Browse Articles

Expression of Concern: Magnitude and associated factors of disrespect and abusive care among laboring mothers at public health facilities in Borena District, South Wollo, Ethiopia

Modeling COVID-19 transmission: effects of age structure and vaccination

Effect of drought stress during critical developmental stages on morphological and grain yield-related traits in winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

As the frequency of droughts increases, the breeding of new drought-tolerant cereal varieties may become increasingly important. However, the complex effects of drought stress on grain yield-related traits are difficult to study precisely, and relatively little information is available on how drought during flowering affects plants. Therefore, 28 winter barley cultivars were included into controlled environmental tests, where their reactions were determined to single drought stress treatment applied at heading and to combined drought stresses applied at first node appearance and then at heading. Drought stress (both single and combined) significantly reduced all of the grain-yield related traits. Notably, grain yield was reduced by 48% in the two-row varieties and by 44.24% in the six-row varieties under combined drought stress, compared to the control. Our study has also demonstrated, that the combined application of drought tolerance/susceptibility indices (DT/SIs) and BLUP-based analysis provides a reliable approach for identifying stress-tolerant genotypes. We identified two main types of drought stress tolerance: the ability of preserving grain number and weight in the main ears, in parallel of maintaining the number of reproductive tillers (more tolerant), and the ability of preserving grain number and weight in the side ears (least tolerant). Both types appeared in either treatment, but not with the same intensity. Our results may provide useful information for a better understanding of this topic, which may become even more important in the context of increasingly frequent droughts.

Light-Driven Chemical Cascade Reduces Barriers to Hydrogen Production

Association of Hsa_circ_0059511 with the sensitivity of the temozolomide chemotherapeutic treatment in human glioma cells

Impact of web accessibility on cognitive engagement in individuals without disabilities: Evidence from a psychophysiological study

Web accessibility features on websites are designed for individuals with disabilities that include low vision and cognitive impairments, but such features can benefit everyone. This study investigates the impact of accessibility features of the web on ambient/focal visual attention and cognitive processing in individuals without disabilities. The study involved 20 participants reading news websites with different levels of low vision and cognitive-related accessibility features while their eye movements and heart rate variability were monitored. The findings show that cognitive engagement declined over time when no accessibility enhancements were present. The study also demonstrates that enhancing cognitive accessibility leads to increased user cognitive engagement, while low vision accessibility features make websites easier to read. These findings are corroborated by self-reports and psychophysiological measures, such as eye-tracking metrics and heart rate variability. The effects from these psychophysiological measures, together with participants’ self-reports, support the benefits of enhancing web accessibility features for all users. The implications for future website design are also discussed.

First comprehensive compositional analysis of E. arborescens leaves with new insights into their potential as enzyme inhibitors

Positional distribution of transcription factor binding sites in the human genome

As transcription factors (TFs) play a major role in gene regulation, we studied their binding motifs (positional weight matrices, PWMs) and binding sites (TFBSs) in the human genome, and how TFs bind DNA motifs, including the involvement of binding co-factors. Using the chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing data recently released by ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements), we obtained new PWMs for 196 TFs and revised PWMs for 119 TFs. From these and the PWMs previously obtained for 235 TFs, we inferred the canonical PWMs for 500 TFs, including 243 new PWMs. Analysis revealed that most TFBSs are in introns (42.6%) and intergenic regions (31.6%), with only 11.3% in promoters. However, the TFBS density is considerably higher in promoters, showing a bell-shaped distribution of TFBSs with a peak at the transcription start site. Many TFBSs lie close to CTCF (CCCTC-binding factor) binding sites. Tethered binding is far more frequent than co-binding, with the latter often requiring co-factors.

Investigation of mechanical properties in PLA, ABS and epoxy resin parts fabricated by 3D printing technology

Psychophysiology of facial emotion recognition in psychopathy dimensions and oxytocin’s role: A scoping review

