Search Results (7,355)

Based on prior transcriptome data, we established a core gene interaction network for Korean pine somatic embryo maturation and screened 18 core genes. These genes showed distinct differential expression in early somatic embryogenesis. In particular, PkGLP1-2-6 (Pkor04G01180) and PkGLP-1-2-21 (Pkor04G01200) were highly correlated in the network and can be regarded as key genes mediating Korean pine somatic embryo maturation. A total of 92 members of the PkGLP gene family were identified in the Korean pine genome, which can be classified into 8 subfamilies based on evolutionary relationships. Both PkGLP1-2-6 and PkGLP1-2-21 were localized in the cell membrane and nucleus. By means of a stable genetic transformation system, transgenic Korean pine calli overexpressing PkGLP1-2-6 and PkGLP1-2-21 were successfully established. The results demonstrated that the overexpression of PkGLP1-2-6 and PkGLP1-2-21 could effectively promote somatic embryogenesis and enhance the yield of somatic embryos. In the presence of exogenous abscisic acid (ABA), the somatic embryo yield of the transgenic lines was significantly higher than that of the wild-type controls. Compared with the wild-type controls, the SOD activity in the cell lines overexpressing PkGLP1-2-6 and PkGLP1-2-21 was significantly increased, whereas the activities of POD and CAT were decreased, and the contents of H₂O₂ and superoxide anion (O₂⁻) were significantly reduced. These results indicate that PkGLP1-2-6 and PkGLP1-2-21 are actively involved in the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging process during somatic embryogenesis of Korean pine. The overexpression of PkGLP1-2-6 and PkGLP1-2-21 contributes to enhancing the antioxidant capacity of cells, thereby increasing the yield of somatic embryos. Full article

Background: Cardiometabolic risk is increasingly observed in young adults, particularly during university years, and is not limited to individuals with elevated body mass index. Emerging evidence highlights the presence of normal weight obesity—characterized by excess adiposity and unfavorable body composition despite normal BMI—which may confer early metabolic vulnerability. Dietary diversity is often promoted as a marker of dietary adequacy; however, its relationship with adiposity, body composition, and muscular health remains inconsistent, particularly in Latin American populations. Moreover, few studies have directly contrasted dietary diversity indicators with empirically derived dietary patterns in relation to cardiometabolic and functional outcomes. Objective: To examine the associations between dietary diversity, dietary patterns, and indicators of adiposity, muscular strength, and relative muscle mass in Ecuadorian university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 349 undergraduate students aged 18–26 years enrolled in health sciences programs in Ecuador. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Dietary diversity was quantified using the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Individual Dietary Diversity Score, while dietary patterns were identified through principal component analysis followed by k-means clustering. Outcomes included excess body weight, relative muscle mass assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis, and handgrip strength. Multivariable Poisson and linear regression models were fitted, adjusting for age, sex, academic program, physical activity level, and pre-existing conditions. Results: Despite their young age and low prevalence of diagnosed disease, approximately one-third of the participants exhibited markers of early cardiometabolic risk, including excess body weight and central adiposity. Higher dietary diversity was independently associated with a higher prevalence of excess body weight (adjusted prevalence ratio per one-unit increase in IDDS: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.06–1.30) and with greater relative muscle mass (adjusted β = 0.13; 95% CI: 0.05–0.22), whereas no association was observed with handgrip strength. In contrast, dietary patterns derived from multivariate analysis showed no significant associations with adiposity, muscular strength, or relative muscle mass after adjustment. Conclusions: In this young adult population, dietary diversity captured aspects of overall dietary exposure associated with both increased adiposity and greater lean mass, but not with muscular strength. Empirically derived dietary patterns demonstrated limited discriminatory capacity, likely reflecting dietary homogeneity within the cohort. These findings indicate that dietary diversity alone does not necessarily reflect diet quality and underscore the importance of interpreting diversity metrics alongside indicators of food quality, energy density, and body composition when evaluating early cardiometabolic risk in contemporary food environments. Full article

