Search Results (2,855)

Background/Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of neurological symptoms and findings in patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) and to evaluate their relationship with disease activity. Methods: A total of 86 patients diagnosed with AS underwent a structured neurological examination including assessment of mental status, cranial nerves, motor system, deep tendon reflexes, pathological reflexes, and cerebellar/extrapyramidal functions. Sensory deficits and motor weakness were recorded. Orthostatic hypotension was evaluated as a clinical marker of autonomic involvement. Insomnia symptoms and neuropathic pain features were assessed clinically. Disease activity was quantified using the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI). Associations between neurological findings, BASDAI scores, and inflammatory parameters were analyzed. Results: Motor weakness was observed in 5% of patients. Sensory deficits were present in 31% and orthostatic hypotension in 23% of patients. Insomnia symptoms were reported by 51% and neuropathic pain features by 53% of participants. A highly significant association was found between insomnia and neuropathic pain (p < 0.001). BASDAI scores were significantly higher in patients with insomnia, orthostatic hypotension, and sensory deficits (p = 0.004, p = 0.014, and p < 0.001, respectively). No significant association was observed between Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor therapy and sensory deficits, and no significant correlation was demonstrated between neurological findings and C-reactive protein/Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate values (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Neurological symptoms are common in AS and are associated with higher disease activity, without parallel changes in inflammatory markers such as CRP and ESR. Systematic evaluation of these symptoms may facilitate earlier identification of subgroups with a higher disease burden and inform individualized follow-up and management strategies. Full article

(1) Background: Flavored craft beer is favored for its diverse and distinctive aroma compounds; however, traditional fermentation processes are often plagued by poor yeast flocculation, which leads to substantial beer losses and compromised production efficiency. Yeast immobilization technology has emerged as a promising strategy to improve fermentation performance, shorten the primary fermentation period, and mitigate beer loss. (2) Methods: In this study, a natural material–based carrier was developed for the immobilization of yeast, and its application in mango craft beer fermentation was systematically investigated. The optimal fermentation conditions were screened, and the physicochemical properties, nutritional composition, and volatile flavor profiles of the resulting mango craft beer were comprehensively evaluated. (3) Results: The results showed that the maximum mass gain of yeast after immobilization on the natural carrier reached 13.3%. Compared with free yeast, the immobilized yeast exhibited a 1.58-fold higher average extract consumption rate and a 1.39-fold higher alcohol production rate based on the overall fermentation system, while the primary fermentation period was shortened by approximately 33%. Under the optimized fermentation conditions, the mango craft beer achieved a sensory score of 81 points, with a β-carotene retention rate of 91.25%. Furthermore, the mango craft beer exhibited a more diverse profile of volatile flavor compounds and enhanced nutritional composition compared with the control. (4) Conclusions: Overall, fermentation conditions were optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based on Box–Behnken Design (BBD). Natural immobilization carrier developed in this study effectively enhanced yeast fermentation efficiency and shortened the primary fermentation cycle, and these findings demonstrate its significant potential for cost reduction and efficiency enhancement in the production of flavored craft beer, providing a practical technical support for the industrial application of natural carrier-based yeast immobilization technology. Full article

Water kefir production requires the fermentation of sweetened water with polysaccharide starter culture embedded with bacteria and yeast, which determines the finished product’s sensory, microbial, and chemical profile. The culture self-propagates, producing a new culture biomass used to inoculate subsequent raw materials. This study evaluated the effect of sequential culture transfers (across batches) and prolonged storage (within batches) on the microbial and chemical composition of finished beverages. Six commercial cultures were used in 20 sequential fermentations. The beverages were analyzed immediately after fermentation and then were stored at 4 °C for analysis every 2 weeks for 12 weeks. Microbial populations, including aerobic plate count (APC), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), acetic acid bacteria (AAB), and yeast, were enumerated; major organic acids, sugars, and alcohols were quantified chromatographically. Sequential culture transfers and storage resulted in minimal microbial and chemical component changes. The initial microbial counts were similar across brewing cycles and culture systems with high counts of LAB. The culture transfers resulted in a decrease in initial ethanol levels to a negligible level. Microbial viability and sucrose content decreased with prolonged beverage storage. Overall, this study revealed that water kefir cultures were resistant to temporal changes and beverages’ microbial and chemical constituents were statistically stable (p > 0.05) during refrigeration. Full article

