The newly identified Sanghuangporus alpinus species of the Sanghuang mushroom genus has been found to possess significant medical benefits. However, the current artificial cultivation technology has not reached the requisite maturity. The response-surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the Sanghuangporus alpinus culture medium formulation and evaluate the functional activity of S. alpinus exopolysaccharides. First, a single-factor experiment was conducted to screen for optimal carbon and nitrogen sources for S. alpinus. Then, using Box–Behnken’s central composite design, a response-surface experiment was conducted to determine optimal culture parameters. Finally, the rationality of those parameters was assessed in a shaking flask experiment. The optimal culture parameters, determined through regression analysis, were 20.20 ± 0.17 g/L fructose (carbon source), 7.29 ± 0.10 g/L yeast extract (nitrogen source), and 0.99 ± 0.01 g/L dandelion. With optimization, the S. alpinus yield increased to 12.79 ± 1.41 g/L, twice that obtained from the initial culture medium. The S. alpinus exopolysaccharide exhibited an excellent antioxidant capacity, with the strongest scavenging effect noted on ABTS free radicals (lowest half-inhibitory concentration: 0.039 mg/mL). Additionally, this exopolysaccharide effectively inhibited various cancer cells, exhibiting the strongest activity against human glioma cells U251 (half-inhibitory concentration: 0.91 mg/mL). The RSM used to optimize the fermentation culture parameters of S. alpinus significantly increased the mycelial biomass. The improvement of Sanghuangporus alpinus yield through liquid fermentation and optimizing the fermentation medium could fill the existing gap in the cultivation of Sanghuangporus alpinus, as well as provide valuable data for the large-scale production of S. alpinus. Full article

Resource curse and environmental regulation are the key bottlenecks that hinder the sustainable development of the resource industry. A reasonable assessment of the decoupling relationship between resource supply, environment regulation and resource industry transformation is helpful to promote the decision-making of industrial restructuring in post-development regions. Taking Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China as the research object, panel data related to resources, environment and industry from 2010 to 2021 are selected to evaluate the spatial and temporal evolution of regional resource supply security, environmental regulatory pressure and resource industry transformation efficiency, measure the decoupling index among the factors, and use geographic detector technology to identify the constraints affecting factor decoupling. The results show the following: (1) the resource curse effect of Inner Mongolia is not significant, and some resource industries have prominent advantages; (2) the security of resource supply and the transformation efficiency of the resource industry show overall upward trend, the pressure of environmental regulation is basically balanced, and the development level of factors in resource-endowed regions and central cities is relatively high; (3) the spatial and temporal evolution of the decoupling relationship between resource supply, environmental regulation and resource industry transformation is uncertain, and the resilience of regional economic and social governance is poor; (4) resource endowment and resource industry advantages are the key that restricts the decoupling of factors, and the cumulative effect of ecological governance is likely to lead to the randomness of the decoupling of environmental regulation and resource industry transformation. In addition, this study suggests that the post-development areas should pay attention to the classification of resource industry relief, trans-regional economic and social collaborative governance and special resources exploitation. Full article

As offline control photovoltaic (PV) plants are not equipped with online communication and remote control systems, they cannot adjust their power in real-time. Therefore, in a distribution network saturated with offline control PVs, the distribution system operator (DSO) should schedule the distributed energy resources (DERs) considering the uncertainty of renewable energy to prevent curtailment due to overvoltage. This paper presents a day-ahead network operation strategy using a mobile energy storage system (MESS) and offline control PVs to minimize power curtailment. The MESS model efficiently considers the transportation time and power loss of the MESS, and models various operating modes, such as the charging, discharging, idle, and moving modes. The optimization problem is formulated based on mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) considering the spatial and temporal operation constraints of MESSs and is performed using chanced constrained optimal power flow (CC-OPF). The upper limits for offline control PVs are set based on the probabilistic approach, thus mitigating overvoltage due to forecasting errors. The proposed operation strategy was tested in the IEEE 33-node distribution system coupled with a 15-node transportation system. The test results show the effectiveness of the proposed method for minimizing curtailment in offline control PVs. Full article

