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Seasonal controls on groundwater irrigation quality in a semi-arid granitic watershed of Telangana, India: an integrated IWQI-GIS-multivariate approach
Enhancing Temperature Sensitivity of Redox Potential via Redox-Induced Change in Copper Coordination Number by an External Ligand
Intraocular pressure induced blood retinal barrier compromise in mouse models and human glaucoma
HACR-Net: An Efficient hybrid attention network for MRI image super-resolution
High-resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) plays an important role in clinical diagnosis and pathological assessment, due to its non-invasive nature and lack of ionizing radiation. However, the acquisition of high-resolution MRI is often constrained by hardware limitations and a prolonged scanning duration. To address these limitations, super-resolution (SR) techniques have been introduced to reconstruct high-resolution images from low-resolution inputs. However, despite these advances, existing methods often struggle to effectively extract shallow features, model complex contextual dependencies, and preserve fine anatomical details. To address these limitations, we propose a Hybrid Attention and Channel Retention Network (HACR-Net) for MRI image SR. HACR-Net incorporates a Hybrid Attention Module (HAM) to mitigate information loss during shallow feature extraction by jointly leveraging channel and spatial attention, enhancing informative features, and preserving spatially significant regions. A Multiscale Feature Aggregation Block (MFAB) is incorporated to capture global structural details, local texture, and high-frequency details. Complementing MFAB, the Channel Retention Attention Block (CRAB) enhances the recovery of fine contextual detail through a bottleneck design crafted to maintain a wider channel width and reduce information loss during feature compression. Extensive experiments on two benchmark datasets, IXI and BraTS2018, demonstrate that HACR-Net achieves high-performance reconstruction with only 1.67M parameters and 81.3G FLOPs, offering significant reductions in model size and computational cost compared to existing methods.
Automated quantification of coronal balance in spinal deformity: a safety-aware clinical workflow
Biosynthetic Lanthanide-Luminescent Mini-Proteins Using Genetic Code Expansion
Activation mechanism and integrated one-pot assay of chiral-like cRNA-enhanced CRISPR/Cas12a systems
Correction: An overdispersed count regression model for analyzing road accident fatalities and injuries in Bangladesh
One-second-lead earthquake warning and impact assessment at Campi Flegrei
Abstract Rapid dissemination of earthquake information during seismic crises is crucial for mitigating the impact of earthquakes, particularly in densely populated volcanic areas, such as the Campi Flegrei caldera (Southern Italy). This region is affected by recurrent bradyseism and shallow seismicity, with recent events up to Md 4.6, very well perceived by the local inhabitants and increasing concern among the local community. In such small regions, conventional Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) systems face physical limitations, due to the short epicentral distances and relatively small magnitudes of the earthquakes. Here we propose and offline tested a hybrid, impact-based, on-site EEW system capable of providing rapid estimates of the earthquake size and expected impact (PGV, PGA), within one second after the P-wave detection. In addition, the proposed system extends the classical concept of an on-site EEW approach by introducing the notion of an area of competence (AoC): a circular zone surrounding the recording site in which peak ground motion is expected to fall within a user-defined range around the predicted value, and within which local users or infrastructures can effectively benefit from the warning. The proposed methodology is easily transferable to other volcanic or seismically active regions and might represent a step toward low-latency, impact-based earthquake alert systems designed to enhance community resilience.
