Search Results (45,086)

This study investigated the effects of varying water–binder (w/b) ratios and internal curing materials—superabsorbent polymer (SAP) and ceramsite—on the shrinkage behavior and crack resistance of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC). Although internal curing has been extensively studied, the comparative effectiveness of different internal curing materials on early-age shrinkage and restrained cracking behavior of UHPC under consistent mixture proportions remains unclear. To address this gap, a systematic experimental comparison of SAP and ceramsite was conducted. The influences of w/b ratio and different amounts and addition methods (dry and pre-absorbed addition) of SAP and ceramsite on the flowability, mechanical properties, early autogenous shrinkage, drying shrinkage, and early crack resistance of UHPC were discussed. Findings indicate that increasing the w/b ratio reduces autogenous shrinkage but compromises mechanical properties, altering the cracking mode from primary microcracks to a few wider cracks. Pre-saturated ceramsite (less than 10% volume) and SAP effectively mitigate autogenous and drying shrinkage, enhancing crack resistance without significantly reducing mechanical properties. However, exceeding a ceramsite volume dosage of 10% or using the dry addition method increased the flowability of UHPC, while decreasing crack resistance. Microstructural analysis reveals that internal curing materials facilitate hydration and enhance structural density through the formation of ettringite and calcium silicate hydrate. To optimize shrinkage reduction while maintaining mechanical properties, SAP should be incorporated in a dry state, with a dosage limited to 0.4% of the mass of the cementitious material; ceramsite needs to be pre-saturated and limited to 5% of the total volume. Full article

The close physiological relationship between the left atrium (LA) and left ventricle (LV) suggests that an index assessing both the cardiac chambers simultaneously could provide useful information about disease severity. Consequently, investigators have proposed the atrioventricular coupling index (LACi) and demonstrated its utility in predicting the likelihood of atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and other cardiovascular events in humans. No studies have been reported in veterinary medicine. Therefore, we measured the LACi in healthy dogs and dogs affected by myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD). Two hundred and thirty-three dogs (105 healthy dogs and 128 dogs with MMVD) were retrospectively included in the study. The LACi (LA volume/LV volume × 100) at LV end-diastole (LACi-ED) and LV end-systole (LACi-ES) of each dog was measured using a monoplane Simpson’s Method of Discs from the left apical four-chamber view. In healthy dogs, LACi-ED and LACi-ES showed no relationship with bodyweight, heart rate and age (R² < 0.03, for all variables). In MMVD dogs, LACi-ED and LACi-ES differed between ACVIM stages (p < 0.001 and p < 0.02, for all stages). The LACi-ED and LACi-ES had similar accuracy in identifying MMVD dogs with congestive heart failure (area under the curve of 0.920 and 0.906, respectively). Our data suggest that the LACi can be useful in assessing left atrioventricular function in dogs with MMVD but the diagnostic accuracy in identifying dogs with congestive heart failure was not superior to the left atrial-to-aortic ratio. Prospective studies are needed to evaluate the predictive value of this new echocardiographic index in dogs affected by MMVD. Full article

Polymer-based insulation materials are widely used to enhance the energy efficiency of buildings; however, their growing application raises concerns related to resource use and end-of-life management. Rigid polyurethane (PUR) foams are key core materials in structural insulated panels due to their favorable thermal and mechanical performance, yet their life cycle environmental impacts—particularly at end-of-life—remain insufficiently quantified. In this study, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of PUR-based insulation used in structural insulated panel systems is conducted in accordance with ISO 14040/44 and EN 15804 standards. The assessment is performed using Sphera LCA software (version: GaBi 10.5) and the CML 2016 impact assessment method. Formulation-level variations in rigid PUR foams, including changes in methylene diphenyl diisocyanate content and pentane blowing agent ratio, are explicitly incorporated to evaluate their influence on key environmental impact categories. The results indicate that increasing pentane content leads to higher global warming potential, while this effect may be mitigated or intensified by concurrent changes in diisocyanate content and foam density in fully formulated systems. Three end-of-life scenarios—landfilling, incineration with energy recovery, and mechanical recycling—are analyzed. The findings provide material-level, decision-relevant insights that support environmentally informed formulation strategies and contribute to the development of more circular polymer-based insulation solutions for the built environment. Full article

