This research focuses on the rational design of porous enzymatic electrodes, using horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as a model biocatalyst. Our goal was to identify the main obstacles to maximizing biocatalyst utilization within complex porous structures and to assess the impact of various carbon nanomaterials on electrode performance. We evaluated as-synthesized carbon nanomaterials, such as Carbon Aerogel, Coral Carbon, and Carbon Hollow Spheres, against the commercially available Vulcan XC72 carbon nanomaterial. The 3D electrodes were constructed using gelatin as a binder, which was cross-linked with glutaraldehyde. The bioelectrodes were characterized electrochemically in the absence and presence of 3 mM of hydrogen peroxide. The capacitive behavior observed was in accordance with the BET surface area of the materials under study. The catalytic activity towards hydrogen peroxide reduction was partially linked to the capacitive behavior trend in the absence of hydrogen peroxide. Notably, the Coral Carbon electrode demonstrated large capacitive currents but low catalytic currents, an exception to the observed trend. Microscopic analysis of the electrodes indicated suboptimal gelatin distribution in the Coral Carbon electrode. This study also highlighted the challenges in transferring the preparation procedure from one carbon nanomaterial to another, emphasizing the importance of binder quantity, which appears to depend on particle size and quantity and warrants further studies. Under conditions of the present study, Vulcan XC72 with a catalytic current of ca. 300 µA cm⁻² in the presence of 3 mM of hydrogen peroxide was found to be the most optimal biocatalyst support. Full article

Although cellular senescence was originally defined as an irreversible form of cell cycle arrest, in therapy-induced senescence models, the emergence of proliferative senescence-escaped cancer cells has been reported by several groups, challenging the definition of senescence. Indeed, senescence-escaped cancer cells may contribute to resistance to cancer treatment. Here, to study senescence escape and isolate senescence-escaped cells, we developed novel flow cytometry-based methods using the proliferation marker Ki-67 and CellTrace CFSE live-staining. We investigated the role of a novel senescence marker (DPP4/CD26) and a senolytic drug (azithromycin) on the senescence-escaping ability of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Our results show that the expression of DPP4/CD26 is significantly increased in both senescent MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. While not essential for senescence induction, DPP4/CD26 contributed to promoting senescence escape in MCF-7 cells but not in MDA-MB-231 cells. Our results also confirmed the potential senolytic effect of azithromycin in senescent cancer cells. Importantly, the combination of azithromycin and a DPP4 inhibitor (sitagliptin) demonstrated a synergistic effect in senescent MCF-7 cells and reduced the number of senescence-escaped cells. Although further research is needed, our results and novel methods could contribute to the investigation of the mechanisms of senescence escape and the identification of potential therapeutic targets. Indeed, DPP4/CD26 could be a promising marker and a novel target to potentially decrease senescence escape in cancer. Full article

Aging is characterized by the progressive degeneration of bodily tissues and decline in physiological functions, a process that may be exacerbated by imbalances in intestinal flora. Soluble dietary fiber (PSDF) from Citrus unshiu peel has demonstrated strong free radical scavenging ability to regulate intestinal flora in vitro. However, further evidence is required to ascertain the effectiveness of PSDF in vivo. In our study, 8-week-old mice were artificially aged through subcutaneous injections of a 200 mg/kg/d D-galactose solution for 42 days, followed by a 28-day dietary intervention with varying doses of PSDF, insoluble dietary fiber (PIDF), and vitamin C. After the intervention, we observed a significant mitigation of D-galactose-induced oxidative stress, as evident by weight normalization and reduced oxidative damage. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that PSDF significantly altered the composition of intestinal flora, increasing Firmicutes and reducing Bacteroidota percentages, while also enriching colonic short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Spearman correlation analysis further identified a positive correlation between Firmicutes and isovaleric acid, and negative correlations between Muribaculaceae and acetic acid, and between Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and caproic acid. These findings support the potential of Citrus PSDF to alleviate oxidative stress. Full article

