Search Results (3,442)

Hypoxia is a defining feature of physiological stress and the core of solid tumors, where aberrant vascularization limits oxygen delivery; cells respond through mechanisms that extend beyond the canonical stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs). Recent studies suggest that hypoxia can promote the formation of specific biomolecular conden-sates, membraneless compartments generated through liquid–liquid phase separation in which regulatory proteins and RNAs become locally enriched at genomic regions, while chromatin mainly serves as an organizational scaffold. Transcription factors, the coacti-vators p300/CBP, Mediator, and BRD4, chromatin-modifying enzymes, and architectural RNAs such as NEAT1 and MALAT1 partition into these compartments, and their con-densation can help reorganize local chromatin structure and enhancer–promoter interac-tions. Because molecular oxygen is a shared co-substrate for the Jumonji-C histone demethylases and the ten-eleven translocation (TET) DNA dioxygenases, hypoxia reshapes histone methylation and DNA methylation in parallel, and readers that bridge these marks, including UHRF1, may participate in condensate-associated chromatin regulation. Hypoxia-driven condensation of ZHX2 rewires enhancer–promoter contacts and higher-order genome architecture, influencing cell identity, stemness, and metastatic potential, and Polycomb condensates represent another candidate epigenetic compartment that may be influenced by hypoxic signaling. These processes may be particularly important in cancer, where chronic hypoxia provides a sustained stimulus for condensate formation and epigenetic remodeling. Together, these findings support a model in which phase separation and epigenetic reprogramming are not separate layers but one integrated response to low oxygen, offering opportunities to target maladaptive condensates in disease. Full article

The stress response is essential for cellular and organismal survival as it acts as a protective and adaptive mechanism to maintain homeostasis. At the organismal level, physical stressors induce responses in mammals that are mediated primarily by the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, which regulates glucocorticoid secretion. The HPA axis functions as a circadian-regulated, multi-oscillator system, in which the paraventricular nucleus, the pituitary, and the adrenal gland exhibit intrinsic rhythmicity while remaining coordinated by the output from the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Glucocorticoids act both as stress effectors and systemic zeitgebers that synchronize peripheral clocks. At the cellular level, cellular stressors are sensed by four protein kinases of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) and activate the evolutionarily conserved integrated stress response (ISR), which converges on phosphorylation of Serine 51 on eIF2α. ISR signaling is temporally regulated by the circadian clock and controls time-of-day-dependent protein synthesis. In parallel, ISR pathways feed back onto the circadian clock through transcriptional, translational and epigenetic mechanisms, directly influencing core clock gene expression and stability of circadian oscillations. Physiological ISR activity supports circadian robustness and resetting, whereas excessive ISR activation dampens rhythmic gene expression and destabilizes behavioral rhythms. The current review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of the crosstalk mechanisms between the HPA axis, ISR, and the circadian clock to provide new insights into disease mechanisms and inform chronotherapeutic strategies to target dysregulated HPA and ISR activities and restore temporal homeostasis. Full article

The Social Representations of Childhood Questionnaire (CRSID) explores how pre-service Early Childhood Education teachers understand childhood and translate these ideas into pedagogical approaches. This study sought to obtain a shorter, reliable version that can be readily used in initial teacher education. The original 31-item instrument was administered to 242 first-year university students (M_age = 18.94; SD = 1.70; 90.5% women). Analyses were conducted in JASP and R (psych, lavaan) using diagonally weighted least squares on a polychoric correlation matrix with oblimin rotation. Items with loadings below 0.40 or high uniquenesses were progressively removed. The final version includes 17 items grouped into three dimensions: Adultcentrism (5 items), Directive Teacher Role (6 items), and Rights and Facilitation (6 items). Sampling adequacy was satisfactory (KMO = 0.765; χ²(136) = 1149.9, p < 0.001), and parallel analysis supported the three-factor solution. Fit indices indicated an acceptable model, explaining 39.5% of the variance. Reliability coefficients were within acceptable ranges (ω = 0.67–0.73; α = 0.65–0.73). Differences emerged in two factors depending on prior experience with children. Overall, the reduced CRSID offers a consistent and workable tool for teacher education, although some refinement remains advisable. Full article

