Browse Articles

Effects of pressure versus volume controlled ventilation on postoperative pulmonary complications during elderly trendelenburg laparoscopic surgery

Abstract The impact of different mechanical ventilation modes on pulmonary outcomes following laparoscopic surgery in the Trendelenburg position remains unclear. This study aimed to compare the effects of two common ventilation modes on postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) in elderly patients undergoing such procedures. Elderly patients scheduled for laparoscopic surgery in the Trendelenburg position were randomly allocated to receive either pressure-controlled ventilation (PCV) or volume-controlled ventilation (VCV). Both groups were managed with a lung-protective ventilation strategy. The primary outcome was the incidence of PPCs within the first three postoperative days. Airway pressures, details enabling the calculation of respiratory system dynamic compliance (Cdyn) and arterial blood gas levels were also recorded at predetermined intraoperative time points: before anesthesia induction (T0); 10 min after tracheal intubation in the supine position without pneumoperitoneum (T1); 30 min (T2) and 60 min (T3) after establishing pneumoperitoneum and the Trendelenburg position; and at the end of surgery after returning to the supine position (T4). Compared with the VCV group (32.1%), the PCV group exhibited a significantly lower incidence of PPCs (13.0%; χ 2  = 5.758, P  = 0.016) (RR = 0.403, 95% CI: 0.183–0.888). Furthermore, patients managed with PCV exhibited significantly lower intraoperative airway pressures—including peak airway pressure (Ppeak), plateau pressure (Pplat), and driving pressure (ΔP)—as well as reduced dead space fraction (VD/VT) and arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO₂). Cdyn was higher in the PCV group. In elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery in the Trendelenburg position, pressure-controlled ventilation was shown to improve Cdyn and was associated with a lower composite rate of postoperative pulmonary complications than volume-controlled ventilation. Whether these physiological advantages translate into clinically meaningful benefit requires confirmation in larger studies.

Assessment of breast cancer and feasibility of subtyping of breast cancer using thoracoabdominal staging photon-counting detector computed tomography

Abstract In this prospective study, we evaluated the performance of thoracoabdominal photon-counting detector computed tomography (PCD-CT) for breast cancer assessment with MRI as reference standard and iodine uptake as a potential marker for breast cancer subtyping. 75 women (mean age: 55.8 ± 13.9 years [SD]) with 79 newly diagnosed breast cancers and indication for staging CT received a prone-positioned contrast-enhanced thoracoabdominal PCD-CT and a breast MRI. Cancer visibility (median 1/1/1, IQR 0/1/1) and image quality (median 1/1/1, IQR 0/0/0) were rated excellent in PCD-CT on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = excellent, 4 = poor). Cancer size in PCD-CT correlated significantly with MRI ( p  < 0.001). Diagnostic accuracy was good for T-stage (pooled accuracy 0.814), focality (0.772), axillary (0.822) and internal mammary lymph nodes (0.981), moderate for ductal carcinoma in situ (0.591). A significantly lower maximum iodine uptake was revealed in cancer with ductal carcinoma in situ ( p  = 0.027), a significantly lower mean iodine uptake in triple negative cancers ( p  = 0.003). Thoracoabdominal PCD-CT demonstrated excellent cancer visibility with convincing results for assessing cancer size, T-stage, and lymph node status. Iodine uptake shows promising associations with triple negative breast cancer.

Dual roles of the DHX9 RGG domain in hybrid-dependent recruitment and suppression of 53BP1

Multi‐Band Excitation of NIR‐II Lanthanide Nanoparticles via Multiple‐Dye Cascade Sensitization