Psychopathy is characterized by social impairments that hinder effective societal functioning. It comprises two main dimensions: “Interpersonal-affective” and “Lifestyle-antisocial,” each associated with distinct patterns of traits and central and peripheral neurocorrelates, particularly concerning social salience and oxytocin function. In this review, we systematically identified and synthesized evidence from studies investigating oxytocin’s role in the psychophysiological correlates of emotion recognition across psychopathy dimensions. However, as no such direct studies were identified, we instead compiled and analyzed research examining these variables separately. A scoping review was conducted to capture studies reporting on psychopathy or oxytocin in relation to facial emotion recognition, whether or not they included central or peripheral psychophysiological measurements – retrieving 66 articles. We found distinct emotion recognition outcomes between psychopathy dimensions, some even with opposing neural activity in response to emotional expressions, particularly those of negative valence, as assessed through neuroimaging, electrophysiology, eye-gazing, and pupillometry. Oxytocin presented suggestive positive/compensatory effects on social salience, enhancing emotion recognition, and increasing pupil dilation, and eye-gazing towards faces, and decreasing brain activation towards negative emotions. This review highlights the critical need for future studies to bridge the gap between psychopathy and oxytocin research by exploring their interaction on shared psychophysiological correlates. Such efforts could facilitate the identification of dimension-specific diagnostic biomarkers and targeted interventions for psychopathy.

Comparative analysis of phytocompounds and repurposed drugs against dengue virus serotypes employing an in silico study

Abstract Dengue virus (DENV) has emerged as a formidable global health challenge, with a surging incidence rate across the world. Despite numerous research initiatives aimed at developing effective antiviral therapy, no clinically proven drug or vaccine has been identified to combat all four genetically diverse serotypes of DENV. Therefore, comparative analysis of repurposed drugs and phytocompounds against all DENV serotypes is critical in the search for an effective long-term solution to this menacing disease. 93 phytocompounds and 15 drugs were shortlisted from the literature and screened using DataWarrior 5.5.0, from which 10 phytocompounds and 10 drugs were selected for further analysis. Molecular docking was performed by using AutoDockVina tool. Toxicity and druglikeness activity of standard drugs and phytoconstituents was done by using online servers. The current study showed that among all the selected phytoconstituents, lupiwighteone showed the best binding energy, favorable pharmacokinetics and no toxicity with all the selected serotypes of DENV. The MD simulation result supported the stability of lupiwighteone in complexes with NS3, NS5 and E-protein. This study identifies lupiwighteone as a promising antiviral candidate with favorable drug-like properties against DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4 serotypes. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo study is required for the validation of antiviral activity of lupiwighteone against dengue virus.

Characteristics of medical costs and resource use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with and without glucocorticoids

Objectives To evaluate medical costs and resource use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with and without oral or injectable glucocorticoids (GCs) as part of their initial treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Methods Patients included in the Japan Medical Data Center health insurance claims database and diagnosed with RA were considered. The date of the first prescription of a DMARD (index date) after an observable 6-month period (baseline) was used to define follow-up (12 months post-index date) periods. Patients with at least one GC prescription in the follow-up period were included in the GC group, and patients without a GC prescription in the follow-up period were classified as the non-GC group. The primary endpoints were costs for drugs, treatments, and materials per patient in the follow-up period. Drugs were divided into medications for RA or for adverse events (AEs). The secondary endpoints were proportions of patients using the subcategories of each resource. The incidence of hospitalization during the follow-up period was evaluated. Results A total of 1,670 and 1,487 patients with median ages of 51.0 and 50.0 years were evaluated in the GC and non-GC groups, respectively. The costs for drugs, treatments, and materials were significantly higher in the GC group compared with the non-GC group (GC/ non-GC; drug costs for RA and AEs, 2,818 USD/ 1,882 USD; drug costs for RA only, 2,697 USD/ 1,805 USD; treatment costs, 2,365 USD/ 1,860 USD; material costs, 112 USD/ 77 USD; P < 0.05). The resource use in almost all drug and treatment subcategories was higher in the GC group. The incidence of hospitalization was also higher in the GC group. Conclusions Patients with RA treated with GCs in the first year after starting DMARDs tended to use more resources and have higher medical costs than patients not treated with GCs.

Ambient temperature influenced co-expression network of major developmental, circadian, and photoreceptor genes in bread wheat

