Search Results (21,196)

Background/Objectives: CDK4/6i and ET improve outcomes in HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, but their benefits differ between early-stage (EBC) and metastatic disease (MBC). We aimed to compare the efficacy and toxicity of CDK4/6i plus ET versus ET alone across these disease settings. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of phase III randomized trials identified through MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science up to 1 October 2025. Twenty-two trials (18 MBC, n = 6364; 4 EBC, n = 17,741) met the inclusion criteria. Two reviewers extracted data and assessed risk of bias. The study followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines (PROSPERO: CRD420251132302). Outcomes included overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), invasive disease-free survival (iDFS), distant relapse-free survival (DRFS), response rates, treatment discontinuation (TDR), dose reductions (DRR), and grade 3–4 adverse events. Results: In MBC, CDK4/6i improved OS (HR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.72–0.85) and PFS (HR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.50–0.56) and increased objective response, clinical benefit, and disease control rates along with TDR, DRR, and grade 3–4 adverse events. In EBC, iDFS improved, whereas OS (HR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.75–1.12; p = 0.40) and DRFS did not. TDR, DRR, and grade 3–4 adverse events were increased. Conclusions: CDK4/6i confer significant OS and PFS benefits in MBC, supporting first-line use. In EBC, no OS benefit was observed, and toxicity was increased, underscoring the need for individualized risk–benefit assessment. Longer follow-up is warranted to clarify survival outcomes. Full article

The development of cost-effective and resource-rich materials is crucial for the practical application of microwave absorbers. This study demonstrates the successful fabrication of core-shell Fe and TiC nanoparticles encapsulated within carbon shells using the arc discharge method. The samples are designated as Fe3Ti1 and Fe1Ti3, where the numbers indicate the Fe-to-Ti mass ratio in the precursor (e.g., Fe1Ti3 = 1:3 by mass). In the arc discharge synthesis mechanism, the mass ratio of Fe to Ti in the raw material was adjusted from 3:1 to 1:3 to optimize the Fe/TiC/C interfaces under a CH₄ forming gas atmosphere. TEM analysis reveals spherical and polyhedral nanoparticles with diameters of 30–50 nm and a uniform carbon shell thickness of 3–4 nm. Raman spectroscopy shows that the Fe1Ti3 sample has a higher defect density (I_D/I_G = 1.13) compared to Fe3Ti1 (0.87), indicating a more disordered carbon structure. Magnetic measurements yield saturation magnetization values of 87 emu/g for Fe3Ti1 and 50 emu/g for Fe1Ti3, with coercivities of 190.72 Oe and 203.65 Oe, respectively. When composited with paraffin at 50 wt% loading, the Fe1Ti3 sample exhibits superior microwave absorption performance, achieving a minimum reflection loss (RL) of −25.22 dB at 8.23 GHz and an effective absorption bandwidth (RL ≤ −10 dB) of 4 GHz (6.5–10.5 GHz) at a thickness of 2.5 mm. This enhanced performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of multiple loss mechanisms, including conduction loss within the three-dimensional core-shell architecture, interfacial polarization at the heterojunctions between the core and the carbon shell, and magnetic loss induced by ferromagnetic behavior associated with defects in both the shell and carbon atomic layers. The magnetic loss in the (Fe/TiC)@C nanocomposites primarily arises from the natural resonance (at ~6.5 GHz) and exchange resonance (at ~12 GHz) of the Fe cores. The dielectric loss is primarily attributed to dipole, interfacial, and space charge polarization from TiC and the carbon shell, as well as multiple scattering effects between nanoparticles. Furthermore, far-field radar cross-section simulations substantiate that the Fe/TiC@C nanocomposite demonstrates excellent radar wave attenuation capability. Further, first principles simulations reveal that introducing Fe at the C/TiC interface induces strong charge redistribution and orbital hybridization, transforming a localized dielectric interface into a highly conductive and electronically coupled C/Fe/TiC system. This interfacial modulation enhances both dielectric loss (via charge transport and polarization) and magnetic loss (via Fe-induced magnetic interactions), thereby enabling optimized dielectric-magnetic synergy for broadband microwave absorption in (Fe/TiC)@C nanocomposites. Full article

