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Sustainable packaging using Aloe vera infused mango starch–wool keratin biocomposite films to extend the shelf life of mango

Preoperative assessment using a scoring system after neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil for locally advanced esophageal cancer: Who can avoid surgery?

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) with docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) is highly effective for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and patients with a good response sometimes desire to avoid surgery. The aim of this single-center, retrospective study was to predict the probability of residual tumors using a newly devised scoring system and identify conditions that may obviate the need for surgery. Between January 2017 and March 2024, 106 patients received NAC with DCF, followed by radical resection at our institution. After NAC, patients underwent multimodal assessments to correlate the evaluation parameters with residual tumors. A scoring system was developed by incorporating the parameters that exhibited significant differences. After calculating the scores for all patients, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was generated to determine the optimal cutoff value for predicting residual tumors. Eighteen patients achieved a pathological complete response, of whom 12 showed complete tumor disappearance, including lymph node metastases. The scoring system included the following seven parameters: endoscopic irregularity, elevation, and pink-color sign after iodine staining; identification of the main tumor, regional lymph nodes ≥5 mm in long diameter, presence of positive lymph node findings on computed tomography; and positive 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake on positron emission tomography. The area under the ROC curve was 0.957, with a cutoff value of 3 for residual tumors. All patients with a score of 0 showed complete tumor disappearance. Our scoring system suggests that surgery might be safely omitted in patients with a score of 0. Comprehensive and flexible clinical decision-making is essential.

IGF-1R promotes pain-like behavior in rats with myofascial pain syndrome via the PI3K/AKT pathway

Oak-YOLO: A high-performance detection model for automated Oak seed defect identification

Oak seeds are highly susceptible to pest infestations due to their elevated starch content, which significantly impairs germination and subsequent growth. To address this challenge, we developed a high-resolution imaging system and proposed an improved YOLO-based model named Oak-YOLO for efficient and accurate defect detection in oak seeds. The proposed model enhances the YOLOv8 architecture by incorporating EfficientViT as the backbone to improve global feature extraction, and integrates a Ghost-DynamicConv detection head to enhance the representation of small and irregular defects such as insect holes and cracks. Additionally, the WIoUv3 loss function is introduced to optimize bounding box regression for complex target shapes and overlapping instances.Extensive experiments were conducted on both single-object and multi-object datasets. Oak-YOLO achieved a mAP50 of 94.5%, an F1-score of 95.3%, and a precision of 94.% on the oak-intensive dataset, with an inference speed of 132.2 FPS. Cross-device validation using mobile-captured images further demonstrated the model’s robustness, achieving mAP50 scores of 94.7% and 93.8% on different smartphone test sets. Comparative evaluations show that Oak-YOLO outperforms existing YOLO models, including YOLOv9 to YOLOv12, by delivering a favorable trade-off between detection accuracy and computational efficiency. These results highlight the potential of Oak-YOLO as a practical solution for real-time seed quality inspection in forestry applications.

First quantitative evidence of territorial behavior in squid near spawning substrates

Abstract In loliginid squids, solitary large males have been observed near the spawning grounds in several species, but little is known about their reproductive behavior. Here we describe the behavior of spear squid Heterololigo bleekeri in a 300 m3 tank near spawning substrates. Observations were recorded on their proximity to the spawning substrates, agonistic behavior, and mating behavior. In both of two rearing experiments, individual males were observed to remain near the spawning substrates and display more frequent agonistic behavior than the other males, suggesting they formed territories near the substrates. The territorial males did not monopolize the females themselves or mating opportunities, suggesting that the benefits of territorial tactics are related to the complex fertilization patterns of this species. To our knowledge, this is the first report of territorial behavior in a squid using quantitative data.