Background/Objectives: A single absolute vessel diameter is hard to compare between individuals of differing body size. We defined two venous proportional parameters, the renal–caval ratio (R-IVCr) and factor (R-IVC_f), as counterparts of the established renal–aortic ratio (R-Ar) and factor (R-A_f), and asked whether the arterial and the venous bed respond to multiplicity of vessels in the same direction. Methods: Biphasic contrast-enhanced computed tomography of the abdomen in 1196 patients (2392 kidneys) was analysed retrospectively. Ratios related the dominant vessel diameter to that of the parent trunk; factors related the summed cross-sectional area of a kidney’s vessels to that of the corresponding trunk segment. Two angles, measured towards the left (α) and the right (β) from an anteroposterior reference axis, were recorded at both trunks. Results: Mean R-Ar was 0.2381 (±0.0573) and mean R-IVCr was 0.4651 (±0.0943). Dominant-vessel ratios were lower in the multiple variant and area-summing factors were higher, in parallel on both sides (p < 0.001). All four were higher in men, with moderate effect sizes arterially and negligible ones venously. α and β inverted between the two trunks, which was the largest effect recorded, and multiple veins showed a 2.3-fold right-sided predominance. Conclusions: The four parameters describe arterial inflow and venous outflow within a single proportional system in which both beds respond to multiplicity in parallel; their value in donor-kidney assessment and anastomosis planning awaits prospective validation. Full article

Free-ranging pet cats have been identified as significant predators of wildlife. Managing this conflict is challenging, because control of movement ultimately lies with the owner. Previous research has focused on the influence of environmental, intrinsic, husbandry-, and personality-related factors on cats’ behavior when stepping out the door. However, an overlooked driver is the strength of the cat–owner relationship. In this explorative study, we used animal-borne video cameras to document the outdoor behavior of 12 cats and in parallel assessed the relationship with their owners through the Cat–Owner Relationship Scale (CORS), along with intrinsic (age and sex) and husbandry-related (cat’s role, cat’s restriction and roaming pattern, parasite treatment, and provisioning households) determinants. We found no statistical evidence of a direct influence of the cat–owner relationship on exploratory and hunting behaviors, but owners with higher CORS scores observed more harassment incidents by their cats and owners reporting more hunting behavior tended to own cats that roamed more in nature; those cats also explored more. We further observed high individual variability in hunting and time allocated to urban and natural environments. Comparing our results with the previous literature, we conclude that outdoor behavior largely varies between individual cats and is difficult to predict. However, the greater awareness of cat–wildlife conflict among owners with stronger bonds may provide an opportunity to promote changes in owner behavior. Full article

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the water column and sediments in coal mining subsidence areas considerably affects the carbon cycle and ecological environment. This study analyzed the spectral characteristics, material composition, and molecular transformation of DOM in the water column and sediments of a coal mining subsidence area in Huaibei, China, using ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy combined with the parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) model, and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). The DOM concentration (11.99 ± 4.73 mg/L) and the degree of DOM humification in the sediment were higher than those (9.54 ± 0.68 mg/L) in the water column. The PARAFAC model revealed three chemical components: fulvic acid–like, protein-like, and humus-like substances. DOM in the water column is primarily derived from endogenous inputs, characterized by low humification and high biological activity. In contrast, DOM in the sediments primarily originates from external inputs. FT-ICR MS analysis revealed that lignin-like (50.80–67.02%), protein-like (13.18–18.38%), and lipid-like (5.74–10.39%) components are the main DOM constituents in the water column and sediments, with lignin content in the water column (66.16%) being higher than that in the sediments (55.09%). Paired mass difference network analysis identified redox reactions as the predominant reactions in the water column and sediments, converting aldehydes or carbonyl compounds into acids or alcohols. This study elucidates the composition and transformation characteristics of DOM in the water column and sediments in coal mining subsidence areas, providing a scientific foundation for the protection and management of aquatic ecosystems. Full article