Abstract The developmental process of bread wheat comprises of two major phases: the generative development of the apices from double ridge to terminal spikelet formation, followed by the intensive stem elongation. The two phases differ significantly in terms of the most influential environmental stimuli; ambient temperature above the vernalization threshold exert a more pronounced influence on the molecular-genetic regulation of intensive stem elongation. We assume that dynamic interactions among circadian rhythms, photoreceptors, and key developmental genes play a critical role in shaping the genotypic responses. For this purpose, we chose three, well characterised winter bread wheat varieties with different genetic backgrounds and developmental patterns, in which we studied the daily expression of main developmental (VRN1, VRN2, VRN3, PPD1), circadian (CCA1, PRR95, TOC1, LUX, ELF3, GI, CO1) and photoreceptor (PHYA, PHYB, PHYC, CRY1, CRY2) genes using generic primers and determined their possible relationship under three environments (18 °C vernalized/unvernalized and 25 °C vernalized in the phytotron). The correlation-based network analyses underlined the strong probability of several gene interactions. The positive relationship between VRN1 and VRN3 existed in all treatments confirming that the close relationship between these two genes is essential for the flowering regulation. The vernalized VRN2 showed an explicit diurnal activity in late heading cultivars, which became most expressive at 18 °C. In vernalized plants at 18 °C, PPD1 expression was significantly increased in all three cultivars, becoming more pronounced in late heading cultivars. We found a significant negative association between CCA1 and TOC1, in addition a significant negative association between CCA1 and LUX and a significant positive correlation between TOC1 and LUX was observed, irrespective to the environment. The close temperature-independent relationship between these major circadian genes may also illustrate their fundamental role in the floral regulatory system. Another strong positive correlation was observed between GI vs LUX and PHYC vs ELF3, independently of the environment. Our results, obtained by studying gene expression patterns within the complexity of whole-genome backgrounds, provide complementary information to the knowledge derived from studies using mutant and/or near-isogenic lines. They demonstrate the environmentally driven genetic plasticity present in varieties in response to diverse environmental cues, which may represent an important factor in ecological adaptation and a key element in improving resilience to climate change.

Research on the optimization method of inventory management of important spare parts of intercity railway

As cities grow, intercity railways are becoming increasingly popular for short trips between neighboring areas. These railways cater well to commuters and travelers, making reliable and cost-effective maintenance crucial. Timely access to spare parts is essential for ensuring the smooth operation of intercity railways. Traditionally, intercity railways lack failure probability data for spare parts, which hampers the support for spare parts ordering decisions, resulting in spare parts management primarily relying on manual experience. This approach often leads to problems like excessive inventory levels and high management costs. To enhance the reliability of intercity railway operations and reduce spare parts management costs, this paper employs the Zebra Optimization Algorithm-Least Squares Support Vector Machine (ZOA-LSSVM) to analyze the reliability of the important Weibull distribution spare parts of the intercity railway and fit the parameters of the reliability function for spare parts. Based on the failure rate, an inventory control model for intercity railway spare parts is established, aiming to minimize total costs while considering constraints such as order point, order quantity, and equipment availability. A genetic algorithm is designed to solve this model. To verify the effectiveness of the model, we select the contact network insulators of Chinese J Intercity Railway as the case study subject. By comparing the fitting performance of several methods, including ZOA-LSSVM, Genetic Algorithm (GA)-LSSVM, LSSVM, and Least Squares Regression (LSR), the effectiveness of ZOA-LSSVM is validated. The experimental results indicate that ZOA-LSSVM can provide better prediction accuracy. Based on this fitting method, spare parts inventory management is conducted. By comparing it with the traditional manual experience method, it is found that the approach proposed in this paper not only ensures the stable operation of intercity railways but also significantly reduces costs by approximately 13.6%. This result fully demonstrates the superiority of the optimization model established in this paper in practical applications and provides new ideas and methods for the management of spare parts for other intercity railways.

Cochlear implant re-mapping informed by measures of viability of the electrode-neural interface: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Abstract The electrode to auditory nerve interface (ENI) is often considered a bottleneck for information transmission for listeners using a cochlear implant (CI). Clinically, it could be beneficial to have a CI programming plan based on optimising information flow based on an individual’s ENI status. This review explores whether re-mappings informed by the viability of ENI can improve the speech perception (noise and/or quiet) of adult CI users. Six databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, TRIP, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL), were searched in April 2024 to identify studies that compared an experimental CI mapping method informed by an ENI measure with the routine clinical mapping among adult CI users. A customised questionnaire was created modified from established critical appraisal tools to assess the risk of bias. Data was extracted to compute a standardised mean difference between the control and experimental maps (Cohen’s d) and its variance for each article. A mixed-effect model was used to estimate the combined Cohen’s d. Linear Regressions were used to probe potential interactions. Thirty articles, mostly within-subject map crossover studies and one RCT, were included. Re-mappings informed by ENI yielded a moderate and significant effect size of 0.48 on speech-in-noise perception. Looking into subgroups, site selection interventions yielded a moderate and significant (p = 0.005) effect size of 0.59. Some site selection interventions were particularly successful while being informed by the low-rate threshold, modulation detection threshold, and electrode discrimination, yielding large and significant effect sizes around 1–1.5. Interventions aiming to reduce the Frequency-to-Place Mismatch by altering the frequency allocation yielded an insignificant (p = 0.32) effect size of 0.47 due to the large variability between and within studies. The variability of outcomes remains substantial both within and between studies. The same intervention is often conducted by the same research group and hence replications at different labs could further strengthen the result. Based on the synthesised result, re-mappings informed by ENI measure could provide better CI hearing to individuals.

