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Mitochondrial oxidative stress promotes the accumulation of advanced glycation end products

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are a class of toxic metabolites that contribute to disease progression. In our previous study, we demonstrated that age-related AGE accumulation is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. However, the direct link between mitochondrial dysfunction and AGE accumulation within the context of AD pathogenesis has not yet been fully explored. It also remains unclear whether mitochondrial stress and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) drive the accumulation of AGEs. This study, for the first time, provides evidence of progressive AGE accumulation in the cortical mitochondria of AD mice exhibiting mitochondrial dysfunction and Aβ pathology. AGE levels were significantly correlated with Aβ-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and amyloid pathology. Notably, mitochondrial stress induced by a mitotoxin significantly increased the accumulation of AGEs in cellular and mitochondrial compartments. Scavenging mitochondrial ROS using the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant reduced AGE accumulation and improved mitochondrial function. Our findings highlight the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in AGE metabolism and provide new insights into the pathogenesis of AD.

Qualitative gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry fingerprinting of tissue-specific phytochemicals in finnish Quercus robur L. acorns

Reply to Gao et al. and Xu: Greening the Taklamakan: Human efforts to convert desert into a carbon sink

Mother to child transmission of HIV in Plateau State, Nigeria: Case-based surveillance of the HIV infected HIV-exposed infants

Introduction HIV infection among children is predominantly due to perinatal transmission. The timing of HIV-related symptoms in perinatally infected children reveals how quickly the disease progresses and helps predict prognosis. This study used case-based surveillance to examine treatment outcomes and disease progression among HIV-infected, HIV-exposed infants in Plateau State, Nigeria. Method This is a retrospective cohort study using a case-based surveillance approach. The data of HIV-exposed infants enrolled between 1 st October 2018 and 30 th September 2022, who had confirmed positive DNA PCR results and commenced antiretroviral therapy (ART), were sampled via a cluster sampling method. Participants were followed up for 6 months to 5 years post-ART initiation. Disease progression, treatment mortality, and loss outcomes were assessed with respect to age at follow-up. Results A total of 57 infants were included in the study, drawn from 15 health facilities across the three senatorial districts of Plateau State, Nigeria. The female-to-male ratio was approximately 1:1 (29:28), with a mean age of 0.7 years (8.9 months) ± 0.7 years at ART initiation. By the end of the follow-up period, 70% (40/57) of the infants had favorable treatment outcomes, with 87.5% achieving viral suppression. The remaining 29.8% (17/57) experienced treatment mortality or losses (TX_ML): 47.1% (8/17) died, 29.4% (5/17) transferred out, 17.6% (3/17) discontinued treatment, and 5.9% (1/17) interrupted treatment. Among those with mortality outcomes, 75% died before the age of two years, while 25% survived beyond two years, with some reaching up to their fourth birthday. Mortality was unevenly distributed across local government areas (LGAs), with the highest rates recorded in Mangu LGA (37.5%), followed by Shendam LGA (25%), and the remaining 37.5% shared equally among Pankshin, Langtang North, and Jos North. Conclusion This study revealed disparities in TX_ML outcomes across senatorial districts, with higher treatment mortality in the Southern and Central districts compared to the Northern district. These findings highlight the need to design targeted, context-specific interventions to improve survival and treatment outcomes among perinatally HIV-infected children and further research to identify the contributing factors.

Striking global similarities in dog–human interactions

Abstract Most of our knowledge about the dog–human relationship comes from studies with dogs from ‘WEIRD’ (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) societies. Here, we investigate cultural differences in dog–owner interactions worldwide. To achieve this, we developed a test battery comprising six well-established social-cognitive experiments and a questionnaire that assessed the psychological and practical aspects of the dog–human bond. We tested hunting dogs alongside their owners in five rural societies across culturally diverse locations in various countries: Vanuatu, Mongolia, Madagascar, Peru, and Germany. Despite dramatic cultural and environmental differences, we found that dog–human relationships were remarkably similar. Residual differences may be attributed to variations in hunting techniques and differences between WEIRD and non-WEIRD societies.

