Search Results (24,033)

The dual-fuel combustion strategy is a promising method to achieve the high-ratio utilization of isopropanol–butanol–ethanol (IBE) in diesel engines. However, how the diesel injection timing affects the combustion and emission characteristics of the diesel/IBE dual-fuel engine has been seldom systematically studied. In this regard, experiments were conducted on a diesel/IBE dual-fuel engine with the engine load fixed at 50% and the engine speed fixed at 1600 rpm, while the co-combustion ratio of IBE to diesel varied from 20.51% to 52.56%. The results show that both the peak in-cylinder pressure and maximum heat release rate increase as the diesel injection timing advances, resulting in the brake thermal efficiency of the diesel/IBE dual-fuel engine increasing. For emissions, CO emissions always decrease as the diesel injection timing advances, while HC emissions increase with the diesel injection timing either delayed or advanced. Furthermore, although the NO₂ emissions first increase and then decrease as the diesel injection timing advances, the NO emissions continue to increase, leading to an overall increase in NO_x emissions. However, whether the diesel injection timing is advanced or delayed, PN emissions are significantly reduced. That is to say, delaying the diesel injection timing can simultaneously reduce NO_x and PN emissions in a diesel/IBE dual-fuel engine. Full article

Endophytic fungi have emerged as an important source of bioactive metabolites. Phallus rubrovolvatus is an edible and medicinal mushroom; however, the diversity and biological activities of its endophytic fungi have not yet been studied. This study aimed to evaluate the diversity of endophytic fungi associated with different parts of P. rubrovolvatus, assess their biological activities, and identify the chemical constituents produced by these fungi. In total, 35 endophytic fungal strains were isolated from the cap, volva, stipe, and indusium of P. rubrovolvatus. These isolates belonged to 2 phyla, 4 classes, and 14 genera, with most strains identified belonging to the genera Penicillium and Cladosporium. The antibacterial and antioxidant activities of crude extracts obtained from endophytic fungal fermentation broth were subsequently evaluated. Among the isolates, HTZST13 and HTZST24 exhibited moderate antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with inhibition zone diameters of 13.67 mm and 11.67 mm, respectively. Moreover, two strains HTZSB1 and HTZST29 exhibited the strongest antioxidant activities against ABTS, with free radical-scavenging rates of 97.48% and 93.45%, respectively. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis revealed that the crude extract of strain HTZSB1 predominantly contained gibberellin A41 and 20-nor-3α-acetoxy-12-hydroxy-abieta-5,7,9,11,13-pentaene. The crude extract of strain HTZST29 predominantly contained 2β-hydroxyjatropholone and 1-[6-(benzyloxy)-3-(tert-butyl)-2-hydroxyphenyl]ethan-1-one. Together, the findings broaden our understanding of the diversity of endophytic fungi associated with P. rubrovolvatus, highlight their antibacterial and antioxidant potential, and provide a foundation for the further development and utilization of endophytic fungal resources from P. rubrovolvatus. Full article

Background: Chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) is a major source of morbidity and healthcare utilization, and a substantial proportion of patients continue to experience angina despite contemporary revascularization and guideline-directed medical therapy. Trimetazidine, a metabolic anti-ischemic agent that does not affect heart rate or blood pressure, has been used for decades as a non-hemodynamic add-on. Its position in international guidelines, however, has shifted. We aimed to synthesize current evidence on the clinical efficacy, safety, and guideline status of trimetazidine in CCS and coronary artery disease (CAD) and to delineate clinical circumstances in which a symptom-directed trial may be considered. Methods: We performed a structured narrative review of randomized controlled trials, network and conventional meta-analyses, and large observational studies indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library between January 1990 and March 2026. Reference lists of eligible articles, international clinical practice guidelines, and regulatory communications from European and national agencies were also examined. Results: Across pooled analyses, trimetazidine modestly but reproducibly improved exercise tolerance and reduced angina frequency and short-acting nitrate use, with efficacy comparable to other non–heart-rate-lowering antianginal agents. Improvements in left ventricular function were reported in small, single-center studies in ischemic cardiomyopathy and selected high-risk subgroups; however, these findings have not been validated in contemporary large-scale trials, and their clinical significance against modern guideline-directed therapy is unknown. The ATPCI trial confirmed safety but showed no reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events after percutaneous coronary intervention. Rare extrapyramidal effects prompted the 2012 European Medicines Agency referral and several prescribing restrictions. Conclusions: Trimetazidine remains a reasonable symptom-directed adjunct for residual angina in carefully selected CCS patients, particularly those in whom further hemodynamic up-titration is limited or poorly tolerated. The 2024 ESC class IIb recommendation may partly reflect a broader emphasis on prognostic benefit, although the neutral post-PCI outcome evidence and regulatory safety restrictions also support a more cautious position. Full article

