The safety of vegetable food is compromised by various factors, including the inefficient or excessive use of sanitizers. Instances of individuals falling ill after consuming raw vegetables have been reported, with outbreaks of diseases caused by pathogens on fresh vegetables becoming increasingly prevalent globally, attracting significant media coverage and impacting the economic viability of vegetable cultivation. Measures to enhance food safety in postharvest horticultural produce involve controlling microbial proliferation and minimizing cross-contamination. Sanitizers were utilized in the food safety arsenal for a variety of purposes, including pathogen elimination and microbe reduction, hand, tool, and vegetable contact surface cleaning, and produce shelf-life extension. Choosing an appropriate sanitizer for all vegetables is difficult due to a lack of knowledge on which sanitizers are ideal for the many types of vegetables grown on farms under different environmental circumstances. Although chlorine-based sanitizers, such as sodium or calcium hypochlorite, have been widely used for the past 50 years, recent research has revealed that chlorine reacts with an organic compound in fresh vegetables to produce trihalomethane, a carcinogen precursor, and as a result, many countries have prohibited the use of chlorine in all foods. As a result, horticulture research groups worldwide are exploring non-chlorine, ecologically friendly sanitizers for the vegetable industry. They also want to understand more about the present procedures in the vegetable business for employing alternative sanitizers, as well as the efficacy and potential dangers to the food safety of fresh salad vegetables. This review paper presents detailed information on non-chlorine sanitizers, such as their efficacy, benefits, drawbacks, regulatory requirements, and the need for additional research to lower the risk of marketed salad vegetable food safety. Full article

Carbon fiber laminates have become popular in the manufacturing industry for their many desirable properties, like good vibration damping, high strength-to-weight ratio, toughness, high dimensional stability, and low coefficient of thermal expansion. During the manufacturing process, undesirable foreign objects, such as peel-ply strips, gloving material, and Kapton film, can be introduced into the part which can lead to a localized weakness. These manufacturing defects can function as stress concentration points and oftentimes cause a premature catastrophic failure. In this study, a method using high-resolution pulse-echo ultrasound testing is employed for the detection and quantification of the dimensions of foreign object debris (FOD) embedded within carbon fiber laminates. This research presents a method to create high-resolution C-scans using an out of immersion tank portable housing ultrasound scanning system, with similar capabilities to that of a full immersion system. From the full-waveform dataset, we extract the FOD depth and planar dimensions with an automatic edge detection technique. Results from several carbon fiber laminates are investigated with embedded foreign objects that are often considered undetectable. Results are presented for FOD identification for two different shapes: circles with diameters ranging from 7.62 mm to 12.7 mm, and 3-4-5 triangles with hypotenuses ranging from 7.6 mm to 12.7 mm. CT imaging is used to confirm proper FOD placement and that the FOD was not damaged or altered during manufacturing. Of importance for the ultrasound inspection results, in every single case studied, the FOD is detected, the layer depth is properly identified, and the typical error is less than 1.5 mm for the primary dimension. Full article

Organ-on-a-chip technology is attracting growing interest across various domains as a crucial platform for drug screening and testing and is set to play a significant role in precision medicine research. Lymph nodes, being intricately structured organs essential for the body’s adaptive immune responses to antigens and foreign particles, are pivotal in assessing the immunotoxicity of novel pharmaceuticals. Significant progress has been made in research on the structure and function of the lymphatic system. However, there is still an urgent need to develop prospective tools and techniques to delve deeper into its role in various diseases’ pathological and physiological processes and to develop corresponding immunotherapeutic therapies. Organ chips can accurately reproduce the specific functional areas in lymph nodes to better simulate the complex microstructure of lymph nodes and the interactions between different immune cells, which is convenient for studying specific biological processes. This paper reviews existing lymph node chips and their design approaches. It discusses the applications of the above systems in modeling immune cell motility, cell–cell interactions, vaccine responses, drug testing, and cancer research. Finally, we summarize the challenges that current research faces in terms of structure, cell source, and extracellular matrix simulation of lymph nodes, and we provide an outlook on the future direction of integrated immune system chips. Full article