Digital infrastructure policies, local fiscal and financing constraints of Non-SOEs: Evidence from China

Digital infrastructure serves as a cornerstone of urban digital transformation and smart city development, yet its implications for local fiscal systems and micro-level enterprises remain underexplored. This study empirically investigates the impact of digital infrastructure policies on the financing constraints of Non-SOEs in China. The contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) Theoretical innovation: It develops a comprehensive theoretical framework connecting macro-level digital policies, regional fiscal dynamics, and micro-enterprise financing constraints, offering a novel perspective on how macro policies influence micro-enterprises. (2) Systemic analysis: It enhances understanding of the systemic effects of digital infrastructure policies by demonstrating their ability to alleviate financing constraints through mitigating fiscal burdens, improving budgetary revenue quality, and strengthening regional financial development. Analysis of heterogeneity reveals that digital infrastructure policies implemented by Chinese provincial governments are particularly effective. (3) Practical insights: It offers practical guidance for policymakers to design targeted strategies that reduce financing constraints and support private sector growth in the digital economy. Non-SOEs in the growth and decline periods benefit more from digital infrastructure due to higher financing demands. Non-SOEs independent of SOEs in the supply chain are more responsive to digital infrastructure, effectively alleviating financing constraints. Moreover, the construction of digital infrastructure is highly conducive to the attraction of Non-SOEs and does not result in the vertical imbalances in local fiscals that are associated with traditional infrastructure construction. This evidence offers valuable guidance for local governments to optimize digital transformation policies and foster private economy growth.

Bovine lactoferrin drives cell cycle arrest and alters the transcriptomic profile of NSCLC cells

Dominant ionic currents in rabbit ventricular action potential dynamics

Mathematical models of cardiac cell electrical activity include numerous parameters, making calibration to experimental data and individual-specific modeling challenging. This study applies Sobol sensitivity analysis, a global variance-decomposition method, to identify the most influential parameters in the Shannon model of rabbit ventricular myocyte action potential (AP). The analysis highlights the background chloride current (IClb) as the dominant determinant of AP variability. Additionally, the inward rectifier potassium current (IK1), fast/slow delayed rectifier potassium currents (IKr, IKs), sodium-calcium exchanger current (INaCa), the slow component of the transient outward potassium current (Itos), and L-type calcium current (ICaL) significantly affect AP biomarkers, including duration, plateau potential, and resting potential. Exploiting these results, a hierarchical reduction of the model is performed and demonstrates that retaining only six key parameters can capture sufficiently well individual biomarkers, with a coefficient of determination exceeding 0.9 for selected cases. These findings improve the utility of the Shannon model for personalized simulations, aiding applications like digital twins and drug response predictions in biomedical research.

Assessing alpha lattice design for heat stress indices and yield stability in wheat genotypes

Features extraction based on Naive Bayes algorithm and TF-IDF for news classification

The rapid proliferation of online news demands robust automated classification systems to enhance information organization and personalized recommendation. Although traditional methods like TF-IDF with Naive Bayes provide foundational solutions, their limitations in capturing semantic nuances and handling real-time demands hinder practical applications. This study proposes a hybrid news classification framework that integrates classical machine learning with modern advances in NLP to address these challenges. Our methodology introduces three key innovations: (1) Domain-Specific Feature Engineering, combining tailored n-grams and entity-aware TF-IDF weighting to amplify discriminative terms; (2) BERT-Guided Feature Selection, leveraging distilled BERT to identify contextually important words and resolve rare-term ambiguities; and (3) Computationally Efficient Deployment, achieving 95.2% of the accuracy of BERT at 1/52.4th of the inference cost. Evaluated on a balanced corpus of Sina News articles in 11 categories, the system demonstrates a test precision of 95.12% (vs. 84.43% for SVM+TF-IDF baseline), with statistically significant improvements confirmed by 5-fold cross-validation(p < 0.01). The critical findings reveal strong performance in distinguishing semantically distinct categories, while exposing challenges in fine-grained differentiation. The efficiency of the framework (2.1 inference latency) and scalability (linear utilization of CPU resources) validate its practicality for real-world deployment. This work bridges the gap between traditional feature engineering and transformer-based models, offering a cost-effective solution for news platforms. Future research will explore hierarchical classification and the adaptation of dynamic topics to further refine semantic boundaries.