Search Results (2,327)

Pre-treatment before drying is a crucial phase in food processing. This review highlights key traditional and innovative pre-treatment methods, focusing on their mechanisms of action at the cellular and tissue levels. This discourse examines innovative technologies with significant promise across various applications, as well as widely recognised methodologies. These include cold plasma, ultrasonication, pulsed electric fields, high-pressure processing, UV-C light, pulsed light, and coating techniques. It addresses biological components that act as barriers to mass transfer, thereby significantly influencing the efficiency of moisture evaporation. Understanding these interactions is crucial for optimising drying processes and enhancing the quality of dried food. Key pre-treatment parameters that affect outcomes are analysed and must be tailored to the specific characteristics of biological materials, which often require individualised adjustments. Each method is evaluated against goals like accelerated drying, microbiological purity, enzyme inactivation, and preservation of active components, emphasising the need for a targeted optimisation approach. The classification of biological materials into distinct categories has been proposed based on their structural and integumentary characteristics. The research outlines effective methodologies for each material type and pre-treatment purpose. This analysis also incorporates an economic perspective, considering the initial investment and operational costs of implementing the proposed methods. Full article

Huanglongbing (HLB), caused by Candidatus Liberibacter spp., remains the most destructive disease affecting citrus worldwide. To support host-directed genome-editing strategies aimed at reducing susceptibility, we optimized key regeneration steps in Citrus sinensis and validated a dual-gRNA CRISPR/Cas9 approach targeting the susceptibility gene CsDMR6. Juvenile explants of ‘Valencia’ and hybrid genotypes (CsH1–CsH3) were successfully established in vitro, and shoot elongation was markedly improved by supplementing Citrus Shoot Multiplication (CiSM) medium with 1 mg L⁻¹ GA3. Callus induction was most efficient in Citrus Callus Induction (CiCM) medium under dark conditions, while a 48 h NAA pulse (100 µM) significantly enhanced rooting, increasing efficiencies to 37.1% in ‘Valencia’ and 52.9% in CsH1. Two guide RNAs targeting conserved regions of CsDMR6 were designed and shown to be identical across all evaluated genotypes. The dual-gRNA cassette was assembled into a CRISPR/Cas9 geminivirus-based vector and transiently delivered into sweet orange leaf tissue via Agrobacterium. GFP fluorescence verified construct expression, and PCR amplification across the target region produced a diagnostic ~447 bp fragment corresponding to the expected ~5.8 kb deletion. Sanger sequencing confirmed precise junction formation between the two cut sites. These results demonstrate efficient large-fragment deletion of CsDMR6 in sweet orange and establish an experimentally validated, genotype-compatible regeneration and editing platform. This study provides a transient validation of the dual-gRNA system and establishes the technical foundation required for future stable, non-transgenic edited lines. Together, these advances support the downstream functional evaluation of CsDMR6 loss-of-function alleles under HLB pressure. Full article

Predicting wave slamming pressures on bulbous bows is essential for ship structural safety. This study employs an overset-grid RANS-VOF framework to investigate viscous scale effects on bulbous bow slamming loads. Multi-scale simulations were conducted across four geometric scale ratios of 1:50, 1:20, 1:15, and 1:10 (α = 50, 20, 15, 10) under critical pitch-heave resonant head waves (λ/L_WL = 1.2). While global motion responses follow Froude similitude, local dynamic slamming pressures show notable scale disparities. Smaller physical models develop a relatively thicker viscous boundary layer that acts as a hydrodynamic cushion, reducing peak pressures while broadening pulse durations. Consequently, direct Froude scaling from small-scale models tends to underestimate full-scale impact loads. To account for these viscous scale effects, an engineering extrapolation approach based on multi-scale regression is proposed, which demonstrates a reasonable linear correlation across the investigated range (R² = 0.88–0.99) in the primary impact region. This study provides physical insights into the scaling behavior of bulbous bow slamming and offers a practical reference for full-scale load estimation. Full article

