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FDTD-based design of high quality factor quantum dot photonic crystal nanolaser for next-generation nanotechnologies
The between competition sprint profile of intercounty female gaelic football during training and match-play: An exploratory study
Female Gaelic football is an invasive field-based team sport but there are limited data on players’ sprint profiles. This study aimed to examine between-competition (league vs championship) differences during training and match-play, and to provide descriptive data by positional group. Fourteen players were monitored using 10-Hz GPS units (STATSports Apex) across 15 games and 34 training sessions. Key metrics included the number of accelerations and decelerations (≥ ± 3.0 m·s ⁻ ²), total sprints (≥ 20.0 km·h ⁻ ¹), sprint distances (<10 m, 10–20 m, 20–30 m, ≥ 30 m), average and total sprint duration and distance, peak speed, number of sprints at 80–90% and ≥90% of individual peak speed, and the highest percentage of peak speed achieved. In training, average sprint duration and distance, and sprints at 80–90% peak speed decreased from league to championship ( p < 0.05; ES 0.59–0.84), while peak speed increased ( p < 0.05; ES 0.61). In games, average sprint duration, number of sprints ≥30 m, and peak speed percentage achieved were greater in league games (p < 0.05; ES 0.36-0.73) compared to championship games. Despite the firmer surfaces of summer championship games, seasonal variations in training focus and in tactical and technical periodisation may explain the observed differences in running performance. These preliminary findings highlight the need for future research to examine how training periodisation, competition standard, and match demands interact to shape the running performance of female Gaelic football players.
MSRCTNet: a novel multi-scale capsule triplet network for efficient redundant frame removal in wireless capsule endoscopy videos
Pharmacists’ perspectives on implementing pharmacist-managed anticoagulant clinics in Makkah Region Ministry of Health Hospitals: A qualitative study
Objectives This study aimed to identify the pharmacists’ perspectives on the barriers and facilitators to implementing pharmacist-managed anticoagulation clinics (PMACs) in Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals in the Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia. Methods This study employed a qualitative, cross-sectional design. An interview guide was developed after a review of the literature and the adaptation of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research tool. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with licensed regular pharmacists, clinical pharmacists, and pharmaceutical care leaders who were working or had worked in MOH hospitals in the Makkah Region. Results A total of 11 participants were interviewed. The barriers to implementing PMACs predominantly related to professional and interprofessional barriers (e.g., lack of leader support and staff expertise, physician resistance), organizational and operational barriers (e.g., lack of resources), and patient-related barriers (e.g., poor commitment to follow-up). The main facilitators to implementing PMAC services were associated with improving workforce capacity and training, leadership and interprofessional support, organizational and patient support mechanisms, and infrastructure and digital resources. Conclusion The factors identified in this study can be used to develop potential strategic plans to improve existing PMAC services and extend their implementation across the country. Future research should aim to quantify the effectiveness of PMAC services on patients’ clinical/non-clinical outcomes. Positive findings could provide further evidence of the value of PMAC services, speed up their expansion, and ensure their sustainability.
Genetic and epidemiological patterns of primary immunodeficiency diseases in Eastern Iranian patients
Satellite-derived temperature measures miss key physiologically relevant thermal trends on Palauan reefs
Coral reefs are important both economically and culturally to over 1 billion people. However, reefs continue to be threatened by climate change, with some areas now experiencing mass coral bleaching and mortality events due to heat stress on an annual basis. Satellite-derived sea surface temperature data (SSST) are often used as a proxy for in situ temperatures on reefs, and are relied on to identify heat accumulation and assign bleaching risk on reefs worldwide. However, SSST has limitations – readings are only taken at night and on a relatively coarse spatial scale, and multiple studies have exposed discrepancies between SSST and in situ temperatures. In this study, we compare satellite-derived sea surface temperature in Palau to in situ temperature records at 87 reef locations in order to assess how well SSST captures physiologically important thermal trends experienced by corals. We find that while SSST captures average nightly temperatures relatively well, it fails to accurately capture thermal maxima, diurnal range in temperature and heat accumulation measurements like degree heating weeks (DHW) that are relevant in determining coral bleaching risk levels. Though SSST data remain key indicators of temperature stress over global scales, local management of coral reefs, coral restoration, and reef replenishment require more fine scale data in order to accurately understand thermal trends and their implications for coral resilience.