Bio-inspired optimization algorithms have become an effective class of techniques for addressing challenging continuous optimization problems. In this work, we introduce the Parallel Enzyme Action Optimization (PEAO) algorithm, a parallel bio-inspired optimization approach that incorporates a multi-strategy communication mechanism among cooperative subpopulations. The population is partitioned into multiple subpopulations that evolve concurrently, promoting a more effective exploration of the search space. Furthermore, PEAO integrates adaptive search factors, local search procedure and communication strategies to improve solution quality while reducing the risk of premature convergence. In addition, a K-means-based population initialization procedure and a convergence-driven stopping criterion based on successive improvements in the best objective-function value are incorporated to reduce unnecessary objective-function evaluations and improve the overall efficiency of the optimization process. Full article

Blockchain consensus still forces a hard choice among scalability, security, and energy use. Redbelly, a leaderless Byzantine Fault Tolerance protocol, largely settles the scalability-versus-energy side of that tension, yet it accepts any cryptographically valid transaction without judging whether it is economically fraudulent or whether the node behind it is misbehaving. That blind spot is what we target. We present ML-Redbelly, a formally specified extension that attaches four learning components to the Redbelly pipeline: a LightGBM gradient-boosted fraud classifier, an Isolation Forest behavioural anomaly detector, a tabular Q-Learning agent for adaptive committee selection, and a Paillier-based federated learning aggregator that keeps model updates private. We prove that this layer leaves Redbelly’s safety and liveness intact, give pseudocode and complexity bounds for every component, and measure the system on the IEEE-CIS Fraud Detection benchmark (400,000 transactions) paired with a faithful discrete-event Redbelly simulator parameterised from measured inputs and validated against the published Redbelly deployment. LightGBM reaches an F1 of 0.783 (precision 0.858, recall 0.719, AUROC 0.963), a 34 percent relative F1 gain over the conference-baseline Random Forest at five times the inference speed. The Isolation Forest detector attains recall 0.885 at a false-positive rate of 0.047, and the Q-Learning agent settles into a stable policy within about 200 rounds across normal, bursty, and Byzantine-attack conditions. End to end, the framework sustains 48,844 TPS on 32 validators (mean over 30 seeds), and because the leaderless superblock commits every proposer’s block in parallel, this throughput advantage over leader-based BFT grows with the validator count (5.0 times PBFT and 2.9 times HotStuff at 32 validators). The learning layer costs only about 4 percent in throughput, since the measured ML inference is small next to the geo-distributed consensus round. Per-transaction energy is comparable across BFT protocols, being dominated by signature verification, and is orders of magnitude below proof-of-work chains, which expend energy on mining. One federated update epoch takes 36 s across 10 nodes with 2048-bit Paillier keys and reconstructs gradients with negligible error. All performance figures are emergent outputs of the discrete-event simulation, which reproduces the published Redbelly benchmark to within a conservative factor of about 1.7. Taken together, these results outline a simulation-validated design for making consensus intelligent as well as fast and identify the steps needed toward real-cluster deployment. Full article

Background: Opioid use during pregnancy is linked to preterm birth, fetal growth restriction, and Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome. While the placenta is the primary regulator of the uterine environment, the precise molecular mechanisms by which opioids dismantle placental function remain poorly defined. Methods: The transcriptomic landscape of opioid-exposed human placentas from a unique Hawai’i-based cohort was characterized. Results: Transcriptional signatures were defined by genes involved in translational inhibition and metabolic attenuation. Integrative network modeling predicted a prominent stress-signaling hub centered on p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase and Extracellular Signal-Related Kinase 1/2, paralleling a broad suppression of ribosomal protein transcripts (Ribosomal Protein 27S, -29, and -39). This response was further characterized by the inhibition of the Myelecytomatosis Proto-Oncogene regulatory hub, predicting a loss of mitochondrial phosphate transport through associated genes (via Solute Carrier Family 25A3) and cell-cycle progression (via S-Phase Kinase-Associated Protein 1). Additionally, the genes in this model suggested upregulation of antisense regulatory brakes, such as RAP2C Antisense RNA 1, which might further reinforce this inhibitory state. Conclusion: The findings suggest that prenatal opioid exposure is associated with the disruption of placental homeostasis. This may be coordinated by protein synthesis and bioenergetic flux, as inferred from the modeled eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor-mediated Integrated Stress Response. These findings establish a localized, clinical baseline of human placental stress, highlighting candidate molecular regulatory nodes to guide future mechanistic studies and biomarker discovery in exposed pregnancies. Full article