Telemedicine is increasingly transforming pediatric cardiology by expanding access to specialized care, supporting early diagnosis, and improving longitudinal monitoring of children with cardiovascular disease. This narrative review summarizes current applications of digital health in pediatric cardiology, with emphasis on congenital heart disease, pediatric hypertension, and arrhythmia management. Tele-echocardiography represents one of the most established telehealth tools, enabling remote interpretation of fetal, neonatal, and pediatric echocardiographic images and improving referral appropriateness, particularly in peripheral or resource-limited settings. In infants with complex congenital heart disease, especially those with single-ventricle physiology during the interstage period, home monitoring programs using mobile applications, pulse oximeters, digital scales, and structured caregiver reporting may facilitate early recognition of clinical deterioration and reduce avoidable transfers. In non-congenital cardiovascular disease, home blood pressure monitoring can improve diagnostic accuracy by reducing white-coat effects and supporting repeated measurements in real-life settings. Smartphone-enabled electrocardiographic devices and wearable technologies may enhance detection of intermittent arrhythmias and strengthen outpatient management. Despite these advantages, challenges remain, including data fragmentation, limited pediatric validation of consumer devices, interoperability issues, privacy concerns, and socioeconomic disparities in technology access. Properly integrated telemedicine may promote more timely, equitable, and patient-centered pediatric cardiovascular care. Full article

The quality and precision of polymer film processing via femtosecond laser are frequently degraded by the redeposition of ablated material. Here, we systematically investigate the effects of backing pressure and temporal pulse shaping on the drilling of glow discharge polymer (GDP) films. Reducing the pressure effectively suppresses debris redeposition, improves surface cleanliness, and enhances drilling efficiency. The entrance diameter exhibits a non-monotonic pressure dependence, with a minimum near 10³ Pa, whereas the exit diameter decreases monotonically as pressure increases. At high pressures, through-hole formation becomes increasingly difficult, particularly for pulse sequences with a larger number of subpulses. Low pressure substantially reduces the pulse count required for breakthrough. The observed behavior is interpreted in terms of pressure-dependent nonlinear propagation, focal-position shifts, and plasma shielding. By combining low-pressure operation with an optimized pulse sequence, we obtain high-quality microholes with reduced taper and improved drilling efficiency. These results provide practical guidance for precision femtosecond laser micromachining of polymer films. Full article

Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, yet cuffless blood pressure monitoring remains challenging because most existing methods rely on intermittent cuff-based measurements or multimodal physiological signals. This work proposes PPG-FusionNet, a dual-branch deep learning architecture for simultaneous systolic and diastolic blood pressure estimation using only photoplethysmography (PPG) signals. The model combines a local dilated convolutional encoder and a global AutoCorrelation encoder operating on a shared patch embedding, whose representations are integrated through cross-attention fusion and optimized with a constrained dual-head regression objective. The model was trained and evaluated on the PulseDB benchmark using Bayesian hyperparameter optimization and systematic ablation studies to assess each architectural component. PPG-FusionNet achieved mean absolute errors of 7.46 mmHg for systolic blood pressure and 4.72 mmHg for diastolic blood pressure, with near-zero mean errors and compliance with the ANSI/AAMI standard and BHS Grade B for diastolic estimation. Ablation experiments revealed that trend-seasonal decomposition, despite its success in long-horizon forecasting, degraded performance on short PPG windows, whereas cross-attention fusion and AutoCorrelation improved estimation accuracy. These results demonstrate that heterogeneous dual-branch representation learning provides an effective, scalable framework for cuffless blood pressure estimation from a single PPG sensor. Full article

The Paraopeba River basin has been exposed to long-term anthropogenic pressures, including urbanization, wastewater discharge, land-use changes, and mining. These impacts were intensified by the Brumadinho tailings dam collapse in 2019, which released approximately 1.6 million m³ of iron-mining tailings into the Paraopeba River. This study evaluated spatial and temporal dynamics of zooplankton communities and their relationships with environmental gradients. Eighteen sampling campaigns were conducted at nineteen monitoring sites, integrating physicochemical variables, nutrients, and metals with biological indicators. Sampling began approximately one year after the collapse and therefore does not capture the acute response to the initial tailings pulse. During the monitoring period, zooplankton assemblages showed no marked differences between upstream and downstream areas. Community structure was more strongly associated with hydrological seasonality and ongoing anthropogenic pressures, particularly nutrient enrichment and urban effluents. Turbidity, metals, and nutrients were important environmental correlates of richness, diversity, and density. Rotifers and copepods dominated, while the invasive Kellicottia bostoniensis persisted across sites and seasons. Tributaries supported higher densities and more exclusive species, potentially reflecting differences in nutrient availability, hydrodynamic conditions, and habitat retention. Overall, hydrological dynamics and contemporary anthropogenic stressors were more closely associated with community patterns than the upstream–downstream spatial gradient. Full article

