Search Results (512)

Lanthanum-based double perovskite oxides (DPOs) have attracted considerable attention owing to their structural tunability, defect chemistry, and redox-active transition-metal centers, making them promising candidates for energy-related applications. In the present study, a series of novel La_2-xCa_xMn_2-yCo_yO_6-δ (x = y = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7) DPOs were synthesized via a citrate–nitrate sol–gel method, enabling homogeneous precursor mixing and precise control over microstructural evolution. X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of a phase-pure monoclinic crystal structure with space group C2/c (No. 15) for all DPO compositions, while systematic variations in lattice parameters and unit-cell volume demonstrated the influence of dual-site Ca/Co substitution on the crystal structure. Williamson–Hall (W–H) and size–strain plot (SSP) analyses revealed a progressive reduction in crystallite size and lattice strain, accompanied by an increase in dislocation density with increasing dopant concentration, confirming effective microstructural tuning. FTIR spectroscopy further verified the formation of the double perovskite framework through the characteristic metal–oxygen vibration at approximately 602 cm⁻¹, while EDX analysis confirmed the successful incorporation of the constituent elements without detectable impurities. The compositional dependence of the oxygen-defect characteristics indicates that dual-site substitution provides an effective strategy for tailoring the structural and defect chemistry of La_2-xCa_xMn_2-yCo_yO_6-δ. The combined structural stability, controlled microstructure, and defect engineering highlight the potential of these materials for oxygen electrocatalysis, solid oxide fuel cell cathodes, and other energy-conversion and environmental applications. Full article

Background/Objectives: Cervical cancer treatment relies heavily on high-dose-rate (HDR) ¹⁹²Ir brachytherapy; however, therapeutic efficacy remains limited by tumor radioresistance and the inability to escalate dose without increasing toxicity to surrounding healthy tissues. The present study investigates the potential of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to enhance radiosensitivity under clinically relevant ¹⁹²Ir brachytherapy conditions through the combined action of physical dose amplification and radiobiological modulation. Particular emphasis is placed on the unique radiophysical interactions generated by the mixed gamma and secondary beta emissions of ¹⁹²Ir, which, in the presence of high atomic number nanoparticles, promote localized photoelectric absorption and the emission of low-range secondary electrons, including Auger electrons. The study further aims to determine how AuNPs size and post-irradiation temporal evolution influence radiation-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis in cervical cancer cell lines, thereby providing a biologically representative model of nanoparticle-assisted brachytherapy. Methods: Clonogenic survival, dose enhancement factor (DEF), and apoptosis were evaluated following irradiation in the presence of 10 nm and 50 nm AuNPs in two independent biological experiments (n = 2). Results: A clear dose-dependent reduction in survival fraction and increase in apoptosis were observed in nanoparticle-treated groups compared with irradiation alone. Radiosensitization demonstrated strong size dependence, with 50 nm AuNPs producing the greatest enhancement, a finding that may reflect size-dependent differences in cellular internalization, intracellular distribution, and nanoscale energy deposition previously established in AuNP studies. Importantly, biological effects intensified at later post-irradiation intervals, demonstrating a sustained temporal evolution of the radiobiological response beyond the initial irradiation event, potentially involving oxidative and other delayed cellular stress mechanisms described in AuNP radiosensitization. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the capacity of AuNPs to enhance the radiobiological response of cervical cancer cells to ¹⁹²Ir brachytherapy and identify nanoparticle size and post-irradiation time as important determinants of this effect. They therefore support AuNP-assisted brachytherapy as a promising strategy for further development toward biologically optimized radiotherapy capable of improving tumor response without escalation of the prescribed radiation dose. Full article

