Search Results (2,866)

Laboratory-based assessment of cardiorespiratory function is a widely applied method in sports science. Most performance evaluations focus on oxygen uptake parameters. Despite the well-established concept of oxygen deficit introduced by Hill in the 1920s, relatively few studies have examined its behavior during submaximal exercise, with limited exploration of deficit dynamics. The present study aimed to analyze the behavior of oxygen deficit in young female handball players (N = 42, age: 15.4 ± 1.3 years) during graded exercise. Oxygen deficit was estimated using the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) algorithm, restricted to subanaerobic threshold segments of a quasi-ramp exercise protocol. Cardiorespiratory parameters were measured with the spiroergometry test on treadmills, and body composition was assessed via Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA). Cluster and principal component analyzes revealed two distinct athlete profiles with statistically significant differences in both morphological and physiological traits. Cluster 2 showed significantly higher relative VO₂ peak (51.43 ± 3.70 vs. 45.70 ± 2.87 mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹; p < 0.001; Cohen’s d = 1.76), yet also exhibited a greater oxygen deficit per kilogram (39.03 ± 16.71 vs. 32.56 ± 14.33 mL·kg⁻¹; p = 0.018; d = 0.80). Cluster 1 had higher absolute body mass (69.67 ± 8.13 vs. 59.66 ± 6.81 kg; p < 0.001), skeletal muscle mass (p < 0.001), and fat mass (p < 0.001), indicating that body composition strongly influenced oxygen deficit values. The observed differences in oxygen deficit profiles suggest a strong influence of genetic predispositions, particularly in cardiovascular and muscular oxygen utilization capacity. Age also emerged as a critical factor in determining the potential for adaptation. Oxygen deficit during submaximal exercise appears to be a multifactorial phenomenon shaped by structural and physiological traits. While certain influencing factors can be modified through training, others especially those of genetic origin pose inherent limitations. Early development of cardiorespiratory capacity may offer the most effective strategy for long-term optimization. Full article

Surveillance of swine influenza A virus (swIAV) traditionally focuses on respiratory matrices, yet emerging evidence suggests that fecal shedding and secondary environmental contamination may also contribute to viral dissemination. In this study, we collected and analyzed nasal, rectal, environmental, milk, and colostrum samples from naturally infected pigs in a commercial farm in Minas Gerais, Brazil. IAV RNA was detected in 25% of samples, including 42% from asymptomatic animals, with nasal swabs showing higher detection rates (30%) than rectal swabs (20%), though rectal Ct values were consistently higher, indicative of lower viral loads. We successfully isolated viable viruses from feces and effluent samples. Whole-genome sequencing revealed co-circulation of enzootic pH1N1 clade #2 (HA) and pN1 clade #4 (NA), alongside human-origin H3N2 sequences clustering within clade 3C.2a1b.2a.2a.1, and N2 segments related to pre-3C human lineages from 2001 to 2002. Phylogenetic and p-distance analyses support both recent reverse zoonosis and historical transmission events. Detection of complete HA/NA sequences from rectal swabs and treated effluent further emphasizes the surveillance value of non-respiratory matrices. The integration of respiratory and fecal/environmental sampling appears important to achieve more comprehensive IAV monitoring in swine herds and may have significant implications for One Health strategies in Brazil and beyond. Full article

Background and Objectives: Digoxin is a pharmacological agent of natural origin that is still occasionally administered in the intensive care unit (ICU). The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of routine therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of digoxin in ICU patients with heart failure. Materials and Methods: This retrospective, single-center study was conducted using data from the ICU database of the Silesian Center for Heart Diseases in Zabrze, Poland. A total of 980 ICU admissions between January 2018 and July 2023 were screened, and 103 patients met the inclusion criteria. Patients were excluded if they had not received digoxin during hospitalization, had only one digoxin level measurement, or did not meet the established criteria for heart failure. Results: Women required significantly lower doses of digoxin compared to men (0.171 ± 0.053 mg vs. 0.224 ± 0.080 mg; p < 0.001). Patients who died had significantly higher serum digoxin concentrations than survivors (1.33 ± 0.59 ng/mL vs. 1.03 ± 0.43 ng/mL; p = 0.003). Similarly, patients with liver failure had higher digoxin levels compared to those without liver dysfunction (1.31 ± 0.58 ng/mL vs. 1.06 ± 0.46 ng/mL; p = 0.016). A weak negative correlation was found between age and the administered dose (r = −0.20; p = 0.048), and a weak positive correlation was observed between serum digoxin concentration and NT-proBNP levels (r = 0.23; p = 0.048). Conclusions: Among ICU patients with multi-organ failure, those with concomitant liver dysfunction tended to reach higher serum digoxin concentrations. Routine therapeutic drug monitoring of digoxin in ICU patients appears beneficial and may help to optimize dosing and reduce adverse effects. Full article