Streptococcus pyogenes, group A streptococci (GAS) bacteriaemia, is a life-threatening infection with high mortality, requiring fast diagnosis together with the use of appropriate antibiotic therapy as soon as possible. Our study analysed data from 93 patients with GAS bacteraemia at the General University Hospital in Prague between January 2006 and March 2024. In the years 2016–2019 there was an increase in GAS bacteraemia. Mortality in the period 2006–2019 was 21.9%; in the period 2020–2024, the mortality increased to 41.4%, p = 0.08. At the same time, in the post-2020 period, the time from hospital admission to death was reduced from 9.5 days to 3 days. A significant predictor of worse outcome in this period was high levels of procalcitonin, >35.1 µg/L (100% sensitivity and 82.35% specificity), and lactate, >5 mmol/L (90.91% sensitivity and 91.67% specificity). Myoglobin was a significant predictor in both compared periods, the AUC was 0.771, p = 0.044, and the AUC was an even 0.889, p ≤ 0.001, respectively. All isolates of S. pyogenes were susceptible to penicillin, and resistance to clindamycin was 20.3% from 2006–2019 and 10.3% in 2020–2024. Appropriate therapy was initiated in 89.1%. and 96.6%, respectively. We hypothesise that the increase in mortality after 2020 might be due to a decrease in the immune status of the population. Full article

Pradofloxacin is the newest of the veterinary fluoroquinolones to be approved for use in animals—initially companion animals and most recently food animals. It has a broad spectrum of in vitro activity, working actively against Gram-positive/negative, atypical and some anaerobic microorganisms. It simultaneously targets DNA gyrase (topoisomerase type II) and topoisomerase type IV, suggesting a lower propensity to select for antimicrobial resistance. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate and extent of bacterial killing by pradofloxacin against bovine strains of Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida, in comparison with several other agents (ceftiofur, enrofloxacin, florfenicol, marbofloxacin, tildipirosin, tilmicosin and tulathromycin) using four clinically relevant drug concentrations: minimum inhibitory and mutant prevention drug concentration, maximum serum and maximum tissue drug concentrations. At the maximum serum and tissue drug concentrations, pradofloxacin killed 99.99% of M. haemolytica cells following 5 min of drug exposure (versus growth to 76% kill rate for the other agents) and 94.-1−98.6% of P. multocida following 60−120 min of drug exposure (versus growth to 98.6% kill rate for the other agents). Statistically significant differences in kill rates were seen between the various drugs tested depending on drug concentration and time of sampling after drug exposure. Full article

Waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration is a feasible way to respond to both the municipal solid waste management and renewable energy challenges, but few studies have been carried out on its environmental and economic impact in fast-developing southeastern Asian countries. To fill such a research gap, this study innovatively conducted a holistic assessment of WtE incineration application potential in Java Island, Indonesia. Here, we have established a life cycle assessment model for WtE incineration in Java, and have estimated the environmental impact, electricity generation potential, and techno-economic feasibility of implementing incineration by 2025. We have revealed that global warming potential, terrestrial ecotoxicity potential, eutrophication potential, and acidification potential are the major environmental impacts stemming from incineration activities. Moreover, we have estimated that promoting incineration in Java could reduce CO₂ emissions by 41% on average. The electricity generated from incineration could contribute to 3.72% of Indonesia’s renewable energy target for the electricity grid mix by 2025. The cumulative energy production potential from incineration is estimated to reach 2,316,523 MWh/year in 2025 and will increase by 14.3% in 2050. The techno-economic assessment of incineration implementation in Java cities has been enumerated as feasible. The levelized cost of electricity from incineration (0.044 USD/kWh) is competitive with the current Indonesian electricity price (0.069 USD/kWh). Policies of minimizing incineration pollution, providing financial support guarantees, and overcoming social barriers have been proposed to facilitate the application of WtE incineration. Full article