ABSTRACT Lanthanide‐doped downshifting nanoparticles (DSNPs) emitting in the near‐infrared‐II (NIR‐II) window offer distinct advantages for deep‐tissue optical applications, yet their practical utility is fundamentally constrained by excitation limited to a few discrete wavelengths. Here, we report a multi‐band‐driven lanthanide nanoparticle platform enabled by a multiple‐dye sensitization strategy. By integrating three complementary organic dyes—tropolone (Trop), cyanine 3 (Cy3), and IR806—the excitation window of DSNPs is expanded sixfold, across the ultraviolet–visible–near‐infrared (UV–Vis–NIR) region from 270 nm to 1030 nm. While Trop and IR806 exhibit efficient sensitization, IR806 further acts as an energy‐transfer bridge, enabling efficient cascaded energy transfer and markedly enhanced NIR‐II emission for the Cy3 sensitization (efficiency increased from ∼6% to 70%). This modular strategy affords tunable NIR‐II emission from 1060 nm to 1525 nm, providing unprecedented flexibility in excitation and emission wavelength selection for advanced optical applications.

PD-YOLO: a high-precision detection network for fine-grained lung cancer and multi-scale pulmonary nodules in CT images

C-glycoside synthesis through radical cross-coupling of glycohydrazides

Abstract Carbohydrates are among the most abundant and structurally diverse biomolecules in nature, playing central roles in energy storage, molecular recognition and cell signalling. Within this domain, C-glycosides 1–3 , in which the oxygen atom of the glycosidic bond in O-glycosides is replaced by carbon, have emerged as valuable motifs in medicinal chemistry due to their resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis 2,4 . Of particular importance are C-aryl glycosides, exemplified by the SGLT2 inhibitors dapagliflozin, canagliflozin and empagliflozin, which are frontline therapies for type 2 diabetes 5–7 . However, scalable syntheses of C-aryl glycosides have relied traditionally on protected sugar derivatives, lengthy sequences or conventional cross-couplings that often suffer from poor selectivity, limited scope and extensive protecting-group manipulation 6 . Herein, we report a practical approach to C-aryl glycosides using glycosyl sulfonyl hydrazides as redox-neutral radical precursors for cross-coupling. Prepared directly from unprotected native sugars, these reagents generate glycosyl radicals under mild conditions and enable efficient access to diverse C-aryl glycosides, including all approved SGLT2 inhibitors, natural products such as salmochelins and neopetrosins, and medicinally relevant probes. Beyond anomeric functionalization, this platform enables C–C bond formation at several positions on carbohydrate scaffolds and supports stereoretentive radical coupling that can override inherent stereochemical biases, expanding practical access to carbohydrate-derived therapeutics and chemical tools.

Composition-processing-property optimization of multi-waste ceramic wall products based on Ekibastuz TPP ash

EDC-Net for small object detection in UAV imagery using edge-aware dynamic context modeling

Abstract To address the challenges of insufficient detection accuracy in UAV aerial imagery, this paper proposes EDC-Net, a small object detection method based on an Edge-Aware Dynamic Context Network. First, an Edge-Aware Enhancement Module (EAEM) is designed to compensate for contour degradation in deep features. By embedding gradient cues into intermediate feature learning and combining them with spatial-context information, EAEM enhances the network’s sensitivity to tiny-object boundaries. Second, we propose a Multi-scale Adaptive Context Module (MACM), which coordinates dynamic non-linear activation, statistical self-attention, and multi-receptive-field refinement to suppress background interference, aggregate global context with linear complexity, and strengthen multi-scale feature representation. Finally, a Dynamic Structural Alignment Head (DSAH) is constructed by introducing Dynamic Snake Convolution into the regression branch, enabling adaptive geometric alignment for irregular targets and improving localization accuracy. Across the VisDrone2019 dataset, experimental results indicate that the proposed approach outperforms the baseline YOLO11s, with gains of 4.5% and 3.0% in mAP@50 and mAP@50:95, respectively, and a 29.8% reduction in the total number of parameters. Additionally, generalization tests on the TinyPerson dataset confirm the capability of the presented method in small object detection tasks.