Medicinal plants have been used in traditional medicines all over the world to treat human diseases throughout human history. Many of the medicinal plants have frequently become food and nutrition plants. A more sophisticated investigation resulted in discovering numbers of biologically important secondary metabolites of plants. Pentacyclic triterpenoids represent an important group of the plant secondary metabolites that have emerged as having top biological importance. While the most widespread plant triterpenoids and a majority of their semisynthetic derivatives have been reviewed quite often, other plant pentacyclic triterpenoids and their derivatives have so far been less frequently studied. Therefore, attention has been focused on selected pentacyclic triterpenoids, namely on arjunolic acid, asiatic acid, α- and β-boswellic acids, corosolic acid, maslinic acid, morolic acid, moronic acid, and the friedelane triterpenoids, and on different derivatives of the selected triterpenoids in this review article. A literature search was made in the Web of Science for the given keywords, covering the required area of secondary plant metabolites and their semisynthetic derivatives starting in 2023 and ending in February 2025. The most recently published findings on the biological activity of the selected triterpenoids, and on the structures and the biological activity of their relevant derivatives have been summarized therein. Even if cytotoxicity of the compounds has mainly been reviewed, other biological effects are mentioned if they appeared in the original articles in connection with the selected triterpenoids and their derivatives, listed above. A comparison of the effects of the parent plant products and their derivatives has also been made. Full article

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a key extracellular matrix component of vertebrates, where it mediates cell adhesion, immune regulation, and tissue remodeling through its interaction with specific receptors. Although HA has been detected in a few invertebrate species, the lack of fundamental components of the molecular HA pathway poses relevant objections about its functional role in these species. Mining genomic and transcriptomic data, we considered the conservation of the gene locus encoding for the extracellular link protein (XLINK) in marine mussels as well as its expression patterns. Structural and phylogenetic analyses were undertaken to evaluate possible similarities with vertebrate orthologs and to infer the origin of this gene in invertebrates. Biochemical analysis was used to quantify HA in tissues of Mytilus galloprovincialis. As a result, we confirm that the mussel can produce HA (up to 1.02 ng/mg in mantle) and that its genome encodes two XLINK gene loci. These loci are conserved in Mytilidae species and show a complex evolutionary path. Mussel XLINK genes appeared to be expressed during developmental stages in three mussel species, ranking in the top 100 expressed genes in M. trossulus at 17 h post-fertilization. In conclusion, the presence of HA and an active gene with the potential to bind HA suggests that mussels have the potential to synthesize and use HA and are among the few invertebrates encoding this gene. Full article

Background: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe gastrointestinal disease and a major cause of morbidity and mortality among preterm infants. Traditional diagnostic methods such as abdominal radiography have limited sensitivity in early disease stages, prompting interest in bowel ultrasound (BUS) as a complementary imaging modality. Objective: This scoping review aims to synthesize existing literature on the role of ultra sound in the early detection, diagnosis, and management of NEC, with emphasis on its diagnostic performance, integration into clinical care, and technological innovations. Methods: Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, a systematic search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar for studies published between January 2000 and December 2025. Inclusion criteria encompassed original research, reviews, and clinical studies evaluating the use of bowel, intestinal, or Doppler ultrasound in neonates with suspected or confirmed NEC. Data were extracted, categorized by study design, population characteristics, ultrasound features, and diagnostic outcomes, and qualitatively synthesized. Results: A total of 101 studies were included. BUS demonstrated superior sensitivity over radiography in detecting early features of NEC, including bowel wall thickening, portal venous gas, and altered peristalsis. Doppler ultrasound, both antenatal and postnatal, was effective in identifying perfusion deficits predictive of NEC onset. Neonatologist-performed ultrasound (NEOBUS) showed high interobserver agreement when standardized protocols were used. Emerging tools such as ultra-high-frequency ultrasound (UHFUS) and artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced analysis hold potential to improve diagnostic precision. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) appears feasible in resource-limited settings, though implementation barriers remain. Conclusions: Bowel ultrasound is a valuable adjunct to conventional imaging in NEC diagnosis. Standardized protocols, validation of advanced technologies, and out come-based studies are essential to guide its broader clinical adoption. Full article

