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Seed coat degradation and viability loss in pomegranate: the hidden cause of aril paleness disorder
The impact of pectin supplementation on systemic inflammation pathways, gut microbiome, and metabolic health in patients with Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD): A study protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Background Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease, affecting over 30% of adults worldwide. Emerging evidence suggests that dietary fibre, particularly pectin, may improve metabolic health by modulating inflammation, gut microbiota composition, and intestinal permeability. However, controlled human studies in MASLD are limited. This study aims to evaluate the effect of pectin supplementation on systemic inflammation, gut microbiome, and metabolic health in patients with MASLD. Methods This single-centre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled dietary intervention will be conducted at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust in partnership with the University of Nottingham. Thirty adults with MASLD will be randomised (1:1) to receive either 15g/day Low-methoxyl (LM) pectin or a matched placebo for six weeks. Each participant will attend baseline and post-intervention visits during which anthropometric data, fasting blood samples, and stool samples will be collected. FibroScan® assessments will be performed for all participants at both visits to quantify liver stiffness and steatosis. Twenty-two participants will take part in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sub-study to evaluate hepatic and intestinal characteristics at baseline and post-intervention. Laboratory analyses will include liver function, lipid, glycemic, and inflammatory markers, alongside profiling of gut microbiota composition and short-chain fatty acids. Discussion This is the first randomised controlled study to evaluate the mechanistic effects of pectin supplementation on inflammation, gut microbiome composition, and metabolic outcomes in MASLD. The results may generate novel evidence on the role of soluble fibre in modulating the gut–liver axis and support the development of scalable, nutrition-based interventions to improve metabolic and hepatic health in this population. Clinical trial registration The trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT07093346)
Correlation between fractal dimension of particle size distribution and strength development in alkanolamine-modified cements
Correction: Long-term potentiation and neurotransmitters expression and segregation are altered in the Metabolic Syndrome-associated dysautonomia
Effects of different highly active antiretroviral therapy regimens on immune, biochemical indicators, and viral suppression in HIV/AIDS patients in Southwest China
Capturing women’s bodily experiences: Conception and formative stages of the women’s somatic experience inventory
Assessment of women’s bodily experiences is used primarily to characterize negative psychological features of menstruation. However, women’s somatic states span a full spectrum of valence, emanate from multiple body systems, and affect physical and psychological well-being every day, throughout life and a more complete understanding of these states is important for the advancement of the science of women. This study presents the conception and formative stages of a comprehensive inventory about women’s somatic states, bodily experiences, and physical perceptions to be called the Women’s Somatic Experience Inventory. Three hundred biologically female university students (ages 18–25) rated the frequency and valence of diverse somatic experiences. An iterative approach was used: a systematic review compiled somatic items, variable clustering techniques reduced items, and confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling guided factor refinement and proof-of-concept. Nine unpleasant latent factors (Kinesthetic Disconnect, Generalized Pain, Gastrointestinal Distress, Illness, Low Energy, Neurological Discomfort, Metabolic Stress, Heat & Urgency Response, and Sympathetic Activation) and four pleasant latent factors (Physical Alignment, Physical Intimacy, Activated & Attractive, and Parasympathetic Activation) were identified. Validated surveys of premenstrual symptoms and body awareness, use of hormonal contraception, and exercise and alcohol use behaviors were associated with pleasant and unpleasant factors, serving as initial proof-of-concept. These results support further refinement of the factors to be included in the inventory. With further testing and validation, the identified 73 somatic items and 13 factors could form the Women’s Somatic Experience Inventory, the first comprehensive inventory for understanding women’s somatic experiences, how these experiences change across female reproductive life stages, and how they interact with lifestyle behaviors.
Study on roof deformation characteristics and control method of deep roadway intersection
Abstract Based on the engineering background of roadway intersection, this paper adopts the research methods of theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and field practice. The equivalent span calculation model of the intersection location is established, and the influence law of the intersection angle, lateral pressure coefficient and roadway section size on the stability of the surrounding rock at the intersection location is determined; at the same time, the displacement calculation formula of the variable cross-section beam is derived, and the influence degree of each factor on the stability of the roof rock beam is determined as L > d 1 > d 0 > H > E , and the mechanism of roof deformation and failure is revealed. Combined with the above analysis, the bearing mechanical model of the surrounding rock at the intersection location is constructed, the influence characteristics of various factors on the average vertical stress growth rate are determined by defining the average vertical stress growth rate, the stability control method of the surrounding rock at the intersection location is put forward, and the field engineering practice is carried out. The deformation of the roof and the surrounding rock is reduced by 56 and 32% respectively. This study can provide reference for the stability control of surrounding rock at roadway intersection.
