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Adaptive ensemble techniques leveraging BERT based models for multilingual hate speech detection in Korean and english

Unexpected clustering pattern in dwarf galaxies challenges formation models

Controlling selectivity in the chemical looping oxidative dehydrogenation of propane through interface engineering

The effects of solar radiation modification on solar and wind resource and power generation in the Caribbean

The slow pace of global mitigation efforts has led to increased interest in Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) as a means for rapidly and artificially cooling the planet. Deploying SRM technologies, however, may directly alter renewable energy resources. This makes it a concern for Caribbean countries which are investing heavily in Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) to reduce their reliance on imported energy and meet climate change mitigation goals. In this study, solar irradiance output is extracted from the HadGEM2-ES global climate model run using the G4 (Stratospheric Aerosol Injection) SRM scenario from the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP). The data is extracted for two future time periods corresponding to when global surface temperatures are projected to be 1.5 ∘C and 2.0 ∘C  above pre-industrial levels using the HadGEM2-ES run under the Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) scenario. Wind speed data are similarly extracted but for the HadGEM2-ES run using the G4, as well as the G4cdnc and G4seasalt (Marine Cloud Brightening) GeoMIP scenarios. The solar and wind data are used to evaluate changes in solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind farm power generation in the Caribbean in future ‘SRM versus non-SRM worlds’. Solar irradiance resources and PV energy generation generally decrease under SRM compared to RCP4.5. The highest modelled mean change in PV generation across the region is, however, generally small, e.g., a maximum change of −1.37% for May-July for years corresponding to a 2.0 ∘C world. In contrast, wind power generation under SRM compared to RCP4.5 generally show large increases which are both seasonally and SRM technology dependent. For a 67m turbine, the highest regional wind generation change was +64.72 % for December-February under G4cdnc in a 2.0 ∘C world but −0.56%  under G4 in a 2.0 ∘C world for the same period. For a 100 m turbine, the highest change was an increase of 89.75% for August-September under G4cdnc in a 1.5 ∘C world and a decrease of −4.11% for December-January under G4 in a 2.0 ∘C world. Marine Cloud Brightening-based SRM scenarios (G4cdnc and G4SeaSalt) produce the most consistent spatial increases in wind power resources and generation compared to Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (G4). The findings of this study corroborate and present new findings about potential SRM induced changes on the VRE resources considered important for the Caribbean’s future development. It is therefore important that the region’s energy sector engage in the global discussions underway on the future use of SRM as a strategy for limiting future global warming.

Impact of inferior vena cava thrombosis on the prevalence of pulmonary embolism in patients with lower extremity deep vein thrombosis

Entropy-driven difference in interfacial water reactivity between slab and nanodroplet

Short-term bridging and bird-dog exercise programs did not enhance trunk performance and whole-body dynamic balance in young physically active males: A double-blind randomized trial

Bridges and bird-dog exercises are commonly used in general training, as well as in warm-up and cool-down routines for young athletes to boost performance and prevent injuries. They are frequently paired with limb and other trunk exercises, and performed without precise control over intensity, which hinders the understanding of their actual impact. This double-blinded randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the effects of two bridging and bird-dog exercise programs (one emphasizing intensity, the other volume) on trunk performance and whole-body balance. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to a control group and two experimental groups, both of which performed bridging and bird-dog exercises at a specific intensity controlled by a smartphone-accelerometer. The exercises were conducted twice a week for six weeks at the university sports complex. The effects were assessed on: (i) trunk stability, through the bridging and the bird-dog lumbopelvic postural control, the unstable sitting and the sudden loading sitting tests, (ii) trunk endurance, through the front and the dominant side bridge endurance, and the Biering-Sorensen tests, and (iii) whole-body dynamic balance, through the Y-Balance, the tandem and single-leg stance, and the single-leg triple hop tests. Pre-post changes were reported in both absolute (Δ) and relative (Δ%) values. A two-way mixed ANOVA assessed differences between experimental and control groups, while paired t-tests analyzed within-group pre-post changes with a significance level set at p < 0.05. Neither of the experimental groups showed improvements in trunk performance and balance compared to the control group or among themselves. Nonetheless, the higher intensity group elicited greater pre-post changes in the bridging and the bird-dog lumbopelvic postural control tests (−10.4 ≤Δ% ≤−16.9 vs −4.8 ≤Δ% ≤−13.6), whilst the higher volume group did in the trunk endurance tests (10.9 ≤Δ% ≤19.5 vs 7.1 ≤Δ% ≤15.5). The lack of significant between-group differences may be due to the low exercise doses, typical for these exercises in fitness and rehabilitation routines, and the participants being active young males with no apparent postural control deficits. Additionally, the pre-post changes in the experimental groups highlight the specificity of exercise adaptations. This study questions the effectiveness of bridging and bird-dog exercises for improving trunk performance and whole-body balance in this population, beyond the tasks used in training.