The heat transfer enhancement and hydrodynamic characteristics of nanofluid use in a micro heat exchanger is investigated for cooling electronic components working in hot climatic conditions. The cooling fluid employed was water and TiO₂ nanoparticles at mass concentrations of 1% and 5%, the Reynolds numbers ranged from 400 to 2000, and the inlet temperatures ranged between 35 °C and 65 °C. At a nanofluid inlet temperature of 55 °C and a nanoparticle concentration of 1%, the Nusselt number increased by 23% up to 54% as the Reynolds number varied between 400 and 2000. At a nanoparticle concentration of 5%, the percentages that correspondingly enhanced the Nusselt number were 32% and 63%. The temperature of the electronic heating component decreased by 4.6–5.2 °C when the nanofluid concentration was increased from 0 to 5% at a Reynolds number of 400 and a nanofluid inlet temperature of 35 °C. Small increments in the pressure drop of about 6% and 13% were observed at nanofluid concentrations of 1% and 5%, respectively. With nanoparticle concentrations of 1% and 5%, a Reynolds number of 2000, and a nanofluid inlet temperature of 35 °C, performance evaluation criterion (PEC) values of 1.36 and 1.45 were obtained. When the nanofluid inlet temperature increased to 65 °C, the PEC parameter decreased to 1.02–1.10 for both concentrations. Full article

Traffic sign recognition plays a crucial role in enhancing the safety and efficiency of traffic systems. However, in snowy conditions, traffic signs are often obscured by particles, leading to a severe decrease in detection accuracy. To address this challenge, we propose an improved YOLOv8-based model for traffic sign recognition. Initially, we introduce a Multi-Scale Group Convolution (MSGC) module to replace the C2f module in the YOLOv8 backbone. Data indicate that MSGC enhances detection accuracy while maintaining model lightweightness. Subsequently, to improve the recognition ability for small targets, we introduce an enhanced small target detection layer, which enhances small target detection accuracy while reducing parameters. In addition, we replaced the original BCE loss with the improved EfficientSlide loss to improve the sample imbalance problem. Finally, we integrate Deformable Attention into the model to improve the detection efficiency and performance of complex targets. The resulting fused model, named MSGC-YOLOv8, is evaluated on an enhanced dataset of snow-covered traffic signs. Experimental results show that the MSGC-YOLOv8 model is used for snow road traffic sign recognition. Compared with the YOLOv8n model [email protected]:0.95, [email protected]:0.95 is increased by 17.7% and 18.1%, respectively, greatly improving the detection accuracy. Compared with the YOLOv8s model, while the parameters are reduced by 59.6%, [email protected] only loses 1.5%. Considering all aspects of the data, our proposed model shows high detection efficiency and accuracy under snowy conditions. Full article

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) plays a crucial role in managing patients who have undergone coronary intervention (CI) following acute myocardial infarction. While water-based exercise is gaining recognition as an exercise modality in this patient population, its impact on the subgroup of older adults remains unexplored. In this post hoc analysis, we investigated the effects of water-based exercise on adults older than 60 years undergoing CR after CI, comparing it to land-based exercise and a control group. In total, 45 patients aged over 60 participated in 14-day exercise programs, featuring two daily 30-min sessions. We assessed exercise capacity (VO_2peak), vascular function (flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD)), heart rate variability (HRV), and blood markers (Interleukins 6, 8, and 10, P-Selectin, ICAM, and High-sensitivity CRP) before and after CR. VO_2peak in the water-based group improved significantly after CR in comparison with the land-based group: 1.35 kg/mL/min (95% CI [0.20–2.50], p = 0.022). The significant difference between water-based and land-based groups was observed in several HRV parameters: Total power −1129.20 ms² (95% CI [−1951.92–−306.49], p = 0.008); peak LF 0.04 Hz (95% CI [0.00–0.08], p = 0.036); SD1 −9.02 millisecond (95% CI [−16.86–−1.18], p = 0.025); and SD2 −19.71 ms (95% CI [−35.08–−4.34], p = 0.013). FMD and blood markers did not vary significantly based on the exercise group. These findings suggest that short-term water-based CR may have potential as an alternative to traditional land-based CR, improving VO_2peak and cardiorespiratory fitness among adults over 60 years undergoing CR after CI. Full article

