Search Results (1,150)

Outdoor comfort is influenced by thermal, visual, and acoustic stimuli, whose relative roles may vary across functional spaces. This study compared multisensory comfort characteristics across five frequently used public outdoor functional spaces in the main built-up area of Dalian, China, during the autumn transition season and examined their associations with overall comfort. Rotational fixed-point monitoring and synchronous questionnaire surveys were conducted in residential, cultural, educational, commercial, and green spaces, yielding 1497 valid responses. The results showed that: (1) Among the five investigated public outdoor spaces, the residential space had the highest proportion of positive overall comfort votes, whereas the educational space showed more thermal discomfort and negative acoustic evaluations. (2) Thermal and acoustic sensations changed linearly with corresponding exposures, while visual comfort first increased and then decreased with illuminance. (3) Thermal comfort had the largest main effect on overall comfort, visual comfort was also significant, and thermal–acoustic interaction was observed. (4) SEM indicated distinct association pathways. The thermal pathway showed a significant serial indirect effect through thermal sensation and thermal comfort, while the visual pathway contained indirect effects in opposite directions and the acoustic pathway was characterized mainly by a direct negative association between LAeq and overall comfort. These findings support function-sensitive multisensory assessment and targeted outdoor environmental optimization. Full article

Background/Objective: Asthma-related quality of life is related to multiple clinical, physiological, and behavioral factors. Nonetheless, the domain-specific associations of asthma control, inhaler adherence, lung function, and demographic characteristics remain poorly understood. This study aimed to examine the adjusted associations of asthma control, inhaler adherence, lung function, and age with individual domains of asthma-related quality of life. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study included 92 adults with asthma who demonstrated correct inhaler technique and adequate knowledge of their prescribed inhaler regimen. Asthma control was measured using the Asthma Control Test (ACT), inhaler adherence using the Test of Adherence to Inhalers (TAI), and quality of life using the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ). Pulmonary function was determined through spirometry. Spearman correlation analyses were initially conducted to identify associations between variables. Subsequently, separate multivariable linear regression models were created for each AQLQ domain, including ACT score, TAI score, age, and FEV₁ % predicted as predictors. Results: A total of 92 adult patients with asthma were studied. Asthma control was significantly positively correlated with all AQLQ domains (all p < 0.001). In multivariable analyses, ACT had the largest absolute standardized coefficient within each of the four domain-specific models (standardized β range: 0.339–0.791). After adjustment, age was associated with the activity limitation and symptom domains, whereas FEV₁ % predicted was associated only with the environmental stimuli domain. Inhaler adherence showed an inverse association with emotional functioning in the fully adjusted model (B = −0.094, 95% CI −0.158–−0.031; p = 0.0038). However, this association was absent in the bivariate analysis and in a sensitivity model excluding ACT (B = −0.015, 95% CI −0.067–0.037; p = 0.562), suggesting a possible suppression effect. Conclusions: ACT showed the largest standardized association within each domain-specific model, although the magnitude of its associations with the symptom and activity-limitation domains may partly reflect conceptual overlap between the instruments. The inverse TAI–emotional-functioning coefficient was model-dependent, did not meet the conservative multiplicity benchmark, and should be considered exploratory and hypothesis-generating. Additionally, lung function and age showed domain-specific associations, highlighting the need for a comprehensive, multidimensional approach in asthma management. Full article

Wound management continues to represent a major global healthcare challenge, with the wound care market growing each year and a rising incidence of chronic wounds worldwide. Effective wound healing requires dressings that protect injured tissue, prevent infection, and actively modulate the wound microenvironment to promote tissue regeneration. In recent years, smart polymeric wound dressings have emerged as a functional, more advanced class of wound dressings, engineered from materials capable of responding to stimuli. Physically responsive systems include moisture-adaptive dressings that prevent wound dryness or maceration, pressure-sensitive dressings incorporating flexible capacitive sensors for high mechanical stress mapping, thermoresponsive dressings exploiting sol–gel transitions for temperature-controlled drug release, light-responsive dressings enabling photothermal and photodynamic therapy, and electro-responsive dressings integrating conductive polymers for self-powered electrical stimulation or closed-loop wound monitoring. Chemically responsive systems exploit endogenous biochemical signals, including pH shifts for wound monitoring, reactive oxygen species-cleavable bonds for on-demand drug release, and glucose-responsive platforms for autonomous glycemic regulation in diabetic wounds. Biologically responsive dressings use enzymatic triggers, such as matrix metalloproteinases, hyaluronidase, and bacterial proteases, to achieve autonomous drug delivery. Film-forming sprays further expand the versatility of smart polymeric dressings by enabling contactless application adaptable to irregular wound shapes. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the design, stimuli-responsive mechanisms, characterization methods, and therapeutic outcomes of smart polymeric dressings for wound treatment. Despite promising preclinical results, challenges related to clinical translation, regulatory standardization, and scalable production remain and must be addressed to facilitate widespread clinical adoption. Future directions include multi-stimuli responsive platforms, artificial intelligence-guided wound monitoring, bioprinting of specific dressings, and environmentally sustainable biomaterial design. Full article