Humans rely heavily on vision for information-gathering, decision-making, and communication, making it difficult to imagine how our perception of the world might change if our primary sensory modality were entirely different. Dogs (Canis familiaris), for instance, rely as much or more on olfaction as on vision in information-gathering. Nonetheless, canine cognition research has largely emphasized visual tasks. In the present study (N = 48 dogs) we aim to begin to remedy this by designing an olfactory version of a prototypical dog-cognition experimental design: the object choice test. In the standard design, subjects respond to an experimenter’s pointing gesture to choose between two overturned cups, one of which is baited with a food treat. We extended this paradigm by adding trials using an “olfactory point” in place of the visual gesture. In these trials, two cotton strings extended from the cups toward the subject and converged in front of the subject. The string leading to the baited cup was scented with either the odor of the treat or the subject’s owner, while the string leading to the non-baited cup remained unscented as a control. Subjects followed both visual and olfactory points at rates significantly above chance. These findings suggest that dogs can use experimentally presented olfactory cues to guide choice behavior, supporting the development of experimental designs that better reflect species-specific sensory systems. Full article

Providing reliable sensory feedback is one of the most challenging aspects of transfemoral prosthetics, motivating the development of intuitive vibrotactile interfaces capable of conveying information about limb position in real-time. The aim of this study was to develop a vibrotactile feedback prototype and examine which interstimulus intervals (ISIs) and vibration waveforms might best enhance recognition of sequential tactile patterns. The results will be used to inform the development of a prototype to be tested on participants with transfemoral amputation where prosthetic feedback is provided. A forearm-mounted six-actuator feedback system, encoding eight lower-limb configurations, was used in two experiments with healthy adults. Experiment 1 assessed recognition accuracy across ISIs from 10 to 110 ms, while Experiment 2 compared sinusoidal and square waveforms under matched conditions. Recognition accuracy was high across all tested conditions, with no significant effects of ISI (p = 0.79) or waveform type (p = 0.17). These results indicate that participants were able to interpret spatially distributed vibrotactile patterns even under rapid temporal sequencing and with differing signal shapes. The system therefore offers design flexibility for real-time prosthetic feedback, suggesting that fast update rates may be achievable without a statistically detectable reduction in perceptual clarity within the tested conditions. These findings provide practical guidance for developing robust, user-friendly sensory substitution systems intended to increase proprioceptive awareness in transfemoral prosthesis users. Full article

Proteomic research in the genus Vitis has progressed from early biochemical studies of soluble proteins to high-resolution, quantitative analyses encompassing all major organs and derived products. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of advances in grapevine and wine proteomics. In leaves, studies have revealed extensive remodeling of photosynthetic, antioxidant, and defense pathways under biotic (e.g., Plasmopara viticola, Erysiphe necator, Xylella fastidiosa, Candidatus Phytoplasma vitis) and abiotic stresses (drought, salinity, heat, light). Bud proteomics elucidated hormonal regulation and mechanisms of dormancy release, while root studies identified nitrate-dependent metabolic shifts and adaptive protein networks. Cell culture models enabled controlled investigation of elicitor responses, stilbene biosynthesis, and temperature-induced proteome changes. In berries, proteomics clarified developmental transitions from fruit set to ripening, emphasizing proteins related to secondary metabolism, vacuolar transport, and stress tolerance. Comparative analyses across cultivars and environments identified biomarkers linked to aroma, color, and texture. The wine proteome revealed selective persistence of grape-derived proteins (e.g., thaumatin-like proteins, chitinases) and yeast peptides influencing stability and sensory properties, while Botrytis cinerea infection significantly alters this balance by degrading PR proteins and introducing fungal enzymes. Altogether, the Vitis proteome emerges as a dynamic, multifunctional system crucial for understanding plant adaptation, enological quality, and biomarker discovery. Full article