Germline-mediated ubiquitous recombination in ScxCre male mice: Implications for tendon research
Scleraxis (Scx), a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor, is a primary marker for tendon and ligament lineages. Accordingly, mouse models utilizing Cre recombinase under the control of the Scx locus provide a powerful tool for conditional gene manipulation in tendon and ligament tissues. The constitutive ScxCre mouse line is widely used for tendon-specific genetic studies. In this study, we show that ScxCre exhibits substantial unintended off-target activity in the male germline, resulting in ubiquitous recombination of floxed alleles in all tissues of the offspring. Transmission of recombined LoxP alleles occurred independently of Cre inheritance, indicating that ScxCre-mediated recombination took place before meiosis in diploid male germ cells. In contrast, this off-target activity was not observed in female germline. These findings highlight a critical need for stringent parental sex selection when using ScxCre lines to ensure tissue-specific targeting and to avoid unintentional global gene deletion or transgene activation.
Performance evaluation of SFP models using ML/DL and feature selection via cost evaluation framework
The influence of hand depiction types on behavioural patterns in laterality judgments
According to Motor Simulation Theory, cognitive states such as kinesthetic motor imagery activate the motor system in a manner similar to overt motor execution. Action simulation can be implicitly triggered when individuals unconsciously simulate an action, as in the Hand Laterality Judgment Task (HLJT). Studies employing the HLJT use different hand depictions, which may influence behavioural performance. The aim of the present study was to examine whether hand depiction type (realistic hands versus line drawings) influences performance on the HLJT. Sixty-two younger adults completed the HLJT using both realistic and line-drawing representations of hands. Results demonstrated significant effects of orientation, with faster and more accurate responses observed at less challenging orientations and a medial-over-lateral advantage (MOLA) evident for palm-view stimuli. Overall, performance declined as hand orientation became increasingly biomechanically demanding. Importantly, the effects of hand depiction type varied as a function of viewpoint and orientation. For back-view stimuli, line drawings elicited faster responses than realistic hands at 0° and 90° lateral orientations. In contrast, for palm-view stimuli, line drawings elicited faster responses and higher accuracy than realistic stimuli. These findings suggest that the effects of hand depiction are not uniform across task conditions. As such, the type of hand stimulus used should be carefully considered when designing, interpreting, and comparing HLJT studies, particularly when the task is used to assess motor imagery processes.
Adaptive fractional order model predictive control of boost converters with grey wolf optimization tuning and recursive least squares identification
Association between pre-birth waist circumference and neonatal size and health in mother-newborn pairs in Lausanne, 1917–1921
Background Maternal anthropometric dimensions influence neonatal size and survival, yet waist circumference measured shortly before delivery remains little studied. Using historical maternity records from Lausanne, Switzerland (1917–1921), we examined associations between maternal waist circumference and neonatal anthropometry and perinatal health outcomes. Data and Methods We analyzed 4,448 singleton births recorded at the Lausanne maternity hospital. Maternal waist circumference measured shortly before delivery was categorized as <80, 80–95, 95–110, and >110 cm. Dependent variables included birth weight, length, head circumference, ponderal index, preterm birth, low birth weight, macrosomia, microcephaly, stillbirth, and early neonatal mortality within five days. Missing data were handled using multiple imputation. Associations were estimated using generalized linear models adjusted for maternal age, gravidity, civil status, residence, infection during pregnancy, birth year and season, and infant sex. Results Mean maternal waist circumference was 94.9 cm. Compared with the 80–95 cm reference group, waist circumference <80 cm was associated with lower birth weight (–575 g) and higher risks of low birth weight, preterm birth, microcephaly, stillbirth, and early neonatal death. Conversely, waist circumference >110 cm was associated with higher birth weight (+623 g) and substantially higher risk of macrosomia, but not higher infant mortality. Conclusion In this historical cohort, maternal waist circumference before delivery was strongly associated with neonatal size and adverse outcomes. Small circumference was associated with lower birth weight, prematurity, and a higher risk of mortality, whereas a large circumference was associated with macrosomia. This dataset shows that pre-delivery waist circumference was associated with perinatal risk, offering insights relevant to historical populations.