Odor detection underpins food safety, environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, and many more fields. Current artificial sensors developed for odor detection struggle with complex mixtures, while non-invasive recordings lack reliable single-trial fidelity. To develop a general system for odor detection, in this study we present preliminary work where we test two hypotheses: (i) that spectral features of local field potentials (LFPs) are sufficient for robust single-trial odor detection and (ii) that signals from the olfactory bulb alone are adequate. To test these hypotheses, we propose an ensemble of complementary one-dimensional convolutional networks (ResCNN and AttentionCNN) that decodes the presence of odor from multichannel olfactory bulb LFPs. Tested on 2349 trials from seven awake mice, our final ensemble model supports both hypotheses, achieving a mean accuracy of 86.2%, an F1-score of 85.3%, and an AUC of 0.942, substantially outperforming previous benchmarks. The t-SNE visualization confirms that our framework captures biologically significant signatures. These findings establish the feasibility of robust single-trial detection of odor presence from extracellular LFPs and demonstrate the potential of deep learning models to provide deeper understanding of olfactory representations. Full article

This paper examines the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on environmental sustainability in 47 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1990 to 2022. This study applies panel-estimated generalised least squares (EGLS) cross-section and seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) with panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) to estimate the data. The dynamic panel pooled mean group (PMG) of the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) strategy was used to test the presence of long-run co-integrating relationships among the variables, whereas the dynamic panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) was used for robustness analysis. Empirical findings show that FDI inflows exacerbate environmental devastation regardless of the indicator used for environmental sustainability. This study notes that FDI propels carbon dioxide emissions, while also contributing to the depletion of both natural and forest resources. However, FDI’s CO₂ emissions-enhancing impact is restricted to the short-run period, similar to its effect on natural resource depletion. The study recommends that environmental regulating agencies in SSA host countries should strictly enforce environmental laws to ensure FDI investors’ compliance. This study further suggests the harmonisation of FDI policies, the integration of operational codes of practice, and the realignment of environmental regulations and laws in all SSA economies to ensure that no one country becomes a favourable destination for FDI investors relative to others. Full article

The coordination of switched fractional-order nonlinear heterogeneous multi-agent systems (FONHMASs) with cooperative and antagonistic interactions presents significant challenges due to the complex coupling of switched fractional-order dynamics. Crucially, existing control methods typically rely on integer-order assumptions and precise system modeling, which are inadequate for capturing the inherent non-local memory behaviors of fractional dynamics. Furthermore, they generally assume fixed agent dynamics, and cannot be applied to switched FONHMASs where the continuity of agents’ dynamics is violated at switching instants. Considering the constraints of precise modeling difficulties and limited task time for switched FONHMASs in practice, a distributed $D^{\alpha }$-type iterative learning control (ILC) protocol is proposed to achieve bipartite consensus in the presence of cooperative and antagonistic interactions. Also, without relying on repetitive initial conditions, based on a presented initial state learning mechanism and $D^{\alpha }$-type ILC protocol, the bipartite consensus error convergence property with each iteration is achieved. Additionally, in consideration of external disturbances, the robustness of the iterative bipartite consensus controller for the switched FONHMASs is analyzed. Simulation results confirm that the switched FONHMASs achieve the convergence and robustness of the bipartite consensus errors along the iteration direction. In addition, the proposed $D^{\alpha }$-type ILC protocol achieves a maximum root-mean-square-error (MRMSE) of 0.0168 in time domain, significantly outperforming the integer-order ILC (MRMSE = 0.3601) and fractional-order PID control (MRMSE = 0.7550), confirming its superiority. Full article

Faecal egg counts (FECs) are used to assess the intensity of gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections in herbivores. FEC distribution is aggregated, meaning that approximately 20% of animals harbour 80% of infections. In times of escalating anthelmintic resistance, it may be necessary to restrict treatment to the animals with the heaviest infections. This strategy is called targeted selective treatment (TST) and is relevant to GIN, for example. The difficulty lies in identifying which animals to treat. One solution is to select potentially at-risk animals based on age (for example, treating the young) or to perform individual faecal egg counts (though this is costly). We propose a solution for determining the suitability of selective treatment based on the level of FEC (200 or 500 eggs per gram of faeces). First, we demonstrated that the mean FEC in a group is strictly related to its variance (Taylor’s power law) using published data and our own unpublished data on horses from France, Poland, and Mexico. The study focused on small and large strongyles in horses. Taylor’s power law states that sample variance (Var) and the population mean are related by a simple equation: Var = a Mean^b or log(Var) = log(a) + b log(Mean). The influence of factors such as age, status (mare, stallion, yearling, etc.), day-to-day variability, and previous anthelmintic treatments did not alter this relationship. To reduce the number of FECs, we estimated the mean FEC on a composite faecal sample. We then calculated the variability and therefore the number of horses with an FEC above the chosen acceptable level. When the mean is high, the number of horses to be treated is also high and TST is not beneficial. When the FEC is average, TST may be worthwhile, either based on the FEC of individual horses or on the horse class at risk. Based on the percentage of horses with an FEC above the acceptable level, farmers can decide whether to treat all animals or establish a TST protocol. Caution should be exercised when using TST in the presence of large strongyles. Full article