Determinants of dental caries in deciduous teeth among Iranian school children: Evidence from a developing country

Background Understanding the social determinants of oral health is essential for addressing oral health disparities and facilitating the implementation of effective oral health policies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the primary dentition caries status among 7-year-old children and to explore individual- and family-level associated factors. Methods As part of a longitudinal study, this cross-sectional study was conducted between April 10 and May 8, 2024, in elementary schools in Isfahan, Iran. A valid and reliable self-administered questionnaire was distributed among 551 parents, including questions on demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological characteristics; oral health and dietary behaviors of their child; and some questions about the family status. Clinical examinations of the children were performed on-site at the schools. Based on the ICDAS II classification, six indices—including d₁–₂, d₃–₆, filled surfaces, missing surfaces, d₃–₆mfs, and d₁–₆mfs—were calculated. The correlation between factors was analyzed using Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. The multivariable associations of determinants were assessed using linear and logistic regression models (α = 0.05). Results Finally, 417 children were examined. More than 90% of the children had dental lesions. Based on the multiple linear regression analyses, the mean d₁–₆mfs score was significantly higher in boys (B = 6.9; 95% CI: 2.8–11.2, P = 0.01) and children attending public schools (B = 11.35; 95% CI: 6.3–16.4, P < 0.01), and lower in children with a housewife caregiver (B = –6.33; 95% CI: –11.7 to –0.95, P = 0.021) and those with a healthier diet (B = –0.25; 95% CI: –0.48 to –0.02, P = 0.029). The mean d₃–₆mfs score was also significantly lower in children with a healthier diet (B = –0.29; 95% CI: –0.5 to –0.08, P = 0.006). Based on logistic regression analysis, the odds of having a filled tooth were significantly greater in girls (OR = 2.33; 95% CI: 1.51–3.59, P < 0.001), children attending private schools (OR = 1.91; 95% CI: 1.17–3.11, P = 0.01), and children whose caregivers possessed a high school diploma (OR = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.07–3.5, P = 0.048) or a university degree (OR = 2.47; 95% CI: 1.28–4.74, P = 0.007). Conclusion The prevalence of tooth decay was high among children and was associated with demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status of the family, biological and behavioral traits of the child, and the knowledge and mental and emotional condition of the caregiver.

A strategic decision-making framework for evaluating barriers to green supply chain management using fractional fuzzy similarity measures

Some simulations of age-period-cohort analysis applying Bayesian regularization: Conditions for using random walk model

Age-period-cohort (APC) analysis, one of the fundamental time-series models, has an identification problem of the inability to separate linear components of the three effects. However, constraints to solve the problem are still controversial because multilevel analysis used in many studies results in the linear component of cohort effects being close to zero. In addition, previous studies do not compare the Bayesian cohort model proposed by Nakamura with the well-known intrinsic estimator. This paper focuses on three models of Bayesian regularization using priors of normal distributions. A random effects model refers to multilevel analysis, a ridge regression model is equivalent to the intrinsic estimator, and a random walk model refers to the Bayesian cohort model. Here, applying Bayesian regularization in APC analysis is to estimate linear components by using nonlinear components and priors. We aim to suggest conditions for using the random walk model by comparing the three models through some simulations with settings for the linear and nonlinear components. Simulation 1 emphasizes an impact of the indexes by making absolute values of the nonlinear components small. Simulation 2 randomly generates the amounts of change in the linear and nonlinear components. Simulation 3 randomly generates artificial parameters with only linear components are less likely to appear, to consider the Bayesian regularization assumption. As a result, Simulation 1 shows the random walk model, unlike the other two models, mitigates underestimating the linear component of cohort effects. On the other hand, in Simulation 2, none of the models can recover the artificial parameters. Finally, Simulation 3 shows the random walk model has less bias than the other models. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all APC analysis. However, this paper suggests the random walk model performs relatively well in data generating processes, where only linear components are unlikely to appear.

Optimizing electric vehicle energy consumption prediction through machine learning and ensemble approaches

Prevalence and clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer patients with brain metastases in Ghana: A single-center cross-sectional study

