Search Results (2,349)

Background and Clinical Significance: Chondroid syringoma is a very rare tumor arising from the sweat glands, with an incidence described in the literature of 0.01% of all primary skin tumors. Case presentation: This paper aims to present the case of a patient treated in our clinic for a large cyst located at the inner corner of the left eye, which appeared two years ago and progressively increased in size. The patient presented for cosmetic reasons and discomfort, especially when wearing glasses. The diagnosis of chondroid syringoma is generally established clinically. The differential diagnosis includes other benign cutaneous lesions (pleomorphic adenoma, lipoma, neurofibroma, a dermoid cyst, dermatofibroma, pleomorphic adenoma of the salivary glands, a sebaceous cyst, or hemangioma) or malignant lesions (basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, or adenocarcinoma). Additional imaging investigations—CT and MRI—are rarely required and would mainly assess the extent of the lesion. Dermoscopy is an early differential diagnostic method, especially for small lesions of 1–3 mm, such as xanthelasma, milia, or basal cell carcinoma. Chondroid syringoma may be treated using minimally invasive methods such as fractional CO₂ laser, radiofrequency, or electrocautery, but only when the lesion is superficial and small. For larger and deeper tumors, such as in our case, multiple treatment sessions would be required, increasing the cost, and complete removal would not be guaranteed. Conclusions: The chosen treatment is surgical excision with oncologic margins, followed by histopathological and immunohistochemical examination to prevent recurrence and assess the risk of malignancy. Full article

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease in which transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) has been implicated in immune dysregulation, extracellular matrix remodeling, and fibrosis. Data on baseline secretion of TGF-β isoforms by systemic immune cells remain limited. This pilot study quantified unstimulated secretion of TGF-β1, TGF-β2, and TGF-β3 by peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cultures from women with and without endometriosis and explored stage-related patterns. In this prospective case–control study, PBMCs from 50 women with surgically confirmed endometriosis and 30 controls were cultured for 24 h without exogenous stimulation. Supernatant concentrations were measured using a multiplex bead-based immunoassay (Bio-Plex, Bio-Rad) and expressed as pg/mL; between-group and stage-related differences were assessed using non-parametric tests. Median 24 h secretion was similar between groups (TGF-β1: 103,816 vs. 114,700 pg/mL, p = 0.25; TGF-β2: 3735 vs. 3732 pg/mL, p = 0.32; TGF-β3: 3280 vs. 3284 pg/mL, p = 0.70). Within the endometriosis cohort, TGF-β2 was significantly higher in moderate/advanced disease (rASRM stages III–IV) than in minimal/mild disease (stages I–II), whereas TGF-β1 and TGF-β3 did not reach statistical significance for a stage-dependent pattern in this pilot cohort (p = 0.42 and p = 0.41, respectively; Kruskal–Wallis), and a type II error cannot be excluded given the small sample size per rASRM (revised American Society of Reproductive Medicine)stage (n = 11–14). These findings suggest that TGF-β dysregulation is compartmentalized to the peritoneal environment rather than systemically imprinted in circulating immune cells. The stage-dependent elevation of TGF-β2 supports its role in progressive fibrogenesis and as a candidate severity biomarker, warranting confirmation in larger, stimulus-augmented studies. Full article

Brain tumors (BTs) arise from the abnormal growth of cells within brain tissue and may spread rapidly, making them a major cause of mortality worldwide. Early detection of BTs remains highly challenging due to the brain’s complex structure and the heterogeneous nature of tumors. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) provides detailed information about tumor size, location, and shape, thereby supporting clinical decision-making for treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Traditional machine learning (ML) approaches mainly rely on manual feature extraction, whereas recent advances in Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) and deep learning (DL) have enabled more accurate detection of small and complex tumor regions. To improve automated tumor detection, we propose a hybrid Swin–YOLO framework that combines the Swin Transformer (ST) with the latest CNN-based YOLOv12 model. In this framework, the Swin Transformer serves as the main backbone for feature extraction, while the Feature Pyramid Network (FPN) and Path Aggregation Network (PANet) are employed in the neck to better capture multi-scale features. For training, we used the publicly available Br35H dataset and applied data augmentation to enhance the model’s robustness and generalization capability. The experimental results show that the proposed framework achieved 99.7% accuracy, 99.4% mAP@50, and 87.2% mAP@50:95. Furthermore, we incorporated Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques, including Grad-CAM and SHAP, to improve the interpretability of the model by visually highlighting the tumor regions that contributed most to the prediction. In addition, we developed NeuroVision AI, a web-based application designed to support faster and more accurate clinical decision-making. Although the proposed model demonstrated strong performance on the dataset, these results should be interpreted within the context of the current experimental setting. Full article