Distinct healing dynamics associated with xenograft selection in guided bone regeneration

Abstract Guided bone regeneration relies on biomaterials that support bone formation while modulating the healing environment; however, materials with similar indications may exhibit different biological behaviors over time. This study compared the performance of two bovine-derived bone substitutes containing collagen using a rat calvarial critical-size defect model. Fifty-four Wistar rats were allocated to three groups: blood clot (control), Bio-Oss Collagen ® , and Extra Graft XG13 ® . Standardized 5-mm defects were created and treated under guided bone regeneration conditions using a resorbable collagen membrane. Animals were euthanized at 7, 14, and 28 days. Mineralized tissue formation and microarchitecture were assessed by micro-CT, while histological, histomorphometric, inflammatory, angiogenic, and collagen organization analyses were performed to characterize the healing process. Both biomaterials supported tissue formation within the defect compared to the control. Extra Graft XG13 ® was associated with higher mineralized tissue volume and volume fraction at 14 and 28 days, with more favorable micro-CT-derived microarchitectural parameters and reduced porosity. Early inflammatory and angiogenic responses were comparable between biomaterials, yet defects treated with Extra Graft XG13 ® exhibited greater new bone formation over time. A reduction in mineralized tissue volume from 14 to 28 days in this group, accompanied by increased collagen organization, may suggest a possible transition toward remodeling; however, this interpretation should be considered with caution due to the absence of direct remodeling markers. In contrast, Bio-Oss Collagen ® showed a more gradual pattern of tissue formation and delayed collagen maturation. Overall, Extra Graft XG13 ® was associated with greater mineralized tissue formation and a higher proportion of organized collagen fibers at later time points, indicating differences in the progression of mineralized tissue formation and matrix organization over time compared to Bio-Oss Collagen ® . These findings should be interpreted within the limitations of the experimental model.

Daily briefing: First-ever ‘nuclear’ clocks put atomic clocks in the shade

Retraction Note: Heart transplantation: comparing the impact of modified heart preservation with conventional methods

A spacecraft is falling to its doom — can NASA save it?

Leveraging generative adversarial networks and SE-UNet for high-precision tobacco leaf image segmentation and blend uniformity detection

Interpretable deep learning for rotator cuff calcific tendinopathy diagnosis: a multi-center study

Abstract The reliable deployment of artificial intelligence systems in medical imaging requires high diagnostic performance, robustness and interpretability. In this study, we developed and evaluated two automated frameworks for binary classification of shoulder radiographs (XRs) using deep learning (DL) and hybrid DL–machine learning (ML) approaches. A convolutional neural network (CNN) based on a fine-tuned VGG19 architecture was trained end-to-end on a large, balanced dataset of 4,268 shoulder XRs. In parallel, hybrid models were constructed by extracting deep feature representations from the trained network and combining them with traditional ML classifiers. Model performance was evaluated on independent internal ( n = 480) and external ( n = 308) validation sets. Both approaches achieved high discriminative performance. Paired comparison of Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves using the DeLong test revealed no statistically significant differences between the end-to-end CNN and the hybrid CNN–ML pipeline for either internal validation (AUC 0.956 vs. 0.961) or external generalization (AUC 0.940 vs. 0.942). Model interpretability was assessed using Grad-CAM and SHAP values. Our results suggest that while both frameworks are robust, the end-to-end DL approach offers a more streamlined workflow and more direct visual explainability via saliency maps. These findings support the potential of AI-based tools for shoulder XR analysis; however, prospective real-world validation, assessment under routine prevalence conditions, and direct comparison with human readers are still needed before clinical integration can be established.

Enhanced removal of tetracycline using amine-modified ZIF-11: isotherms, kinetics, and thermodynamics

Stereoretentive decarbonylative C(sp3)–C(sp3) cross-coupling

Climate-resilient horti–silvi–pasture systems enhance fodder productivity and nutritional quality in the semi-arid Bundelkhand region