Metagenomic analysis revealed the presence of novel Actinomycetota “Candidatus Solincola uaceae” sp. nov., obtained from a hot spring
Mechanical power and short-term mortality in critically ill patients with ARDS on mechanical ventilation: Insights from the MIMIC-IV database
Mechanical power (MP), or an integrated measure of ventilatory stress, has been proposed as an important determinant of ventilator-induced lung injury and clinical outcomes. However, its prognostic significance in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remains incompletely understood. We selected adult patients with Berlin ARDS from MIMIC-IV v3.1. Cox proportional hazard regression models were built to explore the relationship between MP quartiles and in-hospital, 28-day, and 90-day mortality, with progressive adjustment for demographics, severity scores, and ventilatory parameters. We also explored model discrimination and calibration, conducted comparative receiver-operating characteristic curves (ROC) and restricted cubic spline (RCS) analyses, and performed Kaplan-Meier, subgroup, and sensitivity analyses as complementary assessments. A total of 1878 patients were included. Each increase in MP was significantly associated with higher in-hospital, 28-, and 90-day mortality. Using full models, Q4 had significantly higher risk than Q1 (HR 1.32; 95% CI 1.06–1.64). MP had stable discriminative performance with good calibration. Using ROC, MP had significantly better performance than traditional predictors. Models built with RCS showed no evidence for curvature. Survival analysis showed successively decreased probabilities with increasing quarters from Q1 to Q4. Sensitivity analyses were largely consistent, with subgroup analyses supporting findings. In patients with ARDS, elevated MP was independently associated with in-hospital, 28-day, and 90-day mortality. These findings suggest that MP may serve as an integrated prognostic marker of ventilatory load rather than a standalone target. Our results warrant further prospective research to determine whether incorporating MP into lung-protective strategies can improve clinical outcomes.
Effect of plant ash incorporation on hydrologic processes of coarse-textured soils
MPLNet: Mamba prompt learning network for semantic segmentation of remote sensing images of traditional villages
In recent years, the study of semantic segmentation of remote sensing images (RSI) has gained significant attention due to its critical role in geospatial analysis, agriculture, and forestry. However, existing remote sensing segmentation methods face several challenges: (1) limited dataset diversity and inadequate exploration of traditional village landscapes, resulting in a lack of geospatial representation for these unique environments; (2) inefficiencies in same-layer or cross-layer feature fusion when using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) or transformers, leading to either insufficient spatial modeling or excessive computational demands; and (3) multimodal approaches that improve modeling accuracy but introduce high parameter complexity and computational overhead. To address these issues, we propose the Mamba Prompt Learning Network (MPLNet) for efficient and accurate RSI segmentation, with a strong emphasis on spatial information extraction and GIS-based applications. First, we construct TV-RSI, a highly diverse large-scale data set specifically designed to capture the spatial structures, topographic variations, and land use patterns of traditional villages. Second, we develop the Mamba Fusion Module, which improves geospatial feature utilization by efficiently modeling both intralayer and interlayer spatial relationships, ensuring comprehensive feature extraction. Finally, we introduce prompt learning, which transfers bimodal geospatial knowledge from heavy-weight networks into a lightweight unimodal model, improving segmentation accuracy while maintaining computational efficiency. Extensive experiments on TV-RSI and two publicly available RSI datasets demonstrate that MPLNet achieves state-of-the-art performance with significantly reduced computational costs, making it an ideal solution for geospatial segmentation tasks in GIS-driven remote sensing applications.
Exosomes derived from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells facilitate repair of radiation-Induced skin injury by attenuating inflammation and apoptosis
Combined association of socioeconomic status and type 2 diabetes with influenza vaccination in older adults: A cross-sectional analysis of the Korea National Health and Examination Survey (2019–2022)
Background Given the limited evidence on the joint association of socioeconomic status and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) with influenza vaccination uptake, we examined this association among adults aged 65 years and older eligible for the National Immunization Program in the Republic of Korea. Methods We analyzed data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2019–2022, stratified by pre-COVID-19 (2019) and COVID-19 (2020–2022) periods including 5,525 adults aged 65 years and older. The participants were classified by T2DM status and SES indicators (income, education, and economic activity). Multivariable logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for influenza vaccination, adjusting for demographic characteristics, health behaviors, health status measures, and healthcare access factors. Results Among 5,525 adults aged ≥65 years in the 2019–2022 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the weighted influenza vaccination rate was 77.6% overall (78.2% pre–COVID-19; 77.1% during COVID-19). Compared with high-income adults without diabetes, low-income adults with T2DM had lower odds of vaccination (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.75; 95% CI, 0.57–0.99), and low-income adults without T2DM showed a similar trend (aOR = 0.82; 95% CI, 0.65–1.03). By education, low-education adults with T2DM had lower vaccination likelihood (aOR = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.61–1.15) compared with college-educated adults without T2DM. Economic activity was not significantly associated with vaccination (aOR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.70–1.18). Findings were consistent across pre–COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods ( P for interaction = 0.24). Conclusions Socioeconomic disadvantage and T2DM may jointly contributed to lower influenza-vaccination uptake among Korean adults aged 65 years and older.