Background and Objectives: Children with febrile urinary tract infections (fUTIs) may be at risk for kidney scarring. Inflammatory biomarkers may predict the risk of scarring. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive role of PCT, CRP and other markers in scarring in pediatric patients with first fUTI. Materials and Methods: The study was in accordance with the institution’s ethics committee (No. 108/2023). Included patients underwent a kidney–ureter–cyst ultrasound (US). The primary outcomes of this study were the associations of procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and white blood cells (WBC) with kidney scarring. The secondary outcomes were the associations of PCT, CRP, and WBC with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). A p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Sixty-five pediatric patients (1–16 years of age) with a first fUTI, from February 2023 to January 2025, were included. Sixteen patients had VUR, and thirteen patients developed kidney scarring. C-reactive protein was significantly elevated in the VUR group (p = 0.026). In a series of logistic regression analyses, abnormal US findings and severe VUR were associated with scarring (p = 0.009 and p = 0.016, accordingly). The optimal cut-off value for PCT in predicting scarring was calculated as 6.05 ng/mL (sensitivity: 36% and specificity: 97%), and for CRP as 3.62 mg/dL (sensitivity: 63.6% and specificity: 62.1%). Conclusions: This study showed a significant difference in CRP levels between the groups with and without VUR. Abnormal US findings and severe VUR were the most significant predictors of kidney scarring. Significant difference was not reached in PCT and WBC levels between the groups with and without VUR or with and without kidney scarring. The small sample size may have influenced the study’s outcomes. Full article

Background/Objectives: Radiation therapy is a common treatment modality for non-small-cell and small-cell lung cancer that can be associated with considerable side effects, mainly reactions of healthy tissues in the radiation field. Radiation therapy may lead to significant fatigue, which can potentially be mitigated by maintaining or increasing physical activity during treatment. Since achieving this goal may be a challenge for patients, they may benefit from a mobile application reminding them daily to perform a predefined number of steps. Such a reminder app will be investigated prospectively in a phase 2 trial. The current APART-LUNG study (NCT07380815) is a mandatory study for designing the prospective trial. Methods: The main objective of the APART-LUNG (exploratory non-interventional) study is to report patterns of physical activity during radiation therapy for lung cancer patients and generate hypotheses based on our findings. Our primary endpoint is the within-patient difference in weekly average steps per wear hour of the smartphone (week 5 minus week 1 of radiation therapy), and our secondary aim is to estimate differences in operational measures (wear time of the smartphone) between week 5 and week 1. The sample size of approximately 20 patients (full analysis set) allows us to detect a moderate-to-large standardized within-patient difference and is driven by feasibility and the intent to obtain preliminary estimates of effect size and variability. The results of the APART-LUNG study will be very important for appropriately designing a phase 2 trial. Full article

Background/Objectives: Beta amyloid (Aβ) aggregates play a central role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and their detection and modulation remain major challenges in developing effective therapeutic and diagnostic strategies. Previously, gold nanoparticles with plasmonic and optical properties in the near-infrared (NIR) region and photothermal capabilities have been designed for detecting and disaggregating Aβ aggregates. However, these systems often face limitations related to biodegradability, long-term accumulation, and safety. In this work, a degradable NIR-responsive nanosystem based on small gold nanoparticles (sAuNPs), potentially excretable due to their small size, encapsulated within bovine serum albumin (BSA) and functionalized with the all-D peptide D3, was developed to inhibit Aβ aggregation. Methods: sAuNPs (~5–6 nm), functionalized with HS-PEG-NH₂, were encapsulated into BSA nanoparticles using a desolvation method and subsequently conjugated to D3, resulting in the nanosystem f-sAuNPs-BSANPs-D3. The nanosystem was characterized by UV–Vis–NIR spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential analysis, electron microscopy, and nanoparticle tracking analysis. The effects of the nanosystem on Aβ_1–42 aggregation were evaluated using a thioflavin T assay and electron microscopy. Additionally, the effects of f-sAuNPs-BSANPs-D3 on cell viability and its stability against trypsin digestion were assessed. Results: The nanosystem exhibited a measurable photothermal response under NIR irradiation and significantly reduced fibril formation. It did not affect the viability of SH-SY5Y neuronal cells at the tested concentrations. Trypsin incubation experiments demonstrated that the nanosystem remained stable at low enzyme concentrations mimicking plasma conditions, whereas higher enzyme concentrations induced degradation of the albumin matrix and subsequent disaggregation of sAuNPs. Conclusions: Overall, this study presents a degradable, albumin-based sAuNP nanosystem with NIR-responsive properties and potential for nanomedicine applications to inhibit Aβ aggregation in AD. Full article