Biochar activation is critical for producing high-performance adsorbents; however, conventional activation methods are energy-intensive and difficult to control, particularly when air is used as an activating agent. This study investigates CO₂–air co-activation in a laboratory-scale fluidized bed reactor as an energy-efficient alternative. Experiments were conducted at 750–850 °C under varying gas flow rates with a constant CO₂/O₂ ratio. Optimal properties were achieved at 800 °C and 0.2–0.3 L/min CO₂, yielding a maximum BET surface area of 479 m²/g, a micropore contribution of 42%, and controlled carbon conversion (~25–35% yield). Aspen Plus equilibrium simulations also confirm that CO₂-only activation remains endothermic (heat duty up to +0.07 kW), air-only activation becomes strongly exothermic (down to −0.13 kW), while the CO₂–air mixture exhibits near-thermoneutral to mildly exothermic behavior (+0.13 to −0.10 kW), thereby reducing external energy demand potentially by approximately 60–70% compared with CO₂-only activation and significantly improving process stability. These results demonstrate that CO₂–air co-activation offers a practical route to produce high-quality activated biochar with controlled porosity and improved energy efficiency. Full article

Background/Objectives: Losartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) used to treat hypertension and heart failure, shows significant variability in pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) among individuals. Methods: In this study, we developed a physiologically based pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic (PBPK/PD) model of losartan and its active metabolite, E3174, using curated data from 25 clinical trials. The model mechanistically describes the processes of absorption, hepatic metabolism, renal and fecal excretion, and pharmacodynamic blood pressure regulation. Simulation studies examined the effects of dose, hepatic and renal impairment, and genetic polymorphisms in cytochrome p450 2C9 (CYP2C9) and P-glycoprotein 1, also known as multidrug resistance protein 1 (MDR1) or ATP-binding cassette sub-family B member 1 (ABCB1), on the model. Results: The model successfully reproduced key PK/PD observations, including dose-dependent receptor blockade, attenuated responses with hepatic impairment, modest enhancement with renal impairment, and substantial variability in E3174 formation dependent on CYP2C9; the effects of ABCB1 were minimal. Specifically, dose dependency simulations confirmed the saturable nature of CYP2C9 metabolism, predicting a decreasing E3174-to-losartan ratio and a stronger, sustained suppression of blood pressure and aldosterone at higher doses. Hepatic impairment was predicted to lead to elevated losartan plasma concentrations (increased AUC) and attenuated metabolite formation, confirming the clinical need for dose reduction. Renal impairment simulations predicted stable losartan AUC but showed an overestimation of E3174 accumulation compared to observed data, where E3174 exposure remained stable. Genetic variability (CYP2C9) was the major determinant of response, with simulations confirming that reduced-function alleles lead to a 1.6- to 3-fold increase in losartan AUC and diminished blood pressure reduction. ABCB1 variability resulted in only minor modulation of systemic exposure and blood pressure effects. Conclusions: This mechanistic digital twin framework provides a quantitative basis for understanding variability in losartan therapy and supports its application in individualized dosing strategies. Full article

The triply periodic minimal surface structure is receiving significant attention amongst the engineering community. The advantage of using such a structure is its ability to provide lightweight cooling to surfaces. In this paper, attention is drawn to a gyroid structure composed of a shell network and a solid network, with a porosity of 0.7. Three different flow rates, using water as the circulating fluid, are experimentally applied to cool a square surface with a base of 37.5 mm and a height of 12.7 mm. It was found that this structure provided a high cooling rate, achieving a Nusselt number around 100 with a solid lattice and 160 for a shell lattice. It is also noted that the TPMS area plays a significant role, thereby increasing the cooling rate. When the TPMS height is 90% of the initial height of 12.7 mm, the performance of both structures is found to be well accepted. Pressure drop is reduced, and the heat performance is improved. The circulating flow above the structure marginally reduced the pressure drop. The performance evaluation criteria for the shell network ranged from 95 < PEC to < 225, and for the solid network from 125 < PEC to < 155. The optimization method has been applied across the entire height range using response surface methodology. It is found that the optimum TPMS height is for an aspect ratio of 95.1%. Full article