The ability to study chemical dynamics on ultrafast timescales has greatly advanced with the introduction of X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) providing short pulses of intense X-rays tailored to probe atomic structure and electronic configuration. Fully exploiting the full potential of XFELs requires specialized experimental endstations along with the development of techniques and methods to successfully carry out experiments. The liquid jet endstation (LJE) at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) has been developed to study photochemistry and biochemistry in solution systems using a combination of X-ray solution scattering (XSS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES). The pump–probe setup utilizes an optical laser to excite the sample, which is subsequently probed by a hard X-ray pulse to resolve structural and electronic dynamics at their intrinsic femtosecond timescales. The LJE ensures reliable sample delivery to the X-ray interaction point via various liquid jets, enabling rapid replenishment of thin samples with millimolar concentrations and low sample volumes at the 120 Hz repetition rate of the LCLS beam. This paper provides a detailed description of the LJE design and of the techniques it enables, with an emphasis on the diagnostics required for real-time monitoring of the liquid jet and on the spatiotemporal overlap methods used to optimize the signal. Additionally, various scientific examples are discussed, highlighting the versatility of the LJE. Full article

Mountain glaciers are considered natural indicators of warming and a device for climatic change. In addition, it is also a solid reservoir of freshwater resources. Along with climate change, clarifying the dynamic changes of glacier in the Aksu River Basin (ARB) are important for hydrological processes. The study examined the variations in glacier area, elevation, and their reaction to climate change in the ARB between 1990 and 2022. The glacier melt on the runoff is explored from 2003 to 2020. This investigation utilized Landsat and Sentinal-2 images, ICESat, CryoSat, meteorological and hydrological data. The findings suggest that: (1) The glacier area in the ARB retreated by 309.40 km² (9.37%, 0.29%·a⁻¹) from 1990 to 2022. From 2003 to 2021, the ARB glacier surface elevation retreat rate of 0.38 ± 0.12 m·a⁻¹ (0.32 ± 0.10 m w.e.a⁻¹). Comparison with 2003–2009, the retreat rate is faster from 2010 to 2021. (2) From 1990 to 2022, the Toxkan and the Kumalak River Basin’s glacier area decreases between 61.28 km² (0.28%·a⁻¹) and 248.13 km² (0.30%·a⁻¹). Additionally, the rate of glacier surface elevation declined by −0.34 ± 0.11 m·a⁻¹, −0.42 ± 0.14 m·a⁻¹ from 2003 to 2021. (3) The mass balance sensitivities to cold season precipitation and ablation-phase accumulated temperatures are +0.27 ± 0.08 m w.e.a⁻¹(10%)⁻¹ and −0.33 ± 0.10 m w.e.a⁻¹ °C⁻¹, respectively. The mass loss is (962.55 ± 0.57) × 10⁶ m³ w.e.a⁻¹, (1087.50 ± 0.68) × 10⁶ m³ w.e.a⁻¹ during 2003–2009, 2010–2021 respectively. Warmer ablation-phase accumulated temperatures dominate glacier retreat in the ARB. (4) Glacier meltwater accounted for 34.57% and 41.56% of the Aksu River’s runoff during the ablation-phase of 2003–2009 and 2010–2020, respectively. The research has important implications for maintaining the stability of water resource systems based on glacier meltwater. Full article

Side scan sonar images have great application prospects in underwater surveys, target detection, and engineering activities. However, the acquired sonar images exhibit low illumination, scattered noise, distorted outlines, and unclear edge textures due to the complicated undersea environment and intrinsic device flaws. Hence, this paper proposes a multi-scale fusion strategy for side scan sonar (SSS) image correction to improve the low contrast and noise interference. Initially, an SSS image was decomposed into low and high frequency sub-bands via the non-subsampled shearlet transform (NSST). Then, modified multi-scale retinex (MMSR) was employed to enhance the contrast of the low frequency sub-band. Next, sparse dictionary learning (SDL) was utilized to eliminate high frequency noise. Finally, the process of NSST reconstruction was completed by fusing the emerging low and high frequency sub-band images to generate a new sonar image. The experimental results demonstrate that the target features, underwater terrain, and edge contours could be clearly displayed in the image corrected by the multi-scale fusion strategy when compared to eight correction techniques: BPDHE, MSRCR, NPE, ALTM, LIME, FE, WT, and TVRLRA. Effective control was achieved over the speckle noise of the sonar image. Furthermore, the AG, STD, and E values illustrated the delicacy and contrast of the corrected images processed by the proposed strategy. The PSNR value revealed that the proposed strategy outperformed the advanced TVRLRA technology in terms of filtering performance by at least 8.8%. It can provide sonar imagery that is appropriate for various circumstances. Full article