In the academic world, there are also gender inequalities, which are especially visible in certain masculinized STEM areas, such as physics and mathematics. An essential factor in correcting these inequalities is the involvement of men, who should act as “allies” in the university setting. Likewise, as the literature shows us, we must offer models with gender-incongruent roles to break down stereotypes and promote non-traditional behaviors. However, to date, these actions have been especially directed toward women, who generally do not hold power and therefore have less possibility of promoting change. For the first time, this work compiles, in a single document, important male physicists and mathematicians who acted as allies of women throughout history. These examples can be presented to provide male references in the teaching of physics and mathematics at university (and high school). With this initiative, we intend to contribute to incorporating the gender perspective in university teaching, since, in practice, university professors are unaware of references of alternative masculinities in the academic world. We hope that this article will be the seed to recover hidden male allies in these and other scientific fields. This can help break down stereotypes, and contrary to previous actions, this work is especially directed toward men. Full article

Cefiderocol is a new molecule effective against multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative pathogens. Currently, there is limited evidence regarding the use of cefiderocol in central nervous system (CNS) infections. Data on the cerebrospinal fluid penetration rate of cefiderocol are limited and heterogeneous, and there is no consensus on the dosing scheme of cefiderocol to penetrate the blood–brain barrier. We present a case series and a literature review of CNS infections caused by MDR pathogens that were treated with cefiderocol: some of these patients were treated with different dose schemes of cefiderocol and underwent therapeutic drug monitoring both on plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The CSF penetration rates and the clinical outcomes were evaluated. Full article

In this paper, we will study a singular problem involving the fractional $(q_1(x,.)$-$q_2(x,.))$-Laplacian operator in the whole space ${\mathbb{R}}^N,(N\ge 2)$. More precisely, we combine the variational method with monotonicity arguments to prove that the associated functional energy admits a critical point, which is a weak solution for such a problem. Full article

The impact of fluorine on plants remains poorly understood. We examined duckweed growth in extracts of soil contaminated with fluorine leached from chicken manure. Additionally, fluorine levels were analyzed in fresh manure, outdoor-stored manure, and soil samples at varying distances from the manure pile. Fresh manure contained 37–48 mg F⁻ × kg⁻¹, while soil extracts contained 2.1 to 4.9 mg F⁻ × kg⁻¹. We evaluated the physiological effects of fluorine on duckweed cultured on soil extracts or in 50% Murashige–Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with fluorine concentrations matching those in soil samples (2.1 to 4.9 mg F⁻ × L⁻¹), as well as at 0, 4, and 210 mg × L⁻¹. Duckweed exposed to fluorine displayed similar toxicity symptoms whether in soil extracts or supplemented medium. Fluoride at concentrations of 2.1 to 4.9 mg F⁻ × L⁻¹ reduced the intact chlorophyll content, binding the porphyrin ring at position 3² without affecting Mg²⁺. This reaction resulted in chlorophyll a absorption peak shifted towards shorter wavelengths and formation of a new band of the F⁻-chlorophyll a complex at λ = 421 nm. Moreover, plants exposed to low concentrations of fluorine exhibited increased activities of aminolevulinic acid dehydratase and chlorophyllase, whereas the activities of both enzymes sharply declined when the fluoride concentration exceeded 4.9 mg × L⁻¹. Consequently, fluorine damages chlorophyll a, disrupts the activity of chlorophyll-metabolizing enzymes, and diminishes the plant growth rate, even when the effects of these disruptions are too subtle to be discerned by the naked human eye. Full article

This study aimed to compare the degree of epigenetic modifications between a TB-HIV co-infected cohort and uninfected subjects. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues were retrieved from 45 TB-HIV co-infected and 45 control individuals. Real-time PCR was applied to compare the level of expression of genes involved in epigenetic regulation. The protein multiplex assay was used to assess the degree of protein modification. DNA sequencing was used to determine the evolutionary relationships between the infecting HIV and Mtb strains. Our results indicated a significant increase in the expression of the five candidate genes in the patients with TB-HIV relative to the control cohort. A sharp increase in the degree of histone methylation, acetylation and phosphorylation was observed in TB-HIV co-infected patients. The phylogenetic analysis classified the strains into three distinct HIV clusters and five Mtb clusters. The disparities in the expression profiles of our candidate genes between the TB-HIV cohort and non-TB-HIV group highlights the important role played by various TB and HIV strains in regulating the host gene expression landscape. Full article

Dynamic microsimulations are tools to stochastically project (synthetic) microdata into the future. In spatial microsimulations, regional discrepancies are of particular interest and must be considered accordingly. In practice, the probabilities for state changes are unknown and must be estimated, usually from survey data. However, estimating such models on the regional level is often not feasible due to limited sample size and lack of geographic information. Simply applying the model estimated at the national level to all geographies leads to biased state transitions due to regional differences in level and distribution. In this paper, we introduce a model-based alignment method to adapt predicted probabilities obtained from a nationally estimated model to subregions by integrating known marginal distributions to re-introduce regional heterogeneity and create more realistic trajectories, particularly in small areas. We show that the model-adjusted transition probabilities can capture region-specific patterns and lead to improved projections. Our findings are useful to researchers who want to harmonise model outputs with external information, in particular for the field of microsimulation. Full article