Idesia polycarpa Maxim. is a predominantly dioecious woody oil species valued for its oil-bearing fruits, bioactive metabolites, and distinctive reproductive biology. To provide an integrated understanding of its biological characteristics, resource utilization, and research evolution, this study combines a concise review of current knowledge with a bibliometric analysis of English-language publications from 2005 to 2025. The review summarizes current knowledge on reproductive biology, fruit and oil quality, lipid biosynthesis, phytochemical diversity, and processing utilization, while the bibliometric analysis includes 109 eligible publications from the Web of Science Core Collection using Microsoft Excel 2021, bibliometrix 4.5.0, VOSviewer 1.6.20, CiteSpace 7.0.R0, and SCImago Graphica 1.0.51. The review highlights that the resource value of I. polycarpa is determined by the interaction between reproductive characteristics, fruit development, lipid accumulation, phytochemical composition, and processing strategies, while available evidence indicates that molecular findings remain largely associated with developmental regulation and require further functional validation. Publication output rose markedly during 2023–2025 and peaked in 2025. China contributed the most publications, while institutional and author collaboration networks consisted of several relatively distinct groups with limited intergroup links. Reference co-citation and keyword analyses revealed three major bibliometric thematic domains: natural products and biological activities; fruit-oil evaluation and utilization; and genomic, developmental, and reproductive research. Fatty acids and oil-related traits remained persistent topics, whereas recent bursts of “cloning”, “allocation”, and “bisexual flower” indicated growing interest in molecular regulation and reproductive development. Overall, research on I. polycarpa has progressed from resource characterization toward molecular regulation and utilization-oriented studies. Future work should integrate germplasm evaluation, reproductive biology, oil quality, and processing traits through coordinated multidimensional approaches. Full article

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a widely used bio-inspired optimization method. However, global guidance can align particle trajectories, reduce population diversity, and lead to premature convergence. To address this issue, we propose GRACE-PSO, a particle swarm optimizer based on group rank assessment and cooperative evolution. The method introduces group-best learning as an intermediate layer between personal-best and global-best learning to improve the balance between exploration and exploitation. GRACE-PSO integrates three coupled mechanisms: (1) a group-learning update that provides the population with multiple group-specific search directions; (2) a rank-based group-utility assessment that evaluates relative search effectiveness through pairwise comparisons of personal-best fitness values; and (3) a utility-driven adaptive strategy that adjusts the strengths of group-best and global-best learning and selectively reinitializes a small number of underperforming particles in stagnant groups. Experiments on 29 CEC 2017 benchmark functions at 30 and 50 dimensions against seven representative PSO methods show that GRACE-PSO achieves average ranks of 1.2414 and 1.3793, respectively. Experiments on two practical flexible intelligent metasurface optimization problems further demonstrate its competitive performance and practical applicability. Full article

Diaphorina citri Kuwayama is the primary natural vector of citrus Huanglongbing (HLB). Prolonged use of chemical pesticides leads to insect resistance, reduces control efficacy, and causes ecological pollution. RNA interference (RNAi) enables sequence-specific gene silencing, representing a promising precision strategy for managing D. citri. This review summarizes advances in RNAi-based control of D. citri, focusing on three groups of target gene screening strategies based on essential functional genes, behavioral regulation genes, and D. citri-Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) interaction genes. It also compares double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) delivery systems and highlights key bottlenecks, including poor stability, inefficient delivery, off-target effects, and resistance evolution. Future research should focus on optimizing target gene screening, developing efficient delivery systems, and enhancing ecological safety assessments. Integrating RNAi technology with various environmentally friendly management strategies will advance the sustainable control of D. citri and citrus HLB. Full article