This research focuses on developing a 2D thin film comprising a monolayer of silica nanoparticles functionalized with polyethyleneimine (PEI), achieved through a novel integration of Langmuir–Blodgett (L-B) and Pickering emulsion techniques. The primary aim was to create a nanostructured film that exhibits dual functionality: iridescence and efficient metal ion adsorption, specifically Cu(II) ions. The methodology combined L-B and Pickering emulsion polymerization to assemble and stabilize a nanoparticle monolayer at an oil/water interface, which was then polymerized under UV radiation to form an asymmetrically structured film. The results demonstrate that the film possesses a high adsorption efficiency for Cu(II) ions, with the enhanced mechanical durability provided by a reinforcing layer of polyvinyl alcohol/glycerol. The advantage of combining L-B and Pickering emulsion technology is the ability to generate 2D films from functional nanoparticle monolayers that are sufficiently sturdy to be deployed in applications. The 2D film’s practical applications in environmental remediation were confirmed through its ability to adsorb and recover Cu(II) ions from aqueous solutions effectively. We thus demonstrate the film’s potential as a versatile tool in water treatment applications owing to its combined photonic and adsorptive properties. This work paves the way for future research on the use of nanoengineered films in environmental and possibly photonic applications focusing on enhancing the film’s structural robustness and exploring its broader applicability to other pollutants and metal ions. Full article

Deep neural networks (DNNs) are increasingly important in the medical diagnosis of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. However, research has shown that DNNs are highly vulnerable to adversarial examples, which can be created by carefully crafted perturbations. This vulnerability can lead to potential medical accidents. This poses new challenges for the application of DNNs in the medical diagnosis of ECG signals. This paper proposes a novel network Channel Activation Suppression with Lipschitz Constraints Net (CASLCNet), which employs the Channel-wise Activation Suppressing (CAS) strategy to dynamically adjust the contribution of different channels to the class prediction and uses the 1-Lipschitz’s distance network as a robust classifier to reduce the impact of adversarial perturbations on the model itself in order to increase the adversarial robustness of the model. The experimental results demonstrate that CASLCNet achieves scores of 91.03% and 83.01% when subjected to PGD attacks on the MIT-BIH and CPSC2018 datasets, respectively, which proves that the proposed method in this paper enhances the model’s adversarial robustness while maintaining a high accuracy rate. Full article

The fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) records changes in the graph of fetal cardiac action potential during conduction, reflecting the developmental status of the fetus in utero and its physiological cardiac activity. Morphological alterations in the FECG can indicate intrauterine hypoxia, fetal distress, and neonatal asphyxia early on, enhancing maternal and fetal safety through prompt clinical intervention, thereby reducing neonatal morbidity and mortality. To reconstruct FECG signals with clear morphological information, this paper proposes a novel deep learning model, CBLS-CycleGAN. The model’s generator combines spatial features extracted by the CNN with temporal features extracted by the BiLSTM network, thus ensuring that the reconstructed signals possess combined features with spatial and temporal dependencies. The model’s discriminator utilizes PatchGAN, employing small segments of the signal as discriminative inputs to concentrate the training process on capturing signal details. Evaluating the model using two real FECG signal databases, namely “Abdominal and Direct Fetal ECG Database” and “Fetal Electrocardiograms, Direct and Abdominal with Reference Heartbeat Annotations”, resulted in a mean MSE and MAE of 0.019 and 0.006, respectively. It detects the FQRS compound wave with a sensitivity, positive predictive value, and F₁ of 99.51%, 99.57%, and 99.54%, respectively. This paper’s model effectively preserves the morphological information of FECG signals, capturing not only the FQRS compound wave but also the fetal P-wave, T-wave, P-R interval, and ST segment information, providing clinicians with crucial diagnostic insights and a scientific foundation for developing rational treatment protocols. Full article