Background/Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the rs7799039 variant in the leptin (LEP) gene and specific parameters of body composition in young healthy Slovak adults using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Methods: We assessed 467 young adults aged 18 to 30 years with an average age of 22.55 ± 2.56 years. Genotyping of SNP LEP G-2548A (rs7799039) was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and body composition was assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis (InBody 770). Results: Our results showed that the LEP rs7799039 variant was associated with total body mineral levels in women. The mean values of total body minerals (kg) were higher in LEP AA carriers than in carriers of the G allele (3.26 ± 0.52 kg compared to 3.09 ± 0.36 kg; p = 0.014). In addition, linear regression analysis showed statistically significant associations of the LEP gene rs7799039, vitamin D intake, body mass index (BMI) and height on total body mineral content in women (p < 0.05). The presence of the LEP AA genotype, reported vitamin D intake and higher BMI and height values were positively associated with higher total body mineral content. No association was found between the LEP rs7799039 variant and BMI, fat mass (FM) or FM distribution across body segments. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the rs7799039 variant in the LEP gene may be associated with small differences in total body mineral content in young adult women. These findings should be interpreted as exploratory associations, rather than evidence of biological specificity or an independent genetic effect. Full article

Background: Cefiderocol, a siderophore cephalosporin, is approved for the treatment of infections caused by multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (MRGN). At present, few data are available on the pharmacokinetics of this substance in critically ill patients, particularly for the treatment of central nervous system infections. Patients and Methods: Here, we reported on a 22-year-old male patient after severe open head trauma. Initial screening revealed colonization with 4MRGN A. baumannii (OXA-23) (perianal) and 4MRGN K. pneumoniae (KPC) (tracheal). Unfortunately, he developed ventriculitis (4MRGN A. baumannii). According to microbiological testing, the patient with normal renal function received 3 × 2 g/d i.v. cefiderocol as a prolonged infusion (3 h) and colistin 3 × 3 Mio. IU/d i.v. for 2 weeks. In addition to serum trough levels, drug monitoring was performed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) via external ventricular drainage (24 h aliquots). Results: Serum and CSF specimens analyzed by liquid chromatography–mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) in the presence of severe meningeal inflammation yielded average CSF concentrations of cefiderocol from 5.48 to 8.40 (median 6.98) μg/mL and a concentration ratio C_{CSF mean}/C_{serum trough} from 0.38 to 0.76 (median 0.48). The cefiderocol levels in the CSF were sufficient for eradication of A. baumannii. A subsequent CSF infection with K. pneumoniae (found initially in screening and resistant to cefiderocol) after completed treatment with cefiderocol was successfully treated with gentamicin (intrathecally) and ceftazidime/avibactam (i.v.). However, the patient died due to a Candida tropicalis infection detected in the CSF on day 71. Conclusions: Our results indicate that standard dosages of cefiderocol are sufficient for treatment of CNS infections in the presence of a severe disruption of the blood–CSF barrier. Full article

Background: Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracranial paediatric solid cancer, with a 50% survival rate for high-risk patients. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are malignant cells shed by the primary tumour and metastatic sites that circulate in the bloodstream. CTCs form clusters with themselves (homotypic) or other cell types (heterotypic). Objectives: To use previously generated ImageStreamX Imaging Flow Cytometer data from blood samples from 24 patients across all NB risk groups, to examine for the presence of CTC clusters. Methods: Immunofluorescence and brightfield morphology were used to identify clusters followed by analysis using IDEAS image analysis software. Results: The mean number of clusters detected per sample was 87 (range, 0–725). Of the clusters detected, 1967/2094 (93.9%) were heterotypic and only 127/2094 (6.1%) were homotypic and found in 6/24 patients. Interestingly, in 3/24 patients, at least one cluster (median, 2 and range, 1–18) was found, but no single CTCs were detected. Clusters mostly comprised two cells (62.8%), with the maximum number of cells in homotypic and heterotypic clusters being four and eight, respectively. Conclusions: These results highlight that imaging flow cytometry can be used to detect and characterise CTC clusters in peripheral blood samples from NB patients, leading to further research exploring the composition and role of CTC clusters in NB metastasis. Full article