Carbon-based materials exhibit diverse structural responses to irradiation owing to their distinct dimensionality, degree of graphitization, surface chemistry, and pore architecture. Although irradiation has traditionally been regarded as a source of structural damage, increasing evidence demonstrates that controlled irradiation can be deliberately utilized to tailor defects, surfaces, interfaces, and pore structures, thereby enabling desirable functional properties. This review summarizes recent progress in the irradiation-induced structural evolution and functional applications of four representative carbon-based materials, including graphene-based materials, carbon nanotubes, carbon fibers, and activated carbon/biochar. Particular attention is given to the characteristic irradiation responses of different carbon architectures. In graphene, irradiation predominantly induces vacancies, reconstructed defects, and surface functionalization, providing active sites for environmental remediation. Carbon nanotubes additionally undergo inter-tube cross-linking and welding, enabling enhanced mechanical performance and tunable electronic properties. For carbon fibers, irradiation mainly regulates surface chemistry and fiber matrix interactions, facilitating interface engineering in high-performance composites. In activated carbon and biochar, irradiation modifies pore accessibility, structural disorder, and surface functional groups, thereby influencing adsorption and electrochemical performance. These distinct responses demonstrate that irradiation can evolve from a conventional damage process into a controllable materials-engineering strategy when appropriate irradiation conditions are employed. Finally, current challenges associated with optimal irradiation conditions, quantitative defect identification, and irradiation structure–property relationships are discussed. Based on these distinct responses, we propose an architecture-dependent irradiation–structure–function (A-ISF) framework that links the initial carbon architecture and irradiation conditions to dominant energy-deposition mechanisms, structural evolution pathways, property modulation, and ultimately functional applications. Within this framework, irradiation engineering is interpreted as a competition between beneficial structural modification and excessive radiation damage, giving rise to an application-dependent optimal irradiation window. Full article

Diapause serves as an adaptive dormancy strategy in freshwater, hypersaline, and marine crustaceans, allowing them to survive harsh conditions like temperature extremes, salinity fluctuations, hypoxia, and food scarcity. This review focuses on diapause across major crustacean taxa, with particular emphasis on branchiopods and copepods. However, detailed mechanistic evidence is more prevalent in well-studied species like Artemia, Daphnia, and calanoid copepods, leading to an uneven distribution of evidence across these taxa. Thus, the molecular and physiological mechanisms discussed in this review should not be assumed to be universally conserved across Crustacea, and taxon-specific differences and current knowledge gaps are highlighted where appropriate. The review consolidates the current understanding of crustacean diapause, focusing on environmental cues, gene-regulatory networks, hormonal and epigenetic control, metabolic suppression, and stress resilience. In the best-studied taxa, diapause has been associated with changes in the expression and/or activity of antioxidant defenses, small RNAs, energy-storage pathways, heat shock proteins, and FoxO-associated signaling components; however, the evidence for these mechanisms varies among taxa, and their conservation across Crustacea, remains uncertain. The functions of these responses include developmental arrest, energy conservation, cellular protection, and maintaining viability during dormancy. Their significance varies among different groups of organisms and remains incompletely understood in many cases. Diapause also contributes to the persistence of populations by forming dormant propagule banks, coordinating seasonal processes, linking trophic levels, and increasing resilience to environmental changes. The ecological effects of diapause depend on the life stage and habitat. Recent progress in transcriptomics, epigenomics, long-read sequencing, single-cell methodologies, and multi-omics integration present new opportunities for comparing regulatory responses across species. Molecular data primarily focuses on Artemia, Daphnia, and a limited number of copepod species, posing challenges in generalizing to less represented lineages. Previous syntheses have concentrated on individual taxa, physiological dormancy, or specific molecular mechanisms. This review aims to fill this gap by integrating environmental regulation, taxonomic and life-stage contexts, molecular and physiological mechanisms, and ecological and evolutionary implications systematically. This comparative approach distinguishes between shared regulatory features across species and lineage-specific characteristics, while considering variations in the strength of supporting evidence. Future research should prioritize functional validation, broader taxonomic inclusivity, comparative multi-species analyses, multifactorial experiments, and long-term ecological investigations to enhance understanding of crustacean diapause evolution and refine predictions amidst climate-induced environmental shifts. Full article