Recent automated search methods have improved lower bounds for several Ramsey numbers, but the strongest gains often depend on structured seeding and cell-specific heuristic discovery. This leaves open a more fundamental question: Can a useful search structure be transferred across related Ramsey cells rather than rediscovered independently for each target instance? This work proposes a teacher–student framework for transferable structural search in Ramsey graph construction, inspired by the structure-distillation logic of Physics Structure-Informed Neural Networks (Ψ-NNs). The framework builds compressed structural representations from teacher witnesses and search traces, extracts reusable motifs and relations, and reconstructs transfer candidates. These are refined by balanced search and, for weak R(3, s) cells, by exact small-cell supervision. The framework is evaluated as a proof of concept across five Ramsey cells under transfer, matched-compute, search, ablation, and interpretability settings, including a proportional shift-scaling baseline and a greedy triangle-closing baseline that probe the structure-validity frontier from complementary directions. Supplementary experiments cover seed robustness, budget sensitivity, transfer-neighborhood variation, structural-resolution changes, stronger exact supervision, cross-r teacher pooling, single-teacher configurations, and scaling behavior across graph sizes. The results show that the portfolio version of the framework is the strongest balanced transfer method in the current study, while a structure-dominant oracle achieves stronger witness-shape agreement but worse Ramsey-valid construction. These findings reveal a clear structure-validity frontier and suggest that transferable Ramsey search should be evaluated by how well structural priors survive the validity constraints of new cells. Full article

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common focal epilepsy in adults, but cell-type-specific molecular alterations in the epileptic cortex remain incompletely characterized. We performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing on temporal cortex from three patients with drug-resistant TLE and two non-epileptic controls, retaining 66,932 nuclei. Seven major cell types were annotated. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) was significantly upregulated in microglia and oligodendrocytes under stringent criteria (|log₂FC| > 1, adjusted p < 0.01), whereas changes in other cell types did not meet this threshold. Microglia showed enrichment of neuropeptide- and inflammatory-related pathways, together with reduced oxidative phosphorylation signatures. Oligodendrocytes showed altered lipid metabolism, together with reduced mitochondrial energy-related signatures. Inferred intercellular communication was globally reduced in the TLE samples. qPCR in an independent small set showed an upward trend of NPY expression, though not statistically significant. Given the limited cohort size, these results should be interpreted as exploratory. They provide a cell-type-resolved candidate framework for future mechanistic studies of glial-associated responses in human epilepsy. Full article

Background and Objectives: Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a minimally invasive technique widely used for mediastinal staging and diagnosis in patients with lung cancer and extrathoracic malignancies. This study aimed to evaluate patient and procedural factors associated with malignant histopathological outcomes in individuals undergoing EBUS-TBNA for intrathoracic lymphadenopathy across three malignancy groups: primary lung cancer, extrathoracic solid organ malignancy, and hematological malignancy. Materials and Methods: This retrospective descriptive study included patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA at Ankara Bilkent City Hospital between March 2019 and December 2023. Demographic characteristics, histopathological findings, procedural details, additional sampling techniques, and imaging parameters, including FDG SUVmax values from pre-procedural PET-CT, were recorded. Histopathological outcomes were categorized as malignant or non-malignant. Binary and multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed to identify independent predictors of malignancy and to differentiate between malignancy groups and lung cancer subtypes. Results: A total of 776 patients underwent EBUS-TBNA, and 667 were included after excluding non-diagnostic samples. Malignancy was detected in 274 patients, including primary lung cancer (n = 213, 77.7%), extrathoracic malignancy (n = 43, 15.7%), and hematological malignancy (n = 18, 6.6%). Of the included patients, 426 (63.9%) were male; the median age was 63 (IQR = 16) years. Older age (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.02–1.05, p < 0.001), male sex (OR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.43–2.93, p < 0.001), and larger lymph node size (OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.06–1.11, p < 0.001) were independently associated with malignant outcomes. Younger age, female sex, and smaller lymph node size were associated with extrathoracic malignancy compared to primary lung cancer, while younger age was the only predictor of hematological malignancy. Larger lymph node size was inversely associated with adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma compared with small cell lung cancer. Conclusions: Older age, male sex, and larger lymph node size independently predict malignant EBUS-TBNA outcomes. Younger age and female sex favor extrathoracic malignancy, whereas small cell lung cancer is associated with more extensive nodal involvement. Additional bronchoscopic techniques may enhance diagnostic accuracy in selected patients. Full article