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNA molecules longer than 200 nt, which lack the ability to encode proteins and are involved in multifarious growth, development, and regulatory processes in plants and mammals. However, the environmental-regulated expression profiles of lncRNAs in Orinus that may associated with their adaptation on the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau (QTP) have never been characterized. Here, we utilized transcriptomic sequencing data of two Orinus species (O. thoroldii and O. kokonoricus) to identify 1624 lncRNAs, including 1119 intergenic lncRNAs, 200 antisense lncRNAs, five intronic lncRNAs, and 300 sense lncRNAs. In addition, the evolutionary relationships of Orinus lncRNAs showed limited sequence conservation among 39 species, which implied that Orinus-specific lncRNAs contribute to speciation adaptation evolution. Furthermore, considering the cis-regulation mechanism, from 286 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) and their nearby protein coding genes (PCGs) between O. thoroldii and O. kokonoricus, 128 lncRNA-PCG pairs were obtained in O. thoroldii, whereas 92 lncRNA-PCG pairs were obtained in O. kokonoricus. In addition, a total of 19 lncRNA-PCG pairs in O. thoroldii and 14 lncRNA-PCG pairs in O. kokonoricus were found to participate in different biological processes, indicating that the different expression profiles of DElncRNAs between O. thoroldii and O. kokonoricus were associated with their adaptation at different elevations on the QTP. We also found several pairs of DElncRNA nearby transcription factors (TFs), indicating that these DElncRNAs regulate the expression of TFs to aid O. thoroldii in adapting to the environment. Therefore, this work systematically identified a series of lncRNAs in Orinus, laying the groundwork for further exploration into the biological function of Orinus in environmental adaptation. Full article

The corrosion and degradation behavior of high-strength steel wires during service directly affect the safety and usability of suspenders in steel pipe concrete arch bridges. In this study, three different types of specimens were fabricated using steel wires extracted from the suspenders of an 11-year-old in-service arch bridge and subjected to accelerated corrosion tests with acetic acid. Considering the differential diffusion processes of corrosion factors caused by varying degrees of damage to the suspender sheath, the spatial corrosion variability of steel wires at different positions within the suspender cross-section was investigated. Experimental results indicated a two-stage characteristic in the corrosion process of individual galvanized steel wire samples. In the first corrosion stage, the microstructure on the corroded steel wire surface evolved from a dense crystalline structure to a porous one. In the second corrosion stage, corrosion products accumulate on the steel wire substrate, subsequently further aggregating into sheet-like structures. The maximum pitting factor of individual steel wire samples from a specific area could be described by a Type I extreme value distribution. In the time-dependent model that was established, the location parameter and scale parameter exhibited an exponential decrease during the first corrosion stage and a linear decrease during the second corrosion stage. In the absence of sheath protection, the coefficient of variation in corrosion among adjacent steel wires in the suspender followed a normal distribution. The spatial corrosion variability of the wires inside the suspender is significantly influenced by the shape of the suspender sheath damage. As the corrosion time increased, the overall discrepancy in corrosion levels among different layers of wires diminished. Full article

The search for selective anticholinergic agents stems from varying cholinesterase levels as Alzheimer’s Disease progresses from the mid to late stage. In this computational study, we probed the selectivity of FDA-approved and metabolite compounds against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) with molecular-docking-based virtual screening. The results were evaluated using locally developed codes for the statistical methods. The docking-predicted selectivity for AChE and BChE was predominantly the consequence of differences in the volume of the active site and the narrower entrance to the bottom of the active site gorge of AChE. Full article