Introduction: Determining the prognosis and probable evolution of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in pediatric patients has been an area of interest in the literature over the years. The aim of this study was to investigate baseline clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic parameters associated with early ventricular recovery during hospitalization in children with dilated cardiomyopathy. Materials and methods: A retrospective, observational, single-center study was conducted including 56 pediatric patients diagnosed with DCM between 2015 and 2025. Baseline clinical and paraclinical variables were collected at admission. Changes in the left ventricular ejection fraction were assessed during hospitalization, and patients were categorized into recovery and non-recovery groups. Statistical analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of early ventricular recovery. Results: Early ventricular recovery occurred in 25 (44.64%) patients. In multivariate logistic analysis, Ross functional class was the only independent marker associated with early ventricular recovery (OR 2.547, 95% CI 1.179–5.501; p = 0.017). Bootstrap validation confirmed the robustness of the association. Troponin, NT-proBNP, mitral regurgitation and treatment strategy were not independently associated with recovery. ROC analysis demonstrated a modest discriminatory performance for the Ross functional class. Discussion: In this cohort of children with DCM, symptom severity was the only baseline variable consistently associated with early ventricular recovery. Clinical assessment was more useful than laboratory biomarkers and echocardiographic parameters in predicting short-term improvement in ventricular function. Conclusions: The Ross functional class was the only baseline variable independently associated with early ventricular recovery. These findings support the use of the Ross functional classification as a simple bedside tool, useful in early prognostic stratification in children with dilated cardiomyopathy, although its discriminatory performance was modest. Full article

Since NADC30-like PRRSV-2 was first detected in Henan Province in 2012, it has continued to spread and has become one of the predominant PRRSV-2 groups in mainland China. However, the long-term spatiotemporal dynamics, interprovincial transmission patterns, transmission drivers and recombination associated evolutionary features of sublineage L1C (L1C; NADC30-like) remain incompletely resolved. Here, we analysed 9541 quality-controlled lineage 1 ORF5 sequences from 12 countries, including ORF5 sequences from 62 laboratory-derived complete genomes assigned to L1C. Globally, 3787 sequences were classified as L1C. Among the 1648 lineage 1 sequences from China, 1362 were assigned to L1C, accounting for 82.65% of Chinese lineage 1 sequences. Phylodynamic analysis dated the global common ancestor of L1C to around 2002 and suggested that strains circulating in mainland China were likely introduced from US-related strains around 2008. Before the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak, inferred interprovincial transmission links were concentrated in a limited number of key provinces. During the early ASF period, observable links decreased, but they subsequently recovered and expanded across more provinces. Transmission-driver analysis suggested that pig inventory and pig output were associated with stronger inferred interprovincial L1C transmission links, whereas geographic distance was associated with a spatial-decay effect. Whole-genome recombination analysis revealed extensive recombination signals in L1C genomes involving other PRRSV-2 lineages. Among inter-lineage associations, L8E (HP-PRRSV/JXA1-like) was the most frequently implicated background, followed by L5 and L3. These findings provide systematic evidence for the persistent prevalence, regional transmission and recombination-driven evolution of L1C in mainland China, and support molecular surveillance, regional risk warning and optimization of PRRSV-2 control strategies. Full article

Hemoglobin (Hb) and its glycated variant (HbA1c) are essential clinical biomarkers for diagnosing anemia, acute hemorrhage, and long-term glycemic control. The growing demand for decentralized point-of-care (POC) testing has accelerated the development of rapid, inexpensive, and portable electrochemical sensing platforms. These technologies exploit the intrinsic redox activity of the heme prosthetic group, yet achieving efficient direct electron transfer (DET) remains a fundamental challenge because the electroactive iron center is deeply embedded within the globin structure. This review critically examines recent advances in electrochemical Hb sensing, tracing the evolution of electrode architectures from conventional carbon substrates to nanostructured materials, including graphene, MXenes, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), and molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). We compare the advantages and limitations of non-enzymatic biomimetic platforms and affinity-based sensing strategies, including aptamer- and antibody-based biosensors, with emphasis on electron-transfer efficiency, molecular selectivity, analytical performance, and suitability for POC implementation. Beyond analytical performance, we evaluate the principal barriers to clinical translation, including biofouling, whole-blood matrix effects, viscosity-dependent mass transport, manufacturing scalability, and the persistent gap between validation in synthetic media and performance in clinical samples. Finally, we discuss emerging applications in wearable menstrual health monitoring and ingestible gastrointestinal bleeding sensors, highlighting the integration of advanced electrochemical materials with miniaturized electronics as a pathway toward practical, consumer-oriented diagnostics. Full article