As artificial intelligence and digital human technologies become increasingly integrated into livestream commerce, AI anchors are becoming important marketing agents. Yet prior research has focused primarily on their visual characteristics, leaving dynamic vocal cues largely unexplored. Drawing on social response theory and perceived authenticity research, this study examines the nonlinear association between AI anchor pitch variability and consumer engagement, together with a proposed psychological pathway and boundary condition. Study 1 analyzes 4322 product-presentation segments nested within 330 AI-anchored livestreams and 85 independent accounts on Douyin. Negative binomial models, formal boundary-slope tests, and additional specifications using account and livestream-session fixed effects, a correlated-random-effects decomposition, and viewer-minutes exposure provide robust evidence of an inverted U-shaped association between pitch variability and real-time danmaku engagement. Evidence concerning appearance-realism moderation is conditional and specification-sensitive across alternative pitch operationalizations, exposure definitions, and within-account specifications. Study 2 uses a preregistered multi-stimulus mixed design with four AI anchors, four products, and three between-participants pitch-variability conditions. Correctly scaled planned contrasts show that moderate pitch variability produced greater perceived authenticity and engagement intentions than the average of the two endpoint conditions. A 2-1-1 multilevel analysis yielded an indirect-effect pattern consistent with the proposed role of perceived authenticity. Models allowing treatment effects to vary across the 16 included anchor-product combinations showed a positive average moderate-pitch advantage, although its magnitude varied across stimuli. These findings extend livestream-commerce research from human streamers to AI-mediated communication while indicating that appearance-realism moderation, stimulus-level generalization, and causal mediation require further replication. Full article

Stimuli-responsive drug-delivery systems (SRDDS) have transformed precision medicine by enabling spatiotemporal control over therapeutic release, significantly reducing off-target toxicity while enhancing efficacy at the disease site. Naturally occurring polysaccharides, such as hyaluronic acid, chitosan, alginate, and dextran stand out as premier scaffolds for these “smart” nanoplatforms due to their inherent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and abundance of reactive sites for molecular engineering. This review explores the versatility of polysaccharide functionalization, detailing how the introduction of molecular “switches” allows these biopolymers to sense and respond to specific physiological triggers. We analyze the mechanisms behind acid–labile bonds for pH-triggered release, redox-sensitive bridges for intracellular delivery, and enzyme-cleavable sequences for bio-catalytic activation. By bridging the gap between molecular functionalization and clinical utility, these bio-responsive polysaccharide architectures enable integrated physiological monitoring and theranostic applications. This review highlights the impact of these advancements in overcoming biological barriers, providing a sophisticated blueprint for the next generation of nature-derived, “intelligent” biomaterials in cancer therapy. Full article

Despite the growing sophistication of immersive virtual reality (VR) technologies, olfactory feedback remains underexplored in VR gaming. This study introduces Scent Ninja, a VR fruit-slicing game integrated with a custom head-mounted olfactory virtual reality display, and explores whether event-triggered fruit scents are associated with differences in presence, immersion, user experience, and gameplay performance. A total of 12 participants completed scent evaluation trials and gameplay sessions with and without scent. Results show that detection time, recognition, intensity, and pleasantness varied across stimuli, with Pineapple and Lime producing stronger perceptual responses. During gameplay, scents were associated with significantly higher transportation-related immersion ratings, while no significant differences were observed for presence, other immersion items, user experience, or gameplay performance. A significant order effect in perceived scent intensity suggests that sensitivity to olfactory cues may vary with task context and prior exposure within the gameplay environment. Qualitative feedback highlights the perceived importance of scent timing, odor fidelity, intensity, and alignment with in-game actions. The findings provide exploratory evidence that event-triggered olfactory cues may support the transportation dimension of immersion during active VR gameplay, while emphasizing timing, scent intensity, perceptual clarity, and contextual congruence as important design considerations for olfactory VR design. Full article