The detection of plant constituents is a crucial issue in precision agriculture, as monitoring these enables the automatic analysis of factors such as growth rate, health status, and crop yield. Tomatoes (Solanum sp.) are an economically and nutritionally important crop in Mexico and worldwide, which is why automatic monitoring of these plants is of great interest. Detecting leaves on images of outdoor tomato plants is challenging due to the significant variability in the visual appearance of leaves. Factors like overlapping leaves, variations in lighting, and environmental conditions further complicate the task of detection. This paper proposes modifications to the Yolov11n architecture to improve the detection of tomato leaves in images of complex outdoor environments by incorporating attention modules, transformers, and WIoUv3 loss for bounding box regression. The results show that our proposal led to a 26.75% decrease in the number of parameters and a 7.94% decrease in the number of FLOPs compared with the original version of Yolov11n. Our proposed model outperformed Yolov11n and Yolov12n architectures in recall, F1-measure, and mAP@50 metrics. Full article

In recent years, a long list of relevant studies has highlighted the engagement of the nervous system in the fine-tuning of tumor development and progression. Several authors have shown that different types of nerve fibres (sympathetic, parasympathetic/vagal or somatosensory fibres) may contribute to tumor innervation affecting cancer initiation, progression and metastasis. A large presence of nerve fibres is frequently observed in tumors with respect to the corresponding healthy tissues. In this regard, it is worth noting that in some cases a reduced innervation may associate with slow tumor growth in a tissue-specific manner. Current studies have begun to shed light over the role played in this specific process by Schwann cells (SCs), the most abundant glial cells of the peripheral nervous system. SCs observed in cancer tissues share strong similarities with repair SCs that appear after nerve injury. A large body of research indicates that SCs may have a role in shaping the microenvironment of tumors by regulating the immune response and influencing their invasiveness. In this review, we summarize data relevant to the role of peripheral innervation in general, and of SCs in particular, in defining the progression of different tumors: melanoma that originate in the skin with mainly sensory innervation; pancreatic and liver-derived tumors (e.g., pancreatic adenocarcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma) with mainly autonomous innervation. We conclude by summarizing data regarding hepatocarcinoma (with anatomical predominance of small autonomic nerve fibres) in which the potential relationship between innervation and tumor progression has been little explored, and largely remains to be defined. Full article

Aside from a few passages addressing animals or the environment, Confucian philosophy appears to lack an environmental ethics perspective. Li Zhehou’s (李澤厚) contemporary work in Confucian philosophy continues this lacuna by limiting his understanding of community to the human realm. Using the common liberal humanism that limits moral actions to the interpersonal human realm misses the importance of inclusive moralities such as animal rights and environmental ethics. I propose that if we return to the original shared common cultural roots of Confucian and Daoist philosophy that a Confucian understanding of the natural world can embrace the non-human environment within the scope of Confucian morality. Extricating ideas from the Yijing, the Shijing, Xunzi, Dong Zhongshu, Wang Chong, and later scholars, the concept of the mutual resonance and response (ganying 感應) between the natural world and humans developed into the unity of heaven and humanity (tianren heyi 天人合一). An inclusive Confucian depth ecology opens new ways of thinking that can be deployed to envision deeper dimensions for understanding the self’s inner life, its connections to the outer life of the self–other relationship, and its extension to a kin relationship with the environment. This paper explores how these old and new ways of thinking can change our behavior and change our moral interactions with others including the environment and thereby enhancing freedom as an achievement concept derived from graceful moral action. Full article