A novel biomass-based magnetic nanoparticle (Fe₃O₄-P-CMC/PAMAM) was synthesized by crosslinking carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) and poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM), followed by phosphorylation with the incorporation of magnetic ferric oxide nanoparticles. The characterization results verified the successful functionalization and structural integrity of the adsorbents with a surface area of ca. 43 m²/g. Batch adsorption experiments revealed that the adsorbent exhibited a maximum adsorption capacity of 1513.47 mg·g⁻¹ for U(VI) at pH 5.5 and 298.15 K, with Fe₃O₄-P-CMC/G1.5-2 showing the highest affinity among the series. The adsorption kinetics adhered to a pseudo-second-order model (R² = 0.99, q_e,exp = 463.81 mg·g⁻¹, k₂ = 2.15×10⁻² g·mg⁻¹·min⁻¹), indicating a chemically driven process. Thermodynamic analysis suggested that the adsorption was endothermic and spontaneous (ΔH° = 14.71 kJ·mol⁻¹, ΔG° = −50.63 kJ·mol⁻¹, 298. 15 K), with increasing adsorption capacity at higher temperatures. The adsorbent demonstrated significant selectivity for U(VI) in the presence of competing cations, with Fe₃O₄-P-CMC/G1.5-2 showing a high selectivity coefficient. The performed desorption and reusability tests indicated that the adsorbent could be effectively regenerated using 1M HCl, maintaining its adsorption capacity after five cycles. XPS analysis highlighted the role of phosphonate and amino groups in the complexation with uranyl ions, and validated the existence of bimodal U4f peaks at 380.1 eV and 390.1 eV belonging to U 4f_7/2 and U 4f_5/2. The results of this study underscore the promise of the developed adsorbent as an effective and selective material for the treatment of uranium-contaminated wastewater. Full article

The determination of illegal drugs and psychoactive substances in wastewater is increasingly being used to monitor the use of both by populations in specific areas. This article describes a method for the simultaneous determination of 78 illegal drugs and psychoactive substances in wastewater using direct-injection ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). This method includes the analysis of stimulants, opioids, antidepressants, antipsychotic drugs, anti-anxiety drugs, and hallucinogens. The method was validated in terms of the selectivity, calibration range, recovery, matrix effects, accuracy, precision, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ). The correlation coefficients were higher than 0.99 for all analytes, and the calibration range was from 0.2 to 500 ng/L. The LOD and LOQ of this method were 0.1–1 ng/L and 0.2–5 ng/L, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precisions were <9.3% and 11.4%, respectively, and the recovery ranged from 81.3% to 117.7%. The method was applied to real domestic wastewater collected from wastewater treatment plants, and the results showed that morphine, codeine, and ephedrine were detected in all samples. Some samples also contained other illegal drugs and psychoactive substances (such as etomidate, methamphetamine, ketamine, and tramadol). This indicates that the direct-injection UHPLC-MS/MS method can be used for the rapid determination of illegal drugs and psychoactive substances in wastewater. Full article

Ullazines and their π-expanded derivatives have gained much attention as active components in various applications, such as in organic photovoltaic cells or as photosensitizers for CO₂ photoreduction. Here, we report the divergent synthesis of functionalized diazaullazines by means of two different domino-reactions consisting of either a Povarov/cycloisomerization or alkyne–carbonyl metathesis/cycloisomerization protocol. The corresponding quinolino-diazaullazine and benzoyl-diazaullazine derivatives were obtained in moderate to good yields. Their optical and electronic properties were studied and compared to related, literature-known compounds to obtain insights into the impact of nitrogen doping and π-expansion. Full article

The problem of supporting visually impaired and blind people in meaningful interactions with objects is often neglected. To address this issue, we adapted a tactile belt for enhanced spatial navigation into a bracelet worn on the wrist that allows visually impaired people to grasp target objects. Participants’ performance in locating and grasping target items when guided using the bracelet, which provides direction commands via vibrotactile signals, was compared to their performance when receiving auditory instructions. While participants were faster with the auditory commands, they also performed well with the bracelet, encouraging future development of this system and similar systems. Full article

In this paper, we present the synthesis and luminescent spectra of rare-earth (RE)-doped aluminum and lanthanum borates intended to serve as narrow excitation–emission band fluorescent markers. We perform a detailed 3D excitation–emission matrix (EEM) analysis of their spectra, compare the measurements from both standard and mobile phone spectrometers, and outline the basic differences and advantages of each method. While smartphones have a different and non-uniform spectral response compared to standard spectrometers, it is shown that they offer a number of advantages such as contactless interrogation, efficient suppression of the UV excitation light, and simultaneous spectral analysis of spatially arranged arrays of fluorescent markers. The basic emission peaks have been observed and their corresponding electronic transitions identified. The obtained results show that the rare-earth-doped La and Al borates feature excitation–emission bandwidths as low 15 nm/12 nm, which makes them particularly appropriate for use as luminescent markers with UV LED excitation and smartphone interrogation. Full article

