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Multi-scene camera relocalization via modulated coordinate regression and low-rank adaptation
Distinct functional and compositional properties in the gut microbiome of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia identified by shotgun metagenomics
Preparation of CNT/PEEK porous composites via NaCl leaching and FDM for bearing cage applications
MicroRNA21/HDAC4 mediates podocyte apoptosis under high glucose conditions by regulating the activation of FoxO1
A novel transformer-based semantic feature extraction method for multi-label text classification
Research and engineering practice of high stage and long span complex goaf filling treatment technology
Empowering emotional intelligence through deep learning techniques
I-BET151 modulates NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis and exhibits anti-inflammatory activity
The investigation of the optical and morphological properties of metal iron oxide-based Fe2O3-WO3-ZrO2 and Fe2O3-WO3 nanocomposites
Constraining the impact of chlorine as a neutron absorber in next-gen fast reactor designs
Evaluation of ChatGPT-4o and DeepSeek as tools for orthodontic health literacy in public dental education
Retraction Note: Modulation of microglial phenotypes by dexmedetomidine through TREM2 reduces neuroinflammation in heatstroke
In vitro dexamethasone suppression of cytokine production assay and plasma total and free cortisol responses to ACTH in healthy volunteers
Abstract Glucocorticoid sensitivity varies between individuals, influencing stress and inflammatory responses, however its relationship with the synthetic ACTH [1–24] stimulation test, is not well evaluated. To evaluate glucocorticoid sensitivity and plasma total cortisol (TC) and plasma free cortisol (PFC) responses to stimulation with 250 μg of synthetic ACTH [1–24]) in healthy adults. Prospective, single-centre observational study. Forty-eight healthy adults (24 females, 24 males) underwent basal and stimulated TC and PFC level measurements using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Peak cortisol values were defined as the highest TC or PFC at either 30- or 60-min. Glucocorticoid sensitivity was measured using the dexamethasone suppression of cytokine production (DSCP) assay, based on interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) production from lipopolysaccharide-stimulated (LPS) monocytes. A whole blood sample was incubated with buffer, LPS, or LPS with dexamethasone (Dex). TNF-α and IL-6 concentrations were measured in the supernatants (ng/L). The ratio of cytokine levels between LPS + Dex and LPS indicated glucocorticoid sensitivity. Data from 45 participants were analysed. Peak TC levels ranged from 391 to 1570 nmol/L (median: 618 nmol/L, IQR: 555–729), while PFC levels ranged from 27 to 133 nmol/L (median: 62 nmol/L, IQR: 53–73). No significant associations were found between baseline or peak TC and PFC levels and glucocorticoid sensitivity ratios. Synthetic ACTH (1–24) test results did not predict glucocorticoid sensitivity. Males exhibited higher BMI (median: 26 vs. 22; p = 0.031), however no significant differences were observed in age, baseline PFC and TC levels between sexes. In this exploratory study, ACTH [1–24]—stimulated cortisol responses did not correlate with glucocorticoid sensitivity measured by the DSCP assay. Findings should be interpreted as preliminary and hypothesis-generating given current assay limitations.
Lightweight dual-watermarking framework for medical image authentication and integrity preservation
Rapid screening of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol in raw materials and medicinal syrups using low-cost field deployable assays
Abstract There have been hundreds of child deaths due to contamination of medicinal syrups with diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG). Detection of DEG and EG is usually performed by gas chromatography, a method that is costly, laborious, time-consuming, and not readily available in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Thin-layer chromatography is relatively lower cost and portable; however, as with gas chromatography, it requires time and trained personnel. Alternative rapid, low-cost and simple methods to determine DEG/EG contamination are needed. We tested the suitability of enzymatic, chemical and antibody-based assays to determine DEG/EG. Assays using alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase alone as well as in combination with glycolate oxidase could determine EG in raw materials and at less than 0.1% m/m in some finished products. Saliva and breast milk alcohol test strips, containing alcohol oxidase and costing $1, could determine EG with a detection limit of 0.5 to 2% m/m in under 2 minutes. Disposable breathalysers, costing only $1, could determine both DEG and EG from other alcohols in only 10 seconds. The methods described provide simple, rapid and low-cost alternatives to help determine DEG and EG contamination in pharmaceutical supply chains to help prevent deaths where equipment and trained human resources are limited.
Multi-branch low-light image iterative enhancement network
Abstract Images captured at night or under low-light conditions often suffer from insufficient brightness, low resolution, and detail loss. Although numerous deep learning-based methods have been proposed, most rely on direct mappings from low-illumination to normal-illumination images, which struggle to adapt to diverse real-world conditions. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a Multi-Branch Low-Light Image Iterative Enhancement Network (MBLLIE-Net). Specifically, to enhance feature extraction at different levels, our framework adopts a multi-branch architecture, in which features of various depths and scales extracted by the encoder are processed and refined through multiple parallel branches. To overcome the limitation of insufficient spatial dependency modeling, we introduce a Spatial Recurrent Unit (SRU) within each branch, which effectively captures long-range spatial relationships while preserving local details. Furthermore, to better emphasize salient channels across varying feature dimensions, we propose an Adaptive Receptive Field Channel Attention (ARFCA) module that dynamically adjusts its receptive field according to the channel dimension, enabling precise feature selection with negligible computational overhead. Finally, the decoder fuses the outputs from all branches to generate an initial enhanced result, which is iteratively refined by concatenating it with the original input, ensuring progressive improvement in image quality. Extensive experiments demonstrate that MBLLIE-Net effectively restores illumination, detail, and color fidelity across a wide range of low-light scenarios, outperforming existing single-path approaches in both quantitative metrics and human perceptual evaluations.
Enhancing concrete support bearing strength with strain hardening cementitious composite (SHCC) layer: an experimental study
Abstract This study investigates the potential of Strain Hardening Cementitious Composite (SHCC) as a reinforcement layer to enhance the bearing strength of concrete supports, addressing the brittle failures often observed in conventional concrete under concentrated loads. Specimens were divided into six groups (G1 to G6) to explore variables such as groove number and size, SHCC layer depth and size, and the use of anchors. The results demonstrated that incorporating SHCC layers into concrete blocks effectively reduced crack width and delayed the onset of ultimate failure. However, excessive SHCC thickness compromised stress distribution, leading to earlier and more brittle failure. Specifically, increasing the number and size of grooves enhanced bearing capacity by an average of 16.7% and 22.4%, respectively. Similarly, using appropriate size of SHCC layer improved stress distribution, resulting in a 36.2% increase in bearing capacity. Conversely, increasing SHCC depth at the expense of its size reduced bearing capacity by 29.4%, likely due to inefficient stress distribution. Although the use of anchors was intended to enhance the bond between the SHCC layer and the underlying concrete, they instead acted as stress concentrators, accelerating failure and reducing bearing strength by 17.6% on average. Similarly, while the addition of grooves and optimized SHCC block sizes led to substantial gains in Energy Absorption Capacity (EAC), other modifications, such as anchoring or inappropriate SHCC layer depths, had counterproductive effects. The study concludes with the proposal of an empirical formula to predict the bearing capacity of SHCC-reinforced structures, incorporating the key test parameters identified.