Search Results (50,886)

T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) is a symbiotic recurrent nova that is approaching its next thermonuclear eruption after a long super-active accretion state and a pre-eruption dip state. Flickering has been observed in T CrB for decades, but its amplitude in the red-optical TESS band and its dependence on accretion state have not yet been characterized using a homogeneous set of short-cadence space photometry. We analyze TESS Science Processing Operations Center light curves of T CrB obtained in Sectors 24, 25, 51, and 78. The primary measurements use the 120 s PDCSAP_FLUX products; agreement with independently detrended SAP_FLUX, 20 s products, and target-pixel checks demonstrates that the rapid signal is not created by Presearch Data Conditioning (PDC) processing or aperture contamination. After normalizing each light curve by its median flux, we remove slow sector-scale variability with a 0.5 d segment-wise smooth trend and measure the excess fractional rms variability, binned rms amplitudes, residual distributions, and power spectral densities. TESS detects millimagnitude-level stochastic variability in all four sectors. The total-light excess fractional rms values are ${0.273}_{-0.014}^{+0.013}$, ${0.276}_{-0.010}^{+0.010}$, ${0.318}_{-0.012}^{+0.013}$, and ${0.215}_{-0.017}^{+0.013}$ per cent in Sectors 24, 25, 51, and 78, respectively, equivalent to 2.96, 3.00, 3.45, and 2.33 mmag. The power spectral densities are red-noise-like, with slopes from $\alpha =-1.56\pm 0.09$ to $-1.19\pm 0.08$ over $5<f<120{\mathrm{d}}^{-1}$. The largest TESS-band flickering amplitude occurs in Sector 51, while the lowest occurs in Sector 78, observed in May 2024 after the end of the 2015–2023 super-active state and after the main pre-eruption dip. The persistence of flickering in Sector 78 shows that rapidly variable accretion continued, but the reduced amplitude indicates that the red-optical variable component was weaker, more diluted by the red giant, or geometrically altered. Because the TESS passband is dominated by the cool giant, the intrinsic fractional variability of the accretion component must be larger than the observed total-light values. Full article

Microplastics (MPs) pollution caused by agricultural film residues, organic fertilizer application, sewage irrigation, and atmospheric deposition has gradually become an unignorable interference factor to the sustainable development of the rhizosphere soil and crop in farmland. However, their specific impacts on the rhizosphere and crops remain unclear. Therefore, this review focuses on the current knowledge on the response mechanisms of rhizosphere soil and crops to MP contamination. The density of MPs is generally lower than that of soil mineral particles. Their substantial accumulation in soil can significantly reduce both the bulk density (by increasing total porosity) and the particle density (by diluting the heavy solid phase with light plastic components). The introduction of MPs disrupts the normal metabolism of soil bacterial communities; a disruption directly reflected in functional genes associated with carbon cycling. MPs can interfere with the activity of key metabolic enzymes involved in fungal nutrient cycling, thereby disrupting normal energy allocation and material metabolism. Viruses can regulate the turnover and metabolism of microbial communities through lytic and lysogenic cycles, consequently influencing the carbon fate of MPs. The toxicity and underlying mechanisms of MPs on soil fauna primarily manifest in aspects such as feeding behavior, growth and development, oxidative stress, intestinal toxicity, and reproductive toxicity. The direct effects of MPs on plants include physical barriers and mechanical damage, induction of oxidative stress, interference with nutrient uptake, disruption of photosynthesis and carbon metabolism, and disruption of plant hormone networks. This review identifies critical knowledge gaps, particularly regarding crop quality, field-based soil faunal studies, virus-microbe interactions, and degradation products, and proposes future research directions to better understand the risks MPs pose to agricultural sustainability and food safety. Full article