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) refers to the coexistence of cardiometabolic disorders, such as hyperglycemia, elevated blood pressure, visceral obesity, or features of atherogenic dyslipidemia. A diagnosis of MetS significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the exact relationship between the number of MetS components, regardless of their constellation, and features of subclinical cardiovascular dysfunction remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the number of MetS components and features of subclinical atherosclerosis and arterial stiffness (AS) in patients without clinically overt CVD. Methods: This retrospective study included 100 patients (mean age: 58.8 ± 16.81 years), without signs of acute illness or diagnosed atherosclerotic CVD, who were admitted to a clinic for scheduled internal medicine diagnostics. Participants were assessed for MetS components and underwent cardiovascular tests, including Doppler ultrasonography of the carotid, vertebral, and lower limb arteries; measurement of intima–media thickness (IMT) in the carotid (cIMT), common femoral (cfIMT), and superficial femoral (sfIMT) arteries; and assessment of AS using carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) and pulse wave analysis (PWA). Results: Univariate analysis revealed significant correlations between the number of MetS components and IMT in all vascular beds: cIMT (R = 0.371; p < 0.001), cfIMT (R = 0.343; p < 0.001), and sfIMT (R = 0.516; p < 0.001). Significant correlations were also found for several AS and PWA parameters: cfPWV (R = 0.398; p < 0.001), central pulse pressure (cPP) (R = 0.223; p < 0.026), and end-systolic pressure (ESP) (R = 0.241; p = 0.016). Meanwhile, in the multivariable analysis adjusted for sex, age, and body mass index (BMI), only the association between the subendocardial viability ratio (SEVR) and the number of MetS components was significant (β = 0.33; 95% CI 0.084–0.577; p = 0.009); however, this association does not remain significant after Benjamini–Hochberg correction (p = 0.108). Conclusions: Although the number of MetS components correlated significantly with several parameters of subclinical atherosclerosis and AS, most associations were explained by confounding variables. These results do not support the use of a simple count of MetS components as an indicator of subclinical cardiovascular dysfunction related to atherosclerosis and AS. Full article

Although the duty cycle is an important parameter in pulsed plasma nitriding, its role in simultaneously controlling the microstructure, mechanical performance, tribological behavior, and corrosion resistance of 12Kh18N10T stainless steel remains insufficiently understood. Therefore, this study systematically investigates these relationships under otherwise fixed nitriding conditions. The samples were nitrided at 500 °C, a pressure of 400 Pa, a voltage of 700 V, and a treatment duration of 5 h, with duty cycle (DC) values of 30, 60, and 90%. The surface microstructure and composition were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The mechanical properties were evaluated by instrumented nanoindentation, the tribological properties were evaluated using the coefficient of friction and wear rate, and the corrosion resistance was investigated using potentiodynamic polarization. The maximum nitrided layer thickness of 91.29 μm was obtained at DC30, whereas the layer thickness at DC60 and DC90 was approximately 65.07 μm. Fe₄N and Cr₂N phases were identified in all samples. The DC60 regime provided the highest hardness of 740.6 HV, an elastic modulus of 215.9 GPa, the lowest coefficient of friction of 0.333, and the lowest corrosion current density of 0.000665 mA/cm². The minimum wear rate of 2.276 × 10⁻⁵ mm³/(N·m) was achieved at DC90. These results show that the optimal processing condition depends on the required combination of hardness, wear resistance, coefficient of friction, and corrosion resistance. The obtained results demonstrate that the functional properties of the steel can be effectively tailored by controlling the duty cycle. Full article

Moisture deficit is a primary limiting factor in field floriculture, necessitating the adoption of highly efficient irrigation strategies. This three-year field study (2019–2021) evaluated the impact of surface drip, subsurface drip (SDI), and a prototype pulse injection irrigation system against a non-irrigated control on the biometry, corm yield, and mineral profile of Gladiolus × hybridus. Subsurface drip (SDI) and surface drip irrigation provided the most favorable and stable agronomic outcomes, particularly for daughter corm yield and quality. Conversely, pulse injection irrigation showed a highly nuanced response; while it significantly increased generative spike length by 68.5% under severe late-season drought in 2021, it failed to improve overall daughter corm mass and significantly increased plant lodging (15–20%). This performance is hypothesized to stem from localized soil structural disturbance and mechanical stress on the shallow, fibrous root system under high-pressure water delivery (4 bar). Furthermore, chemical analyses revealed that irrigation increased leaf calcium accumulation while simultaneously causing a dilution of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium due to increased biomass. In conclusion, SDI is highly recommended for professional gladiolus production to stabilize root-zone moisture and ensure superior commercial quality of both aerial and underground organs, while pressurized pulse injection requires further pressure-nozzle optimization to mitigate physical crop disturbance. Full article