Breast cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women globally. While advances in early diagnosis and systemic therapies have improved survival, they have also increased the likelihood of brain metastases over time, particularly in low-resource settings where limited diagnostic and treatment capacity exacerbates the burden of late-stage disease. The study aimed to determine the prevalence and describe the clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer patients diagnosed with brain metastasis in a limited-resource healthcare setting. This research was a single-institution-based quantitative cross-sectional study. Socio-demographic, clinical and pathological data were extracted from patients’ medical records as well as the hospital-based cancer registry. Data were analyzed using STATA software (version 16). Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed. The study involved 144 adult female metastatic breast cancer patients with a mean age of 48.7 years (SD 11.3). The prevalence of brain metastasis was 17.5%. Only 4.9% presented with de novo brain metastasis, p < 0.001. Bone metastases were present in 31.9% whereas 26.4% and 12.5% had concurrent lung and liver metastasis respectively. In all, 38.9% had grade III tumors. Also, 50.6% were categorized as recursion partition analysis (RPA) class II whereas 49.3% had a performance status of ECOG 2. A considerable majority (86.8%) were treated with palliative intent whereas 13.2% received best supportive care only. In total, 86.8% underwent radiotherapy whereas 81.3% received systemic treatments, with chemotherapy being the most frequently utilized modality (73.5%). Most patients (88%) were treated with 2-dimensional radiotherapy whereas 3.2% received hippocampal-sparing intensity-modulated radiotherapy. The high prevalence of brain metastasis among breast cancer patients with distant metastases reflects the challenges associated with late-stage breast cancer presentation and limited access to advanced diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in limited-resource healthcare settings.

Demographic variations and temporal trends in hospice and palliative care fellowship matches in the United States

German translation and psychometric testing of the Postconcussion Symptom Inventory for adolescents in self-report (PCSI-SR13) and parent-report (PCSI-P)

Adolescents are at an increased risk of sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI), which is associated with physical, cognitive, and/or emotional impairments, the so-called post-concussion symptoms (PCS). To fill the gap of German-language instruments for the age-appropriate assessment of PCS, the current study presents the translation, linguistic validation, and psychometric examination of two versions of the Postconcussion Symptom Inventory (PCSI) for adolescents (PCSI-SR13; 21 items) and their parents (PCSI-P; 20 items). Translation included iterative forward and backward translations and cognitive debriefings (CD). A total of 117 adolescents (aged 13–17 years) after TBI (3 months up to 10 years after injury) and 111 parents completed the PCSI. Both German versions were compared descriptively with the corresponding English versions. Analyses were conducted at the item and scale level. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed, and internal consistency was examined using Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω. Convergent validity testing used Spearman’s ρ correlations with the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ). Cohen’s κ at the item level and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated to assess adolescent-parent agreement. The original four-factor structure could be replicated for the PCSI-SR13, but not for the PCSI-P. Internal consistency was good to excellent (≥ 0.80). Correlations (ρ ≥ 0.57) indicated a strong association with the RPQ. At the item level, the adolescent-parent agreement was fair to moderate (κ: 0.14–0.58). At the subscale level, interpretation of the ICC (ICC: 0.51–0.71) was limited due to the wide CI95%. In general, the psychometric properties support the applicability of the PCSI-SR13 and the PCSI-P for assessing PCS in German-speaking adolescents in the subacute and chronic phase after TBI. However, given the lack of factorial validity of the PCSI-P and the discrepancies between adolescents’ and parents’ ratings, self-report is recommended.

Defining essential surgical skills and optimizing simulation training modalities for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion

Azithromycin for infants at risk of poor growth and development: A pooled secondary analysis of two randomized controlled trials

Background In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) revised its guidelines for management of severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The revised guidelines include a focus on infants at risk of poor growth and development. The guideline identifies evaluation of routine antibiotics for these infants as a priority research area. Objective We pooled data from two large randomized controlled trials evaluating azithromycin for prevention of infant mortality in Burkina Faso to assess whether azithromycin reduces mortality or wasting in this subgroup. Methods Infants in the two trials were 1–12 weeks of age at enrollment. Infants were considered at risk of poor risk of growth and development per WHO: underweight (weight-for-age Z-score, WAZ < −2), wasted (weight-for-length Z-score, WLZ < −2), or MUAC < 11.0 cm among infants ≥6 weeks of age. Infants were randomized to a single oral (20 mg/kg) dose of azithromycin or matching placebo and were followed until 6 months of age. We evaluated vital status, underweight (WAZ < −2), wasting (WLZ < −2), and stunting (length-for-age Z-score, LAZ) at 6 months among infants at risk of poor growth and development based on WHO single measurement criteria. Results A total of 54,709 infants were enrolled in the two trials. Of these, 9,728 were at risk of poor growth and development based on baseline WAZ (N = 5,385), WLZ (N = 6,022), or MUAC (N = 1,541). We found no evidence of a difference in mortality (1.3% vs 1.1%, odds ratio, OR, 1.19, 95% confidence interval, CI, 0.82 to 1.72) or wasting (20.6% vs 20.2%, OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.14) at 6 months among infants receiving azithromycin versus placebo. Conclusions In infants aged 1–12 weeks at risk of poor growth and development, we do not have evidence that single dose azithromycin reduces mortality or improves growth outcomes. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03682654 and NCT03676764.