Carbon pricing can change manufacturers’ material choices, while the costs of managing the residual waste remain geographically uneven. We formulate a manufacturer–regulator bilevel model for a household plastic-waste closed-loop supply chain with quantity-dependent recycled-bale prices, activity-specific carbon accounts, physical interregional waste routing, and a proportional regional cost-burden standard. The lower level is explicitly a single coordinating-regulator linear program rather than a game among independent regions. Its primal constraints, dual constraints, and strong-duality equality are embedded in the manufacturer problem; binary-continuous products are exactly linearized using the manufacturer’s SOS1 price-grid variables. Thus, every reported policy point is obtained from the same 12-region mixed-integer equilibrium formulation. Across 36 central policy combinations, HiGHS reports a zero mixed-integer programming gap, and the largest feasibility and optimality residual is 5.24 × 10⁻⁸. Raising the carbon tax from 0 to 10 USD/tCO₂ increases the real recycling rate (RRR) from 15.33% to the bale-capacity limit of 29.85% and reduces physical emissions by 11.64%. Tightening the allowed regional burden deviation from 25% to 5% reduces the standard deviation of normalized residual-waste cost burden by 77.89% and interregional residual-waste transfers by 77.05%, but does not change the RRR. This zero-recycling effect overturns the earlier assumption-driven result: a pure routing-based cost-balancing rule cannot mechanically stimulate the manufacturer’s recycled-input demand. A global analysis of 300 parameter sets and five independent regional samples re-solves 1800 equilibrium models; all have a zero solver gap and pass the residual audit. Carbon-induced RRR increases have a median of 17.03 percentage points, while strict-versus-loose burden-threshold changes in RRR are zero in every set. The results distinguish carbon efficiency, regional cost incidence, and fiscal incidence and show that policy complementarity must be demonstrated through endogenous decision links rather than imposed response functions. Full article

Accommodation establishments constitute a core component of tourism infrastructure, and their location choices directly affect water resource utilization, land pressure, and the spatial equilibrium of tourism development—issues that are particularly acute in vast arid regions. Yet the spatial organization of accommodation supply across extensive drylands characterized by fragmented oasis distribution, and the reasons why standard and non-standard accommodation follow divergent location logics, remain poorly understood. This study addresses three questions: (1) How are nine accommodation categories, differentiated by type and quality, distributed across Xinjiang? (2) Do directional spatial associations exist among categories that are consistent with hierarchical, path-dependent development? (3) Which factors drive these patterns, and do their effects exhibit the nonlinearity and threshold behavior predicted by location theory? Drawing on 12,073 accommodation establishments from the Ctrip platform, we construct a staged analytical framework in which each technique answers a specific question: the nearest-neighbor index and standard deviational ellipse characterize global patterns; kernel density estimation and OPTICS clustering identify local agglomerations; directional local co-location quotients measure asymmetric spatial associations; and XGBoost–SHAP isolates nonlinear drivers and threshold effects. Results reveal a highly concentrated “single-core, multi-center” structure anchored by Urumqi, Yining, and Kashgar, with rapid expansion toward the Ili Valley, Kashgar, and Altay since 2019. Standard accommodation tracks urban centrality and transport nodes, while non-standard accommodation tracks tourism resource endowments, consistent with location-theoretic expectations. Directional co-location analysis reveals hierarchical spatial associations among categories, and driving factors exhibit pronounced nonlinear threshold effects. From a sustainability perspective, the identified thresholds—elevation (1360 m), water-body proximity, and distance to rural tourism demonstration sites (3 km)—constitute quantifiable, spatially explicit sustainability indicators that can be incorporated into planning tools to monitor and steer accommodation development away from ecologically sensitive zones. Global Moran’s I diagnostics of model residuals (reduction of 83–99.7%) suggest that these findings are unlikely to be artifacts of spatial autocorrelation; this diagnostic, however, complements rather than replaces spatially blocked validation. The study contributes category-differentiated, spatially directed evidence for policies balancing tourism expansion against water security and ecosystem integrity, serving sustainable tourism development in arid-region destinations. Full article

Autonomous drifting requires coordinated steering and driving actuation near the tire friction limit, where strong tire nonlinearity and rapidly changing constraints challenge control accuracy and real-time solvability. This article proposes an equilibrium-free successive convexification (SCvx) nonlinear model predictive control framework for drift tracking under constant and varying curvature conditions. The front steering angle and rear-axle longitudinal force are optimized jointly subject to actuator, state, and tire-force constraints. A physics-guided MLP residual tire model is introduced to improve rear-tire-force prediction. Online reference generation determines the heading error, yaw rate, and rear longitudinal force targets from path curvature, lateral error, sideslip variation, and rear slip ratio error, eliminating the need for precomputed drift equilibria. SCvx converts the nonlinear predictive control problem into convex subproblems using virtual control, slack variables, and trust regions. Hardware-in-the-loop experiments confirm stable actuator coordination under both test conditions. Under varying curvature drifting, the proposed method reduces lateral error, velocity error, and yaw rate error by 39.2%, 53.7%, and 24.9%, respectively, compared with the Fiala tire model using the same solver. The results demonstrate improved tracking accuracy and numerical robustness for constrained autonomous drift control. Full article