Based on leadership narratives collected between 2022 and 2025, this article examines how Ukrainian non-military organizational and community leaders who have remained in the country during the ongoing war interpret, embody, and enact theological meaning within their lived leadership experience. Drawing on two qualitative datasets—one collected in 2022 (n = 145) and a second in 2025 (n = 79)—the study employs a lived theology approach together with a reflexive thematic analysis to explore how theological meaning emerges organically as stated in leaders’ accounts of suffering, responsibility, presence, and hope. The findings indicate that participants articulated three overarching movements of lived theology: lament, leading to dependence on God; the sensed presence of God, leading to social solidarity and shared responsibility; and hope in God, orienting leaders toward post-war restoration. These movements function not as abstract or institutionally authorized doctrines, but as dynamic theological orientations generated through lived theological reflection as leaders connect their perceptions of God with the realities of wartime life. The study contributes to practical theology by demonstrating how theological reflection arises from concrete leadership practices under conditions of war. It further advances leadership studies by showing how theological sense-making, suffering, and responsibility converge in the lives of ordinary people—leaders and followers alike—forming a shared spiritual orientation that sustains communal life amid war and nurtures hope for post-war renewal. Full article

The detection of exposed subsea pipelines is a key task in current marine remote sensing, and multibeam echosounders (MBESs) are a primary instrument for detecting exposed pipelines. However, complex seabed environments interfere with acoustic echoes, introducing substantial noise points into MBES point-cloud data and substantially degrading its quality. Conventional point-cloud denoising methods struggle to suppress noise while simultaneously preserving pipeline integrity, whereas point-cloud noise-segmentation methods can better address this challenge. Nevertheless, noise-segmentation methods remain constrained by the lack of geometric priors and the presence of class imbalance. To address these issues, this paper proposes a geometry-prior and rational-activation Transformer for the MBES point-cloud denoising of exposed subsea pipelines (GPRAformer). The method comprises the following three core designs: a pipeline-informed prior encoder (PIPE) sampling module to enhance the separability between pipeline points and noise points; a rational-activated Kolmogorov–Arnold network transformer (RaKANsformer) feature extraction module that couples gated self-attention with KAN structures using rational-function activations for joint feature extraction, thereby strengthening global dependency modeling and nonlinear expressivity; and class-adaptive loss (CAL)-constrained noise-segmentation module that introduces intra-class consistency and inter-class separation constraints to mitigate false detections and miss detections arising from class imbalance. Evaluations on actual measured MBES point-cloud datasets show that, compared with the suboptimal model under each metric, GPRAformer achieves improvements of 6.83%, 1.78%, 5.12%, and 6.20% in mean intersection over union (mIoU), Accuracy, F1-score, and Recall, respectively. These results indicate a significant enhancement in overall segmentation performance. Therefore, GPRAformer can achieve high-precision and robust MBES point-cloud noise segmentation in complex seabed environments. Full article

Objectives: To systematically review and quantitatively synthesize lipid layer thickness (LLT) measurements in soft contact lens (CL) wearers obtained in the presence and absence of contact lenses in situ. Methods: A systematic literature search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Six studies meeting predefined inclusion criteria were included. Pooled mean LLT values were calculated using fixed-effects models, with heterogeneity, sensitivity analyses, and publication bias assessed. Results: In the absence of contact lenses, pooled LLT data from 86 healthy CL wearers yielded a mean LLT of 62.11 nm (95% CI: 47.33–76.90 nm). In the presence of contact lenses, pooled data from 330 subjects demonstrated a mean LLT of 69.52 nm (95% CI: 56.33–82.70 nm). Although LLT values were numerically higher with contact lens wear, the substantial overlap of confidence intervals indicated no consistent or statistically demonstrable difference between conditions. Conclusions: This meta-analysis provides the first quantitative synthesis of LLT in CL wearers and highlights the need for standardized methodologies to clarify the clinical relevance of LLT in contact lens-related tear film assessment. Full article