Background/Objectives: Preoperative risk stratification in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains challenging for tumor aggressiveness and for adherent perinephric fat (APF) relevant to surgical planning. Although intratumoral radiomics are established, the peritumoral and perirenal fat microenvironment is biologically active and may encode imaging biomarkers. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated CT-based peritumoral and perirenal fat radiomics for preoperative grading, staging, and APF prediction and examined whether fat-derived features add incremental value beyond intratumoral models. Methods: Following PRISMA 2020 and a registered protocol (PROSPERO CRD420251150155), databases were searched through March 2026, with documented verification searches through August 2026. Eligible studies extracted CT radiomics from peritumoral or perirenal fat in adults with RCC and reported discrimination metrics. Random-effects meta-analyses (restricted maximum likelihood with Hartung–Knapp intervals) were performed; incremental value was estimated from nested within-study AUC differences under predefined rules; and methodological quality was assessed with PROBAST, RQS, METRICS, and TRIPOD, and certainty with an adapted GRADE framework. Results: Twenty-five retrospective studies (10,761 patients) were included. Fat radiomics were most consistent for APF prediction (pooled AUC 0.848, 95% CI 0.738–0.917; I² = 0%). Pooled AUCs were 0.772 (0.599–0.884; I² = 93%; 95% prediction interval 0.298–0.964) for grade and 0.813 (0.681–0.899; I² = 72%) for stage. Combined fat-plus-tumor models were numerically higher than tumor-only models in 12 of 15 studies (exploratory p = 0.022), but the formally estimable nested increment (stage family, five studies) was small (delta-AUC +0.017; governing modified Hartung–Knapp 95% CI −0.008 to +0.042) and statistically compatible with no true difference; fat-only models showed no evidence of differing from tumor-only models. PROBAST rated 72% of studies at high risk of bias, and 88% originated from China. Certainty ranged from VERY LOW (grade prediction; grade-family fat-versus-tumor comparison) to LOW (all remaining outcomes). Conclusions: CT-based peritumoral and perirenal fat radiomics show the most consistent signal for APF prediction, while the measurable increment from adding fat features to tumor models is small and of unestablished clinical utility. Standardized fat segmentation, calibration and decision-curve reporting and prospective multicenter validation are required before clinical translation. Full article

Underground petrochemical pipelines face severe risks from unreported third-party damage during excavation. Existing monitoring systems based on supervised deep learning or distributed acoustic sensing often require expensive hardware and large volumes of labeled defect data, and they exhibit high false-alarm rates in noisy urban environments. To overcome these limitations, this study proposes a cost-effective, field-feasible early warning framework utilizing attached acceleration sensors. High-frequency transient vibrations from physical impacts are demodulated into low-frequency rhythms using a Hilbert transform-based envelope algorithm, and these rhythms are then converted into 2D spectrograms via the Short-Time Fourier Transform. A 2D Convolutional Neural Network-Variational Autoencoder (2D CNN-VAE) is employed for unsupervised anomaly detection, trained specifically on normal background data. Furthermore, a hierarchical alarm classification logic is implemented to evaluate the reconstruction error, incorporating impulse noise rejection and temporal continuity checks. In a field demonstration, the proposed framework effectively suppressed false alarms caused by severe continuous noise, such as ground compacting, while reliably detecting sustained asphalt-breaking threats. This methodology demonstrates practical feasibility for isolating genuine excavation activities from transient environmental noise, offering a promising predictive maintenance approach that reduces alarm fatigue without requiring labeled defect data. Full article