A pooled population pharmacokinetic analysis of ticagrelor in acute coronary syndrome using simulated data
Bacterial diversity, quantitative risk assessment of spring waterborne pathogens and their biocontrol through phyto-biosorbents
Bacterial contamination of drinking water is a significant cause of water-borne illnesses in many developing countries, where water sources are commonly shared by the community. Therefore, the recent research was designed to screen the bacterial diversity associated with spring water, to assess the bacterial risk in both adults and children, and to remediate bacterial contaminants using green remediation technology via Brassica rapa and Spinacia oleracea . Microbial growth media, microscopic techniques, biochemical tests, ribotyping, antibiogram, and resistogram analysis were used to characterize bacterial isolates. The bactericidal effect of extracts of phytoabsorbents was evaluated against spring water-associated bacteria through the agar well diffusion method. The ex-situ remediation via phytoabsorbents was done to decontaminate spring water. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens , Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus , Bacillus anthracis, Lysinibacillus fusiformis , Bacillus wiedmannii , uncultured Bacillus sp. , Bacillus weihenstephanensis , and Bacillus thuringiensis were characterized through the Maximum Likelihood method and Tamura-Nei model. The highest mean risk of illness (%) due to Bacillus species was recorded in children (56.67% to 70.0% compared to the adults (47.0% to 50.0%). All isolated spring water-associated bacteria were resistant to amoxycillin, aztreonam, tobramycin, tazobactam, ceftriaxone, and cefuroxime sodium. Similarly, all spring water-associated bacteria showed resistance against lead, cadmium, and chromium. The root extract of B. rapa and S. oleracea showed the maximum zone of inhibition of spring water-associated bacteria (10.0 ± 0.0 mm to 19.0 ± 0.0 mm) compared to the seeds and aerial parts extracts. Ex-situ remediation findings illustrated that both plants efficiently declined the microbial load, did not affect the sprouting and growth of B. rapa compared to the S. oleracea, and could be used as biosorbent to decontaminate spring water.
Impact of different treatment modalities for localized prostate cancer on patient-reported quality of life outcomes in an Asian Cohort
Abstract This study aimed to provide a long-term comparison of patient-reported functional outcomes (PROs) across various treatments for localized PCa over five years in an Asian population. This was a prospective study involving 866 patients with PCa who were undergoing treatment, including active surveillance (AS)( n = 126), radical prostatectomy (RP) ( n = 332), radiation therapy (RT) ( n = 339) and focal therapy (FT)( n = 69). Patients were required to complete the EPIC-26 questionnaire at baseline and annually for 5 years, and were followed up until the most recent completion of the questionnaire, loss to follow-up, or death. Longitudinal functional outcomes were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models; the model included fixed effects for treatment modality, time, a treatment×time interaction, and clinically relevant covariates, including age, body mass index (BMI), Charlson Comorbidity Index, and AUA risk group classification. Over a median follow-up of 42.81months, RP resulted in the worst outcome in urinary continence (mean difference: −19, 95%CI: −24 to − 14; P < 0.001) and sexual function mean difference: −22, 95%CI: −26 to − 17; P < 0.001) in the first year, as compared to AS. RT was associated with an early decline in bowel function and hormonal dysfunction, which was most severe at 1–3 years, but both functions had recovered afterwards. FT was associated with favorable functional preservation in most domains compared to RP and RT, though sexual function declined progressively from baseline. No significant differences in sexual function were observed between FT and AS beyond 1 year. Different treatment modalities (AS, RP, RT, FT) resulted in distinct functional outcomes profiles.