Background/Objectives: Proactive interference (PI) occurs when existing memories make it harder to retrieve newer information, and visual working memory in older adults may be impacted by increased vulnerability to PI. However, evidence supporting age-sensitive PI in the recent-probes task—a major technique for measuring PI—is mixed. Additionally, features of this procedure may have exaggerated or distorted the effect, so the current study reassessed the recent-probes task. Methods: Throughout trials in an online experiment, adults aged 18–29 and 64–80 memorized four images over a brief delay and then had to choose between a current target and a foil depicting an item from the previous trial (a recent negative probe) or a more distant trial (a non-recent negative probe). Participants were cued to respond either immediately or after a pause, and targets came from a small, extensively repeated set or a unique set. Results: PI was present, with slower and less accurate responding to RN than NRN foils, and errors notably increased when stimuli were unique and an immediate response was required. However, there was little evidence for age differences in PI. Conclusions: The present study did not suggest that older adults are more vulnerable to PI than younger adults, at least in this task and with this sample. Full article

Gastronomy is a factor in destination competitiveness; however, studies addressing the integrated role of gastronomic identity and perceived authenticity as determinants of tourist satisfaction remain insufficiently explored. This systematic review examines how both constructs jointly shape satisfaction in gastronomic tourism destinations. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted in Scopus and Web of Science using a Boolean search strategy based on four conceptual blocks. After applying eligibility criteria and assessing methodological quality using JBI protocols, 12 empirical articles published between 2017 and 2026 were selected. This relatively small corpus reflects the concept-driven focus of the review, which required the simultaneous presence of terms related to gastronomic identity, perceived authenticity, and experience satisfaction, thereby increasing the specificity of the search and reducing its sensitivity. It should therefore not be interpreted as an exhaustive representation of all research on gastronomic tourism. Findings reveal that gastronomic identity operates as a multidimensional cultural stimulus, while perceived authenticity (objective, constructive, and existential) plays a mediating or interpretive role in the relationship between culinary stimuli and satisfaction. Together, these constructs enhance tourist satisfaction and strengthen destination loyalty. Key gaps were identified, including geographic concentration in Europe and Asia, sampling biases, and the absence of hospitality as a moderating variable. The reviewed evidence suggests that both constructs function as interrelated determinants within the Stimulus-Organism-Response model, highlighting the need for destination managers to articulate local culinary heritage to maximize tourism competitiveness coherently. Full article

Kinetic shock triggers thigmomorphogenetic responses in plants, posing both an unintended handling risk and a deliberate technique to enhance ornamental value. Detecting its immediate, non-visual impacts remains a challenge. This study used non-destructive contact spectroscopy to detect short-term kinetic stress in three species with distinct leaf anatomies (Alocasia sp., Monstera deliciosa, Ficus elastica) under 20 s and 40 s stimuli. While a pooled global classification model failed due to anatomical variations masking the universal stress signal (70% accuracy), optimized species-specific models revealed distinct dynamics. At 0 min post-stress, high variance and low separability occurred across all species. However, a diagnostic change emerged within 30 min for Alocasia sp. (79.37%) and Ficus elastica (77.50%); the same tendency could not be confirmed for Monstera deliciosa, and further investigation is needed to support this pattern. Ficus elastica’s distinct architecture also proved consistently the least sensitive of three species in the pooled control-versus-treated comparison. A significant dosage effect was captured only in Alocasia sp. (87.50% accuracy). Spectral index analysis showed the dominance of the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), suggesting the change reflects micro-structural leaf turgor modifications rather than biochemical changes. Results indicate that leaf spectroscopy has the potential to diagnose transport injury and monitor conditioning. Full article