Research of the reasons for people’s willingness to take overtaking behavior in emergency evacuation based on the theory of extended planned behavior

Mediating role of inflammatory markers in the relationship between cotinine levels and total bone mineral density

Objectives This study investigates the relationship between smoking and total BMD and examines the mediating role of inflammatory markers in this relationship. Method In total, 22,022 participants were included in this study, based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the periods 2001–2006 and 2011–2018. Weighted linear regression models and restricted cubic splines(RCS) were leveraged to examine the linear or nonlinear relationship between serum cotinine levels and total BMD. Additionally, mediation analysis was leveraged to appraise the potential mediating effects of inflammatory markers, such as lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, and platelets, in the relationship between cotinine and total BMD. Results After fully adjusting for all covariates, an increase of one unit in cotinine corresponded to a 0.00022 g/cm2 decrease in total BMD (Beta = −0.00022, 95% CI: −0.0003 ~ −0.0000, P = 0.0069). The RCS analysis indicated an “n-shaped” relationship between cotinine and total BMD (P-nonlinear = 0.0069). According to the mediation analysis, monocytes and neutrophils acted as mediators in the relationship between cotinine and total BMD, with mediation effects accounting for 19.8% and 19.6%, respectively. Conclusions Smoking serves as a risk factor for reduced BMD, and the impact on BMD is partially mediated by inflammatory markers such as monocytes and neutrophils. Platelets can moderate the effect of cotinine on total BMD to some extent.

Barrier recrossing dynamics and phenomenological rate equations from single-molecule perspective

The trajectory of a molecular system undergoing a reversible reaction A ⇌ B and crossing and recrossing a transition state separating the reactant and product consists of loops, i.e., excursions from the transition state to either side and back to the transition state. Motivated by recent experimental observations of loops, here, we discuss some of their statistical properties. In particular, we highlight that the transition-state rate is not only an upper bound on the true reaction rate but also a physical property of the loops. We further find that loops can be unambiguously divided into two sub-ensembles. Those consist of short loops, which are brief excursions from the transition state, and long loops that get trapped in the reactant or product wells before eventually returning to the barrier. Finally, we show that the loop time distribution contains information about both the reaction rate coefficients and their transition-state-theory counterparts.

Viability of low solar efficiency materials for photoelectrochemical separations via thermodynamic modeling

Reactions between Ta<i>x</i>O<i>y</i>− (<i>x</i> = 1–5, <i>y</i> = 0–7) cluster anions and C1–C3 alkanes

Light alkanes, such as methane, ethane, and propane, are pivotal feedstocks in the chemical industry. However, their activation and transformation remain challenging due to the intrinsic chemical inertness of the C(sp3)–H bonds, particularly under mild reaction conditions. Gas-phase metal clusters serve as an ideal platform for probing mechanisms of alkane activation at a molecular level. Herein, we systematically investigated the reactions of gas-phase tantalum oxide anions (TaxOy−, x = 1–5, y = 1–7) with CH4, C2H6, and C3H8 combining mass spectrometry experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Among the 27 mass-selected clusters, the Ta2O4− cluster has exceptional reactivity, converting ethane and propane to free alkenes with rate constants significantly higher than other reactive clusters. In contrast, most clusters, including Ta2O1–3− and Ta2O5−, have negligible reactivity or conventional dehydrogenation pathways to form free H2. The DFT calculations revealed that the unique reactivity of Ta2O4− originates from its distinct electronic and geometric structures. In the reaction of Ta2O4− with C2H6, the flexible geometric structures of the critical transition state (TS) result in a high number of vibrational states above the TS, which leads to alkene rather than dihydrogen formation. A novel strategy to tune metal cluster reactivity and product selectivity toward alkanes is thus provided.

Anti-CV2/CRMP5 autoantibodies as drivers of sensory neuron excitability and pain in rats