Background and Objectives: Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a widely used biomarker in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, its association with oncogenic driver alterations and prognostic significance across molecular subtypes in metastatic disease remains insufficiently defined. Materials and Methods: This retrospective multicenter study included 332 patients with metastatic NSCLC harboring oncogenic alterations (EGFR, ALK, ROS1, KRAS, and others) from eight oncology centers in Türkiye. Baseline serum CEA levels measured at metastatic diagnosis were analyzed on the natural logarithmic scale. Associations between CEA levels, molecular subtypes, clinical features, and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using generalized linear models and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: Baseline CEA levels differed significantly across molecular subtypes (p = 0.001), with EGFR-mutant tumors showing the highest median levels. Multivariable analysis identified driver alteration, histology, and metastatic burden as independent determinants of baseline CEA. Higher baseline CEA and metastatic site count were independently associated with increased mortality risk (HR 1.151 and 1.279 per unit increase, respectively; p < 0.001), while female sex was protective (HR 0.626; p = 0.004). KRAS mutations were associated with poorer survival compared with EGFR (HR 2.370; p < 0.001). Kaplan–Meier analyses showed a consistent trend toward longer OS in patients with CEA < 5 ng/mL, with significance only in the rare alteration subgroup. Conclusions: Baseline CEA may reflect underlying tumor biology across molecular subtypes and are associated with survival outcomes in metastatic NSCLC. However, given the variability across subgroups and modest effect sizes, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Prospective studies evaluating longitudinal CEA dynamics are warranted. Full article

This study systematically investigated the dynamic diversity, potential sources, and antifungal activities of small molecular peptides during the pile-fermentation process of post-fermented tea. By analyzing the damaging effects of small molecular peptide extracts from tea samples at different pile-fermentation stages on the spore cell membranes of Aspergillus carbonarius (A. carbonarius) and the inhibitory activity against β-1,3-glucan synthase (β-1,3-GS), it was confirmed that some small molecular peptides exhibit significant antifungal effects. The main findings are as follows: (1) The number of identified small molecular peptides showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing with the progress of pile-fermentation, peaking at 4453 species on the 35th day of pile-fermentation, and were dominated by hexapeptides and heptapeptides with molecular weights ranging from 600 to 800 Da. (2) Based on orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), the samples were divided into three characteristic stages according to the differences in small molecular peptide composition at different stages, and 156 characteristic peptides with a relative abundance higher than 0.1% were screened out. Their precursor proteins were derived from 148 proteins belonging to 16 genera, including Camellia, Aspergillus, Saccharomyces, Penicillium, and Bacillus. (3) BLAST alignment results showed that five out of the 156 characteristic peptides were degradation fragments of known antifungal peptides originating from Aspergillus and Bacillus. (4) Combining molecular docking screening and in vitro verification of synthetic peptides, a total of 27 small molecular peptides with antifungal activity were obtained, and their mechanism of action was the inhibition of β-1,3-GS activity. (5) The small molecular peptides related to antifungal activity could be classified into two categories: enzymatic hydrolysates of known antifungal peptides, and the enzymatic hydrolysates of tea-derived proteins or macromolecular peptides. Both categories were mainly distributed in the three stages of pile-fermentation, and there was a significant positive correlation among the population size of dominant microorganisms, microbial peptidase activity, and the abundance of small molecular peptides. This study reveals the dynamic generation pattern and antifungal potential of small molecular peptides during the pile-fermentation of post-fermented tea, providing a new scientific basis for evaluating the dynamic changes in microbial communities in tea and effectively controlling the contamination of harmful fungi during the pile-fermentation process. Full article