This paper presents a comprehensive study of statistical tests for comparing temporal point processes in general, with a particular focus on Poisson processes. We explore three key approaches: (1) an intensity-based test specifically for Poisson processes, (2) general parametric tests using the notion of maximum likelihood estimation, and (3) a general nonparametric test using the Isometric Log-Ratio (ILR) transformation. The first approach adopts a three-step procedure for comparing inhomogeneous Poisson processes by testing total and normalized intensities separately and then combining the corresponding p-values using Fisher’s method. The second method proposes a likelihood-based parametric test to examine the conditional intensity functions in point processes, emphasizing the application to Hawkes processes. Lastly, the third approach introduces a nonparametric test for general point processes, by transforming inter-event times into a Euclidean space via the ILR transformation, followed by conventional depth-based methods on multivariate data. We then conduct thorough studies on simulations as well as real-world data to illustrate these testing procedures and demonstrate their effectiveness. Full article

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of second-trimester hemoglobin levels, the hemoglobin–albumin–lymphocyte–platelet (HALP) index, the fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio (FAR), and selected coagulation and platelet activation markers for the development of preeclampsia. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 262 pregnant women, comprising 131 women who developed preeclampsia and 131 normotensive controls, followed at a tertiary referral center between 2022 and 2023. Maternal demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were obtained from routine second-trimester (14–28 weeks) antenatal assessments. HALP and FAR were calculated using standardized formulas. Group comparisons were performed using appropriate parametric or nonparametric tests. Discriminative performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis with bootstrap resampling. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression models were constructed to evaluate independent associations, and combined biomarker models were compared using DeLong’s test. Results: Women with preeclampsia demonstrated significantly lower hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelet count, and albumin levels, alongside higher fibrinogen, D-dimer, LDH, CRP, and platelet activation indices (MPV, PDW, and P-LCR) (all p < 0.05). Both HALP and FAR were significantly higher in the preeclampsia group; however, FAR exhibited superior discriminatory ability (AUC 0.682; 95% CI 0.618–0.751) compared with HALP (AUC 0.619; 95% CI 0.551–0.680). In multivariable analysis, FAR remained a strong independent predictor of preeclampsia (adjusted OR 1.263; 95% CI 1.167–1.368), whereas HALP showed a weaker association. Among combined models, FAR plus platelet distribution width (PDW) provided the highest discrimination (AUC 0.820), significantly outperforming FAR alone (DeLong p = 0.030). Conclusion: While the FAR + PDW model demonstrated improved discriminatory performance, these findings should be interpreted as preliminary. Prospective multicenter studies and external validation are necessary before such biomarkers can be considered for routine clinical use. Full article

Background: B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) directed therapies have transformed the treatment landscape for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). Soluble BCMA (sBCMA), a circulating product of the membrane-bound BCMA shedding, has emerged as a potential biomarker reflecting tumor burden and disease biology. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of baseline circulating sBCMA in patients with multiple myeloma receiving BCMA-directed therapies, with progression-free survival (PFS) as the primary endpoint. Methods: A systematic literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Studies enrolling patients with multiple myeloma treated with BCMA-directed therapies and reporting baseline circulating sBCMA measured in serum or plasma in relation to survival outcomes were included. Hazard ratios (HRs) for PFS and overall survival (OS) were pooled using random-effects models. Risk of bias was assessed using the QUIPS tool. Results: Four independent RRMM cohorts fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in the quantitative PFS meta-analysis. Elevated baseline circulating sBCMA was significantly associated with inferior PFS (pooled HR = 2.64, p < 0.05), with a consistent adverse prognostic direction across all studies. Moderate to substantial heterogeneity was observed (I² = 63.2%), potentially reflecting differences in BCMA-directed therapy modalities across cohorts and methodological variability, including study-specific sBCMA cut-off definitions, assay procedures and sampling timepoints. Exploratory subgroup analysis suggested that the prognostic impact of baseline sBCMA on PFS may differ according to BCMA-directed therapy class. Overall risk of bias was judged as low to moderate. Conclusions: Elevated baseline circulating sBCMA is associated with inferior progression-free survival in patients with multiple myeloma treated with BCMA-directed therapies. These findings support the prognostic relevance of sBCMA as a risk stratification marker, although harmonization of assays and cut-offs and prospective validation are required before clinical implementation. Full article