Multifunctional manipulation of optical fields with multiple degrees of freedom is essential for integrated photonic systems, yet achieving coordinated and independent control of polarization and phase remains challenging. Here, we propose a polarization-tunable multifocal metalens enabled by a bilayer metasurface with integrated polarization rotation. By introducing the interlayer rotation angle difference as an additional degree of freedom, a rigorous theoretical framework is established, revealing that the transmitted polarization undergoes a deterministic rotation equal to twice the interlayer rotation difference while preserving its ellipticity. Under circularly polarized incidence, the polarization state remains unchanged, with only geometric phase modulation induced. This mechanism enables a continuous and predictable mapping between input and output polarization states. By further incorporating an independent propagation phase via selected nanopillars, polarization and phase can be engineered independently within a unified framework. Based on this strategy, a polarization-tunable multifocal metalens is numerically demonstrated, generating multiple focal spots with distinct and switchable polarization states at predefined positions. The polarization state at each focus can be tuned solely by varying the incident polarization angle, without modifying the device structure. This work provides a versatile and physically intuitive strategy for multifunctional metasurface design and integrated photonic applications. Full article

The temporal variations of evapotranspiration (ET) and its controlling factors occur across time scales ranging from seconds to decades, with significant differences in the lag effects of ET drivers under varying water conditions. Therefore, identifying the dominant time scales of the relationships between ET and its controlling factors under varying water conditions is crucial for optimizing irrigation strategies of crops grown in a greenhouse. In our study, we utilized two years of continuous lysimeter observations of greenhouse tomato ET, and applied two water treatments: well-irrigated (0.9E_pan, E_pan is the cumulative pan evaporation) and deficit-irrigated (0.5E_pan). Wavelet transform technology served as the core method to systematically examine the temporal variations of ET and its controlling factors. Observations indicated that the power spectra of ET featured pronounced peaks at daily and seasonal scales. The cospectra between ET and soil water content for greenhouse tomato revealed strong temporal correlation at 2~5 day scales, confirming the regulatory effect of irrigation cycles on ET. Moreover, ET variations were largely synchronous with net radiation, with ET lagging net radiation but leading vapor pressure deficit and air temperature at daily scales. In addition, significant disparities in phase angles between ET and individual meteorological variables were identified under 0.9E_pan and 0.5E_pan water conditions. Partial wavelet coherence revealed that net radiation was the primary meteorological driver of greenhouse tomato ET across multiple time scales, particularly at the daily scale, followed by vapor pressure deficit. These findings provide scientific evidence for selecting appropriate ET models at different time scales and offer valuable insights for optimizing water-saving irrigation for crops grown in greenhouses. Full article

Polymer microsphere flooding is an effective enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology. Its primary mechanism is characterized by a dynamic cycle of “migration, plugging, breakthrough, and remigration”, which enables effective in-depth profile control and selective plugging. However, constructing accurate mathematical models and obtaining stable numerical solutions for this process remain challenging. Based on the black-oil framework, a three-phase, five-component mathematical model is developed for water-microsphere dispersed system, including oil, gas, water phases and two microsphere components (pre-swollen and post-swollen), and accounting for swelling kinetics, adsorption, and water phase permeability reduction. The model is numerically solved using a fully implicit finite-difference scheme, and validated by numerical tests and a field-scale application. The numerical simulation results demonstrated an overall agreement rate of approximately 85% with experimental data. Mechanistic comparisons indicated that polymer microsphere flooding significantly improves sweep efficiency and oil recovery. Field-scale application further showed that polymer microsphere flooding, compared with conventional water flooding, increases the recovery factor by 3.49 percentage points, reduces the maximum water cut by about 9.34 percentage points, and raises the average daily oil production rate over the entire development period by 7.5 m³. The proposed model can provide theoretical basis for the field application of polymer microsphere flooding for in-depth profile control. Full article