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) have been found in great numbers, but the physical mechanism of these sources is still a mystery. The redshift evolutions of the FRB energy distribution function and the volumetric rate shed light on the origin of FRBs. However, such estimations rely on the dispersion measurement (DM)–redshift (z) relationship. A few FRBs that have been detected recently show large excess DMs beyond the expectation from the cosmological and Milky Way contributions, which indicates large spread of DMs from their host galaxies. In this work, we adopt two lognormal-distributed ${\mathrm{DM}}_{\mathrm{host}}$ models and estimate the energy function using the non-repeating FRBs selected from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)/FRB Catalog 1. By comparing the lognormal-distributed ${\mathrm{DM}}_{\mathrm{host}}$ models to a constant ${\mathrm{DM}}_{\mathrm{host}}$ model, the FRB energy function results are consistent within the measurement uncertainty. We also estimate the volumetric rate of the non-repeating FRBs in three different redshift bins. The volumetric rate shows that the trend is consistent with the stellar-mass density redshift evolution. Since the lognormal-distributed ${\mathrm{DM}}_{\mathrm{host}}$ model increases the measurement errors, the inference of FRBs tracking the stellar-mass density is nonetheless undermined. Full article

There is evidence for a particular relationship between low-grade inflammation (LGI) and intermittent hypoxia (IH) related to obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS). However, despite the potential deleterious cardiovascular consequences associated with this LGI in hypertensive patients, few studies have investigated the impact of IH related to OSAS on CRP levels in this subpopulation. In total, 1404 hypertensive patients were selected retrospectively from the Sleep Laboratory database. CRP levels ≥3 mg/L but <10 mg/L were used as cut-offs to identify hypertensive patients with LGI. Logistic regressions were conducted to examine the risk of LGI associated with IH related to OSAS in hypertensive patients. LGI was frequent (33.8%) in hypertensive patients. After adjustment for confounders, multivariate logistic regressions revealed that only moderate to severe OSAS (apnoea–hypopnoea index ≥ 15/h) with high IH (oxygen desaturation index ≥ 15/h) [OR 1.51 (95% CI 1.06–2.14)] was significantly associated with LGI in hypertensive patients (p-value = 0.045). Consistent with our hypothesis, our results demonstrated the existence of a particular subtype of hypertensive patients at high cardiovascular risk characterised by the presence of LGI induced by IH hypoxia related to moderate to severe OSAS, which justifies the establishment of adequate management of this pathology to allow better cardiovascular prevention in this subpopulation. Full article

(1) Background: To better understand the dynamic characteristics of a ball bearing with an elastic ring squeeze film damper (ERSFD) under sudden unbalance, a novel dynamic model was established by fully considering the coupling between the ERSFD, bearing outer ring (the journal), rotor, and disc (loading bearing); (2) Methods: An improved secant method was developed to determine the initial eccentricity values of the bearing’s outer ring and the disc. The dynamic response of the outer ring under different speed ratios, damping ratios, and mass ratios was solved using the variable-step Runge–Kutta method; (3) Results: In comparison, a low-speed ratio, high damping ratio, and low mass ratio were more conducive to suppressing the bearing vibration. When the imbalance was suddenly introduced, the displacement amplitude of the eccentricity, transmissibility, amplitude–frequency response, and the radius of the outer ring center locus increased; (4) Conclusions: This work provides a reference for further studying the nonlinear vibration of rolling bearings coupled with an ERSFD. Full article

The main objective of this study was to investigate the metabolism of miconazole, an azole antifungal drug. Miconazole was subjected to incubation with human liver microsomes (HLM) to mimic phase I metabolism reactions for the first time. Employing a combination of an HLM assay and UHPLC-HRMS analysis enabled the identification of seven metabolites of miconazole, undescribed so far. Throughout the incubation with HLM, miconazole underwent biotransformation reactions including hydroxylation of the benzene ring and oxidation of the imidazole moiety, along with its subsequent degradation. Additionally, based on the obtained results, screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) were optimized to simulate the same biotransformation reactions, by the use of a simple, fast, and cheap electrochemical method. The potential toxicity of the identified metabolites was assessed using various in silico models. Full article

Ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) is a common weed in the winter rainfall region of South Africa. This weed is widespread across vineyards, orchards, and roadsides in the region. The weed has already evolved resistance to glyphosate and paraquat; however, the mechanism of paraquat resistance has not been documented. This study aimed to investigate the resistance mechanisms in this resistant (R) biotype. Dose–response trials conducted with R biotypes from the Robertson area reconfirmed paraquat resistance. Dose–response trials established that the paraquat rate causing 50% mortality (LD₅₀) for the R biotype is three times greater than for the susceptible (S) biotype. To find out how paraquat affected the photosynthetic performance of P. lanceolata, the quantum yield of photosystem II was measured. The photosystem reaction centres of the R biotype recovered 24 h after paraquat treatment. To evaluate paraquat transport in the plant cell, selective transport inhibitors were applied. Plantago lanceolata (S) biotypes had the highest electrolyte leakage after paraquat treatment. A combined radio/UV-HPLC was used for the separation and identification of paraquat and its metabolites. Paraquat degradation was not observed, indicating that metabolism was not a resistance mechanism within the R biotype. To assess leaf absorption and translocation, [¹⁴C]-labelled paraquat was applied to fully expanded leaves. There were no significant differences in paraquat absorption. However, paraquat translocation differed significantly across the R and S biotypes, indicating that non-target site resistance through reduced paraquat translocation was the main mechanism of resistance in the R biotype. As the resistance of weed species to post-emergence herbicides continues to increase, achieving sustainable weed management necessitates the implementation of diversified weed control strategies. Full article

In response to the challenges posed by small objects in remote sensing images, such as low resolution, complex backgrounds, and severe occlusions, this paper proposes a lightweight improved model based on YOLOv8n. During the detection of small objects, the feature fusion part of the YOLOv8n algorithm retrieves relatively fewer features of small objects from the backbone network compared to large objects, resulting in low detection accuracy for small objects. To address this issue, firstly, this paper adds a dedicated small object detection layer in the feature fusion network to better integrate the features of small objects into the feature fusion part of the model. Secondly, the SSFF module is introduced to facilitate multi-scale feature fusion, enabling the model to capture more gradient paths and further improve accuracy while reducing model parameters. Finally, the HPANet structure is proposed, replacing the Path Aggregation Network with HPANet. Compared to the original YOLOv8n algorithm, the recognition accuracy of [email protected] on the VisDrone data set and the AI-TOD data set has increased by 14.3% and 17.9%, respectively, while the recognition accuracy of [email protected]:0.95 has increased by 17.1% and 19.8%, respectively. The proposed method reduces the parameter count by 33% and the model size by 31.7% compared to the original model. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can quickly and accurately identify small objects in complex backgrounds. Full article

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating joint disorder characterized by cartilage degradation and chronic inflammation, accompanied by high oxidative stress. In this study, we utilized the monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced OA model to investigate the efficacy of oligo-fucoidan-based formula (FF) intervention in mitigating OA progression. Through its capacity to alleviate joint bearing function and inflammation, improvements in cartilage integrity following oligo-fucoidan-based formula intervention were observed, highlighting its protective effects against cartilage degeneration and structural damage. Furthermore, the oligo-fucoidan-based formula modulated the p38 signaling pathway, along with downregulating cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression, contributing to its beneficial effects. Our study provides valuable insights into targeted interventions for OA management and calls for further clinical investigations to validate these preclinical findings and to explore the translational potential of an oligo-fucoidan-based formula in human OA patients. Full article

