreens. In the absence of continuous ferrocyanide sources, UV-sensitive compounds could be protected on timescales of months. This would allow for compounds like nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, NADH, to survive for over a year at depths of 5 m, compared to a lifetime of 6 months when unprotected. Our toy model constrains the photochemical survival of compounds of interest to the origin of life community across a comprehensive spectral range and can be used to constrain the survival using different exoplanetary irradiative conditions; thus, we are able to explore the UV environment with the presence of ferrocyanide and nitroprusside and contribute to the wider discussion surrounding the prevalence of the origin of life in the Universe. Full article

The rapid digitalisation of the agri-food sector has generated unprecedented volumes of farm and value chain data, but also highly fragmented data ecosystems and asymmetric power relations between farmers, technology providers, and public authorities. In response, the European Union has developed a comprehensive data governance architecture—including the Data Governance Act, the Data Act, the GDPR and the EU Code of Conduct on Agricultural Data Sharing—and is building a Common European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS). This article examines that governance framework and explores its implications for the agri-food sector in Spain. Through a qualitative legal policy review, we map the regulatory landscape, analyse five major European and Spanish initiatives (CEADS/AgriDataSpace, AgData, Agdatahub, RegenAg-X, and DADS), and use Spain as a national case study. A multi-level actor model (meta-governance, data originators, transformation intermediaries, and data users) structures the comparative analysis. On this basis, six design principles for responsible agri-food data spaces are identified: clarity of use cases, inclusive multi-stakeholder governance, data life cycle mapping, privacy and sovereignty by design, a fair economic model, and regulatory compliance as a trust factor. The article identifies open research questions on anonymisation of georeferenced data, data sovereignty, and equitable value distribution, and outlines an agenda for future empirical and legal research. Full article

Background/Objectives: Urinary incontinence (UI) is common among women and is often underreported and undertreated, partly due to limited health literacy and persistent misconceptions regarding its causes and management. Instruments that reliably assess knowledge about UI are important for identifying educational needs and evaluating the impact of educational interventions. Although the Incontinence Quiz (IQ) has been validated in other languages, no psychometrically tested French version was previously available. This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and evaluate the measurement properties of the French version of the Incontinence Quiz (IQ-Fr) in adult women, following internationally recommended procedures for cross-cultural adaptation. Methods: A methodological validation study with a two-sample design was conducted. An extended sample (n = 289) was used to examine internal consistency and convergent validity, while a validation subsample (n = 40) was used to assess divergent validity and reproducibility. The translation process included forward translation, synthesis, back-translation, expert committee review, and pretesting. The internal consistency of the IQ-Fr was assessed using Cronbach’s Alpha. The convergent validity of the IQ-Fr was assessed by both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The divergent validity of the IQ-Fr was evaluated by Pearson’s correlation IQ-Fr and Ditrovie quality-of-life scores. Finally, the reproducibility of the IQ-Fr was evaluated by Intraclass Correlation (ICC) between the IQ-Fr scores obtained at two different time points (T0 and T1) over a one-week interval. Results: The IQ-Fr showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.654) comparable to other translations/cultural adaptations made for the same instrument. The EFA and CFA suggest the same four-dimension structure (IQ-Fr) found in the original instrument (IQ), although the factorial model fit would benefit from the additional removal of item 6 from the questionnaire, as already suggested by the increase in the instrument’s Cronbach’s Alpha (from 0.646 to 0.659). The IQ-Fr also showed good divergent validity, as assessed by the absence of a statistically significant Pearson correlation between the scores of the IQ-Fr and the scores of a non-related construct—the Ditrovie scale (r_p = 0.097, p-value = 0.552). Lastly, the IQ-Fr showed good reproducibility, as demonstrated by the high ICC coefficient (ICC = 0.752) between the instrument’s overall scores at T0 and T1. Conclusions: The French version of the Incontinence Quiz (IQ-Fr) presents good indicators of internal consistency, convergent validity, divergent validity, and reproducibility for it to be used in research and educational contexts in French-speaking populations. Full article