Retraction: Prioritizing robots in intelligent manufacturing using q-rung orthopair fuzzy decision-making method and unknown weight information

Biosynthesis of cerium and gadolinium nanoparticles by Pseudomonas putida KT2440 enables sustainable rare earth elements utilization

Abstract Lanthanides (Ln), a group of 15 rare earth elements (REEs), are critical for advanced technologies, although their conventional extraction and processing are environmentally unsustainable. Here, we present a microbial platform based on Pseudomonas putida KT2440 for the eco-friendly recovery and transformation of Ln, introducing a key methodological innovation: the use of a resting cell system to circumvent the pervasive issue of abiotic lanthanide–phosphate precipitation. This approach enables controlled investigation of Ln biomineralization under mild conditions. Mechanistically, the results showed that Ln recovery proceeds via rapid cell-surface adsorption, followed by surface-templated nucleation and extracellular mineralization. This process leads to the formation of well-defined biogenic nanoparticles primary identified as CePO₄ and GdPO₄. Structural analyses reveal nanorod morphologies, while functional characterization shows that CePO₄ nanoparticles retain photoluminescent properties and GdPO₄ nanoparticles preserve paramagnetic behavior. Compared to conventional chemical synthesis, this biosynthetic strategy eliminates toxic reagents and energy-intensive steps, yielding biocompatible materials with controlled size and morphology. Our findings establish P. putida KT2440 as an efficient and sustainable platform for Ln recovery and functional nanoparticle production, providing a foundation for scalable green alternatives to traditional Ln processing.

Retraction: Recognition method of bridge apparent defects based on image processing and improved convolutional neural networks

Relationship among symptoms of anxiety, psychosomatic, and coping in adults with rheumatoid arthritis

Protocol for the DREAMER study: Design and methodological framework of a multicenter trial-ready cohort of individuals with isolated REM sleep without atonia

Isolated rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder is a strong clinical marker of future alpha-synucleinopathy, but earlier stages of this risk pathway remain insufficiently characterized. Rapid eye movement sleep without atonia is the polysomnographic substrate of this disorder and may also be detected in individuals without clinical dream-enactment behavior. Whether isolated rapid eye movement sleep without atonia is a benign finding or an early risk state for future rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and neurodegeneration remains unknown. DREAMER is a multicenter, prospective, observational cohort protocol designed to identify adults without clinical rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder who show isolated rapid eye movement sleep without atonia during full-night laboratory video-polysomnography. Four Italian sleep centers will use harmonized eligibility criteria, standardized clinical and sleep assessment, quantitative REM Atonia Index scoring, secure web-based data capture, and planned longitudinal follow-up. Adults aged 40 years or older undergoing video-polysomnography will be screened. Participants with prior rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder or technically inadequate REM sleep/chin electromyographic data will be excluded. Isolated rapid eye movement sleep without atonia will be defined in participants without clinical rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder using a REM Atonia Index threshold of <0.85. The target recruitment is more than 500 participants over 18 months, with an expected enriched subgroup of approximately 85 individuals with isolated rapid eye movement sleep without atonia. Ancillary neurophysiological assessments and blood sampling for future biomarker studies will be obtained when feasible. DREAMER is intended to create a harmonized, trial-ready cohort for evaluating isolated rapid eye movement sleep without atonia as a potential early risk marker for incident rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and subsequent neurodegenerative outcomes. The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as DREAMER, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT06140511.

Microbe-biochar interaction in improving plant growth and water reuse in a green wall system

Synergistic anticancer activity of antimicrobial peptide nisin and doxorubicin against breast cancer cells via modulation of membrane permeability

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and remains the leading cause of death among females. Despite the rapid advancement in cancer therapy, the development of more effective therapeutic strategies and anticancer agents with a new mode of action remains a critical challenge. Combination of therapeutic agents is an attractive approach to enhance drug efficacy. Nisin, a cationic antimicrobial peptide, has been reported for its cytotoxicity against some cancer cell lines via several mechanisms, particularly membrane disruption. Nisin can bind preferentially to the negatively charged phospholipids, causing pore formation in cell membranes. In this study, we demonstrated that nisin exhibited membrane permeabilization preferentially with anionic lipids using liposomal leakage assay. Moreover, anticancer activity of nisin and doxorubicin (DOX) was investigated against two breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, using MTT assay. Nisin demonstrated cytotoxic effect against breast cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, with IC 50 values of 5–8 µM, while exhibiting lower cytotoxicity toward normal cells. Based on Bliss independence analysis, the synergistic effect between nisin and DOX was markedly observed in MCF-7 when treated with 10 μM nisin and 1 μM DOX for 24–48 h treatment. Furthermore, as demonstrated by fluorescent-based high-content analysis, nisin clearly caused cell membrane permeability and promoted DOX-induced DNA damage in both cell lines. Flow cytometry with Annexin-V staining revealed that co-treatment of nisin and DOX significantly enhanced apoptosis, as compared to individual treatments, particularly in MCF-7 cells, suggesting a key mechanism of action for anticancer activity. Cationic nisin can interact with biological membrane and modulate membrane permeability and fluidity, consequently facilitating DOX entry, inducing apoptosis and DNA damage. Overall, this study demonstrates that the combination of nisin and DOX could offer a new therapeutic approach for breast cancer treatment with a reduced chemotherapeutic drug dosage.