Atorvastatin (ATV) is a well-established lipid-lowering agent. ATV has two stereogenic centers, and of the four possible stereoisomers, only the (3R,5R) form is used therapeutically. The European Pharmacopoeia (EP) monograph 2022 for ATV calcium salt describes a normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of enantiomeric purity in both drug substance and working standard samples, based on a 150 mm × 4.6 mm Chiralpak AD-H column. The main problems with this method are the very long analysis time and the high solvent consumption. Here, an alternative chromatographic protocol was developed using the Chiralpak AD-3 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm) packed with 3 μm silica particles instead of the 5 μm silica particles of the Chiralpak AD-H chiral stationary phase and characterized by the same polysaccharide selector, amylose-tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate). Using a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of n-hexane-ethanol-formic acid 90:10:0.1 (v/v/v) as the mobile phase and setting the flow rate and column temperature to 1.0 mL min⁻¹ and 35 °C, respectively, a simultaneous stereo-selective separation was achieved within 35 min without observing any overlap between the enantiomeric impurity peak and peaks related to other ATV impurities. Compared to HPLC EP conditions, the analysis time to elute all the potentially related substances was faster and significantly less mobile phase volume was required. The linearity of the method has been demonstrated in the range of 4.4 μg mL⁻¹ to 1000 μg mL⁻¹ (R² > 0.999). At a concentration of 4.4 μg mL⁻¹, which is 0.075% of the test solution (5.8 mg mL⁻¹, as ATV free acid), the signal-to-noise ratio was found to be 20. Full article

Visceral leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease that affects humans and dogs. The infection is endemic in the municipality of Araçatuba, São Paulo, Brazil. Given the role of dogs in the epidemiology of leishmaniasis, strategies to enhance surveillance and reduce transmission are focused on dogs. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed records of canine visceral leishmaniasis from 2013 to 2022. According to this database, the prevalence of dogs testing positive for leishmaniasis fluctuated, with an average of 65.04% (6590/10,133). Cases were clustered in 10 statistically significant areas. Environmental analyses identified a significant geographical association between animals testing positive and higher vegetation density rates compared with animals testing negative. The period from sample collection to diagnosis and euthanasia, as recommended by the Brazilian Ministry, correlated with disease prevalence and decreased over time. These findings serve to implement different action plans against leishmaniasis for each geographic region and to understand the impact and efforts of strategies in an endemic area. Full article

The present systematic review was performed to assess the application of orally derived stem cells in periodontal regenerative therapy, and because of this, the following PICO question was proposed: “In patients with periodontitis, can the adjunctive use of orally derived stem cells provide additional clinical and radiographic benefits for periodontal regeneration?”. Randomized clinical studies were electronically and manually searched up until December 2023. Quantitative analyses were performed with the aim of evaluating the mean differences (MDs) between the treatment and control groups in terms of clinical attachment level (CAL) gain, probing pocket depth (PPD) reduction, gingival recession (GR), and radiographic bone gain (RBG) using random effect models. A total of seven studies were selected for the systematic review. Meta-analyses excluding studies with a high risk of bias highlighted a non-statistically significant result for the use of stem cells when compared to the control groups in terms of CAL gain [MD = 1.05; 95% CI (−0.88, 2.97) p = 0.29] and PPD reduction [MD = 1.32; 95% CI (−0.25, 2.88) p = 0.10]. The same also applied to GR [MD = −0.08; 95% CI (−0.79, 0.63) p = 0.83] and RBG [MD = 0.50; 95% CI (−0.88, 1.88) p = 0.48]. Based on the high heterogeneity, there is not enough evidence to consider the adjunctive application of orally derived mesenchymal stem cells as a preferential approach for periodontal regenerative treatment, as compared to standard procedures. Full article

Belgian blue (BB) cattle have an 11-bp deletion in myostatin that causes skeletal muscle hyperplasia and increased muscle mass, leading to a ‘double-muscled’ phenotype. Preliminary data suggest that this phenotype may be associated with breed-specific hematologic and biochemical values. Therefore, in this study, we sought to compare hematologic and serum biochemical parameters in healthy BB and Holstein Friesian (HF) cows and to propose breed-specific reference intervals for BB cows. Hematologic parameters, total protein, creatinine, creatine kinase (CK) and aspartate transaminase (AST) activities, albumin, and globulins were measured in 183 clinically healthy adult BB and HF cows. There were significant differences between BB and HF cows in 17 of 27 measured parameters. BB cows had significantly higher creatinine concentration and CK and AST activities (p < 0.001). RBCs, hemoglobin, hematocrit (p < 0.001), MCV and lymphocytes (p < 0.05) were also significantly higher in BB cows compared with HF cows. The average N/L ratio was greater than 1 in both breeds. These results suggest that BB and HF cows have significantly different clinically relevant hematologic and serum biochemical values, and, therefore, breed-specific reference intervals should be used. Full article