The increasing adoption of energy storage systems has driven the development of inductive power transfer (IPT) chargers operating under static and dynamic current references, while maintaining robust performance in the presence of disturbances such as misalignment. This article presents an experimental and analytical comparison of three classical current controllers—PI, PI with feed-forward loop (PI+FF), and integral (I)—applied to a low-power inductive power transfer charger (BC-IPT). In addition, a simple and practical criterion for controller gain selection is proposed and evaluated under identical operating conditions, using a 164 W experimental platform with unidirectional power transfer. The controllers (PI, PI+FF, and I) are compared in terms of settling time, overshoot, phase margin, gain margin, and disturbance rejection capability. The experimental results show that adjustable settling times between 1 and 12 ms can be achieved for static and dynamic current references. An overshoot below 8% was obtained, along with stable performance under the evaluated variations in input voltage and coupling factor. The settling time can be directly adjusted using the proposed gain-selection criterion. Overall, the results demonstrate that, under the studied operating conditions (including a 164 W platform, unidirectional power flow, and the selected topology), classical controllers provide an appropriate balance among dynamic performance, robustness, and tuning simplicity for current-regulated IPT battery charging applications. Full article

Metal accumulation in cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) cultivation represents an important agronomic and food-safety concern, particularly in acidic tropical soils where cadmium (Cd) and other trace metals can become bioavailable and translocate to plant tissues. Green magnetic nanomaterials offer a potential strategy for reducing metal mobility in agricultural substrates, but their performance depends on surface chemistry, dose, and plant genotype. In this study, we synthesized and evaluated MCRES, defined here as a maghemite–Citrus reticulata extract system, a biofunctionalized γ-Fe₂O₃-based nanosystem prepared by coupling iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) with a 3% (w/v) Citrus reticulata peel extract. The objective was to determine whether citrus-mediated biofunctionalization could produce a scalable magnetic nanoamendment capable of modifying Cd and naturally occurring Ni partitioning in cacao seedlings. MCRES was recovered magnetically and dried, yielding 8.44 g of product from 10 g of precursor. Rietveld analysis performed in X ray diffractograms confirmed phase-pure cubic γ-Fe₂O₃ with a lattice parameter of 0.8332 nm, a crystallite size of 11.3(1) nm, and satisfactory refinement quality (χ² ≈ 1.34). Transmission electron microscope images showed quasi-spherical NPs with a log-normal size distribution centered at 7.5 nm. Magnetic measurements showed superparamagnetic-like behavior at 300 K, high saturation magnetization values of 62 emu g⁻¹ at 300 K and 71 emu g⁻¹ at 5 K, and elevated effective anisotropy values obtained from the Law of Approach to Saturation fitting. MCRES was applied at 0, 1, 2, 4, and 6 g pot⁻¹ to cacao seedlings containing Cd-amended Ultisol with naturally occurring Ni. Plant responses were genotype and dose dependent: TSH-1188 genotype showed limited dose sensitivity for most biometric variables, whereas ICS-95 genotype showed significant dose effects, with maximum growth at the 2 g pot⁻¹ treatment. Metal-partitioning results indicated that Cd remained comparatively mobile toward shoots, whereas Ni was preferentially retained in roots. In TSH-1188 genotype, the Ni translocation factor decreased from 3.07 in the control to 0.85–1.00 at higher MCRES doses. Compared with previous work on non-biofunctionalized nanomaghemite, these results suggest that citrus-mediated biofunctionalization produces a distinct Cd/Ni partitioning response. Overall, MCRES is recommended as a promising nursery-scale green nanoamendment for reducing metal mobility in cacao cultivation, but its agronomic use should be optimized according to genotype and dose. Future work should include side-by-side comparisons with unfunctionalized γ-Fe₂O₃, Citrus reticulata extract alone, and non-contaminated controls under field conditions to validate its long-term effectiveness and environmental safety. Full article