Several studies have demonstrated interesting results considering the implication of three growth factors (GFs), namely nerve growth factor (NGF), erythropoietin (EPO), and the insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1) in the physiology of male reproductive functions. This review provides insights into the effects of NGF, EPO, and IGF-1 on the male reproductive system, emphasizing mainly their effects on sperm motility and vitality. In the male reproductive system, the expression pattern of the NGF system varies according to the species and testicular development, playing a crucial role in morphogenesis and spermatogenesis. In humans, it seems that NGF positively affects sperm motility parameters and NGF supplementation in cryopreservation media improves post-thaw sperm motility. In animals, EPO is found in various male reproductive tissues, and in humans, the protein is present in seminal plasma and testicular germ cells. EPO receptors have been discovered in the plasma membrane of human spermatozoa, suggesting potential roles in sperm motility and vitality. In humans, IGF-1 is expressed mainly in Sertoli cells and is present in seminal plasma, contributing to cell development and the maturation of spermatozoa. IGF-1 seems to modulate sperm motility, and treatment with IGF-1 has a positive effect on sperm motility and vitality. Furthermore, lower levels of NGF or IGF-1 in seminal plasma are associated with infertility. Understanding the mechanisms of actions of these GFs in the male reproductive system may improve the outcome of sperm processing techniques. Full article

A false data injection attack (FDIA) is the main attack method that threatens the security of smart grids. FDIAs mislead the control center to make wrong judgments by modifying the measurement data of the power grid system. Therefore, the effective and accurate detection of FDIAs is crucial for the safe operation of smart grids. However, the current deep learning-based methods do not fully exploit the short-term local characteristics and long-term dependencies of power grid data and have poor correlation with past and future time series information, resulting in a lack of credibility in the detection results. In view of this, an FDIA detection model combining a bidirectional temporal convolutional network and bidirectional gated recurrent unit with an attention mechanism (A-BiTG) was proposed. The proposed model utilizes a bidirectional time convolutional network (BiTCN) and bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BiGRU) to consider past and future temporal information in the grid. This enhances the ability of the model to capture long-term dependencies and extract features, while also solving the model’s problem of exploding and vanishing gradients. In addition, an attention mechanism (AM) was added to dynamically assign weights to the extracted feature information and retain the most valuable features to improve the detection accuracy of the model. Finally, the proposed method was compared with existing methods on the IEEE 14-bus and IEEE 118-bus test systems. The results show that the proposed detection model is more robust and superior under different noise environments and FDIA signals with different intensities. Full article

Numerical investigations on the flowability of pulverized biomass are crucial for agriculture, aiding in optimizing biomass use, crop residue management, soil health improvement, and environmental impact mitigation. Rising interest in biomass and conversion processes necessitates deeper property understanding and technological process optimization. Moisture content is a key parameter influencing biomass quality. In this paper, computer simulations of shear tests depending on the moisture content using the discrete element method were carried out and compared with experimental results. An experimental study and modeling for Jenike’s direct shearing apparatus was carried out. A swelling bed model was proposed to account for the effect of moisture. The swelling bed model assumed an increase in biomass grain vorticity proportional to the moisture content. The model was solved using the discrete element method (DEM). The model considers the effect of moisture on the values of Young’s and Kirchoff’s moduli for biomass grains. The model assumed that moisture is not present in surface form, the total amount of moisture is absorbed into the interior of the material grains, and the volume of a single grain increases linearly with an increase in the volume of the absorbed moisture. The tested materials were pulverized sunflower husks, apple pomace, distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), meat and bone meal (MBM), and sawdust. Samples with moisture contents of 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% were tested. The best agreement of the model with the experimental data was observed for the most absorbent materials in which moisture was not present in surface form, such as apple pomace, DDGS, and sawdust. Research data are important for the proper design of biomass storage, transportation equipment, and utilization as feedstock for bioenergy production or soil enrichment. Full article