Genomic surveillance of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii from bloodstream infections in Thailand reveals widespread dissemination of blaNDM–harboring mobile genetic elements
Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) is a major cause of hospital-acquired bloodstream infections in Thailand, with limited treatment options and a strong association with high morbidity and mortality. We performed nationwide genomic surveillance of 41 CRAB isolates from bloodstream infections collected across Thailand between 2020 and 2024 to characterize the population structure, antimicrobial resistance determinants, and the genomic context of bla NDM -harboring mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Whole-genome sequencing and core genome SNP-based phylogenetic analysis of the Thai samples revealed the dominance of international clone II (Pasteur ST2), which was widely distributed across geographic regions. Carbapenem resistance was primarily mediated by bla OXA-23 , together with intrinsic bla OXA-66 and resistance-associated mutations in a penicillin-binding protein gene. In addition to OXA-type carbapenemase genes, bla NDM-5 and bla NDM-1 were detected in a subset of isolates. In particular, bla NDM-5 was located within a highly conserved MGE associated with a class 1 integron, IS91 family transposase and IS Aba125 and was detected across multiple ST2 sublineages. This MGE was distributed across multiple geographic regions and phylogenetic lineages in Thailand, with evidence suggesting widespread horizontal dissemination followed by local clonal expansion. By contrast, bla NDM-1 was detected less frequently but was consistently associated with a canonical Tn 125 transposon in both ST2 and ST16 isolates, highlighting its continued epidemiological relevance. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that CRAB bloodstream infections in Thailand are driven by a combination of endemic high-risk lineages and the sustained circulation of bla NDM -harboring MGEs. Overall, our results confirm the importance of continued genomic surveillance for monitoring the emergence and dissemination of bla NDM -producing CRAB and for strengthening infection prevention and antimicrobial resistance control efforts in hospital settings.
Water hyacinth bio slurry: characterization and application for enhancing soil fertility and teff crop yield
Genome misassembly detection using Stash: A data structure based on stochastic tile hashing
Analyzing large data from high-throughput sequencing technologies presents significant challenges in terms of memory and computational requirements. It is crucial to develop efficient data structures and computational methods that handle sequencing information. These challenges impact bioinformatics studies, including de novo genome assembly, which serves as a foundation of genomics. Issues like read errors or limitations of heuristic decisions in assembly algorithms lead to genome misassemblies and inaccurate genomic representations, compromising the quality of downstream analyses. Hence, de novo assemblies can benefit from misassembly detection and correction to produce a more optimal assembly. We present Stash, a novel hash-based data structure designed for storing and querying large sequencing data. For an input sequence, Stash uses sliding windows of spaced seed patterns to extract and hash k-mers. The hash values combined with the sequence ID determine the value stored in Stash. A filled Stash can be used to query whether two genomic regions are covered by the same set of reads. This can be used in genome misassembly detection. We demonstrate the effectiveness of Stash in detecting misassemblies in human genome assemblies generated by Flye and Shasta, using Pacbio HiFi reads from the human cell line NA24385. We observed that scaffolding Stash-cut assemblies reduces 7.6% and 3.4% of misassemblies in the Flye and Shasta assemblies, respectively. This is accomplished in 310 minutes utilizing 8 GB of memory. Stash is comparable to alternative long read misassembly correction methods and can result in superior assemblies compared to the baseline.
A multi-agent game-theoretic adversarial training framework with latency-aware reward shaping for robust high-frequency trading strategy design
Abstract High-frequency trading now plays out at microsecond and even nanosecond granularity, and profitability is shaped jointly by adversarial market dynamics and by acute sensitivity to execution latency. Most existing frameworks, somewhat surprisingly, still treat these two pressures in isolation, leaving robustness and timing largely uncoupled. This study sets out to unify adversarial robustness training with latency-aware policy optimization inside a single strategy-design framework, hereafter referred to as MAGAT — a multi-agent game-theoretic adversarial trading system. Methodologically, MAGAT pits a Protagonist Agent — trained by multi-agent proximal policy optimization under centralized training with decentralized execution — against an Adversary Agent that searches for worst-case perturbations using gradient-free evolution strategies; the two roles alternate in a minimax loop whose fixed point is interpreted as an approximate, not certified, equilibrium, and the approximation is itself diagnosed by tracking the joint best-response gap. A Latency-Aware Reward Shaping (LARS) term penalizes aggressive orders in proportion to the logarithm of realized delay, while an FPGA, INT8-GPU, and kernel-bypass pipeline targets sub-700-nanosecond tick-to-order latency. Performance is assessed entirely through event-driven simulation: matching-engine replay over Level-3 LOBSTER limit order book data for three U.S. equities (AAPL, MSFT, INTC, 2022), with a configurable delay-injection platform reproducing uniform, Pareto, and bursty latency profiles. Across the four stress scenarios MAGAT sustains Sharpe ratios of 1.97–2.31 (95% bootstrap CI ± 0.06) and survival rates of 89–96% (± 2.1pp), against 1.18 and 69% for the strongest single-agent baseline; latency elasticity falls roughly fourfold (from 0.54 to 0.12) and the measured 99th-percentile execution latency stays near 683 nanoseconds. These results refer strictly to simulation and should not, on their own, be read as evidence of deployable live performance.