The nondestructive characterization of coating thickness, acoustic velocity, and density is essential for industrial quality control. However, conventional ultrasonic reflection coefficient amplitude spectrum (URCAS)-based inversion methods typically require prior knowledge of acoustic attenuation, which is often unavailable for thin coatings and limits their practical applicability. To address this issue, a nonlinearity-guided dual-spectrum inversion framework is proposed by combining the URCAS with a layer-phase spectrum. It is found that the layer-phase spectrum exhibits strong nonlinear sensitivity to variations in acoustic velocity and density, which helps improve parameter identifiability. Based on this property, an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed to enable simultaneous inversion of thickness, velocity, and density without explicit prior attenuation information. Finite-element simulations show that the conventional URCAS method yields mean relative errors exceeding 5%, whereas the proposed method reduces these errors to below 3% under the tested conditions. Experimental validation on eight industrial polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coatings with thicknesses ranging from 20.89 μm to 120.11 μm (down to approximately 0.11 λ at 10 MHz) demonstrates that the proposed method achieves average relative errors within 10% and improves inversion accuracy by about 6% compared with amplitude-only approaches. The results indicate that the proposed attenuation-independent and nonlinearity-guided strategy provides an effective solution for the quantitative nondestructive evaluation of subwavelength coatings. The method is particularly suitable for thin coatings with unknown attenuation. Full article

This study examines how urban transportation systems influence the spatial spread of infectious diseases by developing a modified Susceptible–Exposed–Infected–Recovered (SEIR) model with explicit intercity travel dynamics. The model distinguishes between two mobility mechanisms: travel volume, represented by the departure rate g, and travel speed, represented by the arrival rate $\alpha$. Using the next-generation matrix (NGM) approach, we derive the basic reproduction number $R_0$ and analyse how within-city and transit-phase transmission contribute to epidemic spread. The results show that travel volume and travel speed affect mobility-driven transmission through distinct mechanisms. Increasing g increases the number of travelers entering the transit system and therefore amplifies the aggregate number of transit-mediated infections, although the per-capita transit reproduction expression is governed primarily by $\alpha$ and ${\beta }_d^T$ under the reduced next generation matrix formulation formulation. By contrast, increasing $\alpha$ shortens the time spent in transit, reduces the exposure window during travel, and lowers the per-capita contribution of transit-based infection to $R_0$. Numerical simulations illustrate these effects and support the conclusion that reducing travel volume can mitigate intercity epidemic spread by decreasing the number of potentially exposed travelers. Comparative case studies for Brazil, New Zealand, China, and Algeria are used to evaluate the model under different epidemiological settings and socioeconomic contexts. These socioeconomic indicators are treated as contextual background rather than as direct inputs to the mathematical model. The qualitative predictions of the ordinary differential equation (ODE) model are further cross-validated using an agent-based simulation implemented in NetLogo. Overall, the study shows that separating travel volume from travel speed provides a more precise understanding of mobility-driven disease transmission and can support the design of targeted travel-related control measures. Full article

Double-wall drill pipe reverse circulation drilling is expected to alleviate cutting-transport difficulties and the high risk of lost circulation during the shallow-section drilling of ultra-deep wells. Based on wellbore hydraulics theory and a transient solid–liquid two-phase flow model in the wellbore, considering the flow path transition effect at the reverse circulation converter near the bit, a corrected pressure loss method for the inner pipe accounting for cuttings influence is proposed, and a correlation for calculating the converter pressure loss is derived. A wellbore pressure calculation model for reverse circulation drilling using a double-wall drill pipe is then established. Furthermore, the influencing factors are investigated through sensitivity analysis, and a pump pressure selection chart is developed. Field-case calculations indicate that, under identical operating conditions, the bottomhole pressure in double-wall drill pipe reverse circulation drilling is reduced by approximately 6.31 MPa compared with conventional drilling. For shallow sections (well depth of about 1200 m) under flow rates of 20–40 L/s and drilling-fluid densities of 1200–1400 kg/m³, the maximum total circulating wellbore pressure loss, after incorporating surface flowline pressure losses, is approximately 10.91 MPa. In this case, a single pump can satisfy the circulation requirement, demonstrating the advantages of simplified equipment configuration and improved field adaptability for shallow-section operations. The proposed model and charts can provide a reference for parameter optimization and pressure-control design in double-wall drill pipe reverse circulation drilling. Full article