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is considered one of the most important cereals globally, contributing significantly to the human population’s caloric and protein requirements. Therefore, ensuring a sufficient yield of wheat for global consumption plays a significant role in maintaining food security in different parts of the world. With increasing demand and dwindling production capacity, due to increasingly uncertain growing conditions, projections indicate that there should be an upswing of 60–70% in wheat productivity by 2050 to fulfill the requirement. However, drought represents the most significant and widespread abiotic limitation to global wheat production, currently resulting in approximately 10% yield losses worldwide. Furthermore, each additional 1 °C increase in temperature is anticipated to decrease staple calorie production by 4.4%. The factors contributing to drought in wheat, as well as its impact on the plant’s biochemical, physiological, and morphological structures, include altered rainfall patterns, elevated atmospheric CO₂ levels, increased temperatures, hot and dry winds, and restricted soil water availability. These factors initiate a series of morphological, physiological, and biochemical disruptions that hinder wheat growth and productivity. Drought impact on wheat starts at biochemical levels through reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and degradation of chlorophylls, and tolerance to stress is influenced by a polygenic system where numerous genes contribute minor effects and interact significantly with environmental factors transitioning to osmoprotectants. At the physiological level, drought alters the water content in the plant body, leading to reduced net photosynthetic rates, stomatal conductance, transpiration rates, and water utilization efficiency. At the morphological level, drought impacts all kinds of structures such as roots, shoots, leaves and reproductive parts. To counter these effects, wheat develops a set of tolerant mechanisms called drought escape, avoidance and tolerance. An increase in trichomes and leaf waxes, alteration of root–shoot ratios, the staying green phenomenon, production of stress proteins like proline, activity of enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, etc., osmotic adjustment, abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation, expression of dehydration proteins called dehydrin, etc., contribute towards drought tolerance. This comprehensive review investigates the intricate interactions between drought and various wheat genotypes, emphasizing their substantial impacts on plant physiology, biochemistry, growth dynamics, and grain yield. Additionally, this review assesses a variety of genetic and biotechnological strategies aimed at enhancing the resilience of wheat genotypes to drought stress. By integrating recent research findings with practical applications, this review provides a detailed framework for improving the adaptive capacity of wheat plants to withstand the escalating threats of drought stress, thereby supporting sustainable wheat production in a changing climate. Addressing drought stress through genetic and biotechnological management practices is crucial for maintaining wheat productivity. Full article

Background/objectives: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is essential to optimize antibiotic use and limit antimicrobial resistance (AMR), particularly in pediatric populations where diagnostic uncertainty and system constraints complicate care. This study investigated critical AMS indicators, namely, missed antibiotic doses, microbiological diagnostics, and antibiotic prescribing at hospital discharge, which are key challenges that may affect treatment outcomes in hospitalized children under five years old. Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted in two tertiary pediatric hospitals in Zambia among children aged 29 days to 59 months. Information on missed antibiotic doses, microbiological investigations, and antibiotic prescribing at discharge from hospitalization was obtained from medical records and medication charts. Results: Patients experienced 1–8 missed doses, most commonly involving benzylpenicillin and ceftriaxone. Documentation of reasons for missed doses was largely absent. Microbiological testing was requested in 36.6% of patients, but only 14.8% of antibiotic prescriptions were supported by culture and susceptibility testing. Of requested tests, 80.9% of results were unavailable at discharge, limiting clinical utility. Only 19.1% of results were available, with a low culture positivity rate (27.3%). Overall, 41.8% of patients were discharged on antibiotics, predominantly from the WHO “Access” group (78%), though 22% were “Watch” antibiotics, and none from the “Reserve” group. Shorter hospital stay was significantly associated with discharge antibiotic prescribing (p = 0.0079; χ² = 78.577, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Significant AMS gaps exist, including frequent missed doses, limited diagnostic support, and high discharge antibiotic use. Strengthening medication administration systems, improving laboratory capacity and turnaround times, and optimizing discharge prescribing are critical for enhancing pediatric AMS and reducing AMR. Full article