L-RNA aptamer-based CXCL12 inhibition combined with radiotherapy and bevacizumab in newly-diagnosed glioblastoma: expansion of the phase I/II GLORIA trial
Abstract Rapid vascular recovery is a key feature preceding glioblastoma (GBM) recurrence after radiotherapy (RT). We performed spatial expression analyses, providing a rationale for dual inhibition of two non-redundant, spatially distinct acting factors, CXCL12 and VEGF. Subsequently, we expanded a multicentric phase 1/2 trial (NCT04121455), which initially combined RT and the CXCL12-neutralizing L-RNA-aptamer olaptesed pegol (NOX-A12) in patients with incompletely resected, newly-diagnosed GBM lacking MGMT promoter methylation. The primary endpoint was safety, secondary endpoints included maximum tolerable dose, recommended phase 2 dose, NOX-A12 plasma levels, topography of recurrence, tumor vascularization, neurologic assessment in neuro-oncology (NANO), quality of life, median progression-free survival (PFS), 6-months PFS and overall survival (OS). For the expansion arm, six patients were included that additionally received the VEGF-targeting antibody bevacizumab (BEV) to RT and NOX-A12. Combinatory treatment was well-tolerated and safe with no treatment-related deaths, resulting in abrogated tumor perfusion (rCBV, FTB high ) and delayed tumor regrowth as per mRANO. Median progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) after RT + BEV + NOX-A12 were 9.1 and 19.9 months, respectively, significantly outperforming RT + NOX-A12 ( p = 0.009; p = 0.021) in a post-hoc comparative analysis, with two patients exceeding 2-year OS. These findings establish proof-of-principle for dual inhibition of CXCL12 and VEGF in patients with newly-diagnosed GBM following RT.
Prevention of oral mucositis in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy using betamethasone mouthwash: A multicenter randomized controlled trial protocol
Background Oral mucositis is a frequent adverse effect of chemotherapy that significantly affects patients’ quality of life and treatment continuity. Despite its clinical relevance, effective preventive strategies remain limited. This study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of betamethasone mouthwash with those of sodium gualenate hydrate mouthwash for preventing chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. Methods This Phase II, multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial aims to enroll 296 adult patients (≥18 years) undergoing chemotherapy for solid tumors (excluding head and neck and hematological cancers). Participants will be randomized 1:1 into two arms: a betamethasone mouthwash (intervention) group and a sodium gualenate hydrate mouthwash (control) group. The primary outcome is the prevention of Grade 1 oral mucositis, assessed using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v3.0 and v5.0. Secondary outcomes include prevention of Grade 2–3 oral mucositis, the incidence of oral candidiasis, and chemotherapy completion rates. Data will be analyzed using Kaplan–Meier survival curves, log-rank tests, and Cox regression models. Expected Outcomes This study aims to establish betamethasone mouthwash as an effective preventive strategy for potentially enhancing the quality of life of patients with cancer. Trial registration This study was registered with the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials on September 20, 2024 (jRCTs071240060).
Curcumin ameliorates hepatic insulin resistance by activating PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy
Abstract Insulin resistance (IR) is the key pathogenic factor of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and its associated metabolic diseases. Mitochondrial dysfunction and inadequate mitophagy are central to this pathology. Curcumin, the main bioactive compound of Curcuma longa , has been reported to enhance insulin sensitivity, yet the mechanism in hepatocytes remains debated. Here we investigated whether curcumin alleviates hepatocyte IR by targeting PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1)/ Parkin-dependent mitophagy. We induced IR in HepG2 cells with palmitic acid (PA) and then treated with curcumin. To verify the mechanism, we used PINK1 siRNA (siPINK1) and the mitophagy blocker Mdivi-1. Glucose uptake, glycogen content, lipid accumulation, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/ protein kinase B (Akt)/ glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) signaling, mitochondrial function, and mitophagy markers were quantified by flow cytometry, glycogen assay kit, Oil Red O staining, confocal imaging, and Western blot. Curcumin mitigated PA-induced IR, increased PI3K/Akt phosphorylation and GLUT4 expression, promoted GLUT4 translocation to the plasma membrane, restored mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP content, and enhanced PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy. These effects were partially blunted by siPINK1 or Mdivi-1. In HepG2 cells, curcumin improves insulin resistance by activating PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy and rescuing mitochondrial function.