Sheep and goat milk are mainly used for cheese manufacture in small livestock farms, giving rise to a large volume of whey. Sheep and goat cheese whey possess excellent and specific functional and nutritional characteristics. The valorization of these valuable by-products through physicochemical or biotechnological processes compatible with artisanal production are important in terms of sustainability, i.e., economic, social, and environmental impacts. The main challenges for whey processing in small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are the lack of equipment, construction and information as well as the small amounts of cheese whey generated from these plants. Membrane technology can be convenient to produce valuable by-products for small dairy plants in the presence of enough investment cost and whey amount. Biotechnological treatments covering anaerobic digestion systems and fermentation processes are advantageous for SMEs over physicochemical methods on investment cost. In these processes, efficient microorganisms are able to produce high-value natural products, biofuels, and biopolymers. Anaerobic digestion is a suitable method for goat and sheep cheese whey valorization in SMEs due to the small volumes. Additionally, bioconversion into fermented beverages is a good choice for cheese whey valorization in SMEs because of its low operational and equipment cost. Full article

Craniosynostosis is the premature fusion of skull bones due to loss of stem/progenitor cells located in non-mineralized tissue between growing cranial bones of infants. We generated scaffolds from a biodegradable biomaterial with small interconnected pores (125–250 μm diameter), previously shown to maintain stemness of a mesenchymal cell population, to further develop a method for the creation of an artificial cranial bone stem cell niche. Polymer scaffolds of consistent pore size were fabricated using a molecular-sieved sugar sphere casting technique with poly-l-lactic acid. A rectangular surgical defect within the parietal bone of juvenile mice was created. The three groups included sham animals with surgery but no scaffold, experimental animals with surgery plus an implanted cell-free scaffold, and experimental animals with surgery plus an implanted bone mesenchymal cell-seeded scaffold. Healing at the surgical site was evaluated at 4 and 12 weeks after surgery by micro-CT and histology. Surgical site bone volume fraction and bone mineral density were significantly greater at twelve than four weeks in the sham group but not in either of the scaffold groups. At twelve weeks, the surgical site bone volume fraction and bone mineral density were significantly lower in the cell-seeded scaffold as compared to the sham animal group. At twelve weeks, the anterior and middle cranial vault widths were significantly greater in the cell-seeded scaffold as compared to the sham animal group on the surgery side of the skulls. Less mineralization was evident within the cell-seeded than the cell-free scaffolds by histology. Based on these findings, scaffolds of sufficiently small pore size seeded with autologous bone mesenchymal stem cells could function as an artificial cranial stem cell niche to inhibit surgical-site mineralization and promote cranial growth. Full article

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are expected to contribute to sustainable manufacturing, yet they often lack the resources and capabilities needed to adopt advanced automation in a structured and scalable manner. While lean robotics have been widely studied, there is still limited empirical evidence on how their integration can be systematically designed to improve sustainability-oriented performance in SME contexts. This paper examines how a scalable lean robotics system can be conceived and implemented to enhance productivity and resource efficiency in an SME packaging process. We develop a lean robotics design approach that jointly considers lean principles, collaborative industrial robotics, and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) monitoring. The approach is applied in a real-world case study of a “Fold Station” robotic cell, where stone paper sheets are destacked, glued, and formed into cylindrical plant protectors. Key performance indicators related to cycle time, material utilization, process stability, and manual workload are measured before and after implementation. The results show a three- to four-fold reduction in preparation time per unit, more efficient use of stone paper and adhesive, and a decrease in repetitive manual handling, thereby contributing to both economic and environmental sustainability. TRIZ (Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadach, Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) is used to structure the resolution of design contradictions that arise when embedding lean principles into the robotic system and to support its scalable adaptation to different production scenarios. This study advances the understanding of lean robotics for sustainable SME production and derives practical guidelines for designing scalable, resource-efficient robotic cells. Full article

Cotinus coggygria (Scop) is a medicinally valuable species naturally distributed in the Artvin region of Turkiye. However, information on its seed traits, germination behavior, and seedling morphology in relation to seed size and provenance remains limited. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of seed size and provenance on the seed characteristics, germination, and seedling morphological traits of C. coggygria. Seeds were collected from four provenances (Seyitler, Tepekoy, Eskikale, and Tortum) and classified into large and small size groups using a 2 mm sieve. The seed traits of length, diameter, thickness, sphericity, volume, and thousand-seed weight were considered. To break seed dormancy, the seeds were subjected to sulfuric acid scarification and cold stratification treatments. Germination trials were conducted under nursery conditions using 45-cell trays in a randomized block design with four replicates. The mean germination time was significantly affected by provenance, whereas seed size and pretreatment combinations had no significant effects. Seed size did not significantly influence seedling morphology, whereas provenance caused significant differences. Seedlings originating from Eskikale exhibited greater height and root collar diameter, with root mass fractions ranging from 80.25% to 82.78%. These results indicate that provenance is a key factor influencing germination and seedling morphology rather than seed size. Full article