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a major global health concern. Marine by-products are increasingly recognized as promising sources of functional ingredients with diverse bio-activities. This study investigated the effects of sea cucumber viscera hydrolysates prepared by protease hydrolysis (SVH) and further fermented with Cordyceps militaris (FSVH) on cellular function and energy metabolism in HCT116 cells. Cell viability, apoptosis, migration, and invasion were evaluated using CCK-8, flow cytometry, wound healing, and Transwell assays. Cellular energy metabolism was assessed by measuring glucose uptake, lactate production, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR). The results showed that SVH and FSVH exhibited distinct biological activity profiles in HCT116 cells. Both SVH and FSVH induced apoptosis and inhibited the migration and invasion of HCT116 cells. Both treatments affected glucose metabolism and mitochondrial respiratory function, including glucose uptake, lactate production, mitochondrial respiration, and glycolytic activity. SVH exhibited stronger inhibitory effects on glycolysis-related parameters, whereas FSVH showed greater effects on mitochondrial respiratory capacity. These findings indicate that C. militaris fermentation modified rather than simply enhanced the biological properties of sea cucumber viscera hydrolysates, resulting in distinct effects on cellular function and energy metabolism. This study highlights the potential application of sea cucumber viscera hydrolysates for the value-added utilization of marine processing by-products. Full article

To promote the high-value utilization of industrial solid waste and enhance the durability of construction materials in cold regions, this study investigates an autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) system prepared primarily with fly ash and oil shale residue, with a particular focus on its frost resistance. The physical and chemical properties of the raw materials were characterized using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to optimize the pore structure and mineral composition. A systematic evaluation of 15 continuous freeze–thaw cycles was conducted, comprehensively analyzing the compressive strength retention, mass loss rate, and thermal conductivity. The experimental results indicate that a 50% replacement of fly ash with oil shale residue, combined with an optimized water-to-binder ratio (0.66), significantly improves the pore uniformity and skeleton stability of the AAC. The optimized mixture (YYY50W) achieved a compressive strength of 5.2 MPa and a low thermal conductivity of 0.1654 W/(m·K). After 15 freeze–thaw cycles, the mass loss was minimal (<3 g), and the compressive strength retention rate ($R$) reached 90.0%, demonstrating superior frost resistance. This study elucidates the microstructural mechanism by which oil shale residue promotes the formation of low-crystallinity tobermorite and C-S-H gels, providing potential experimental evidence for the utilization of industrial by-products in building materials for cold environments. Full article

Edible beef organs are nutrient-dense ingredients that may improve whole-animal utilization while enhancing the nutritional value of ground beef. This study evaluated the effects of organ type and inclusion level on the quality characteristics and consumer acceptability of ground beef patties. Patties were manufactured from three independent batches and formulated as a control (0% organ), 6% beef heart, 12% beef heart, 6% beef kidney, or 12% beef kidney. Nutritional composition, cooking characteristics, instrumental color, texture, and consumer acceptance were evaluated. Organ-containing patties had higher moisture content than the control (p = 0.0082), while 12% beef kidney resulted in the greatest cholesterol and sodium concentrations (p < 0.0001). Patties containing 12% beef kidney exhibited the lowest cooking loss (p = 0.0004) and Allo–Kramer shear force values (p < 0.0001), corresponding to the greatest consumer-perceived tenderness (p < 0.0001). However, this treatment received the lowest ratings for overall liking, flavor, texture, purchase intent, and willingness to pay (p < 0.0001). In contrast, 6% and 12% beef heart retained consumer acceptability comparable to the control while reducing formulation cost. These findings identify beef heart as a promising ingredient for increasing edible organ utilization in ground beef without compromising consumer acceptance. Full article