With the rapid development of anion exchange membrane technology and the availability of high-performance non-noble metal cathode catalysts in alkaline media, the commercialization of anion exchange membrane fuel cells has become feasible. Currently, anode materials for alkaline anion-exchange membrane fuel cells still rely on platinum-based catalysts, posing a challenge to the development of efficient low-Pt or Pt-free catalysts. Low-cost ruthenium-based anodes are being considered as alternatives to platinum. However, they still suffer from stability issues and strong oxophilicity. Here, we employ a metal–organic framework compound as a template to construct three-dimensional porous ruthenium–tungsten–zinc nanocages via solvothermal and high-temperature pyrolysis methods. The experimental results demonstrate that this porous ruthenium–tungsten–zinc nanocage with an electrochemical surface area of 116 m² g⁻¹ exhibits excellent catalytic activity for hydrogen oxidation reaction in alkali, with a kinetic density 1.82 times and a mass activity 8.18 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C, and a good catalytic stability, showing no obvious degradation of the current density after continuous operation for 10,000 s. These findings suggest that the developed catalyst holds promise for use in alkaline anion-exchange membrane fuel cells. Full article

This paper investigates the effect of spatial variability of soil elastic modulus on the longitudinal responses of the existing shield tunnel to the new tunnel undercrossing using a random two-stage analysis method (RTSAM). The Timoshenko–Winkler-based deterministic method considering longitudinal variation in the subgrade reaction coefficient and the random field of the soil elastic modulus discretized by the Karhunen–Loeve expansion method are combined to establish the RTSAM. Then, the proposed RTSAM is applied to carry out a random analysis based on an actual engineering case. Results show that the increases in the scale of fluctuation and the coefficient of variation of the soil elastic modulus lead to higher variabilities of tunnel responses. A decreasing pillar depth and mean value of the soil elastic modulus and an increasing skew angle strengthen the effect of the spatial variability of the soil elastic modulus on tunnel responses. The variabilities of tunnel responses under the random field of the soil elastic modulus are overestimated by the Euler–Bernoulli beam model. The results of this study provide references for the uncertainty analysis of the new tunneling-induced responses of the existing tunnel under the random field of soil properties. Full article

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a complex illness with both hereditary and environmental components. Globally, in 2019, 18 million people had RA. RA is characterized by persistent inflammation of the synovial membrane that lines the joints, cartilage loss, and bone erosion. Phenolic molecules are the most prevalent secondary metabolites in plants, with a diverse spectrum of biological actions that benefit functional meals and nutraceuticals. These compounds have received a lot of attention recently because they have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and anti-rheumatoid activity by modulating tumor necrosis factor, mitogen-activated protein kinase, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells, and c-Jun N-terminal kinases, as well as other preventative properties. This article discusses dietary polyphenols, their pharmacological properties, and innovative delivery technologies for the treatment of RA, with a focus on their possible biological activities. Nonetheless, commercialization of polyphenols may be achievable only after confirming their safety profile and completing successful clinical trials. Full article

Introduction: Chronic wounds caused by diabetes or lower-extremity artery disease are intractable because the wound healing mechanism becomes ineffective due to the poor environment of the wound bed. Biosheets obtained using in-body tissue architecture (iBTA) are collagen-based membranous tissue created within the body and which autologously contain various growth factors and somatic stem cells including SSEA4-posituve cells. When applied to a wound, granulation formation can be promoted and epithelialization may even be achieved. Herein, we report our clinical treatment experience with seven cases of intractable diabetic foot ulcers. Cases: Seven patients, from 46 to 93 years old, had large foot ulcers including in the heel area, which were failing to heal with standard wound treatment. Methods: Two or four Biosheet-forming molds were embedded subcutaneously in the chest or abdomen, and after 3 to 6 weeks, the molds were removed. Biosheets that formed inside the mold were obtained and applied directly to the wound surface. Results: In all cases, there were no problems with the mold’s embedding and removal procedures, and Biosheets were formed without any infection or inflammation during the embedding period. The Biosheets were simply applied to the wounds, and in all cases they adhered within one week, did not fall off, and became integrated with the wound surface. Complete wound closure was achieved within 8 weeks in two cases and within 5 months in two cases. One patient was lost due to infective endocarditis from septic colitis. One case required lower leg amputation due to wound recurrence, and one case achieved wound reduction and wound healing in approximately 9 months. Conclusions: Biotubes obtained via iBTA promoted wound healing and were extremely useful for intractable diabetic foot ulcers involving the heel area. Full article