Many place recognition approaches, which identify previously visited places or locations by matching current sensory data, such as 2D RGB images and 3D point clouds, have been proposed to achieve accurate and robust localization and loop closure detection in global positioning system (GPS)-denied environments. Since visual place recognition (VPR) methods that rely on images captured by camera sensors are highly sensitive to variations in appearance, including changes in lighting, surface color, and shadows, they can lead to poor place recognition accuracy. In contrast, light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-based place recognition (LPR) approaches based on 3D point cloud data that captures the shape and geometric structure of the environment are robust to changes in place appearance and can therefore provide more reliable place recognition results than VPR methods. This work presents an indoor LPR method called PointNetVLAD-based indoor pedestrian localization (PIPL). PIPL is a deep network model that uses PointNetVLAD to learn to extract global descriptors from 3D LiDAR point cloud data. PIPL can recognize places previously visited by a pedestrian using point clouds captured by a low-cost LiDAR sensor on a smartphone in small-scale indoor environments, while PointNetVLAD performs place recognition for vehicles using high-cost LiDAR, GPS, and inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors in large-scale outdoor areas. For place recognition on 3D point cloud reference maps generated from LiDAR scans, PointNetVLAD exploits the universal transverse mercator (UTM) coordinate system based on GPS and IMU measurements, whereas PIPL uses a virtual coordinate system designed in this study due to the unavailability of GPS indoors. In experiments conducted in campus buildings, PIPL shows significant advantages over NetVLAD (known as a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based VPR method). Particularly in indoor environments with repetitive scenes where geometric structures are preserved and image-based appearance features are sparse or unclear, PIPL achieved $39\%$ higher top-1 accuracy and $10\%$ higher top-3 accuracy compared to NetVLAD. Furthermore, PIPL achieved place recognition accuracy comparable to NetVLAD even with a small number of points in a 3D point cloud and outperformed NetVLAD even with a smaller model training dataset. The experimental results also indicate that PIPL requires over $76\%$ less place retrieval time than NetVLAD while maintaining robust place classification performance. Full article

The skin–brain axis constitutes a complex, bidirectional network integrating cutaneous sensory, immune, and neuroendocrine systems with central neural circuits involved in emotion regulation, stress responsivity, and social cognition. Advances in psychodermatology and cosmetic science have progressively extended this framework to the emerging field of neurocosmetics, which explores how topical formulations, sensorial properties, and cutaneous neuromodulators may influence psychological well-being, affective states, and perceived stress. The aim of this narrative review is to synthesize current evidence on the biological foundations of the skin–brain axis and to critically examine the implications of these mechanisms for neurocosmetic interventions from a psychological and psychiatric perspective. It describes the biological substrates underlying skin–brain communication, including the cutaneous hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, neuropeptides, neurotrophins, transient receptor potential channels, and endocannabinoid signaling, and examines how these pathways are targeted by neurocosmetic interventions. Particular attention is devoted to neuroactive compounds, such as peptides, cannabinoids, botanicals, and aromatherapeutic molecules, as well as to sensorial strategies involving texture, temperature, and olfactory cues, which may modulate mood, anxiety, and self-perception through peripheral mechanisms. From a psychological and psychiatric perspective, the review discusses the intersection between stress-related skin conditions, body image disturbances, and emotional dysregulation, highlighting how cosmetic practices may influence subjective well-being beyond purely aesthetic outcomes. Methodological limitations of the existing literature, including the heterogeneity of study designs and outcome measures, as well as ethical considerations related to mood- and stress-related claims in cosmetic products, are critically examined. Finally, future research directions are outlined, and a translational framework is proposed to integrate dermatology, neuroscience, and mental health within next-generation cosmetic science. Full article

Peripheral nerves provide a direct connection between the brain and the tumor microenvironment. This connection allows the nervous system to influence processes associated with the development, progression, and metastasis of different tumor types. Therefore, tumor innervation by peripheral nerve fibers is currently emerging as a characteristic that contributes to multiple hallmarks of cancer. Several experimental studies have shown that cancer progression involves actively inducing the ingrowth of autonomic and sensory nerve fibers into tumor tissue. In this process, known as neoaxonogenesis, cancer and other cells in the tumor microenvironment play an important role by synthesizing and releasing neurotrophic factors (e.g., nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor), axonal guidance molecules (netrins, semaphorins, ephrins, slits), exosomes (containing microRNA and axonal guidance molecules), and other molecules present in the tumor microenvironment (e.g., granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, leukemia inhibitory factor), which modulate the ingrowth of nerve fibers into the tumor. This results in an increased nerve supply to tumor tissue, which is primarily linked to its growth. However, there are also studies demonstrating the protective effects of increased nerve fiber density against processes associated with cancer progression in certain types of cancer. The findings from these studies contribute to the complexity of neuro-cancer interactions, which is probably based on the type of cancer and the physiological specializations of the nerve fibers in a given organ. Despite contrasting findings, the stimulatory effects of nerve fibers on cancer growth are supported by several studies that described reducing the negative impact of nerve fibers on tumors and thus inhibiting cancer progression. The most significant approaches to reducing neural effects appear to be denervation, the administration of neurotransmitter receptor antagonists, the administration of local anesthetics, and the administration of antibodies against neurotrophic factors. Other significant approaches include methods that improve quality of life, such as psychotherapy and heart rate variability biofeedback. Despite their therapeutic potential, there are several limitations to using approaches that manipulate cancer innervation in clinical practice. These limitations include impaired normal tissue function and nervous system function, as well as the problematic direct application of the therapeutic agent to the tumor site, dosage-dependent, cancer type-dependent, cancer stage-dependent, duration-dependent, and timing-dependent effects. Procedures that modify neoaxonogenesis and nerve fiber signaling appear to be a promising new therapeutic approach in oncology. However, more research is needed to better understand their effects on cancer progression. In the future, the assessment of the presence and density of nerve fibers in tumors, as well as the evaluation of approaches aimed at reducing their negative impact, could be part of personalized anticancer therapy. As part of this therapy, a fresh tumor sample would be collected from the patient to generate patient-derived organoid models to test and consider the possibility of using supportive therapy and to predict its efficacy. Based on these results, it would be possible to evaluate the applicability of nerve-fiber-targeted therapy for a given patient. This review article summarizes and describes the current knowledge concerning the significance of nerve fibers in cancer progression, with a particular emphasis on neoaxonogenesis in tumors and the various factors that influence this process. Full article