In some scenarios, motorsport simulators have been used to enable the controlled acquisition of dense telemetry with high similarity to real-world data, reducing cost when assessing driving performance. However, although popular, performance analyses traditionally treat human control as deterministic and overlook the stochasticity of driving behavior. In fact, existing coaching methods which improve driving performance have to deal with two distinct outcomes: a driver who restructures his race control strategy and a driver who merely repeats it faster. This article presents a Behavior-First framework for interpretable driver behavior analysis that separates them. We characterize control signals with two information-theoretic descriptors: Jensen–Shannon divergence, which quantifies distributional distance from a proficiency-matched reference and whose square root satisfies the triangle inequality, and Permutation Entropy to measure the ordinal complexity of the input sequence. A deterministic, physics-informed heuristic layer then identifies kinematic performance gaps and emits structured tokens that a Large Language Model translates into natural-language coaching narratives. We evaluated the framework in an exploratory case study. The three beginners who received generated coaching messages and the single uncoached comparison participant exhibited different lap-time and information-theoretic trajectories. Because the groups were small and non-randomized, these observations describe within-driver evolution and do not estimate a causal coaching effect. Full article

As a renewable aromatic carbon reservoir, lignin exhibits great potential for the synthesis of sustainable fuels and high-value chemicals. Nevertheless, its intricate skeletons, irregular bond distribution, and abundant oxygenated functional groups complicate hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), resulting in inferior product selectivity and limited catalytic durability. Centered on structure–activity relationships, this review systematically correlates lignin structural features, catalytic performance, hydrogen supply modes, and HDO mechanisms. Impacts of linkage types, functional group distribution, and pretreatment-induced structural evolution on substrate adsorption and C–O bond cleavage are analyzed. The structure-performance rules of monometallic, bifunctional, atomic-scale, and carbon-based catalysts are clarified. Regulatory effects of various hydrogen supply strategies on active hydrogen generation and competitive direct deoxygenation/hydrogenation deoxygenation (DDO/HYD) pathways are elaborated. Critical bottlenecks restricting practical lignin conversion are summarized, and prospects for rational catalyst design and green biorefinery development are proposed. Full article

Confronted with severe global challenges, including water scarcity, excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and heavy metal contamination in soils, conventional agricultural technologies exhibit marked limitations in integrated water–fertilizer management and non-point source pollution control. Leveraging their excellent water retention capacity, intelligent sustained-release properties, and environmental responsiveness, hydrogels offer innovative solutions to advance sustainable agricultural development. This review comprehensively outlines the fundamental types, crosslinking mechanisms, and key functional properties of hydrogels, with a focused discussion on their agricultural deployment as high-efficiency soil conditioners, fertilizer vectors, and pesticide carriers; it deciphers the microscopic water-holding mechanisms under the tristate water model, delineates the divergent water-uptake and retention behaviors between ionic and non-ionic hydrogels, and clarifies the cyclic water-holding and release mechanisms of hydrogels during soil amelioration. Thise paper further synthesizes hydrogel-enabled environmental remediation applications, in which heavy metals and pesticide residues in soils and aquatic systems are removed via functional-group coordination adsorption or photocatalytic degradation; concurrently, hydrogels have been shown to activate plant systemic immunity through calcium-signaling pathways, thereby inducing broad-spectrum antiviral defense responses. Moreover, hydrogels can be integrated into precision agriculture frameworks to enable real-time monitoring of crop physiological status and to support targeted irrigation and fertilization management. This work also evaluates the role of hydrogels in promoting seed germination, root system development, crop metabolic regulation, and stress resilience, while introducing tailored application strategies across distinct plant growth stages. Their documented economic advantages include water conservation, enhanced crop yields, reduced dependence on synthetic fertilizers, and lower labor costs. Nevertheless, the large-scale implementation of hydrogels continues to face multifaceted challenges—particularly poor degradability and latent ecological risks, as conventional polyacrylamide (PAM)-based gels resist soil mineralization and retain potentially neurotoxic monomers, leaving a critical gap in multi-annual field data concerning their non-target interference with native soil aggregate evolution, pore distribution, and rhizospheric carbon–nitrogen footprints. Mechanistically, many hydrogels with tensile strengths below 1 MPa are highly susceptible to three-dimensional network collapse under high-salinity osmotic shock and tillage mechanical stress, exhibiting a precipitous drop in water retention after more than three wet–dry cycles due to deficient long-term structural stability. Compounding these technical gaps are elevated production costs and low farmer adoption, driven by the absence of texture-specific performance thresholds—such as an available water increment ≥ 40% for sandy soils—and the lack of established life-cycle cost models and farmer incentive mechanisms for bio-based hydrogels. Moving forward, hydrogel technology should pivot toward materials innovation and cost-reduction engineering to broaden its applicability, employ ≥3-year, multi-habitat regional trials to delineate ecological benefit–risk boundaries, and ultimately position hydrogels as pivotal enablers of sustainable, green agricultural paradigms. Full article

