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An integrative in silico and in vitro synergy of Cinnamomum verum essential oil and cinnamaldehyde with imipenem against extensively drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria
Near-infrared fluorescence imaging-guided surgery using cRGD-ZW800 to improve surgical resection margins in oral cancer: a phase I/II feasibility trial
Abstract In oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) surgery, inadequate tumor margins are reported in up to 85% of cases, adversely affecting outcomes. In this prospective, single-center study (n = 31; NCT04191460), we evaluated the safety and imaging feasibility of cRGD-ZW800-1, a near-infrared fluorescent integrin-targeted tracer. The secondary objective was to determine whether intraoperative fluorescence imaging could identify inadequate resection margins and inform surgical decision-making. Patients received 0.01, 0.025, or 0.05 mg/kg cRGD-ZW800-1, and tracer uptake was quantified using in vivo multi-diameter single-fiber reflectance and single-fiber fluorescence spectroscopy to optimize dosing and timing. All doses were well tolerated, achieving tumor-to-background ratios exceeding 4.5, with optimal performance at 0.025 mg/kg. Fluorescence imaging detected all 23 inadequate margins, including nine undetected by conventional assessment (sensitivity 100% versus 70%), altered surgical plans in five cases, and avoided adjuvant radiotherapy in three cases. These findings demonstrate that cRGD-ZW800-1 is safe, tumor-specific, and facilitates intraoperative margin assessment in OSCC.
CMFGP-Net: RGBT salient object detection based on cross-modal feature global perception and multi-scale deformable convolution fusion
Separable and integrated pleasantness coding for appetitive and aversive odors across olfactory and ventral prefrontal cortices
Abstract Odor pleasantness is a key driver of approach and avoidance behaviors, raising the question of how pleasantness is represented in olfactory brain areas. To address this question, here we analyzed an existing dataset consisting of perceptual and fMRI responses to 160 odors from three individual participants. We find that piriform cortex, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex encode the pleasantness of appetitive and aversive odors. However, whereas these pleasantness representations are separable for appetitive and aversive odors in piriform cortex and amygdala, ventral prefrontal cortex (especially area 11) combines information from appetitive and aversive odors and forms a continuous representation of odor salience. These results suggest that distinct pleasantness codes for appetitive and aversive odors in olfactory cortices are integrated into a continuous representation in ventral prefrontal cortices.
Sustainable utilization of biochar and compost using chicken excreta and groundnut shell to enhance soil nutrients and plants growth in Northeast, Nigeria
Angle-based fluorescence thermometry with high sensitivity and high resolution
Abstract Fluorescence-based thermometry offers non-contact, high-resolution temperature sensing, yet current methods face challenges in simultaneously achieving high sensitivity, stability and insensitivity to non-thermal perturbations. Here, a sensing paradigm is introduced that translates temperature variations into detectable shifts in the fluorescence emission angle via grating-modulated fluorescence emission. In a prototype device featuring a gold grating coupled with [Ru(phen)₃]Cl₂ fluorophores, an absolute sensitivity of 0.58 °/°C and a relative sensitivity of 81.34 %/°C at 79.36 °C are achieved, with a temperature resolution down to 0.01 °C. Unlike intensity-based methods, this angle-resolved strategy effectively isolates the thermal signal from excitation power fluctuations and environmental interferences and demonstrates robustness across broad humidity ranges (10–89% RH). Sustained operational stability is validated over 12-hour battery cycling, while real-time monitoring of a smartphone CPU enables early-warning capabilities against overheating. This promising and customizable approach establishes a pathway for thermal management in advanced engineering systems.
Marine influence on airborne bacterial community composition and predicted functional potential in coastal zones: a case study from Ostend, Belgium
Abstract Airborne bacteria in coastal zones and the marine influence on them remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated airborne bacterial communities at a coastal site in Ostend, Belgium, during late spring and summer using Nanopore full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing. By comparing glass and quartz fiber filters across multiple sampling durations, we found that quartz filters with 4–12 h sampling provided sufficient DNA while avoiding longer sampling durations that may introduce bias. These samples were characterized by air mass trajectories, environmental conditions, and comparison with bacteria detected in local seawater. Air mass origin and temperature were associated with bacterial community composition. Samples associated with oceanic air masses, particularly under conditions favorable for sea spray aerosol generation, tended to show greater overlap with bacteria detected in local seawater. Proteobacteria , Firmicutes , Bacteroidota , and Actinobacteriota predominated across samples. Marine-influenced aerosols tended to show higher relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria and higher predicted representation of pathways related to protein export and diverse metabolic processes, whereas less marine-influenced samples showed greater representation of chemotaxis- and xenobiotic-associated metabolism pathways. Potential habitat affiliations suggested stronger ocean-related signatures in marine-influenced aerosols and broader terrestrial affiliations in less marine-influenced samples. These findings highlight marine-terrestrial interactions in shaping coastal airborne bacterial communities.