Background: Buccal bone dehiscence is a frequent finding during implant placement and often requires horizontal bone augmentation. When combined with immediate loading protocols, concerns remain regarding early implant stability and failure risk. This retrospective case series aimed to describe the early clinical outcomes of immediately loaded implants placed in sites with buccal dehiscence treated by horizontal bone augmentation and restored with full-arch screw-retained prostheses. Methods: Fifty-nine consecutive edentulous patients were rehabilitated with immediately loaded cross-arch implant-supported prostheses. A total of 253 implants were placed, including 148 implants presenting buccal dehiscence and treated with horizontal bone augmentation using particulate grafting materials with or without autogenous bone and a resorbable collagen membrane. Clinical outcomes were assessed over a 1-year follow-up period. Implant survival and biological complications were recorded. Descriptive statistics were applied. An exploratory event-based comparison between augmented and non-augmented implants was performed using Fisher’s exact test, and risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results: At 1 year, no patients were lost to follow-up. Two implant failures occurred, both in augmented sites (2/148; 1.35%), while no failures were observed among non-augmented implants (0/105). The exploratory comparison did not show a statistically significant difference in failure rates between groups (p = 0.51). The estimated RR for implant failure associated with horizontal augmentation was 3.56 (95% CI: 0.17–73.34). Two biological complications (one peri-implantitis and one peri-implant mucositis) were recorded, both involving augmented implants. Conclusions: Within the limitations of this retrospective case series, immediately loaded implants placed in sites with buccal dehiscence and treated with horizontal bone augmentation demonstrated high early survival rates and a low incidence of biological complications. These findings are descriptive and exploratory and should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating. Further prospective controlled studies with longer follow-up are needed to confirm these observations. Full article

Background: Electrocardiography (ECG), particularly the 12-lead configuration, is a crucial method for identifying heart rhythm abnormalities. However, its effectiveness can be reduced by noise contamination. State-of-the-art denoising methods based on neural networks have demonstrated promising performance in denoising complex biosignals like ECG. However, most of these methods have focused on denoising single-lead ECG recordings. Methods: This research aims to leverage the inherent correlation among multi-lead ECG signals. Therefore, a multi-lead convolutional denoising autoencoder (ML-CDAE) model is proposed, to learn more effective representations, leading simultaneously to improved denoising performance and enhanced quality of 12-lead ECG recordings. Results: The findings indicate that ML-CDAE consistently outperforms a single-lead convolutional denoising autoencoder (SL-CDAE) and fully convolutional denoising autoencoder (FCN-DAE) model in denoising ECG signals corrupted by a mixture of physical noises. In particular, the mean squared error ($\mathrm{MSE}$) and signal-to-noise ratio improvement (${\mathrm{SNR}}_{\mathrm{imp}}$) are used as evaluation metrics to assess the performance. Conclusions: The strong correlation among multi-lead ECG signals can be leveraged not only to enhance the denoising performance of the ML-CDAE model but also to simultaneously denoise 12-lead ECG signals more successfully compared to both the SL-CDAE and FCN-DAE models. Full article

Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), with their high aspect ratio, have been widely used in various resin-based composites. To address the issues of easy agglomeration and poor interfacial compatibility of CNFs in hydrophobic acrylate photosensitive resins, this study adopted γ-methacryloyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH570) for silane modification of CNFs, comparing heating–ultrasonication and heating–stirring methods. Mechanical properties were tested via LCD 3D printer to print splines. FTIR, XRD, and SEM verified successful modification, with the silicon substitution degree of heating–ultrasonication modification reaching 29.35%, significantly higher than heating–stirring (22.76%). Thermal analysis showed the main decomposition temperature increased from 400 °C to 420 °C, while DMA confirmed improved rigidity and glass transition temperature. Mechanical tests revealed a strength–toughness trade-off: the 1 wt% modified CNF composite exhibited a tensile strength of 45.17 MPa (9.41 MPa higher than unmodified CNFs at the same dosage), while a high dosage (3.5 wt%) enhanced toughness but reduced strength. The ultrasound-assisted silanization reaction proposed in this study optimizes the preparation process, achieving dual improvements in modification efficiency and dispersion. In terms of performance regulation, it reveals the quantitative control rules and trade-off characteristics of modified CNF content on the mechanical–thermal properties of the composites, providing a basis for performance customization. This study provides a feasible strategy for CNF modification in photopolymerizable 3D printing composites, expanding nanocellulose’s application in additive manufacturing. Full article