Objectives: Advanced 3D volumetry is increasingly utilized to predict postoperative outcomes. It is widely hypothesized that remnant pancreatic volume and progressive atrophy dictate the loss of endocrine function after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). This study aims to investigate this anatomical paradigm by evaluating whether 3D volumetric tissue loss or the baseline metabolic load drives new-onset diabetes mellitus (NODM). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 159 non-diabetic patients who underwent PD. Preoperative and postoperative (6-month) computed tomography (CT) images were evaluated using Synapse 3D 6.7 version volumetric analysis software to calculate total pancreas volume, remnant volume, and postoperative progressive atrophy rate. All measured volumes were indexed to body weight. Factors associated with NODM were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression and ROC analysis. Results: Postoperative follow-ups revealed that 30.2% (n = 48) of the patients developed NODM. Interestingly, advanced 3D volumetric analysis revealed no significant differences between the diabetic and non-diabetic cohorts regarding body weight-indexed total pancreas volume, preoperative remnant volume, or postoperative progressive atrophy rate (p = 0.475). Instead, multivariate analysis identified the preoperative metabolic load, represented by Body Mass Index (BMI), as the sole independent predictor of NODM (p = 0.006, OR = 1.125), independent of surgical tissue loss. ROC analysis demonstrated a moderate predictive threshold for BMI > 26.5 kg/m² (AUC = 0.644). Conclusions: In this cohort, the anatomical volume and progressive atrophy of the remnant pancreas, despite precise 3D quantification, were not statistically associated with the development of NODM after PD. Postoperative endocrine failure appears to be strongly associated with the patient’s baseline metabolic stress rather than solely the physical extent of surgical tissue loss. These findings suggest that while anatomical tissue preservation remains biologically important, preoperative metabolic risk stratification should be a clinical priority. Full article

High-level autonomous driving requires an exceptionally accurate and robust perception of surrounding road environments to support reliable vehicle localization. While utilizing multiple LiDAR sensors expands the field of view and provides high-density point clouds, it introduces severe challenges, such as multi-LiDAR mutual interference (crosstalk) and significant computational overhead. This paper proposes a multi-stage front-end perception pipeline designed for robust high-altitude structural landmark extraction and crosstalk suppression to provide clean geometric reference points for downstream positioning systems. The proposed framework first employs a Binary Bayes Filter combined with a mesh-graph representation to segment stable overhead road traffic signs while minimizing environmental noise. To ensure real-time operation, a hybrid cascade consisting of 2D-grid spatial projection and voxelized 3D Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) is introduced, drastically reducing point cloud density bottlenecks. Finally, a cluster-refinement stage is applied to filter out residual false positives induced by crosstalk. The system was validated using real-world driving data collected over an urban sequence (1.88 km) and a highway sequence (37 km). Experimental results demonstrate that the pipeline achieves high landmark tracking success rates of 79.9% and 98.5%, respectively, while suppressing crosstalk-induced false alarms down to 12.3%. Operating entirely on CPU threads with an average latency of 24.5 ms per frame, the framework satisfies real-time execution bounds for standard 10 Hz LiDAR setups, establishing a high-fidelity front-end capable of preventing tracking drift in autonomous vehicle localization. Full article