Harnessing the potential of γδ T cells through engineering and combination treatment for cancer therapies
Prevalence and factors associated with coexisting forms of malnutrition among Malaysian children in the SEANUTS II Study
Intracellular potassium levels orchestrate circadian rhythmicity and cell division
Abstract Circadian (~24 h) rhythms are a fundamental feature of life, and their disruption increases the risk of infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, and cancer. We previously identified circadian oscillations in intracellular potassium concentrations in cells across kingdoms. Using highly divergent eukaryotic cell types, we now show that potassium levels act to regulate the period and phase of clock gene expression rhythms, therefore establishing intracellular potassium as a bona fide regulator of cellular circadian rhythms. Intracellular potassium also regulates critical events in the cell cycle. Strikingly, we observe that manipulating potassium levels inhibits cell proliferation in a circadian phase-dependent manner. As the timing of cell division is tuned by the circadian clock, we hypothesised that potassium rhythms could mechanistically link cell proliferation rhythms to the circadian cycle. In line with this hypothesis, we find that potassium levels are not only sufficient to instruct the timing of cell proliferation, but also essential to maintain coherent coupling between circadian rhythms and proliferation rhythms. These results establish circadian potassium rhythms as a primary factor coupling the cell- and circadian cycles in eukaryotic cells.
Evaluating biochar’s potential to reduce nitrate leaching and enhance wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield under different nitrogen management practices
TRIM21 facilitates inflammasome assembly and contributes to autoinflammatory disease
Abstract Inflammasomes are cytosolic multiprotein complexes facilitating the maturation and release of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)−1β and IL-18 and pyroptosis. ASC (apoptosis-associated-speck-like protein containing a CARD) is the central inflammasome adaptor. ASC polymerization is crucial for inflammasome assembly, and ASC particle release propagates inflammasome responses to bystander cells. However, control of inflammasome and ASC particle assembly to limit chronic inflammation and the emergence of autoinflammatory diseases is still incompletely understood. Here, we show that the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM (tripartite-motif-containing protein) 21, a common autoantigen in autoimmune diseases, is involved in inflammasome assembly. Specifically, TRIM21 binds to and ubiquitinates ASC to facilitate ASC/NLRP3 interactions, ASC polymerization and the release of ASC/TRIM21-containing particles during pyroptosis in human and mouse macrophages. Furthermore, we detect systemic ASC/TRIM21 particles and autoantibodies in human and mouse autoinflammatory disease. Thus, our findings highlight a previously unrecognized role of TRIM21 as an inflammasome component and driver of autoinflammation.
Performance evaluation of DF-based cooperative DCSK for next-generation wireless networks
Abstract Differential chaos shift keying (DCSK) is a non-coherent modulation technique that has attracted attention for communication over fading channels. This paper investigates the performance of a cooperative DCSK system employing decode-and-forward (DF) relaying over Rayleigh and Nakagami- m fading environments. Analytical expressions are developed for outage probability and average-capacity evaluation, while the bit error performance is examined through an analytical treatment supported by Monte Carlo simulation. The analysis shows that the Nakagami- m fading parameter has a clear impact on system performance, where less severe fading leads to improved reliability. The results also indicate that the relay-destination link plays an important role in the cooperative gain achieved by the considered system. The contribution of the paper is presented within the scope of the adopted two-user DF cooperative DCSK model and the corresponding analytical assumptions. Therefore, the reported findings should be interpreted as an analytical and numerical characterization of the studied framework under the specified channel conditions.
Thermal transport through molecular monolayers in plasmonic nanogaps
Abstract Thermal transport through molecules has been exceptionally difficult to measure robustly. This is despite many intriguing theoretical predictions such as thermal diodes or gated thermal conduction, with consequent useful applications. Here, we present a significant development in time-resolved photothermal measurements using the extreme plasmonic enhancement of light inside molecular nanogaps to follow thermal transport on the nanoscale. We exploit free-standing sheets of close-packed nanoparticles, which are locally heated using mid-infrared pulses, and track their cooling by lateral transport on microsecond timescales. The rate of thermal relaxation is found to be dependent on nanogap composition, measured for a series of thiolated aromatic molecules. Observed trends in thermal conductivity with molecular length and contact strength are broadly reproduced by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. However, we find additional consideration of molecular interactions and dynamic disorder are crucial in fully understanding our experimental findings.
Synthesis and in vitro/in silico evaluation studies of arensulfonylhydrazinoxamoyl amine and amino acid derivatives as preliminary acetylcholinesterase inhibitors
Temporal changes in surface tension guide microtubule organization and accurate asymmetric division of Arabidopsis zygotes
3D‑printed training model for periodontal splinting: a randomized preclinical study
Abstract Preclinical simulation is essential for students to practice before clinical treatment. A low-cost 3D-printed model was developed with repositionable mobile maxillary anterior teeth to train periodontal splinting and evaluate learner perception and repositioning accuracy. In a two-period randomized cross-over course 43 students in their fourth year completed two palatal slot splints from the right to the left maxillary canine (FDI 13–23) in randomized material order. They used a polyethylene ribbon and a pre-impregnated unidirectional glass-fibre bundle. Outcomes included an electronic questionnaire using an anchored 6‑point ordinal scale from 1 for “Excellent” to 6 for “Unsatisfactory” following the German school grading system and geometric deviation of each tooth to an ideal position. The course was rated overall as good (Md 2.0, IQR 1.0) and highly clinically relevant (Md 1.0, IQR 1.0). Self-reported preparedness for splinting improved from poor (Md 5.0, IQR 1.0) before the course to good (Md 2.0, IQR 1.0; p < 0.001) after the course. In this pilot study, no statistically detectable positional deviations between materials or between the first and second session in this cohort were observed. This inexpensive, reproducible 3D-printed model enables realistic periodontal splinting training under simulated mobility conditions and may support structured preparation for clinical teaching.