Enterococcus faecium B13, selected from fermentation chili, has been proven to promote animal growth by previous studies, but it belongs to opportunistic pathogens, so a comprehensive evaluation of its probiotic properties and safety is necessary. In this study, the probiotic properties and safety of B13 were evaluated at the genetic and phenotype levels in vitro and then confirmed in vivo. The genome of B13 contains one chromosome and two plasmids. The average nucleotide identity indicated that B13 was most closely related to the fermentation-plant-derived strain. The strain does not carry the major virulence genes of the clinical E. faecium strains but contains aac(6′)-Ii, ant (6)-Ia, msrC genes. The strain had a higher tolerance to acid at pH 3.0, 4.0, and 0.3% bile salt and a 32.83% free radical DPPH clearance rate. It can adhere to Caco-2 cells and reduce the adhesion of E. coli to Caco-2 cells. The safety assessment revealed that the strain showed no hemolysis and did not exhibit gelatinase, ornithine decarboxylase, lysine decarboxylase, or tryptophanase activity. It was sensitive to twelve antibiotics but was resistant to erythromycin, rifampicin, tetracycline, doxycycline, and minocycline. Experiments in vivo have shown that B13 can be located in the ileum and colon and has no adverse effects on experiment animals. After 28 days of feeding, B13 did not remarkable change the α-diversity of the gut flora or increase the virulence genes. Our study demonstrated that E. faecium B13 may be used as a probiotic candidate. Full article

We apply a static oligopolistic general equilibrium model to investigate the effects of an environmental tax on labor incomes, capital incomes, profits, and the distribution of income. The study is motivated by the fact that environmental taxation is one main political tool to realize environmental sustainability and support sustainable development. However, to ensure social and economic sustainability, the taxes applied must be perceived as fair by the majority of the civil society. Moreover, efforts to determine a fair taxation policy would ensure, inter alia, responsible consumption and production, and lower inequality in the economy, which are one of the two priorities of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 10 and 12). Therefore, it is necessary to determine the tax incidence to inform policymakers regarding the distribution of the tax burden. To examine environmental policy, we assume the government applies a policy objective to realize strong environmental sustainability, as proposed by the Dutch economist Rofie Hueting. The main result is that oligopolistic firms can shift the whole tax burden resulting from environmental taxes to workers and capital owners. Consequently, we show that environmental taxes can lead to more income inequality, and the more concentrated the markets, the bigger the social and economic inequality. Noting that addressing environmental problems is a priority of the UN SDGs, our analysis shows that approaching the issue using just environmental tax propositions is not advisable. These results of the analysis also provide a justification of why many members of the society tend to oppose environmental taxes. Full article

Virus infection causes the metabolic disorder of host cells, whereas the metabolic disorder of cells is one of the major causes of tumorigenesis, suggesting that antiviral molecules might possess anti-tumor activities by regulating cell metabolism. As the key regulators of gene expression, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play vital roles in the regulation of cell metabolism. However, the influence of antiviral lncRNAs on tumorigenesis has not been explored. To address this issue, the antiviral and anti-tumor capacities of shrimp lncRNAs were characterized in this study. The results revealed that shrimp lncRNA06, having antiviral activity in shrimp, could suppress the tumorigenesis of human gastric cancer stem cells (GCSCs) via triggering apoptosis of GCSCs in a cross-species manner. Shrimp lncRNA06 could sponge human miR-17-5p to suppress the stemness of GCSCs via the miR-17-5p-p21 axis. At the same time, shrimp lncRNA06 could bind to ATP synthase subunit beta (ATP5F1B) to enhance the stability of the ATP5F1B protein in GCSCs, thus suppressing the tumorigenesis of GCSCs. The in vivo data demonstrated that shrimp lncRNA06 promoted apoptosis and inhibited the stemness of GCSCs through interactions with ATP5F1B and miR-17-5p, leading to the suppression of the tumorigenesis of GCSCs. Therefore, our findings highlighted that antiviral lncRNAs possessed anti-tumor capacities and that antiviral lncRNAs could be the anti-tumor reservoir for the treatment of human cancers. Full article