In alkaline soils rich in residual phosphorus, phosphorus availability to plants depends not only on the existing reserve, but also on the redistribution of the extractable fraction within the root-explored zone. This study evaluated the effects of water regime, fertilizer treatment, and wheat presence on the distribution of ammonium lactate-extractable phosphorus (P-AL) within the 2–8 cm layer of an alkaline calcareous Chernozem with high initial P availability (P-AL = 178.1 mg kg⁻¹). The pot experiment compared plant-free soil (S0) and wheat-planted soil (SP), four water regimes (H0–H150; 0–150 L m⁻²), and four fertilization treatments: an unfertilized control (F0), a solid NPK fertilizer (FS), and a liquid NP fertilizer applied at low and high rates (FL1 and FL2). These treatments represented practical fertilization options and were not equivalent in P input, supplying 51.8, 13.9, and 27.9 mg P pot⁻¹ for FS, FL1, and FL2, respectively. Soil and plant samples were collected at BBCH 21–22, 20 days after fertilization. Water regime was a major factor shaping P-AL redistribution, significantly affecting P-AL at all three analyzed soil depths (p < 0.001), with its effect depending on vegetation condition and fertilization treatment. Wheat presence reduced P-AL relative to S0, and apparent P-AL depletion (ΔP-AL = S0 − SP) was greatest under H0, ranging from 83 to 99 mg kg⁻¹. FL2 produced the largest S0–SP contrasts under H0–H100, whereas under H150 the largest difference was associated with FS. Under high water input, the higher-input solid NPK treatment (FS), which supplied the largest P input and was the only treatment supplying K, was associated with the highest shoot biomass (16.7 g), root biomass (6.92 g), and root P accumulation (25.2 mg pot⁻¹). The results indicate that P fertilization in high-P alkaline soils should be adapted to water regime, fertilizer input and application method, without allowing for direct conclusions regarding phosphorus use efficiency, total plant P uptake, or leaching losses. Full article

Achieving sustainable transport requires not only reducing aggregate emissions but also avoiding the concentration of emission burdens and transition costs in less-developed regions. Transport carbon-emission inequality therefore captures a distributional dimension of environmental and social sustainability. Using city-level transport emissions and population data for 31 mainland Chinese provincial-level regions from 2005 to 2024, this study develops an integrated framework for measuring and monitoring this inequality. Population-weighted within-province Gini coefficients and Theil T indices are combined with a modified-gravity interprovincial network, annual network analysis, CONCOR and core–periphery analysis, two-way fixed effects, and leakage-safe machine learning. The mean provincial Gini declined from 0.311 in 2005 to 0.287 in 2024, but inequality remained higher in the northwest and southwest and lower along the eastern coast. Full-network weight increased from 61.275 to 3336.040, retained directed edges increased from 174 to 217, and reciprocity rose from 0.471 to 0.571, indicating stronger interprovincial embeddedness and a greater need for coordinated governance. Population density was negatively associated with inequality across several specifications, although wild-cluster bootstrap inference did not confirm uniform significance. Under zero province-pair overlap, LightGBM achieved R² = 0.241 with distance and 0.121 without distance; residual machine learning added no stable predictive information beyond the gravity benchmark. These findings contribute to sustainability research by quantifying the distributional fairness of transport decarbonization, providing a reproducible monitoring tool for identifying regional sustainability risks, and supporting differentiated mitigation responsibilities, sustainable transport infrastructure, and cross-provincial coordination. Full article