Condensation heat transfer and frictional pressure drop of R410A, R455A, R454C, and a newly proposed ternary low-GWP (Low-Global Warming Potential) refrigerant (R1234yf/R13I1/R32) were experimentally investigated in a horizontal smooth tube. The heat transfer results established R410A and R1234yf/R13I1/R32 as the upper and lower performance bounds, respectively, while the two low-GWP blends occupied an intermediate range. The hydraulic behavior showed a different ranking from the heat transfer performance, indicating that thermal advantage and pressure-drop reduction are controlled by different refrigerant properties. Among the three established correlations, Shah (2022) provided the best overall agreement and was selected as the basis for further development. The Bell–Ghaly mixture correction was modified by replacing the vapor quality weighting term with a Zivi-based void fraction and the uniform phase equilibrium slope with a local pointwise slope. The proposed correlation reduced the overall Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) from 16.9% to 9.3% and Mean Relative Deviation (MRD) from +16.7% to +4.3% across all 150 data points compared to Shah (2022). Full article

Background/Objectives: Although creatine monohydrate is widely recognized as an effective ergogenic aid in strength and power sports, its role in endurance and mixed-sport disciplines remains less clearly established. This scoping review aimed to map the current evidence regarding the effects of creatine supplementation on performance, recovery-related outcomes, and body composition in endurance and mixed-sport contexts. Methods: A scoping review of randomized controlled trials published between 1996 and 2025 was conducted. Eligible studies evaluated creatine supplementation in endurance and mixed-sport contexts, including both sport-specific and broader exercise populations when the exercise protocol, testing model, or outcomes were relevant to endurance or mixed-sport performance, recovery, or body composition. A total of 38 studies met the inclusion criteria. Outcomes were categorized into exercise performance, biochemical markers related to recovery and exercise stress, and body composition parameters. Results: Creatine supplementation was most often associated with reported favorable changes in repeated-sprint performance and high-intensity power output, particularly during intermittent, sprint-based, or power-endurance tasks. Several studies reported favorable changes in sprint performance, peak power, or total work output relative to placebo or baseline values in cycling, swimming, rowing, and canoeing/kayaking protocols, although findings were not uniform across studies and not all favorable within-group changes were placebo-superior. Some studies also reported favorable changes in end-phase sprint capacity during prolonged exercise. Findings related to recovery were less consistent. Selected studies reported reductions in inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), whereas markers of muscle damage showed mixed responses. Most supplementation protocols involved a 5–7-day loading phase of 20 g/day, occasionally followed by a maintenance dose of 2–5 g/day. Small increases in total body mass were commonly observed, while evidence regarding fat-free mass and aerobic outcomes remained limited or inconsistent. Conclusions: Current evidence suggests that creatine supplementation may be most relevant in selected endurance and mixed-sport contexts involving repeated high-intensity efforts, sprint finishes, or power-endurance demands, rather than for endurance performance broadly. In contrast, evidence for recovery-related biochemical responses, body composition changes, and aerobic adaptations remains equivocal. Further well-controlled, sport- or context-specific, and field-based studies are needed to better clarify the role of creatine in endurance and mixed-sport exercise. Full article

Transmission error (TE) is a major excitation source in geared systems, but microgeometry deviations are usually evaluated through nominal amplitudes rather than their tooth-to-tooth spatial distribution. This study investigates how different tooth-level barreling deviation patterns influence TE modulation and spectral characteristics in a controlled single helical gear-pair model. The nominal barreling value was kept constant, while four deviation patterns were imposed on the 23-tooth pinion: harmonic, phase-shifted harmonic, clustered with an outlier, and random. The TE response was evaluated in the time domain and by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)-based spectral analysis, with particular attention to the gear mesh frequency (GMF) and shaft-frequency-spaced sidebands. The results show that identical nominal barreling levels can produce different TE waveforms and spectral signatures. Harmonic distributions mainly preserve a regular response, whereas phase-shifted and clustered patterns increase waveform asymmetry and sideband activity. The clustered outlier case produced the most fault-like response. The findings indicate that tooth-level spatial distribution should be considered explicitly in simulation-based gear microgeometry and noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) sensitivity studies. Full article