Chemically Defined <i>Ln</i> <sub>2</sub> H <sub> 3– <i>x</i> </sub> N Nitride-Hydrides via High-Pressure Synthesis and Topochemical Hydrogen Intercalation
Sequential ethane filling induced structural transitions in a flexible–robust metal–organic framework for ethylene purification
Private garden uses and associated mental well-being benefits during the first UK Covid-19 lockdown – a social media investigation
During the UK’s first national Covid-19 lockdown in spring 2020, people had greatly diminished access to public green spaces due to government restrictions. This provided an opportunity to investigate people’s discourse on the uses of private green spaces and associated mental well-being benefits during a period of crisis. We used Twitter posts, and thus self-reporting, to identify private garden uses, changes therein during Covid-19 lockdown and associations with mental well-being benefits. Our Twitter search (now X) for garden-related tweets concerned Greater London. Posts written during the first UK lockdown in 2020 and the preceding year’s corresponding period were queried and compared. We subjected all resulting tweets (8,866) to a word count analysis. Next, we iteratively screened posts for false positives and subjected verified posts to thematic analysis until reaching saturation, assigning themes for reported garden uses and mental well-being benefits to 600 relevant posts. The estimated number of tweets mentioning private garden use was 5.2 times higher during the Covid-19 lockdown, confirming the importance of gardens during this period of crisis. We identified five garden use types, of which socialising and leisure activities had the greatest relative share of tweets during lockdown (up from 34% to 42%). Communicated garden use also diversified, with home-based working and DIY expressed almost exclusively during lockdown. Furthermore, the share of posts mentioning garden use to provide mental well-being benefits increased considerably (from 4% to 20%). We identified five categories of mental well-being benefits, with two ( mitigation of restlessness and providing hope ) reported only during lockdown. Our findings show that the Covid-19 crisis transformed the way people talked and thought about their private gardens. We suggest that urban planners and conservation organisations reconsider private garden use interests as diverse and changeable and create future programmes to promote multi-functional private gardens for healthier communities.
A geometric function theoretic approach to MRI distortion correction using Miller Ross Poisson series
Correction to “Engineering Paramagnetic Spin Centers in Metal-Free Organic Frameworks”
PD-1 antibody-bound progenitor-exhausted CD8+ T cells in lymph nodes boost PD-1-blockade anti-tumor immunity in gastrointestinal cancer
Abstract While progenitor-exhausted T cells (Tpex) expressing TCF1 and PD-1 are crucial for the therapeutic effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) with therapeutic anti-PD-1 antibodies (aPD-1), the dynamics of ICI-bound Tpex are not fully understood. In this study, we investigate ICI-bound T cells in detail using combined sequencing analysis at the single-cell level. By analyzing samples from gastrointestinal cancer patients with or without ICI treatment, we find that Tpex are enriched in proximal lymph nodes (LNs) and proliferate at a high rate after ICI treatment. Importantly, aPD-1 high-bound Tpex in LNs share T-cell receptor clonotypes with intratumoral exhausted CD8 + T cells (Tex), suggesting their migration to tumor sites after ICI treatment. This study thus provides new insights into how ICIs enhance anti-tumor immunity by acting on Tpex in LNs, deepening our understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying ICI therapy.
Evaluation of diversity and effective traits in Iranian cotton germplasm
Drought is one of the most important abiotic factors influencing crop development and productivity. As a result, there is a need to enhance cultivars with high compatibility and low water requirements. This study examined the genetic variation of drought tolerance as well as the morphological, physiological, and agronomic aspects of cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) germplasm. For this reason, sixty-four genotypes of cotton were selected and cultivated in the field for two years under two moisture regimes, including normal and drought stress. All of the evaluated variables showed considerable genotypic variation between genotypes, indicating a great potential for trait improvement through focused selection in breeding programs. Drought stress has a detrimental influence on the majority of the assessed characteristics, reducing their genotypic variation. In both locations, most examined characteristics had quite high heritability estimates under both situations, indicating the presence of some important genes or QTLs influencing them. Principal component analysis revealed a negative association between earliness and photosynthetic and yield-related traits, indicating that selection for early maturity may reduce productivity. This suggests that selecting for earliness in cotton can decrease output. Contrasting genotypes identified by biplot analysis can be used to develop breeding populations for drought-tolerance studies.