Magnesium oxychloride (MOA) adhesive plywood represents a novel inorganic matrix panel technology that eliminates organic volatile compounds from the adhesive system and avoids high-temperature hot pressing, potentially offering significant carbon footprint advantages. This study presents a comparative life cycle carbon footprint assessment of conventional urea–formaldehyde (UF) plywood and MOA plywood manufactured in China, using 1 m³ of a finished panel as the functional unit under a cradle-to-grave system boundary, comprising the production stage (Modules A1–A3)—explicitly including forestry operations (silviculture, felling, extraction/forwarding, loading and log haulage) and veneer manufacture within Module A1, now reported as a disaggregated inventory and delimited in a system boundary diagram—and the end-of-life stage (Modules C2–C4), evaluated across three end-of-life (EOL) scenarios: incineration, landfill, and mechanical recycling. Foreground data (process energy, adhesive formulation, transport distances) are metered/primary data collected over a full production year at a single large-scale plywood plant in Suqian, Jiangsu; background data are from ecoinvent v3.9.1 (cut-off), characterised with IPCC AR6 GWP100. Results indicate that MOA plywood generates approximately 253 kg CO₂-e/m³ at the production stage (A1–A3), compared with 301 kg CO₂-e/m³ for UF plywood, a reduction of 15.8% (47.5 kg CO₂-e/m³). Contribution analysis attributes virtually the entire gap to process energy (steam 65.7%, electricity 34.3%), while adhesive raw materials and inbound transport cancel to within rounding, demonstrating that the advantage is a process energy rather than a green chemistry phenomenon. A parameter-specific one-at-a-time analysis and a 200,000-run Monte Carlo simulation with triangular distributions show no reversal of the UF–MOA ranking in any of the 200,000 realisations within the adopted uncertainty ranges, with an approximately 56 kg CO₂-e/m³ median advantage (5th–95th percentile of about 31–85). Under EOL incineration, MOA plywood retains a substantial advantage even after the newly quantified burden of flue gas HCl neutralisation (13.3 kg CO₂-e/m³) and inorganic residue management (0.9 kg CO₂-e/m³) arising from the chloride content of the Sorel cement binder are charged to the MOA system. Under landfill, both products behave similarly, as wood carbon dynamics dominate. A break-even analysis shows that the service life of MOA plywood would have to fall below 25.3 years (against a 30-year reference) for its cradle-to-gate advantage to be erased. These findings clarify the lifecycle trade-offs of inorganic adhesive plywood and provide actionable data for environmental product declarations and procurement frameworks. Full article

Maritime ship detection remains challenging because of large scale variations, high inter-class visual similarity, weak target boundaries, and complex maritime backgrounds. This study proposes MCSwin-YOLOv8, an enhanced YOLOv8-based detector that combines three complementary architectural designs. First, a re-parameterizable multi-scale convolutional backbone, named RepMCSwin, is introduced to extract scale-aware semantic information and fine-grained boundary cues. Unlike the standard Swin Transformer, the MCSwin block does not use window-based self-attention but adopts cascaded multi-scale convolutions and residual feature transformation. Second, a Multi-Feature Parallel Convolutional Block Attention Module (MFPCBAM) is developed to compute channel and spatial attention in parallel, thereby preserving weak ship features while suppressing irrelevant background responses. Third, a Modified Generalized Feature Pyramid Network (MGFPN) is constructed to improve cross-level feature interaction and retain high-resolution spatial information through an additional 160 × 160 prediction branch. Experiments were conducted on the public SeaShips dataset and a private infrared maritime ship dataset. MCSwin-YOLOv8 achieved an F1-score of 94.4%, mAP@0.5 of 97.4%, and mAP@0.5:0.95 of 75.1% on SeaShips. On the infrared dataset, the corresponding results were 91.2%, 94.1%, and 66.9%, respectively. Compared with the YOLOv8 baseline, mAP@0.5 increased by 1.4 and 3.0 percentage points on the two datasets. These accuracy gains were accompanied by an increase in model complexity from 11.12 M to 19.29 M parameters and from 28.5 G to 56.7 G FLOPs, indicating an accuracy–complexity trade-off that requires further runtime evaluation. Full article

The determination of pesticide residues in citrus fruits remains analytically challenging due to their high acidity and complex chemical compositions, which can compromise extraction efficiency and promote significant matrix effects, particularly for acidic compounds. In this study, an acidified acetonitrile-based QuEChERS method was developed and validated for the multiresidue determination of 136 pesticides in Tahiti lime (Citrus latifolia) using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS). The proposed approach employs 1% formic acid in acetonitrile and omits the conventional clean-up step, aiming to improve analyte recovery and analytical throughput. Method validation was performed according to SANTE guidelines, demonstrating satisfactory linearity (R² ≥ 0.99 for all analytes), limits of quantification of 0.01 mg kg⁻¹, and recoveries within 70–120%, with relative standard deviations ≤ 20% for the vast majority of compounds. Notably, the method achieved consistent and reliable performance for 12 acidic pesticides, which are typically problematic in conventional QuEChERS approaches. Application to 22 real samples revealed the presence of 14 pesticide residues, with some compounds exceeding European Union (EU) maximum residue limits. The proposed method provides a simple, efficient, and robust alternative for comprehensive pesticide monitoring in citrus fruits, with particular advantages for the determination of acidic compounds in highly complex matrices. Full article