The preservation and protection of historic urban centers in climate-sensitive coastal areas contributes to the promotion of culture as a driver and enabler of achieving temporal and spatial sustainability, as it is recognized that urban heritage is an integral part of the urban landscape, culture, and economy. The aim of this study was to enhance the resilience and protection of cultural heritage and historic urban centers (HUCs) in the coastal area of Kaštela, Croatia, by providing recommendations and action guidelines in response to climate change impacts, including rising temperatures, sea levels, storms, droughts, and flooding. Preserving HUCs is essential to maintain their cultural values, original structures, and appearance. Many ancient coastal Roman HUCs lie partially or entirely below mean sea level, while low-lying medieval castles, urban areas, and modern developments are increasingly at risk. Based on vulnerability assessments, targeted mitigation and adaptation measures were proposed to address HUC vulnerability sources. The Historical Urban Landscape Approach tool was used to transition and manage HUCs, linking past, present, and future hazard contexts to enable rational, comprehensive, and sustainable solutions. The effective protection of HUCs requires a deeper understanding of the evolution of urban development, climate dynamics, and the natural environments, including both tangible and intangible urban heritage elements. The “hazard-specific” vulnerability assessment framework, which incorporates hazard-relevant indicators of sensitivity and adaptive capacity, was a practical tool for risk reduction. This method relies on analyzing the historical performance and physical characteristics of the system, without necessitating additional simulations of transformation processes. Full article

Obesity is a chronic, relapsing disease with multifactorial origins and significant global health implications. Historically, bariatric surgery has been the most effective intervention for achieving sustained weight loss and metabolic improvement, especially in individuals with moderate to severe obesity. However, the therapeutic landscape is rapidly evolving. Recent advances in pharmacotherapy—including GLP-1 receptor agonists, dual and triple incretin agonists, and amylin-based combination therapies—have demonstrated unprecedented efficacy, with some agents inducing 15–25% weight loss, approaching outcomes once exclusive to surgical intervention. These developments challenge the continued applicability of existing bariatric surgery criteria, which were established in an era of limited medical alternatives. In this narrative review, we examine the evolution of surgical eligibility thresholds and critically assess the potential role of novel pharmacotherapies in redefining treatment algorithms. By comparing the efficacy, safety, metabolic benefits, and cost-effectiveness of surgery versus next-generation drugs, we explore whether a more stepwise, pharmacotherapy-first approach may now be justified, particularly in patients with BMI 30–40 kg/m². We also discuss future directions in obesity management, including personalized treatment strategies, perioperative drug use, and the integration of pharmacologic agents into long-term care pathways. As the field advances, a paradigm shift toward individualized, minimally invasive interventions appears inevitable—necessitating a timely re-evaluation of current bariatric surgery guidelines to reflect the expanding potential of medical therapy. Full article

Protein functional effector (pfe)RNAs were introduced in 2015 as PIWI-interacting-like small noncoding (nc)RNAs and were later categorized as a novel group based on being 2′-O-methylated at their 3′-end, directly binding and affecting protein function, but not levels, and not matching known RNAs. Here, we document that human pfeRNAs match fragments of GenBank database-annotated human ncRNAs. PDLpfeRNAa matches the 3′-half fragment of a mitochondrial transfer (t)RNA, and PDLpfeRNAb matches a 28S ribosomal (r)RNA fragment. These PDLpfeRNAs are known to bind to tumor programmed death ligand (PD-L)1, enhancing or inhibiting its interaction with lymphocyte PD-1 and consequently tumor immune escape, respectively. In a validated 8-pfeRNA-set classifier for pulmonary nodule presence and benign vs. malignant nature, seven here match one or more of the following: transfer, micro, Y, PIWI, long (lnc)RNAs, and a PDLpfeRNAa fragment. The previously identified chromosomal locations of these pfeRNAs and their matches partially overlap. Another 2-pfeRNA set was previously determined to distinguish between controls, patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, and those with lung cancer. One pfeRNA, previously shown to bind p60-DMAD and affect apoptosis, complements small nucleolar RNA SNORD45C, matching smaller 18S rRNA and lncRNA segments. Thus, pfeRNAs appear to have a common origin with known multifunctional ncRNA fragments. Differential modification may contribute to the multifunctionality of ncRNAs. For instance, for tRNA fragments, stabilizing 3′-end 2′-O-methylation, 3′-aminoacylation, and glycosylation modifications may regulate protein function, translation, and extracellular effects, respectively. One ncRNA gene can encode multiple fragments, multiple genes can encode the same fragment, and differentially modified ncRNA fragments might synergize or antagonize each other. Full article