Nanolayered metallic composites exhibit ultra-high strength but suffer from inadequate ductility. Constructing interfacial layers becomes an effective strategy to enhance their strength and ductility. However, extensive experimental studies have focused on the strengthening and toughening mechanism of some special interfacial layers under loading normal to the interface, a systematic understanding of how interfacial layer characteristics influence the mechanical response remains unclear, especially under loading parallel to the interfaces. Here, molecular dynamics simulations using the LAMMPS code with embedded atom method potentials are performed to investigate the tensile deformation of Cu/Ni nanolayered composites with various interfacial layers made by six different FCC metals, i.e., Ag, Al, Au, Pb, Pd, and Pt, under loading parallel to the interfaces. Our simulation results reveal that the strength of composites is governed by the metallic element of interfacial layers. The composites with Pd and Pt interfacial layers exhibit the highest and lowest strength, respectively, showing a maximum strength difference of 1.09 GPa. The strength variation is attributed to the synergistic interplay of multiple characteristics of interfacial layers, rather than from a single dominant factor. Furthermore, a quantitative mapping relationship between the strength of composites and the characteristic parameters of the interfacial layers was established on the basis of the Voigt model and the dislocation nucleation behavior. Accordingly, the strength can be expressed as a function of three decisive determinants: the strain energy density required for dislocation nucleation in the pure metal corresponding to the interfacial layers, the elastic modulus of that pure metal, and a parameter related to the stress concentration level at the interfaces. A higher value of the former two factors, combined with a lower value of the latter, corresponds to a higher strength. Full article

In most railway divisions the results of scheduled inspections of automation and telemechanics field devices are still recorded on paper. Such records reach engineering management with a delay, are easy to lose, and are difficult to verify. This paper examines the data transmission core of a digital inspection complex in which passive RFID tags identify both the equipment and the personnel, and the inspection record is delivered to a cloud server over a hybrid cellular architecture combining a failure-prone GSM channel with a reliable CDMA channel. To quantify the stability of such a system, a continuous-time Markov chain model is constructed in which the link is represented as an M/M/2/K queue with one unreliable server: both channels carry traffic in parallel, and during a GSM outage the CDMA channel alone sustains service. Records already admitted are preserved across a channel switch; only records arriving at a full shared buffer are rejected. This residual overflow loss stays below 0.1% at routine load with a buffer of m ≥ 5 and reaches about 2.8% only under post-incident overload. The model parameters were measured on an operating ESP32-based scanner complex piloted at Hamza station on 46 point machines. Calculations for three load scenarios show that increasing the local buffer beyond m = 5 yields diminishing returns while the delay grows, and that resilience is governed primarily by the presence of the redundant channel and adequate buffering, with the primary-channel recovery rate a secondary factor. Full article