In this study, laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) 022Cr17Ni12Mo2 steel plates with dimensions of 50 mm × 50 mm × 2 mm were fabricated using a laser power of 206 W, a scanning speed of 900 mm/s, a hatch spacing of 90 μm, a layer thickness of 30 μm, and an interlayer scanning rotation of 67°. The specimens were then subjected to solution treatment at 900–1100 °C for 30 min and at 950 °C for 30–120 min. Unlike previous ultrasonic studies on additively manufactured metals, which mainly focused on defect detection, elastic-constant characterization, or residual stress evaluation, this work investigates whether solution-treatment-induced changes in grain size and dislocation density can be quantitatively reflected by laser-ultrasonic attenuation and further correlated with yield strength. Laser ultrasonic nondestructive testing using a 1064 nm pulsed laser with a pulse width of 8 ns and a pulse energy of 500 mJ was combined with metallographic observation, EBSD characterization, XRD analysis, tensile testing, and microhardness measurement. The results show that the solution-treated samples retained a single-phase γ-austenitic structure, while microstructural recovery, weakening of PBF-LB-induced cellular substructures, and partial annihilation of cell-wall dislocations led to a reduction in KAM-derived dislocation density from 2.04 × 10¹⁴ m⁻² to 1.45 × 10¹⁴ m⁻² and a decrease in yield strength from 466.9 MPa to 407.4 MPa. Within the present dataset, the EBSD-equivalent grain size showed an apparent positive correlation with ultrasonic attenuation, while the KAM-derived dislocation density showed an empirical negative correlation with ultrasonic attenuation. However, ultrasonic attenuation should be interpreted as a combined microstructure-sensitive response rather than as a response controlled only by EBSD-equivalent grain size or dislocation density. Based on the empirical correlations among ultrasonic attenuation, EBSD-equivalent grain size, KAM-derived dislocation density, and yield strength, a preliminary attenuation-based calibration model was established for the present solution-treated samples. The model should be regarded as an in-sample empirical calibration within the present experimental range rather than a general Hall–Petch-based predictive model. The model showed good in-sample fitting performance, with (R²) values higher than 0.85 and a maximum in-sample fitting error of 3.85%. However, because the model was established and assessed using the same eight solution-treatment conditions, it should be regarded as a preliminary calibration model within the present experimental range rather than a general predictive model. This study demonstrates the potential of laser ultrasonic attenuation for non-contact evaluation of microstructural and mechanical-property variations in solution-treated PBF-LB 022Cr17Ni12Mo2 steel. Full article

Background: Accurate assessment of axillary lymph node (ALN) status after neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) remains essential for surgical planning in patients with initially node-positive breast cancer. This study evaluated the potential value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in conjunction with sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for post-NAT axillary assessment and explored clinicopathologic factors associated with lymph node (LN) status. Methods: In this retrospective study, 179 patients with cytologically confirmed node-positive breast cancer underwent CEUS after NAT, followed by surgical pathological evaluation. The observed false-negative rate (FNR) of post-NAT CEUS combined with SLNB was compared with that of SLNB alone and post-NAT ultrasound (US) combined with SLNB. Univariable and multivariable generalized estimating equation (GEE) analyses were performed to identify factors associated with LN-level outcomes. Results: A total of 213 sentinel lymph nodes were analyzed. CEUS combined with SLNB had an observed FNR of 13.25% (95% CI, 7.56–22.19%), which was numerically lower than the FNRs of SLNB alone and US combined with SLNB. HER2 status, hormone receptor status, breast pathological response after NAT, and CEUS findings were significantly associated with nodal status in the univariable GEE model. Exploratory multivariable GEE analyses identified pre-NAT HER2 positivity as an independent protective factor for false-negative LN outcomes, whereas pre-NAT ER status and residual invasive carcinoma were independently associated with CEUS-negative/SLNB-positive nodal status. The exploratory models showed high apparent discrimination, with AUCs of 0.941 (95% CI, 0.890–0.991) and 0.917 (95% CI, 0.866–0.968). Conclusions: In this single-center retrospective cohort, the addition of post-NAT CEUS to SLNB was associated with a lower observed FNR than SLNB alone. These findings support the potential role of CEUS as a complementary tool for post-NAT axillary assessment but require prospective studies with external validation. Full article