Background/Objectives: Degenerative musculoskeletal diseases represent a major cause of chronic pain and disability worldwide and are increasingly associated with dysregulated oxidative stress and impaired redox signaling. Conventional therapeutic strategies are often limited to symptomatic management, prompting interest in adjunctive approaches that target underlying biological mechanisms. Among these, medical ozone therapy has been proposed as a redox-modulating intervention in various musculoskeletal conditions. Methods: A narrative clinical–mechanistic review of the literature was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Google Scholar to identify experimental and clinical studies examining oxidative stress, redox signaling, and the application of medical ozone therapy in degenerative musculoskeletal disorders. Preclinical models published between 2000 and 2025 and randomized controlled trials published between 2020 and 2025 were critically evaluated and synthesized qualitatively, with attention to biological plausibility, clinical outcomes, and methodological limitations. A PRISMA-style flow diagram was used to document study selection. Results: Evidence from experimental studies supports a role for controlled oxidative stimuli in activating adaptive cellular defense pathways, including redox-sensitive signaling mechanisms involved in inflammation and tissue homeostasis. Clinical studies across conditions such as intervertebral disc disease, knee osteoarthritis, and other degenerative or overuse-related disorders report short- to mid-term improvements in pain and function following ozone therapy. However, substantial heterogeneity in study design, treatment protocols, and outcome measures limits comparability. Critically, many trials report statistically significant differences that do not consistently exceed the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for pain and disability indices, and no trial has validated the proposed Nrf2-mediated mechanism in human tissue at clinically administered doses. Conclusions: Current evidence suggests that ozone therapy may exert biologically plausible effects through hormetic redox modulation and may provide symptomatic benefit in selected patients with degenerative musculoskeletal diseases. Nonetheless, the lack of standardized protocols, high-quality long-term data, and mechanistic biomarker validation warrants cautious interpretation. Ozone therapy should be regarded as an investigational adjunct rather than a disease-modifying or standalone standard of care. Further rigorous clinical trials integrating mechanistic biomarkers, sham-controlled designs, and standardized methodologies are needed to clarify the therapeutic role and safety profile of ozone therapy in musculoskeletal medicine. Full article

Background and Objectives: Children with mild intellectual disability (MID) frequently experience difficulties during dental treatment due to increased sensitivity to environmental stimuli and limited cooperation. Sensory-adapted dental environments (SADE) have been proposed as a strategy to improve the dental experience of patients with neurodevelopmental conditions; however, evidence regarding their effectiveness in children with MID remains limited. This randomized clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effects of a sensory-adapted dental environment on pain-related behaviors and treatment cooperation during professional oral hygiene procedures in children with MID and moderate dental anxiety. Materials and Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted at the IRCCS Oasi Research Institute (Troina, Italy). A total of 200 children were screened for eligibility. Following the application of the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, 160 children (76 males and 84 females; age range: 6–7 years) with a diagnosis of mild intellectual disability (MID) and moderate dental anxiety, assessed using the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS), were enrolled. Participants were randomly assigned to either a sensory-adapted dental environment (SADE; n = 80) or a regular dental environment (RDE; n = 80). All participants underwent a single session of professional oral hygiene using an ultrasonic scaler. Pain-related behaviors were assessed using the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) Scale, whereas cooperation during treatment was evaluated using the Frankl Behavior Rating Scale. Owing to the non-normal distribution of the outcome variables, between-group comparisons were performed using the Mann–Whitney U test. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Participants treated in the SADE showed significantly lower FLACC scores compared with those treated in the RDE (3.10 ± 1.86 vs. 5.05 ± 2.36, p < 0.001), indicating reduced pain-related behaviors during treatment. Moreover, children in the SADE group demonstrated significantly higher Frankl scores than those in the RDE group (2.78 ± 0.48 vs. 2.41 ± 0.84, p = 0.006), reflecting improved cooperation. Sex-stratified analyses confirmed significantly lower FLACC scores in both males and females treated in the SADE. No significant Group × Sex interaction was observed for either outcome, suggesting that the beneficial effects of sensory adaptation were independent of sex. Conclusions: SADE significantly reduced pain-related behaviors and improved cooperation during professional oral hygiene procedures in children with mild intellectual disability and moderate dental anxiety. These findings support the implementation of sensory-adapted strategies in pediatric dental settings to improve treatment experiences and facilitate dental care for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Full article

Despite rapid advances in laser display technology, existing evaluation frameworks remain confined to isolated physical metrics, decoupled from human visual perception. This study presents the laser display comprehensive testing system (LD-CTS003), a unified platform integrating physical characterization and visual perceptual assessment. Grounded in opponent-process theory, the system implements a complete color conversion pipeline from display RGB through CIE XYZ and LMS to the Derrington–Krauskopf–Lennie space, linking spectral output to retinal cone responses. The hardware architecture features five-axis precision motion and multi-sensor synchronous acquisition, while the software supports both conventional optical measurements and psychophysical experiments. Static image resolution was evaluated via stripe-pattern modulation analysis across viewing distances, and visual contrast sensitivity was measured using Gabor stimuli under varying luminance and eccentricity. The results demonstrate that reduced viewing distances enhance effective resolution, with text display imposing stricter requirements than image display. Contrast sensitivity functions exhibit band-pass profiles, with luminance and eccentricity strongly modulating achromatic and red–green channels, whereas yellow–violet responses remain relatively robust peripherally. By unifying objective metrology and subjective evaluation, this work establishes a perception-oriented framework for laser display quality assessment, providing a physiologically grounded foundation for display optimization and standard development. Full article