Background/Objectives: Oats and barley are β-glucan-rich grains that may reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adults. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of products made with either whole grain barley or whole grain oats on CVD risk factors in adults. Methods: A 6-week, double-blind, parallel-design, randomized, controlled feeding trial was conducted with 68 adults. Subjects were randomly assigned to either: (1) a control diet containing 0.8 daily servings of whole grain per 2000 kcal, (2) a diet containing 4 daily servings of whole grain oats per 2000 kcal, or (3) a diet containing 4 daily servings of whole grain barley per 2000 kcal. Markers of cardiovascular disease risk were assessed before and after treatment. Results: LDL cholesterol concentrations show a trend of statistical significance across diets (p = 0.0638), with a lowering of 8.9 mg/dL (barley) and 11.2 mg/dL (oats) compared to the control. Both whole grain diets significantly lowered total VLDL and chylomicron particles (p = 0.0272). The oat diet significantly lowered total LDL particles (p = 0.0014), small LDL particles (p = 0.0008), medium–small LDL particles (p = 0.0008), and very small LDL particles (p = 0.0009) and increased LDL particle size (p = 0.0451). The barley diet significantly lowered diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.0388) and vascular cell adhesion molecule concentrations (p = 0.0320). Conclusions: Diets containing products made from whole grain oats may improve blood lipid profiles, while diets containing products made from whole grain barley may provide additional benefits for blood pressure and inflammation. Full article

Honey–gelatin–water composite membranes containing silver microparticles (SmPs) are investigated as soft pressure-responsive materials with potential applications in low-pressure sensing, including biomedical monitoring, and in tunable capacitive components. Three compositions, with nominal volumes of loose SmP powder of up to $3{\mathrm{cm}}^3$, are prepared to determine how silver loading affects their electrical and apparent compressive response. The membranes are characterized by optical microscopy, XRD, and SEM and are placed between electrodes in a parallel-plate configuration. Capacitance and parallel resistance are measured at $1\mathrm{kHz}$ under applied pressures up to $2.25\mathrm{kPa}$, and the corresponding admittance components and apparent compressive parameters are calculated from these measurements. It is shown that SmP loading increases the capacitance and reduces the resistance. Between the SmP-free and most highly loaded membranes, the zero-pressure capacitance increases by more than four orders of magnitude, whereas the resistance decreases by approximately a factor of 40. Applied pressure further increases the capacitance and decreases the parallel resistance of all membranes. The apparent strain increases approximately linearly with pressure and is greater in the SmP-loaded membranes, whereas the apparent modulus decreases as the SmP content is increased. The structural and electrical results show that SmP content and the associated heterogeneous microstructure influence both the electrical and apparent compressive response. Full article

Maternal technoference has increasingly been recognized as a factor that may compromise mothers’ emotional availability and the quality of mother–child interactions, particularly during early childhood, when responsive caregiving and co-regulation play a pivotal role in children’s development. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain poorly understood. Maternal loneliness may represent an important vulnerability factor, although the processes linking loneliness to technoference have yet to be clarified. This study examined whether nomophobia and social media addiction mediate the association between maternal loneliness and technoference. This cross-sectional study included 355 Italian mothers of children aged 0–6 years, who completed measures of loneliness (UCLA 3-item Loneliness Scale), nomophobia (NMP-Q), social media addiction (BSMAS), and technoference (DISRUPT). A parallel mediation model was tested while controlling for maternal age. Loneliness was positively associated with both nomophobia and social media addiction, which were, in turn, positively associated with technoference. Both indirect effects were significant, whereas the direct association between loneliness and technoference was no longer significant. These findings suggest that maternal loneliness may be associated with technoference through its link with nomophobia and social media addiction, highlighting the importance of understanding technoference as a relational phenomenon rather than merely a consequence of technology use. Full article

Although AI streamers are increasingly used in live commerce, it remains unclear when they are more persuasive than human streamers for green products and through which psychological mechanisms their influence operates. Using a fictitious plant-based hand wash, we conducted a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment with 408 Chinese consumers; confirmatory factor analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Amos 26.0, whereas two-way ANOVA and moderated parallel mediation analysis were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0. Human streamers increased green purchase intention through greater perceived authenticity, whereas AI streamers did so through weaker inferences of personal selling motive. The authenticity pathway was stronger under experiential positioning, whereas the selling-motive pathway was stronger under utilitarian positioning; these opposing indirect effects partially offset one another, resulting in a nonsignificant total effect of streamer type. By identifying these competitive dual pathways and their positioning-dependent boundary condition, this study extends research on AI-mediated persuasion and provides e-commerce platforms and green-product brands with guidance for aligning streamer type with product-positioning strategy. Full article