Development and in vitro characterization of humanized antibodies for blocking human TRPM4 channel

Residual ligand-functionalized ultrathin Ni(OH)2 via reconstruction for high-rate HO2− electrosynthesis

A descriptor-free machine learning framework to improve antigen discovery for bacterial pathogens

Identifying protective antigens (PAs), i.e., targets for bacterial vaccines, is challenging as conducting in-vivo tests at the proteome scale is impractical. Reverse Vaccinology (RV) aids in narrowing down the pool of candidates through computational screening of proteomes. Within RV, one prominent approach is to train Machine Learning (ML) models to classify PAs. These models can be used to predict unseen protein sequences and assist researchers in selecting promising candidates. Traditionally, proteins are fed into these models as vectors of biological and physico-chemical descriptors derived from their residue sequences. However, this method relies on multiple third-party software packages, which may be unreliable, difficult to use, or no longer maintained. Furthermore, selecting descriptors is susceptible to biases. Hence, Protein Sequence Embeddings (PSEs)—high-dimensional vectorial representations of protein sequences obtained from pretrained deep neural networks—have emerged as an alternative to descriptors, offering data-driven feature extraction and a streamlined computational pipeline. We introduce PSEs as a descriptor-free representation of protein sequences for ML in RV. We conducted a thorough comparison of PSE-based and descriptor-based pipelines for PA classification across 10 bacterial species evaluated independently. Our results show that the PSE-based pipeline, which leverages the FAIR ESM-2 protein language model, outperformed the descriptor-based pipeline in 9 out of 10 species, with a mean Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve (AUROC) of 0.875 versus 0.855. Additionally, it achieved superior performance on the iBPA benchmark (0.86 AUROC vs. 0.82) compared to other methods in the literature. Lastly, we applied the pipeline to rank unseen proteomes based on protective potential to guide candidate selection for pre-clinical testing. Compared to the standard RV practice of ranking candidates according to their biological descriptors, our approach reduces the number of pre-clinical tests needed to identify PAs by up to 83% on average.

Stable Gaussian process tracking control of antagonistic variable stiffness actuators

Direct detection of 8-oxo-dG using nanopore sequencing

Differential linear brain growth patterns in preterm neonates based on birth gestational age and steroid exposure: A retrospective chart review