RNA vaccines have emerged as an attractive platform for treating infectious diseases, cancer immunotherapy, and personalized medicine; however, their clinical success depends on multiple factors, including efficient, stable, and scalable delivery systems. Because RNA molecules are highly sensitive to factors such as enzymatic degradation, oxidation, poor cellular uptake, and limited endosomal escape, nanocarrier platforms play essential roles in protecting RNA cargo and enabling effective intracellular delivery. The biological performance of RNA nanocarriers depends on efficient cellular uptake, endosomal escape, intracellular RNA delivery, biodistribution, and immune modulation. Comparative assessment emphasizes that lipid nanoparticles remain the most clinically mature approach, while nanostructured lipid carriers, polymeric systems, and exosome-based nanocarriers provide multiple benefits for stability, targeted delivery, biocompatibility, and/or controlled release. Translational challenges involving GMP manufacturing, batch reproducibility, regulatory expectations, and scale-up are considered critical for effective nano-based RNA vaccine delivery and are elaborated in this review. Emerging advances such as pKa-tuned ionizable lipids, ligand-targeted systems, stimuli-responsive nanocarriers, circular and self-amplifying RNA platforms, artificial intelligence-guided formulation design, and needle-free delivery technologies may further expand the safety, accessibility, and therapeutic potential of RNA vaccines. In this review, we highlight next-generation nanocarrier systems for RNA vaccines, with an emphasis on novel nanocarrier RNA vaccine delivery systems. Additionally, we evaluate stability engineering approaches that currently limit global vaccine distribution and the future of the nanocarrier platforms for RNA vaccines. Full article

The transcription factor Pho4 is crucial for the response to phosphate starvation in many fungi, and it has been linked to tolerance to alkalinization of the medium and to pathogenicity. It is widely accepted that it is encoded by a single gene. However, the industrially relevant yeast Komagataella phaffii might contain two Pho4-encoding genes (PAS_chr1-1_0265 and PAS_chr2-1_0177, designated here PHO4(A) and PHO4(B), respectively), which have never been functionally characterized. The phenotypic analysis of single and double mutants suggests that Pho4(B) plays a major role in the adaptation to Pi scarcity. While single mutants exhibited limited and non-overlapping phenotypic defects, the pho4(A) pho4(B) strain was sensitive to multiple types of stress, including phosphate starvation and alkaline pH. Transcriptomic analysis confirms that Pho4(B) is crucial for the transcriptional response to phosphate starvation, including induction of typical gene markers (PHO5, PHO89, VTC1, etc.). However, by using a GFP reporter, we found that PHO4(A) also participates in the induction of PHO89 under high pH stress. Expression of both PHO4(A) and PHO4(B) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae complemented the pho4 mutation under phosphate limitation by restoring growth, expression of the Pho84 transporter, and secreted phosphatase activity. Therefore, both transcription factors display partially overlapping functions, respond differently to diverse stimuli, and together constitute a key component in the adaptation to multiple stresses. Full article

In constrained environments with no-fly zones (NFZs), bearing-only UAV target localization requires improving UAV-target relative geometry while avoiding NFZs. Inspired by the avoidance behavior observed in flying insects driven by perceptual stimuli, this paper proposes a bio-inspired anisotropic on-manifold guidance method for bearing-only UAV target localization under NFZ constraints. First, to quantify the measurement information with respect to the UAV-target relative geometry under unknown sensor bias, a projected uncertainty field is proposed. Its spatial gradient drives a perception-guided control law, and its components are further used to characterize local information sensitivity as a perceptual stimulus. Second, this sensitivity is incorporated into NFZ margin adaptation to construct an anisotropic dual-layer manifold field, enabling the UAV to adapt the avoidance margin according to the local information distribution. An on-manifold modulation mechanism is then applied to generate feasible motion under NFZ constraints. Simulations in NFZ-free, nonconvex NFZ, and dense NFZ scenarios show that the proposed method generates UAV trajectories that avoid NFZs while maintaining accurate and convergent target localization. Full article