Background/Objectives: High-risk prostate cancer is a biologically heterogeneous group of tumors carrying a substantial risk of progression to lethal, castration-resistant disease. Although androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) remains the therapeutic backbone, nearly all advanced disease eventually progresses to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) through Darwinian clonal evolution under sustained therapeutic pressure. This narrative review reframes high-risk prostate cancer management as an effort to reprogram the evolutionary trajectory and delay castration resistance, addressing current risk stratification, androgen receptor (AR)-dependent and AR-independent mechanisms of resistance, and multidisciplinary strategies that modify selective pressure. Methods: A narrative review of the literature was conducted, including peer-reviewed studies, pivotal phase III trial reports, and current clinical practice guidelines indexed in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science up to 2026. Sources on high-risk and castration-resistant prostate cancer, the biology of treatment resistance, and multidisciplinary treatment intensification were selected and synthesized. Results: Treatment intensification has been extended to high-risk biochemical recurrence (EMBARK), directed by biomarkers in PTEN-deficient disease (CAPItello-281), and moved earlier through prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radioligand therapy (PSMAfore, PSMAddition). In localized disease, effective AR-pathway intensification with abiraterone (STAMPEDE) contrasts with the failure of chemotherapy (PEACE-2) and enzalutamide (ENZARAD). Emerging therapies targeting lineage plasticity exploit its dynamic and potentially reversible biology, raising the prospect of reversing established resistance rather than merely delaying it. CAPItello-281 and PSMAddition have immature overall survival data and are not yet standard of care. Conclusions: Coordinated multidisciplinary care, matched to the disease stage and molecular context, offers a realistic path to delay castration resistance and improve survival. Full article

Geopolitical conflicts, resource-protection policies, and unexpected disruptions have heightened supply-security concerns across the global nickel industry chain. This study constructs a multilayer trade network based on complex network theory to characterize structural evolution across the upstream, midstream, and downstream segments and applies a cascading-failure model to simulate the propagation of supply risks. There are four main findings: (1) The global nickel trade network exhibits pronounced layer heterogeneity, with the midstream layer acting as the principal amplifier of cascading failure risks. (2) Nodes with high centrality and broad cross-layer participation largely coincide with the countries that generate the largest systemic risks. (3) A small group of countries controls most trade flows and dominates risk transmission. (4) The center of systemic risk is shifting from traditional industrial and trading economies toward resource suppliers and countries that integrate resource extraction with processing. These findings support a risk-governance strategy based on diversified supply sources, dynamic monitoring of critical nodes, improved resilience in midstream smelting and refining, strategic resource stockpiling, and the circular utilization of nickel resources. Full article