Objective To assess the differences in brain growth between extreme preterm [EP](22–28wks gestation age [GA]) and very preterm infants [VP](28+1–32wks GA) using two-dimensional cranial ultrasound(cUS) at term equivalence. Study design Retrospective study of neonates born at GA of ≤ 32 weeks between 1st January 2019 and 31st December 2022, without major parenchymal brain injury. Results 326 neonates, with 207 EP and 119 VP, were enrolled. EP infants compared to VP had significantly lower biparietal diameter [7.7vs7.9 cm, p = 0.003], corpus-callosum length [3.8vs4.1 cm, p < 0.001], corpus-callosum-fastigial distance [4.5vs4.8 cm, p = 0.004] and cerebellar-vermis height [2.1vs2.2 cm, p = 0.002]. Cumulative postnatal steroid exposure had no significant association with brain metrics; however, exposure to antenatal steroids was negatively associated with corpus-callosum length [β = −0.38 (−0.58 to −0.7),p = 0.0003] and pons anteroposterior depth [β = −0.36 (−0.47 to −0.25),p < 0.0001] despite adjustments for clinically important risk factors. Conclusion Preterm infants born ≤ 28 weeks GA have significantly smaller dimensions of major white matter tracts than preterm infants born 28–32 weeks GA at term equivalence. Exposure to antenatal steroids negatively impacts corpus-callosum length and pons anteroposterior depth.

Wear and frictional behaviour of partially oxidized and plasma sprayed NiCr and NiCrBSiFe coatings

Quantum spin-engineering in on-surface molecular ferrimagnets

Abstract The design and control of atomic-scale spin structures constitute major challenges for spin-based quantum technology platforms, including quantum dots, color centers, and molecular spins. Here, we showcase a strategy for designing the quantum properties of molecular spin qubits by combining tip-assisted on-surface assembly with electron spin resonance scanning tunneling microscopy (ESR-STM): We fabricate magnetic dimer complexes that consist of an iron phthalocyanine (FePc) molecule and an organometallic half-sandwich complex formed by the FePc ligand and an attached iron atom, Fe(C 6 H 6 ). The total complex forms a mixed-spin (1/2,1) quantum ferrimagnet with a well-separated correlated ground state doublet, which we utilize for coherent control. As a result of the correlation, the quantum ferrimagnet shows an improved spin lifetime ( > 1.5 μs) as it is partially protected against inelastic electron scattering. Lastly, the ferrimagnet units also enable intermolecular coupling, that can be used to realize both ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic structures. Thus, quantum ferrimagnets provide a versatile platform to improve coherent control in general and to study complex magnetic interactions.

Antibiofilm effects of bacteriocin PCM7-4 on Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is a significant zoonotic pathogen capable of forming biofilms on food and other materials, representing a considerable risk to human health and animal husbandry. The use of bacteriocins as potential new antibacterial and antibiofilm reagents has attracted considerable interest. This study aimed to determine the inhibitory effects of bacteriocin PCM7−4 on L. monocytogenes biofilm formation. In this study, bacteriocin PCM7−4 of SICs (1/16 × MIC, 1/8 × MIC) significantly inhibited the formation of L. monocytogenes biofilm. Bacteriocin PCM7−4 of SICs significantly reduced the production of bacterial extracellular polysaccharides, and could decrease the bacterial motility, meanwhile, PCM7−4 significantly reduced the number and viability of bacteria within the biofilm. RT-qPCR results showed that bacteriocin PCM7−4 significantly reduced the expression of flagella, community sensing and virulence factor genes associated with biofilm formation. The results demonstrated the considerable potential of bacteriocin PCM7−4 as a therapeutic agent for the prevention and treatment of L. monocytogenes biofilms.

Chronic low back pain is associated with a reduction in lumbar movement – a prospective cohort study

Abstract Recent research has increasingly highlighted the role of movement behavior in the onset and persistence of low back pain (LBP). However, little is known about the lumbar spine’s movement patterns in daily life. This study investigated the number of lumbar movements in asymptomatic individuals and those with chronic LBP (lasting ≥ 12 weeks) over a 24-hour period. Lumbar movements were measured with the Epionics SPINE system. Movements ≥ 5° were grouped into movement sizes of > 15°, 10–15°, and 5–10°. Data were analyzed using the Student’s t-test, two-way analysis of variance, or the Pearson’s correlation coefficient. This study included 208 asymptomatic participants and 106 LBP participants. Participants with LBP exhibited a significantly lower number of both flexion/extension (15,564 ± 8,078 vs. 20,521 ± 7,160, p < 0.001) and rotation movements (4,724 ± 3,995 vs. 7,368 ± 4,223, p < 0.001). Females showed significantly more flexion/extension movements > 15° compared to males. Participants were significantly older than asymptomatic participants (40.3 ± 14.0 vs. 50.9 ± 13.9 years, p < 0.001). The correlation between age and the number of flexion/extension movements was weak in both the LBP (r=-0.290, p = 0.003) and the asymptomatic (r=-0.179, p = 0.010) groups. In summary, individuals with chronic LBP exhibit fewer lumbar spine movements than their asymptomatic counterparts, and distinct sex differences in movement patterns were observed, with females showing a different movement profile compared to males.