Selenium-sand melon (Cucumis melo L.) juice (SSJ) is valued for its lycopene and organic selenium content, but its shelf-life is limited by heat-labile nutrients and postharvest microbial spoilage. Non-thermal strategies that combine UV-C with natural antioxidants are therefore of interest. This study quantified the individual and interactive effects of UV-C alone or with four antioxidant systems on microbial safety, bioactive retention, and the flavor stability of SSJ under extreme contamination conditions (Escherichia coli D25015 at 5.19 log₁₀ CFU/mL; Mucor circinelloides D11624 at 4.36 log₁₀ CFU/mL). For this, we evaluated the efficacy of five treatments: UV-C alone (Group Z) and UV-C combined with catechin (Group EC, 0.01%), sodium erythorbate (Group K, 0.01%), ascorbic acid (Group VC, 0.1%), and catechin-ascorbic acid (Group HH, 0.005% + 0.05%). Conventional pasteurization (high-temperature short-time, HTST; low-temperature long-time, LTLT) served as controls. UV-C alone (Group Z) preserved lycopene and volatile flavor compounds better than HTST or LTLT. The combined use of UV-C and antioxidants exhibited synergistic effects, with no viable bacteria detected in Group K (sodium erythorbate) within four weeks. UV-C combined with antioxidants offer a scalable, non-thermal strategy that maintains nutritional and sensory quality while achieving pathogen reduction. These findings provide a quantitative framework for clean-label preservation of functional melon beverages. Full article

Alternative proteins and novel processing technologies are crucial to transforming contemporary food systems into ones with lower environmental impact while meeting the rising global demand for protein. Alternative protein sources from plants, microbes, insects, and cultivated cells offer diverse nutritional and techno-functional attributes that can partially or fully replace conventional animal proteins in meat analogs and related products. This review synthesizes the current knowledge on major categories of alternative protein sources, including plant-based ingredients, microbial- and fermentation-derived proteins, insect and other emerging sources, and cultivated (cell-based) meat, with a specific focus on their suitability for structured meat analog applications. Modern structuring and processing technologies are discussed, including the traditional wet and dry extrusion to modern technologies like high-moisture extrusion, high-pressure processing, shear-cell technology, 3D printing, fermentation-based structuring, and enzymatic protein modification. Furthermore, this review critically evaluates product design and quality attributes of meat analogs, including physicochemical properties, sensory performance, nutritional aspects, and safety considerations. This review highlights technological and scale-up challenges, as well as the necessity of multi-criteria optimization in sensory quality, nutrition, sustainability, and affordability, and presents research priorities focused on combining multiple protein sources and advanced processing pathways for next-generation meat analog. This review provides an integrated framework linking protein sources, processing technologies, antioxidant functionality, and sustainability considerations to support the development of next-generation meat analogs. In addition, this review highlights the intrinsic antioxidant potential of alternative proteins, emphasizing the role of bioactive peptides, polyphenols, and structure–function relationships in enhancing oxidative stability and product quality. Full article