Fuzzy C-means clustering based vertical container stacking in container terminals
Patients’ perceptions of care in a Type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial on intravenous iron for anaemia in pregnancy in Nigeria
Introduction Iron deficiency anaemia is a common cause of anaemia in pregnancy, which is highly prevalent in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Evidence from LMICs indicates that intravenous (IV) iron formulations such as ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) are safe and effective alternatives to oral iron, and there is emerging data on implementation strategies and outcomes. Client outcomes are important additional considerations for successful scale-up of new interventions. We assessed patient experiences and satisfaction among women receiving IV versus oral iron for anaemia in pregnancy in Nigeria. Methods This mixed-methods study was nested in a type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial that enrolled 1,056 pregnant women at 20–32 weeks gestational age. Participants were randomised to receive either FCM or oral ferrous sulphate (FS). Twenty-five percent of participants were sequentially sampled for interviewer-administered exit surveys and 66 women who received IV iron were purposively selected for in-depth interviews at last study visit. Quantitative data from the two treatment groups were evaluated using the Chi-squared test, while qualitative data were analysed thematically. Results We surveyed 252 women (128 treated with FCM and 124 with FS). Significantly higher proportions of the FCM (73.4%) versus FS group (57.3%) had positive perceptions of care (p = 0.007). Positive perceptions, experiences and satisfaction with FCM were buttressed by the qualitative findings, for reasons such as good communication and quality of provider care, single-dose administration, minimal side effects, positive health outcomes and not bearing treatment costs. Conclusion Participants in this IV versus oral iron trial had positive perceptions of FCM. These patient-reported findings support available evidence on service and implementation outcomes and further support IV iron scale up in LMIC settings. Future implementation research should further assess client outcomes under real-world conditions.
Predictive modeling of conductivity for carbon black nanocomposites: influence of filler features, interfacial effects and network portion
Estimating the incidence of heart failure: Insights from an illness-death model using statutory health insurance data from 70 million people in Germany
Introduction Heart Failure (HF) is a considerable public health issue that affects more than 64 million people worldwide, with a prevalence of 1% to 3% in Western industrialized countries. However, reliable data on the incidence of HF are lacking, making it difficult to assess. The aim of our study was to estimate the age- and sex-specific incidence of HF in Germany using the illness-death model (IDM) and an associated partial differential equation (PDE), based on aggregated prevalence and mortality data. Methods Prevalence data for 2009–2017 were used from the Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance (Zi). Data on HF mortality were taken from a comparable Norwegian population from 2013. A PDE using a bootstrapping approach was used to calculate HF incidence. The estimated incidence was the median of 5,000 samples, complemented by 95% bootstrapping confidence intervals (CIs). We ran a ± 15% calibration sensitivity analysis by uniformly scaling Norwegian Mortality rate ratios (MRRs) to test transferability to the German population. The incidence was then re-estimated with the full 5,000-replicate bootstrap. Medians with 95% empirical intervals were reported for each scenario. Results In all age groups, men had a higher incidence than women. The highest incidences were estimated in age groups over 90 years old, with approximately 88/1,000 person-years (py) (95% CI: 73–102) for men and 45/1,000 py (95% CI: 29–61) for women. A sharp increase in incidence rates could be seen in men from the age of 60 years and in women from the age of 65 years. The slope of the incidence was less pronounced among women aged above 60 years compared to men, without impacting the overall trend of increased incidence in higher age groups for women. Uniform ±15% scaling shifted incidence levels, but preserved the age-specific shape and male–female ordering. The effects were small to moderate in age groups from 50 to 90, and negligible in age groups ≤45, with the largest absolute shifts observed at very old ages. Conclusion The IDM and an associated PDE were used to estimate a rising incidence of HF with age for both men and women. These findings underscore the importance of age- and sex-specific approaches in HF prevention and management strategies, particularly in older populations where the burden of HF is most pronounced. The method complements existing estimation techniques while circumventing the necessity of costly follow-up studies.
Sleep deprivation alters early event-related potentials during emotional face processing in adults with ADHD
Correction: Mechanical behavior of reservoir bank slope–pile–sheet structures under reservoir operation: Field monitoring and numerical simulation analysis
Phosphidated tungsten oxide@polyaniline hybrid electrode on nickel foam for dual-function supercapacitor and methanol oxidation
WNK2 may promote ovarian cancer progression by upregulating POU5F1B
Ovarian cancer (OC) remains the most lethal gynecologic malignancy. Our previous work showed that WNK lysine-deficient protein kinase 2 (WNK2) promotes OC cell proliferation and migration. To clarify the molecular basis of WNK2-driven OC progression, here, we performed transcriptome sequencing to identify WNK2-regulated mRNAs and noncoding RNAs. We validated candidate targets using qRT-PCR and Western blot analyses. Functional assays, including CCK-8, colony formation, and Transwell assays, evaluated the role of POU5F1B and its capacity to rescue the effects of WNK2 knockdown. POU5F1B is a promising OC therapeutic target, mediating WNK2-driven oncogenesis in xenograft models (n = 10). Because AKT acts downstream of POU5F1B, we examined AKT phosphorylation and found that POU5F1B displayed clear oncogenic activity in OC cells. WNK2 upregulated POU5F1B mRNA and protein levels, while POU5F1B overexpression reversed the tumor-suppressive effects caused by WNK2 depletion. Mechanistically, WNK2 silencing decreased AKT phosphorylation, which POU5F1B overexpression restored. Together, these results demonstrate that WNK2 promotes OC progression by upregulating the validated oncogene POU5F1B and activating AKT signaling. These findings establish WNK2 as an oncogenic driver and a promising therapeutic target in OC.