Non-contact blood pressure (BP) estimation from remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) can yield unstable window-level predictions. This study combines a pulse-feature long short-term memory (LSTM) estimator with temporal variance-based prediction filtering. Fifty-two features from the rPPG waveform and its first and second derivatives were arranged into sliding-window sequences for systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) estimation. The filter selects locally stable predictions from temporally ordered prediction sequences without using ground-truth BP values. Performance was first assessed in 10 repeated subject-dependent randomized-block experiments. Filtering reduced the SBP mean absolute error (MAE) from $7.04\pm 1.52$ to $5.34\pm 1.62$ mmHg and the DBP MAE from $4.63\pm 1.32$ to $3.07\pm 0.97$ mmHg while retaining $76.39\pm 7.59\%$ of predictions. A subject-specific mean predictor was also competitive under the subject-dependent setting and achieved lower DBP MAE at full coverage than the filtered LSTM. Chronological rolling-origin and leave-one-subject-out (LOSO) evaluations further showed that the improvement persisted for later intervals from the same subjects but not for unseen subjects. Because the filter operates only on model outputs, it requires neither additional trainable parameters nor model retraining. These findings show a low-overhead accuracy–coverage trade-off for within-subject rPPG-based BP estimation, while subject-independent generalization remains limited. Full article

Behavioural management strategies used in paediatric dentistry have neurobiological effects. This scoping review aimed to map the existing literature on the neurobiological effects of non-invasive behavioural management strategies used in paediatric dentistry. The study protocol was registered on the Open Science Framework (registration number: OSF.IO/9EZVT). A search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and African Journals Online (AJOL) for studies published up to May 2025. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Studies were included if they assessed non-invasive behavioural strategies in children aged 0–17 years undergoing dental procedures and reported at least one neurobiological or physiological outcome. The data were summarised descriptively, and key findings were thematically synthesised to identify trends in behavioural strategy types and neurobiological outcomes measured. Out of 1720 records retrieved, 35 studies met the inclusion criteria. These included randomised and non-randomised controlled trials and observational studies conducted in 13 countries on five continents involving 2919 children. The behaviour management strategies identified were 18 in number, with distraction (n = 19) and tell–show–do (n = 17) being the most frequently applied. The neurobiological outcomes assessed included anxiety (n = 36), pain perception (n = 8), fear (n = 7), and stress response (n = 1). Their physiological regulation was assessed using heart rate (n = 26), oxygen saturation (n = 10), blood pressure (n = 8), pulse rate (n = 6), cortisol (n = 4), respiratory rate (n = 1), and oxytocin (n = 1). Behavioural assessment tools used were classified into Child-Reported Anxiety and Fear Instruments (n = 23), Pain Perception Instruments (n = 9), Clinician/Observer-Rated Behavioural and Anxiety Scales (n = 18), and Parental and Proxy Reports (n = 2). This review underscores the emerging evidence that non-invasive behavioural strategies may be linked to neurobiology in paediatric dentistry. More studies are needed in new countries to be able to map the possible impact of context and culture on study findings. Full article

Background/Objectives: Firefighters may be at an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease due to occupational stressors, including shift work, overnight emergency responses, and sleep disruption. This cross-sectional pilot study conducted within a single career fire department examined the associations among sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and resting cardiovascular strain in full-time firefighters. Methods: Thirty-five full-time firefighters (38.3 ± 13.1 years, one female) completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and resting blood pressure assessments. A subset of 20 male firefighters completed additional arterial health assessments, including subendocardial viability ratio (SEVR), resting heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and pulse wave velocity (PWV). Pearson partial correlations, adjusted for age and BMI, were used to examine relationships between sleep measures and cardiovascular outcomes. Results: No significant associations were observed between PSQI or ESS scores and systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, SEVR, HR, MAP, or PWV after adjustment for multiple comparisons (all q > 0.05). Conclusions: Sleep quality and daytime sleepiness were not significantly associated with resting cardiovascular strain measures in this sample of firefighters. Although subjective sleep disturbances are recognized as occupational concerns in the fire service, no statistically significant relationships were detected between sleep questionnaire scores and the cardiovascular outcomes examined in this exploratory pilot study. Larger studies incorporating objective sleep assessments and additional occupational and lifestyle factors are warranted. Full article