Biomimetic mineralization of electrospun elastin-like recombinamer nanofibers

Abstract One of the key factors for hard tissue regeneration is to develop mineralized fibrous scaffolds. These scaffolds can provide a micro-environment resembling the structure and mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of hard tissues favorable for subsequent cell responses and tissue regeneration. During biomineralization, amorphous precursor phases of calcium phosphate infiltrate into preformed collagen fibrils, and upon crystallization, the collagen fibrils are embedded with oriented hydroxyapatite (HA) nanocrystals. We previously demonstrated that hydrogels made of elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) can template mineralization where minerals were selectively deposited into their frameworks. In this work, we focus on mimicking the nanostructure of the mineralized tissues, namely the intra- and extrafibrillar mineralized collagen fibrils, using the synthetic ELRs. We first electrospun the ELRs into nanofibers and then biomimetically mineralized them via the polymer-induced liquid-precursor (PILP) process. We tested two different ELRs one with a peptide sequence derived from the salivary protein statherin (st-ELR) and a reference one lacking the statherin sequence (ref-ELR). X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Energy-dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) verified the mineral phase in the ELR nanofibers was HA. Scanning and Transmission Electorn Microscopy (SEM and TEM) analyses revealed that HA nanocrystals were infiltrated into and randomly oriented within the ELR nanofibers. The elastic modulus and hardness of the mineralized ELR nanofibers was increased significantly compared to unmineralized ELR. The mineralized nanofibers promoted the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of pre-osteoblasts. These results support that a scaffold obtained using this biomimetic strategy and made of mineralized ELR electrospun nanofibers with controlled mineralization and improved mechanical properties has great potential for being used in hard tissue regeneration, such as craniofacial and periodontal and perimplant regeneration as well as tertiary dentin regeneration, as it mimics the structure and mechanical properties of collagen-HA nanocomposites.

First report of Penicillium ulaiense causing whisker mold on postharvest citrus fruits in Morocco

Abstract Between February 2024 and June 2025, surveys conducted in northwestern Morocco revealed citrus fruits ( Citrus sinensis and Citrus × limon ) showing atypical postharvest decay symptoms, characterized by dark, water-soaked lesions with zonation and coremia-like structures. These symptoms were detected at only two sites, with a low incidence of 1.6% in the orchard and 0.5% in market samples. Five fungal isolates were obtained from symptomatic tissues on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Morphological characterization identified all isolates as Penicillium ulaiense , based on colony and micromorphological features consistent with published descriptions. Two representative isolates (BH_B1 and BH_E2) were selected for molecular analyses. Sequencing of the ITS region and the β-tubulin (BenA) gene showed 99–100% identity with reference P. ulaiense sequences, and the concatenated alignment comprised 804 base pairs. Phylogenetic analyses placed the Moroccan isolates within a well-supported P. ulaiense clade, clearly distinct from closely related species such as P. italicum and P. expansum . Pathogenicity assays reproduced typical symptoms on C. sinensis fruits, with progressive lesion development and successful re-isolation of the pathogen, confirming its pathogenic role under experimental conditions. This study reports, for the first time, the occurrence of Penicillium ulaiense associated with postharvest whisker mold symptoms on citrus fruits in Morocco. It provides new insights into postharvest citrus pathogens in Morocco and establishes a basis for future investigations on the occurrence and epidemiology of this species.

Ultrasound propagation speed and mass changes by application of different accelerated artificial ageing tests in granitic materials

Abstract In this work the ultrasound propagation speed on the three spatial planes (Vx,Vy,Vz) and the weight loss/gain of three ornamental granites (Ávila, Spain) were determined before, during, and after being subjected to 90 cycles of three types of accelerated ageing processes (typical of cold regions): a) freezing/thawing and cooling/heating, b) salt crystallisation, and c) freezing/thawing and cooling/heating + salt crystallisation. A three-way mixed multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used for data analysis. Significant variations in the ultrasonic propagation speed and weight loss/gain of the different granites were observed for the three types of accelerated artificial ageing processes compared to the data obtained from the quarry samples, with the Airón Biotitic Granite (G) variety being the most altered granite and the combined freezing/thawing and cooling/heating + salt crystallisation accelerated artificial ageing test being the most damaging. To determine the durability of the different varieties of granite against the accelerated artificial ageing tests studied, the estimated data of compressive strengh, obtained from the ultrasound propagation speed data, were determined, with the Ávila Grey Granite (C) being the most resistant to the ageing tests studied.