Background/Objectives: Bipolar disorder affects about 40 million people worldwide, and the greatest burden of the disease is associated with depressive episodes. About 25% of patients experience drug-resistant depression, in which standard treatment turns out to be insufficient, and monotherapy often does not bring full remission. Despite the use of second-generation antipsychotics, the effectiveness of therapy in TRBD remains limited, which necessitates rational polypharmacotherapy and augmentation strategies. The paper discusses the receptor mechanisms of drug combination, current therapeutic regimens and new interventions such as ketamine acting on the glutamate anergic system. The aim was to synthetically compare the efficacy and safety of available augmentation strategies and polypharmacotherapy. Methods: The material consists of published clinical, observational and randomized trials on pharmacotherapy of drug-resistant bipolar depression, including atypical neuroleptics, ketamine, pramipexole, modafinil, lamotrigine, celecoxib and memantine. The authors analyze receptor mechanisms, neurobiological data and clinical trial results, comparing them with current definitions of TRBD according to ISBD and CINP. Biomarker data, such as the Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index, and the results of neuroimaging and metabolomic studies were also used in the work. Results: The analysis showed that atypical neuroleptics showed limited efficacy and high rates of side effects, while ketamine has the fastest and most pronounced antidepressant effect with a low risk of phase change. Pramipexole has shown promise in terms of long-term efficacy, but its use reduces the high risk of induction of mania and impulse control disorders. Celecoxib as an anti-inflammatory therapy significantly increased response and remission rates compared to escitalopram alone, and memantine showed only an early, short-term antidepressant effect. The results highlight that TRBD requires targeted polypharmacotherapy, with the most promising directions being glutamatergic modulation and anti-inflammatory therapies. Conclusions: Drug-resistant bipolar depression requires a departure from classical monotherapy in favor of rational, mechanistically justified polypharmacotherapy, targeting complex monoaminergic, glutamatergic and neuroinflammatory disorders. Available data indicate that ketamine has the greatest clinical potential among the current strategies, characterized by a rapid onset of action and a favorable safety profile compared to atypical neuroleptics or dopamine agonists. Modulation of inflammatory processes with the use of celecoxib also has promising results, which highlights the importance of biomarkers and personalization of therapy. However, further, large, and well-designed studies are needed to unambiguously determine optimal treatment strategies for TRBD and to verify the effectiveness of new pharmacological interventions. Full article

Real-world information diffusion frequently spans multiple heterogeneous platforms and relational layers, making multilayer influence maximization (MLIM) a critical and challenging problem. Existing methods for multilayer networks often rely on local structural signals for surrogate evaluation, failing to accurately characterize multi-hop diffusion and inter-layer coupling effects. In discrete combinatorial search, meta-heuristic random exploration often disrupts the structural inheritance and reuse of effective node configurations, compromising search stability and quality. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a Probabilistic-Based Multilayer Slime Mold Algorithm (PB-MSMA). It employs the slime mold algorithm as its search framework to perform discrete combinatorial optimization within a controlled candidate space. It utilizes the Preference-based Expected Diffusion Value (P-EDV) as a surrogate fitness metric during the search phase. This design reduces the need for repeated Monte Carlo simulations for iterative candidate evaluation while improving the characterization of inter-layer and higher-order diffusion effects. Furthermore, a probabilistic pipeline mechanism is introduced to encode recurring effective node configurations from historical searches as statistical priors, guiding the search process to enhance structural inheritance and stability. After the seed sets are obtained, the final influence spread of all compared methods is evaluated using 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations under the MLIC model. Experiments on six real-world multilayer network datasets and nine seed budgets show that PB-MSMA achieves a dataset-level improvement range of 3.68–14.50% over representative baselines, including CELF, DPSOMIM, Degree, DIRCI, and PRGC, with an average improvement of 10.32%. These results indicate that PB-MSMA provides an efficient seed-selection strategy for multilayer diffusion scenarios where repeated simulation-based evaluation is costly. Full article