Vessel detection technology based on marine remote sensing imagery is of great importance. However, it often faces challenges, such as small vessel targets, cloud occlusion, insufficient data volume, and severely imbalanced class distribution in datasets. These issues result in conventional models failing to meet the accuracy requirements for practical applications. In this paper, we first construct a novel remote sensing vessel image dataset that includes various complex scenarios and enhance the data volume and diversity through data augmentation techniques. Secondly, we address the class imbalance between foreground (small vessels) and background in remote sensing imagery from two perspectives: the sensitivity of IoU metrics to small object localization errors and the innovative design of a cost-sensitive loss function. Specifically, at the dataset level, we select vessel targets appearing in the original dataset as templates and randomly copy–paste several instances onto arbitrary positions. This enriches the diversity of target samples per image and mitigates the impact of data imbalance on the detection task. At the algorithm level, we introduce the Normalized Wasserstein Distance (NWD) to compute the similarity between bounding boxes. This enhances the importance of small target information during training and strengthens the model’s cost-sensitive learning capabilities. Ablation studies reveal that detection performance is optimal when the weight assigned to the NWD metric in the model’s loss function matches the overall proportion of small objects in the dataset. Comparative experiments show that the proposed NWD-YOLO achieves Precision, Recall, and ${\mathrm{AP}}_{50}$ scores of 0.967, 0.958, and 0.971, respectively, meeting the accuracy requirements of real-world applications. Full article

Arugula leaves (Diplotaxis tenuifolia L. and Eruca sativa L.) are a must-have ingredient in ready-to-eat salads, as they are prized for their appearance, taste, and flavor. The nutraceutical properties of this leafy vegetable are attributed to the presence of valuable secondary metabolites, such as phenolic acids and glucosinolates. Using UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS analysis and ion chromatography, we characterized the content of phenolic acids, glucosinolates, nitrates, and organic acids in organic arugula [Diplotaxis tenuifolia (L.) DC] and evaluated how the foliar application of three different non-microbial biostimulants (a seaweed extract, a vegetable protein hydrolysate, and a tropical plant extract) modulated the expression of these. Although the application of vegetable protein hydrolysate increased, compared to control plants, the nitrate content, the application of the same biostimulant increased the total content of glucosinolates and phenolic acid derivatives by 5.2 and 17.2%. Specifically, the foliar application of the plant-based biostimulant hydrolyzed protein significantly increased the content of glucoerucin (+22.9%), glucocheirolin (+76.8%), and ferulic acid (+94.1%). The highest values of flavonoid derivatives (173.03 μg g⁻¹ dw) were recorded from plants subjected to the exogenous application of seaweed extract. The results obtained underscore how biostimulants, depending on their origin and composition, can be exploited not only to improve agronomic performance but also to enhance the nutraceutical content of vegetables, guaranteeing end consumers a product with premium quality characteristics. Full article

Background/Objective: The present study focused on the analysis of the Spanish clone belonging to the successful 4,[5],12:i:- monophasic variant of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Methods: All isolates of the clone recovered in a Spanish region from human clinical samples between 2008 and 2018 (N = 14) were investigated using microbiological approaches and genome sequence analysis. In addition, they were compared with isolates from the years 2000 to 2003 (N = 21), which were previously characterized but had not yet been sequenced. Results: Phylogenetic analyses indicate that all isolates are closely related (differing by 1 to 103 SNPs) but belong to two clades termed A and B. With few exceptions, clade A comprised isolates of the first period, also including two “older” control strains, LSP 389/97 and LSP 272/98. Clade B only contained isolates from the second period. Isolates from both periods were resistant to antibiotics and biocides, with almost all resistance genes located on large IncC plasmids, additionally carrying pSLT-derived virulence genes. The number of resistance genes was highly variable, resulting in a total of 22 ABR (antibiotic biocide resistance) profiles. The number of antibiotic resistance genes, but not that of biocide resistance genes, was considerably lower in isolates from the second than from the first period (with averages of 5.5 versus 9.6 genes). Importantly, IS26, which resides in multiple copies within these plasmids, appears to be playing a crucial role in the evolution of resistance, and it was also responsible for the monophasic phenotype, which was associated with four different deletions eliminating the fljAB region. Conclusions: the observed reduction in the number of antibiotic resistance genes could correlate with the loss of adaptive advantage originating from the ban on the use of antibiotics as feed additives implemented in the European Union since 2006, facilitated by the intrinsic instability of the IncC plasmids. Two consecutive IS26 transposition events, which can explain both the clonal relationship of the isolates and their variability, may account for the observed fljAB deletions. Full article