COVID-19 brought on health-related stressors which have not been previously explored as risks for intimate partner violence (IPV). The current study applies the ABCX model of family stress to assess whether health-related stressors were associated with more severe IPV and the mediational role of resources (i.e., negotiation skills, emotion regulation skills, social support) and perceptions (i.e., meaning in life, loneliness) in these relationships. Using MTURK, adults across the United States participated in an anonymous online survey. Participants were allocated to groups according to relationship status and IPV presence and severity. A series of multiple mediation analyses was conducted to investigate if personal resources and perception of circumstance mediated the relationship between health-related stressors and IPV severity. The findings indicate a positive association between COVID-19 health-related stressors and IPV severity. These relationships were primarily mediated by increased attempts to suppress emotional expression, feelings of loneliness, and search for meaning in one’s life. The findings support the applicability of the ABCX models to understanding IPV, suggesting that the health-related stressors should be considered as risk factors for IPV, and identify explanatory mechanisms that could also be targets for intervention. Full article

Background: Research has shown that disordered eating behaviors—including binge eating, night eating syndrome, and food addiction—contribute to the heterogeneity of obesity and assist in phenotyping patients for more tailored interventions. The Eating Behavior Assessment for Obesity (EBA-O) is a recently developed 18-item questionnaire that assesses five pathological eating-behavior domains among individuals with obesity (night eating, food addiction, sweet eating, hyperphagia, and binge eating). The present study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Persian (Farsi) version of the EBA-O. Methods: The original English EBA-O was translated into Persian following a standardized forward–backward translation procedure, with cultural adaptations implemented to ensure linguistic accuracy and conceptual clarity. A cross-sectional sample of 278 Iranian adults with overweight or obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 25 kg/m²) completed the Persian EBA-O. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to verify the five-factor model in the Persian sample. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability (CR). Convergent validity was assessed using the average variance extracted (AVE), and discriminant validity was examined with the Heterotrait–Monotrait ratio (HTMT). Model fit indices, including the Comparative Fit Index [CFI], Tucker–Lewis Index [TLI], Normed Fit Index [NFI], Goodness-of-Fit Index [GFI], the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual [SRMR] and relative chi-square value [χ²/df] were used to determine the adequacy of the factor structure. Results: The Persian EBA-O demonstrated a clear and stable five-factor structure consistent with the original instrument. CFA indicated good model fit (CFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.94, NFI = 0.91, GFI = 0.92, SRMR = 0.05, χ²/df = 1.94), confirming the presence of the intended domains. Internal consistency was acceptable to high across all subscales (Cronbach’s α = 0.78–0.86; CR > 0.70), and the total scale showed strong reliability. Three of the five factors demonstrated acceptable convergent validity (AVE = 0.54–0.68), while Food Addiction (AVE = 0.46) and Night Eating (AVE = 0.43) fell slightly below the 0.50 threshold; however, their adequate CR and α values indicate that these constructs remain coherent and psychometrically sound. All inter-factor correlations satisfied discriminant validity criteria (HTMT < 0.90), with the highest association observed between the Binge Eating and Hyperphagia factors. Overall, the psychometric properties of the Persian EBA-O were comparable to those reported in the original validation and subsequent translations. Conclusions: The Persian version of the EBA-O is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing pathological eating behaviors among individuals with obesity. It preserves the original questionnaire’s five-factor structure and demonstrates acceptable internal consistency and construct validity in a Persian-speaking population. This validated tool will support both clinical assessment and research on eating-behavior phenotypes and may contribute to the development of more personalized and effective obesity-management strategies among Persian-speaking individuals. Full article

The presence of distinctive imprinted signs on old forestry tools reflects a little-documented tradition practiced by artisanal blacksmiths in the Alpine region until the early 20th century. These marks, hammered onto tools such as axes and pickaroons, carried meanings that intertwined craftsmanship, ownership, and local identity. This element of material culture is rarely mentioned in the literature. This study examined imprinted signs on 331 tools from 88 locations across the Alpine regions of Italy, from Friuli-Venezia Giulia to Valle d’Aosta, with supplementary observations in other countries. The objectives were to record the geographic distribution of imprints, interpret their potential meanings, and preserve evidence of a disappearing tradition. The spatial distribution of the markings corresponded to the Alpine territory and overlapped with a shared cultural region inhabited by three ethnic groups, although similar signs were recorded as far as the Carpathian regions. The meanings of certain imprints, such as religious symbols or representations of the tree of life, are recognizable, whereas those of other common signs remain unknown. The findings suggest that the imprints may reflect a distinct cultural practice and a symbolic language whose full significance has yet to be understood and would require further ethnographic investigations. Full article