No evidence of immune exhaustion after repeated SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in vulnerable and healthy populations

Food purchasing pattern is correlated to gender, educational level, and income: Results from the food purchasing habits survey

Food purchasing pattern refers to the consumer behavior related to buying food. Rice and bread are the staple foods of Jordan. Legumes, cereals, milk, and dairy products constitute important part of the Jordanian diet. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate food shopping patterns of people living in Jordan for milk, dairy products (e.g., yogurt, cheese), legumes and grains (rice, bulgur, freekeh, and couscous), and cereals (such as breakfast cereals, oatmeal, and granola). The study also aimed to understand the importance of certain consumer-related factors (like sociodemographic characteristics), product-specific factors (like taste, packaging, and origin (local vs. imported)), and external factors (like cost, brand name, freshness, and production/expiry dates) on the purchasing of these products. Most of the study participants were adult (18–30, n = 64.4%), educated (48.6%) females (75.6%). Female gender was correlated significantly (P < 0.05*) to purchasing local milk, dairy products and cereals due to freshness and famous brand names. In addition, socioeconomic status (indicated by household income and education level) affected significantly (P < 0.05) the type of milk and cereals purchased where price, freshness, participants’ perception of packaging and ingredient list, expiry date, and brand name affected purchasing of cereals and milk. Furthermore, age was found to be a significant (P < 0.05) determinant to buying local cereal products. Results of this investigation could be utilized by manufacturers and policy makers to improve the nutritional quality of food products offered in the Jordanian market, advertise for better local food choices, and to adopt focused strategies in order to develop the food sector in Jordan. Consumer behavior is a fundamental part of human daily lives. Studying consumer behavior pertains analyzing the factors affecting and affected buying goods.

MRI reveals scoliosis as a silent driver of lumbar facet joint degeneration in aging Ecuadorian adults

Abstract Lumbar facet arthropathy (LFA) is a degenerative condition of the facet joints that contributes significantly to chronic low back pain (CLBP) yet remains underrecognized in standard diagnostic protocols. While aging and disc degeneration are established factors in the progression of LFA, the potential role of spinal deformities such as scoliosis has not been thoroughly investigated. This cross-sectional study examined the association between scoliosis severity and LFA in a non-surgical population of 284 Ecuadorian adults aged 30 to 80 years. Participants were classified by Cobb angle into normal, mild, moderate, and severe scoliosis categories and underwent MRI to assess facet joint degeneration at the L3–L4, L4–L5, and L5–S1 levels. Findings revealed that moderate scoliosis significantly increased the odds of severe LFA across all lumbar levels, particularly at L3–L4 (OR = 6.72) and L5–S1 (OR = 5.57). Mild scoliosis also posed a notable risk, with a threefold increase at L4–L5 and a twofold increase at L5–S1. Additionally, degeneration was more severe on the concave side of the scoliotic curve. Older age and female sex were also independently associated with more advanced degeneration. These results suggest that scoliosis, even in its mild forms, plays a significant role in the development and progression of LFA. The findings highlight the importance of including facet joint evaluation in routine scoliosis assessment and CLBP workups, particularly using MRI. Early identification of individuals at risk could inform preventive strategies and reduce long-term disability related to degenerative spinal disease.