Electrochemical wastewater treatment technologies are increasingly being used in practice, and the combination of electrocoagulation with advanced oxidation processes has been shown to increase treatment efficiency. The treatment of oily wastewater produces electrocoagulated metal sludge (EMS). In this work, the possibility of using different ratios of EMS produced during oily wastewater treatment was investigated. EMS was dried conventionally in an oven at 105 °C and used as a partial substitute for clay in the manufacture of laboratory bricks. The main research objectives of this study were to examine the possibility and justification of introducing EMS in brick production. The results show that an increase in the proportion of EMS in the manufacturing of bricks leads to a deterioration in the quality of the bricks. Bricks with an addition of 1 wt% and 5 wt% EMS showed the best properties. The loss on ignition (LOI), compressive strength, boiling water absorption and initial water absorption were determined at 5.7%; 49 N/mm², 16%, 14 g/min/200 cm², 15% for modified bricks with 1 wt% EMS and 6.3%, 48 N/mm², 20%, 15 g/min/200 cm² for modified brick with 5 wt%. Full article

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the most aggressive forms of gynaecological malignancies. Survival rates for women diagnosed with OC remain poor as most patients are diagnosed with advanced disease. Debulking surgery and platinum-based therapies are the current mainstay for OC treatment. However, and despite achieving initial remission, a significant portion of patients will relapse because of innate and acquired resistance, at which point the disease is considered incurable. In view of this, novel detection strategies and therapeutic approaches are needed to improve outcomes and survival of OC patients. In this review, we summarize our current knowledge of the genetic landscape and molecular pathways underpinning OC and its many subtypes. By examining therapeutic strategies explored in preclinical and clinical settings, we highlight the importance of decoding how single and convergent genetic alterations co-exist and drive OC progression and resistance to current treatments. We also propose that core signalling pathways such as the PI3K and MAPK pathways play critical roles in the origin of diverse OC subtypes and can become new targets in combination with known DNA damage repair pathways for the development of tailored and more effective anti-cancer treatments. Full article

There are ongoing debates and controversies about whether genderqueer individuals have specific sexual-reproductive healthcare services and needs (SRHSNs). This study intended to identify and explore queer-specific SRHSNs among healthcare providers (HCPs) in Gauteng Province, South Africa. This was an exploratory sequential mixed-methods study, and this article focuses on the qualitative findings of that investigation. Thirty-three HCPs were purposively sampled, and semi-structured one-on-one interviews were used to collect data between September and November 2023. The data were analyzed using thematic content analysis (TCA). The results of this study revealed nine main themes: a crucial need for inclusive healthcare facilities; a need for psychological, counseling, and therapeutic support in sexual and reproductive healthcare; access to sexual-reproductive education and integrating support; suggested reproductive health services for queer sexual wellness; improved accessibility and particular queer reproductive healthcare; optimizing services related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) access, and sexually transmitted illness (STI) treatment; genderqueer persons’ parenthood aspirations and empowerment; the safe availability of intimacy tools; and navigation transitions. A holistic and inclusive healthcare approach that fits psychological support, comprehensive sexual-reproductive education, and specialized services to accommodate the unique needs of queer individuals should be implemented and made easily accessible. Full article

CMOS image sensor (CIS) semiconductor products are integral to mobile phones and photographic devices, necessitating ongoing enhancements in efficiency and quality for superior photographic outcomes. The presence of white pixels serves as a crucial metric for assessing CIS product performance, primarily arising from metal impurity contamination during the wafer production process or from defects introduced by the grinding blade process. While immediately addressing metal impurity contamination during production presents challenges, refining the handling of defects attributed to grinding blade processing can notably mitigate white pixel issues in CIS products. This study zeroes in on silicon wafer manufacturers in Taiwan, analyzing white pixel defects reported by customers and leveraging machine learning to pinpoint and predict key factors leading to white pixel defects from grinding blade operations. Such pioneering practical studies are rare. The findings reveal that the classification and regression tree (CART) and random forest (RF) models deliver the most accurate predictions (95.18%) of white pixel defects caused by grinding blade operations in a default parameter setting. The analysis further elucidates critical factors like grinding load and torque, vital for the genesis of white pixel defects. The insights garnered from this study aim to arm operators with proactive measures to diminish the potential for customer complaints. Full article