[Background] Cotton seed protein is an important seed quality trait with considerable utilization potential; however, the genetic mechanisms governing its developmental dynamics remain incompletely understood. [Methods] Field trials were conducted during the 2024 and 2025 growing seasons. Using 11 upland cotton parental lines and 36 F₁ hybrid combinations obtained through Griffing-II double-cross hybridization, three planting configurations were evaluated (three-row (FR3), four-row (FR4), and six-row (FR6) film mulch configurations). Samples were harvested at eight developmental stages: 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, and 60 days after anthesis. Cotton seed protein content was determined using the Kjeldahl method, and protein accumulation parameters were estimated using a logistic growth model. Unconditional and conditional genetic analyses were conducted using a developmental ADM model that incorporated genotype–environment interactions. [Results] Cotton seed protein accumulation exhibited an S-shaped trend: it first increased, entered a plateau phase, then declined slightly, and rose gradually in the later developmental stage. Genotype, year, planting configuration, and their interactions significantly affected protein content and growth parameters but did not alter the underlying developmental trajectory. Among the planting configurations, FR4 exhibited the highest protein accumulation rate and maximum protein accumulation, with the lowest trait variation, and showed the most favorable overall performance under the conditions tested. Genetic analyses indicated that the dominance–environment and maternal–environment interactions were the principal components of protein accumulation, whereas additive, dominance, and maternal main effects were significant only at specific developmental stages. In terms of the genetics of cotton seed protein, the predicted genetic effects across different environments and developmental stages indicated that P6 exhibited the highest stability of genetic effects, P7 and P9 showed moderate stability, whereas P3 had relatively low stability of genetic effects. [Conclusions] The developmental pattern of cotton seed protein accumulation was largely governed by genetic effects and remained relatively stable, whereas environmental conditions mainly modified the magnitude of accumulation. For breeding aimed at improving cotton seed protein, the genetic backgrounds of parental lines should be considered together with environmental effects on cotton seed protein accumulation. Full article

Bandwidth-limited aerial–ground sensing requires an explicit trade-off among payload size, decoded-map quality, and downstream route utility. This paper evaluates a strict RGB-D edge-perception interface in which the receiver accesses only a quantized C × 16 × 16 tensor and no encoder-side skip features. Under a fixed AeroScapes protocol, five-seed latent-8 training gives a test intersection over union (IoU) of 0.5617 ± 0.0585 and route utility of 0.0539 ± 0.0227; the strongest validation-selected checkpoint reaches an IoU of 0.6584 but is reported only as a checkpoint-specific result. Acontrolled five-seed width ablation identifies a Pareto set: latent-8 is the lowest-rate operating point at 16.448 kbit, latent-16 has the smallest IoU standard deviation, and latent-32 gives the highest mean IoU (0.5788) and route utility (0.0921), with no significant pairwise differences between widths. A paired threeseed stabilization test likewise finds no significant IoU improvement from depth dropout, a soft topology loss, or their combination (p ≥ 0.6060); the combined configuration raises mean IoU to 0.5700 but increases dispersion. Relative to a practical reference combining JPEG (quality 75) RGB and 8-bit PNG depth, latent-8 reduces the mean payload by a factor of 4.32. The digital-link study extends the additive-noise analysis to fading, intersymbol interference, timevariation, packet and burst errors, near–far interference, and corrupted range metadata. Conventional short codes, source-aware unequal protection, and a 3GPP NR LDPC implementation are evaluated with framing, automatic repeat request, mediumaccess overhead, and transmission delay. Cross-domain evaluation establishes an important limitation: zero-shot AeroScapes-to-UAVid transfer is weak, whereas sequence-disjoint tenseed UAVid training improves the eight-class mean IoU from 0.2417 ± 0.0221 for RGB-only to 0.2602 ± 0.0129 for strict RGB-D (p = 0.0161). Lightweight depth, visibility, missingdepth, weighted-topology, and coarse-to-local refinement experiments further delimit deployment. Together, these experiments provide an auditable cross-layer evaluation linking source representation, channel reliability, protocol cost, spatial error, and receivergrid connectivity without equating one favorable checkpoint with general superiority. Full article

Prompt diagnosis and treatment of sepsis and septic shock is crucial due to the persistently high rates of morbidity and mortality associated with the disease. Recently, research efforts have focused on identifying novel biomarkers that would detect, classify, and assess the severity of sepsis in a timely manner, thereby allowing for expeditious and precise treatment of sepsis and septic shock. Among these biomarkers, proenkephalin (PENK) has gained considerable attention. Accordingly, this narrative review aims to consolidate current evidence on the clinical utility of PENK in patients with sepsis and septic shock, with emphasis on its role as a biomarker of renal dysfunction and as a predictor of sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) and mortality in both the emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit (ICU) settings. Full article