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are widely applied in spacecraft structural design, thermal protection systems, and planetary landing mechanisms, benefiting from their ability to resist large thermal, pressure, and force gradients. To assess structural response behaviors for lander missions, docking maneuvers, and force transfer in layered aerospace structures, analyzing the contacts subjected to heavily stressed areas becomes very important. This article investigates the receding contact between a functionally graded top layer and a uniform substrate lying on a Winkler elastic foundation using the elasticity theory. An analytical approach has been validated using a finite element method (FEM) implemented in ANSYS. Comparison between the analytical solution and the FEM solution has been conducted for different stamp radii, elastic foundation stiffnesses, and ratios of shearing modulus for various realistic materials in the aerospace field. The data indicate very good convergence between the two solutions for both the length of contacts and the normal stress distribution, where differences are always below 3%. An increase in stamp radius leads to an extension of the contacts as well as a reduction in normal stresses and elevated stiffness and shearing modulus ratio contribute to smaller contacts and higher stresses. The validated methodological approach offers a realistic means for predicting force transfer mechanisms in spacecraft landing pads, multi-layer insulation panels, adaptive space structures, and functionally graded parts subjected to localized loads. This work offers predictive capabilities for space material interface design and optimization for harsh mechanical environments. Full article

Single image super-resolution (SISR) is a classical computer vision task that aims to reconstruct a high-resolution image from a low-resolution input, thereby improving detail sharpness and visual quality. In recent years, convolutional neural network (CNN)-based methods and transformer-based methods using self-attention mechanisms have achieved significant progress in visible-image super-resolution. However, the direct application of these two types of methods to infrared images still poses considerable challenges. On the one hand, infrared images generally suffer from low signal-to-noise ratio, blurred edges, and missing details, and relying only on local convolutions makes it difficult to adequately model long-range dependencies across regions. On the other hand, although pure transformer models have a strong global modeling ability, they usually have large numbers of parameters and are sensitive to the amount of training data, making it difficult to balance efficiency and detail restoration in infrared imaging scenarios. To address these issues, we propose a hybrid neural network architecture for infrared image super-resolution reconstruction, termed RDSR (Residual Dual-branch Separable Super-Resolution Network), which organically integrates multi-scale depthwise separable convolutions with shifted-window self-attention. Specifically, we design a dual-branch spatial interaction module (BDSI, Dual-Branch Spatial Interaction) and a multi-scale separable spatial aggregation module (MSSA, Multi-Scale Separable Spatial Aggregation). The BDSI module models correlations along rows and columns through grouped convolutions in the horizontal and vertical directions, effectively strengthening the spatial information interaction between the convolution branch and the self-attention branch. The MSSA module replaces the conventional MLP with three parallel depthwise separable convolution branches, improving the feature representation and nonlinear modeling through multi-scale spatial aggregation and a star-shaped gating operation. The experimental results on multiple public infrared image datasets show that for $\times 2$ and $\times 4$ upscaling, the proposed RDSR achieves higher PSNR and SSIM values than CNN-based methods such as EDSR, RCAN, and RDN, as well as transformer-based methods such as SwinIR, DAT, and HAT, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed modules and the overall framework. Full article

Background: Immune-mediated cholangitis (IMC) is a rare complication of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy, and its clinical characteristics and prognostic implications remain unclear. This study aimed to clarify the characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of IMC compared with non-cholangitis cases of immune-mediated hepatotoxicity (IMH). Methods: In this single-center retrospective study, 1332 patients who received ICIs between 2014 and 2023 were analyzed. IMH was diagnosed based on liver enzyme elevation and exclusion of other liver diseases, while IMC was identified through characteristic imaging findings. Baseline factors, clinical presentations, treatment responses, and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. Multivariate analysis identified IMC risk and IMH prognostic factors. Results: Among the cohort, 81 (6.1%) patients had IMH, including 10 (0.8%) with IMC. Baseline eosinophil count > 270/μL (odds ratio [OR] 10.33, p = 0.004) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels > 0.8 mg/dL (OR 6.260, p = 0.027) were independent predictors of IMC. IMC was associated with delayed onset, cholestatic liver injury, abdominal pain, and neutrophil-predominant inflammation. In prognostic analysis, IMC was not associated with OS. However, cholestatic liver injury (hazard ratio [HR] 2.318, p = 0.023) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) ≥ 4.0 (HR 3.622, p = 0.001) were independent predictors of poor OS. Bile duct imaging abnormalities before or after onset were common in patients with treatment-resistant IMC. Conclusions: Baseline eosinophil count and CRP may help predict IMC. While IMC was not a prognostic factor, cholestatic injury and high NLR were associated with worse outcomes. IMC exhibits distinct clinical features, and radiologic findings may support earlier diagnosis and management. Full article