Partially occluded weed classification using vision transformers and convolutional neural networks for precision agriculture

Abstract Automated weed detection is essential for site-specific herbicide application, that can result into the reduced environmental footprint of conventional agriculture. However, for field deployment of automated weeding devices, occlusion remains a critical challenge that can weaken the precision of weed identification. Here, we compare the performance of Vision Transformers (ViT-B16 & PvTv2) and Convolutional Neural Networks (EfficientNet-B0 & ResNet-50) in accurate weed detection, using controlled synthetic occlusion levels (0%, 25%, and 50%). We found that ViT-B16 has superior occlusion resilience, with image testing accuracy increasing from 80% to 86% under 50% occlusion. In contrast, the testing accuracy of PvTv2, EfficientNet-B0 and ResNet-50 dropped from 45 to 76% under similar conditions. Multivariable regression confirmed architecture type as the dominant testing accuracy driver ( p  ≤ 0.001), with ViTs outperforming CNNs by an average of 14.56% points. These results suggest that occlusion resilience is not uniform across architectural variants but depends critically on attention-based design. Consequently, for real time deployable automatic weed detection systems, hybrid architectures that balance ViT global context with CNN computational efficiency represent a critical future direction. Such approaches can support precise herbicide application, reduce chemical inputs, and enable more sustainable crop protection through reliable AI-driven automation.

Impact of hydropower availability on resource adequacy of the United States western interconnection

Hydropower is a key energy source in the western interconnection of the United States, comprising about 25% of the annual installed nameplate capacity in 2020. However, its generation is increasingly impacted by changing hydrological conditions, operational constraints, environmental factors, water availability, and aging dam infrastructure. Assessing hydropower availability and resource adequacy is valuable for shaping energy policies and infrastructure requirements. In this study we evaluate the sensitivity of resource adequacy in the Western Interconnection to the unavailability of hydropower plants, under a wide-ranging set of 16,384 hydropower loss scenarios derived from a combination of 14 major hydrologic regions. Although a complete loss of hydropower capacity in any region is unlikely, studying such scenarios helps in identifying hydrologic regions most critical for maintaining resource adequacy. So, we identify key hydrologic regions with disproportionately large adequacy impacts relative to their installed hydropower capacity and study compounding effects between regions using classification and regression trees. Even after controlling for total installed capacity, we find that hydropower resources in the Pacific Northwest contribute the most to interconnection-wide adequacy outcomes, with resources in Northern California and the Desert Southwest providing more moderate incremental contributions.

Correction: Home-based Rehabilitation With A Novel Digital Biofeedback System versus Conventional In-person Rehabilitation after Total Knee Replacement: a feasibility study

Correction: CAFusion: A progressive ConvMixer network for context-aware infrared and visible image fusion

An analytical approach for predicting vibrations in new tunnels undercrossing existing double-track railways

Retraction: Super-Resolution pedestrian re-identification method based on bidirectional generative adversarial network

P-YOLOv10: an e-bike safety detection and fine-grained license plate region recognition method with multi-scale attention integration

From traits to daily experiences: An adaptation of the Selflessness/Self-centeredness Inventory to day-level assessment

Conceptualized as distinct psychological functionings respectively linked to authentic-durable and fluctuating happiness, selflessness and self-centeredness have recently been the subject of instrument development to evaluate their manifestations at the trait-level. Along the lines of this work, the goal of the current research was to adapt the psychometric instrument at the day-level: the Selflessness/Self-centeredness Inventory – Day-level (SSI-D). Consistent with the trait-version, both exploratory analysis (Study 1, N  = 853) and confirmatory analysis (Study 2, N  = 265) indicated that the SSI-D measured seven factors organized into two latent variables (i.e., selflessness divided into four components, self-centeredness divided into three dimensions). Correlational analysis (Study 3, N  = 1409) provided initial evidence that day-level selflessness and self-centeredness can be differentiated psychometrically and showed theoretically meaningful patterns of association with mental health, interpersonal health, and pro-environmental outcomes. Invariance analyses were satisfactory, and preliminary validity evidence was generally consistent with theoretical expectations, although further validation using more comprehensive and jointly administered criterion measures is needed.