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of oil type, fat level, storage time, and storage temperature on the microbiological, physicochemical, sensory, microstructural, and oxidative stability properties of vegan mayonnaise. For this purpose, a 70% oil formulation was used as the full-fat reference system, whereas a 50% oil formulation was evaluated as a lower-fat experimental system. These formulations were prepared using palm, soybean, cottonseed, and canola oils and stored at 25 °C for 120 days, 37 °C for 60 days, and 55 °C for 30 days. The quality attributes of the samples were systematically monitored under these storage conditions. The results showed that canola- and soybean oil-based formulations exhibited superior emulsion stability and sensory acceptability in both systems. In contrast, palm oil-based samples, particularly the 50% oil formulations, showed pronounced phase separation and markedly lower emulsion stability, indicating limited structural compatibility under lower-fat conditions. Overall, the findings demonstrated that oil type and fat level strongly influenced the quality characteristics of vegan mayonnaise, while storage time and temperature were important in determining the evolution and preservation of these properties under the tested conditions. These results provide useful guidance for the development of stable and acceptable plant-based mayonnaise products. Full article

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), a major inhibitory neurotransmitter, is known for its physiological functions in alleviating anxiety and improving sleep. Currently, high-yielding GABA food products are mainly obtained through screening wild-type high-producing strains (e.g., Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from Sichuan pickles yielding 0.67 g/L) or employing co-culture systems (e.g., Enterococcus faecium and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum reaching 6.35 g/L). While effective, these methods often rely on natural screening strains or multi-microbial interactions. This study employed CRISPR-Cas9 technology to knockout the UGA1 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a key gene responsible for GABA degradation. Starting from the low higher alcohol Saccharomyces cerevisiae SY-LH, we successfully constructed the recombinant strain SY-LHU. Remarkably, this study discovered a significant upregulation of GAD1 gene expression following UGA1 knockout, which further enhanced GABA synthesis capacity. Under optimal fermentation conditions (inoculum size 4 × 10⁷ cells/mL, wort concentration 10 °P, sugar addition 60 g/L, 30 °C for 10 days, and mixing the malt broth every 48 h), the validation fermentation was performed and the GABA content in the wort beverage reached 280.36 mg/L, representing a 385.4% increase compared to the pre-optimization level. Furthermore, sensory evaluation by a trained panel yielded a mean score of 88, with no significant off-flavors detected, demonstrating the product’s high consumer acceptance. This pioneering work provides a novel and feasible technical pathway for developing functional alcoholic beverages with sleep-aiding properties. Full article

Background: Mixed Reality (MR) environments rely on multimodal feedback to enrich sensory integration and realism, which enhances User Experience (UX). Prior studies have shown the benefits of haptic feedback in audio–visual MR medical training environments, but researchers have not fully examined how audio cues influence Haptic–Visual (HV) training environments. Methods: We built a high-fidelity MR medical training environment that synchronized visual, haptic, and audio of the human pulse. We conducted a between-subjects study with thirty novice participants who performed pulse palpation tasks in HV and Haptic–Audio–Visual (HAV) modalities. We employ a multidimensional UX evaluation by measuring task performance, presence, usability, and task workload to assess the impact of adding audio feedback in MR pulse palpation training environments. Results: Participants in the HAV modality performed tasks more accurately and reported stronger presence and higher usability. They did not report any significant increase in workload compared to the HV modality. Conclusions: Audio feedback improved perceptual coherence and enhanced UX in pulse palpation tasks. Our findings highlight the training value of integrating multimodal feedback in MR pulse palpation training systems and provide practical guidelines for designing more immersive and effective MR environments. Full article

A growing number of studies have highlighted the various sensory interactions involved in the musical experience, as relationships between music and dimensions of taste, olfaction, sound, and visual qualities, such as associations between pitch and the size of images or objects, spatial location and frequency, and instrumental timbres and visual shapes. These studies share the premise that the way we relate to the musical phenomenon, whether in the processes of production, perception, or understanding, emerges from an integrated and intrinsically multisensory perceptual event. Nevertheless, because music is present daily in everyday life and because this experience is inherently subjective, such interactions tend to occur so naturally and seem so obvious that they have been relegated to common sense. On the other hand, evidence indicates that sensory interactions constitute a fundamental ancestral mechanism for cognitive and neuronal development governed by non-arbitrary tendencies, multiple variables, and patterns of predictability. The novel contribution of this review is to advance a dynamic theoretical model of multisensory musical experience that takes crossmodal correspondences as its central organising axis, articulated through three structuring principles (universality, congruence effect, hierarchical tendency) and their interaction with musical organisation, cognitive structure, and the sensory systems mobilised by music. A future research agenda is also proposed to broaden and deepen investigations in the field of music psychology and human development. Full article