Background/Objectives: Severe arterial calcification remains a major challenge during femoropopliteal endovascular intervention, limiting luminal gain and increasing the risk of vessel-wall injury, restenosis, and bailout stenting. Pulsatile intravascular lithotripsy (PIVL) is a novel calcium-modification technology that converts pneumatic pulses into short-duration hydraulic pressure waves delivered through a non-compliant balloon. POWER PAD I evaluated the first-in-human feasibility, safety, and procedural performance of PIVL in calcified femoropopliteal arterial disease. Methods: POWER PAD I was a prospective, single-arm, two-center feasibility study. Adults with Rutherford category 2–4 symptomatic peripheral arterial disease and moderately or severely calcified superficial femoral or popliteal lesions were treated with PIVL, followed by adjunctive therapy when clinically indicated. Angiographic and duplex ultrasound outcomes were assessed by an independent core laboratory, and adverse events were adjudicated by an independent clinical events committee. Results: Nine patients underwent treatment of 20 lesions. Mean age was 76.2 ± 12.6 years, 19 lesions were severely calcified, and five lesions were chronic total occlusions. Patient-level device and procedural success were each achieved in 8 of 9 patients; technical success was achieved in all patients. Mean diameter stenosis decreased from 76.5 ± 18.0% before treatment to 28.1 ± 6.9% after PIVL-containing lesion preparation and before adjunctive drug-coated-balloon angioplasty, and to 20.6 ± 5.8% after adjunctive therapy. Mean minimal luminal diameter increased from 1.3 ± 1.0 mm to 3.8 ± 0.5 mm after PIVL-containing lesion preparation and to 4.3 ± 0.6 mm at final angiography. No perforation, distal embolization, thrombus, abrupt closure, no-reflow, bailout stenting, or grade D or higher dissection occurred. Freedom from clinically driven target-lesion revascularization was 100% at 30 days and 6 months. Conclusions: PIVL-containing lesion preparation was feasible in heavily calcified superficial femoral and popliteal lesions and was associated with substantial acute luminal gain before adjunctive DCB therapy and no severe angiographic complications. Favorable 6-month clinical and patency outcomes were observed after the combined treatment strategy of PIVL vessel preparation and adjunctive DCB therapy; therefore, longer-term outcomes cannot be attributed to PIVL alone. Larger controlled studies are warranted. Full article

To investigate the development characteristics of winding interturn insulation partial discharge in a full-scale converter transformer, an interturn insulation defect specimen was installed inside a ±400 kV full-scale converter transformer. A partial-discharge test was conducted under stepwise alternating-current (AC) voltage, while pulse-current, high-frequency, ultra-high-frequency, ultrasonic, sound-pressure, and vibration signals were acquired synchronously. To reduce the subjectivity of discharge-stage classification, a dimensionless discharge-development index was constructed by integrating the 95th-percentile apparent charge, discharge pulse count, and phase occupancy, and the stage-transition points were identified using piecewise-linear change-point analysis. Two change points at approximately 1.9 and 4.3 min divided the discharge process into the inception, development, and severe stages. The apparent charge increased from approximately 1.5 × 10² pC in the inception stage to the order of 10³ pC in the development stage, and then rose sharply to approximately 1.6 × 10⁵ pC in the severe stage. Meanwhile, the discharge activity changed from an intermittent low-intensity state to a continuous high-intensity state. After the test, insulation-paper ablation and carbonization, conductor exposure, and a continuous breakdown channel were observed in the defect region. These post-test observations confirm severe final damage to the interturn insulation, although the time sequence of the individual damage features could not be determined from the final morphology alone. Under the present sensor arrangement, the HF channel provided the earliest identifiable response at approximately 1.9 min, whereas the UHF and internal ultrasonic channels supplied complementary evidence during subsequent discharge development. The external ultrasonic, sound-pressure, and vibration responses were more strongly affected by propagation paths, structural coupling, sensor location, and background disturbance and were therefore treated as supplementary indicators. These findings support a staged multisensor interpretation strategy for interturn partial discharge in a full-scale converter transformer rather than a universal ranking of sensor performance. Full article