Sustainable agriculture is critical to sustainable development and climate resilience, yet evidence of its multidimensional environmental, social and economic benefits and trade-offs remains limited, especially in regions most vulnerable to climate change. This study addresses this gap in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta (MKD), where decades of intensive rice farming has bolstered rice yields at the expense of environmental quality and farmers’ health. This study presents a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) comparing organic rice (OR) and conventional rice (CR) farming systems in the MKD. We applied a weighted sum model to evaluate the environmental, social and economic performance of the two production systems. The assessment drew on quantitative and qualitative primary data collected through stakeholder engagements and field measurements from Vinh Long province between 2023 and 2025, as part of the OrganoRice project. Overall, OR farming performed cumulatively better (0.663 and 0.695) than CR farming (0.496 and 0.484). OR scores were higher across most sub-criteria, particularly “farmers’ income” and “biodiversity”. However, CR outperformed OR for “rice yield” and “farmers’ workload”. Comparable water and soil quality scores, due to the presence of pesticide residues in both systems, suggest that the environmental performance of OR farming was likely dampened due to cross-contamination from surrounding or upstream non-organic farms. The expansion of OR farming in the MKD has the potential to enhance environmental, social and economic performance of rice production in the region. However, in order to achieve the full scope of these benefits, short-term measures should aim to reduce the financial risks of conversion for farmers, ensure access to affordable organic inputs, increase farmer training, ensure reliable premium contracts for rice producers and support them in accessing organic markets. Longer-term measures must improve irrigation water management and infrastructure to minimise cross-contamination risks. Coordinated marketing campaigns are needed to develop a trusted regional brand for organic rice from the MKD to create new opportunities in international and domestic markets. Moreover, long-term monitoring of post-transition outcomes is important to capture the full impacts of conversion. As OR cultivation continues to expand across the MKD, evidence on its benefits and trade-offs is essential to guide this transition effectively. This study provides that evidence, offering a context-specific, multidimensional evaluation to inform OR policy and practice in the region. Full article

Background/Objectives: Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a genetically determined, largely stable risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and guidelines recommend at least one measurement during adulthood. Whether intra-individual change in Lp(a) between repeated measurements carries prognostic information beyond static risk categories in routine practice is uncertain. Methods: In a multicenter retrospective cohort from three South Korean tertiary hospitals, we studied adults with two Lp(a) measurements at least 90 days apart (2019–2024; n = 13,914). High variability was defined as an absolute change > 10 mg/dL combined with a relative change > 25%. The primary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), analyzed with Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for clinical covariates including baseline and follow-up Lp(a) risk categories. Results: Despite a strong rank correlation between measurements (Spearman’s ρ = 0.92), 2156 patients (15.5%) showed high variability. MACE occurred more frequently in the high-variability group (6.8% vs. 4.2%, p < 0.001), and high variability remained independently associated with MACE (adjusted hazard ratio 1.46, 95% CI 1.18–1.80). The association was consistent across multiple sensitivity analyses, persisted after excluding heart-failure hospitalization from MACE (HR 1.41), and was present for both increases and decreases in Lp(a). Incremental discrimination over a base model was modest, though statistically significant (ΔC-statistic 0.006, 95% CI 0.001–0.012; continuous net reclassification index 0.090, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Intra-individual change in Lp(a) between two measurements is independently associated with cardiovascular outcomes but provides only modest incremental discrimination. These hypothesis-generating findings require prospective validation before they can inform repeat-testing strategies. Full article

Protein–ligand interactions are fundamental to physiological processes and drug discovery. Based on the types of information on protein–ligand interactions provided by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments, these NMR experiments can be categorized into three distinct classes: (i) molecular-level qualitative binding detection, (ii) residue-level mapping of binding interfaces, and (iii) atomic-level structure determination and conformational dynamics of protein–ligand complexes. This hierarchy enables a workflow that accelerates the progression from initial binding identification to structural and dynamic characterization. In this review, we discuss how these experiments characterize molecular recognition. Notably, the term “ligand” in this article refers exclusively to small molecules. Full article