The cavity form of complex microcavity lasers predominantly relies on disordered structures, whether found in nature or artificially prepared. These structures, characterized by disorder, facilitate random lasing through the feedback effect of the cavity boundary and the internal scattering medium via various mechanisms. In this paper, we report on a random fiber laser employing a disordered scattering cladding medium affixed to the inner cladding of a hollow-core fiber. The internal flowing liquid gain establishes a stable liquid-core waveguide environment, enabling long-term directional coupling output for random laser emission. Through theoretical analysis and experimental validation, we demonstrate that controlling the disorder at the cavity boundary allows liquid-core fiber random microcavities to exhibit random lasing output with different mechanisms. This provides a broad platform for in-depth research into the generation and control of complex microcavity lasers, as well as the detection of scattered matter within micro- and nanostructures. Full article

This paper deals with the application of the Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm to the sensorless control of a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM). The proposed estimation strategy, based on the unscented Kalman filter (UKF), uses only the measurement of the motor current for the online estimation of speed, rotor position and load torque. Information about the system state is fed into the MPC algorithm. The results verify the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed sensorless control technique. To demonstrate its real-world applicability, implementation in low-speed direct drive astronomy telescope mount systems is investigated. The outcomes of the implementation are thoroughly examined, leading to insightful conclusions drawn from the observed results. Through rigorous theoretical analysis and extensive simulation studies, this paper establishes a solid foundation for the proposed sensorless control technique. The results obtained from simulation studies and real-world applications underscore the efficacy and versatility of the proposed approach, offering valuable insights for the advancement of sensorless control strategies in motor applications. The main aim of this work is to demonstrate and validate the practical feasibility of combining two complex techniques, establishing that such an integration is not only possible but also effective in achieving the desired objectives. Full article

Analysis of non-Markovian systems and memory-induced phenomena poses an everlasting challenge in the realm of physics. As a paradigmatic example, we consider a classical Brownian particle of mass M subjected to an external force and exposed to correlated thermal fluctuations. We show that the recently developed approach to this system, in which its non-Markovian dynamics given by the Generalized Langevin Equation is approximated by its memoryless counterpart but with the effective particle mass $M^{\ast }<M$, can be derived within the Markovian embedding technique. Using this method, we calculate the first- and the second-order memory correction to Markovian dynamics of the Brownian particle for the memory kernel represented as the Prony series. The second one lowers the effective mass of the system further and improves the precision of the approximation. Our work opens the door for the derivation of higher-order memory corrections to Markovian Langevin dynamics. Full article

Tendon–sheath structures are commonly utilized to drive surgical robots due to their compact size, flexibility, and straightforward controllability. However, long-distance cable tension estimation poses a significant challenge due to its frictional characteristics affected by complicated factors. This paper proposes a miniature tension sensor array for an endoscopic cable-driven parallel robot, aiming to integrate sensors into the distal end of long and flexible surgical instruments to sense cable tension and alleviate friction between the tendon and sheath. The sensor array, mounted at the distal end of the robot, boasts the advantages of a small size (16 mm outer diameter) and reduced frictional impact. A force compensation strategy was presented and verified on a platform with a single cable and subsequently implemented on the robot. The robot demonstrated good performance in a series of palpation tests, exhibiting a 0.173 N average error in force estimation and a 0.213 N root-mean-square error. In blind tests, all ten participants were able to differentiate between silicone pads with varying hardness through force feedback provided by a haptic device. Full article

Nursing students’ integration of theoretical knowledge and practical abilities is facilitated by their practice of nursing skills in a clinical environment. A key role of preceptors is to assess the learning goals that nursing students must meet while participating in clinical practice. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to explore the current evidence in relation to competency assessment and assessment approaches, and the willingness of preceptors for assessing nursing students’ competency in a clinical setting. The scoping review used the five-stage methodological framework that was developed by Arksey and O’Malley, as well as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews. Relevant studies were searched by applying a comprehensive literature search strategy up to April 2024 across the following databases: CINAHL, OVID MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PUBMED. A total of 11,297 studies published between 2000 and April 2024 were revealed, and 38 were eligible for inclusion, which the research team categorised into three main themes: definitions of competence, tools for assessing competence and preceptors’ and mentors’ viewpoints in relation to the assessment of nursing students’ competence. This review established that there are a multitude of quantitative instruments available to assess clinical competence; however, a lack of consistency among assessment instruments and approaches between countries and higher education institutions is prevalent. Existing research evidence suggests that the preceptors carried out the assessment process clinically and they found difficulties in documenting assessment. The assessing of nursing students’ competency and the complexity of assessment is a concern for educators and mentors worldwide. The main concern centers around issues such as the interpretation of competence and complex measurement tools. Full article