Browse Articles

Sex-specific associations between prenatal exposure to environmental pollutants and birth outcomes: a meconium biomonitoring study

Piecewise Stereoselective Assembly of Multisubstituted Alkenes

The synergistic pattern of metabolic-inflammatory changes jointly predicts cardiovascular risk in Chinese middle-aged and older adults: a prospective cohort study

Breaking Layered Limitations via Electrostatic-to-Covalent Conversion toward Three-Dimensional T2-Cluster-Based Chalcogenides

Computational stability analysis suggests binding-independent destabilization in pathogenic FBXO11 variants

Correction to “Triphase Interface Synthesis of Plasmonic Gold Bellflowers as Near-Infrared Light Mediated Acoustic and Thermal Theranostics”

Stability in the face of global decline: a 20-year study of arthropods in an oceanic archipelago

Abstract Insect declines are of global concern, yet no long-term ecological studies (LTER) have confirmed this trend on islands. This study utilises the first available LTER data on island arthropods, targeting epigeal and canopy species from the Azores Archipelago (Portugal), and covering over 20 years in three distinct sampling events from 30 standard sites. We investigate changes in abundance, biomass, and species richness within native forest arthropod communities, focusing on the proportions of endemic and introduced species, and temporal patterns among single-island endemics and forest-dependent endemics. Results reveal significant temporal variability, but overall abundance, biomass, and species richness remain stable across endemic and native non-endemic taxa. Among the species studied, 28% declined, 17% increased, and 55% showed no significant differences. Exotic invasions and related extinctions appear minimal. Forest-dependent endemic species declined below anticipated levels, suggesting that the extinction debt for these species may be less severe than initially expected. Nonetheless, some forest specialists have declined significantly, and seven species, not seen over 20 years, are considered to be extinct. The three-decade-long conservation of Azorean native forests may have contributed to the stability of some populations, thus these findings underscore the need for continued and enhanced conservation efforts of insular forest-associated diversity.

Thermo-mechanical response of layered perlite beams under transient thermal loading

Programmable Functionalizations of Tetramethylpiperidine N-Oxyl (TEMPO)–Acrolein Linchpins Derived from Alkoxyallenes

Visible-light-driven CO2 photoreduction to solar fuels over a Ni/Cu-loaded Bi2ZnTiO6/g-C3N4 0D/3D/2D QDs Schottky/Z-scheme ternary heterojunction photocatalyst

Kilowatt-Level Ethylene Glycol Electrooxidation at Industrial Current Densities Enabled by Synergistic C–H/O–H Activation on PdAu ₂ /Ni _{1– <i>x</i>} O

Investigating the flexural performance of reinforced concrete beams using eco-friendly geotextile and wire mesh reinforcements

Abstract This paper presents an experimental investigation on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with eco-friendly materials, specifically steel wire mesh and geotextiles, in conjunction with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Two strengthening techniques were investigated: (1) internal strengthening by embedding geotextile or steel wire mesh along the longitudinal reinforcement; (2) external strengthening by U-wrapping geotextile or steel wire mesh on the beam surface. Additionally, CNTs were incorporated into the concrete matrix as a third strengthening mechanism. Seven small-scale RC beams (600 × 150 × 150 mm) were tested under one-point bending. The findings demonstrate that all strengthened RC beams exhibited enhanced load-carrying capacity (up to 45% increase), ductility (up to 184% increase), and total energy absorption compared to un-strengthened specimens. Internal wire mesh (WF1) achieved the highest ultimate load (56.2 kN). External geotextile (PGF2) exhibited exceptional deformation capacity (32.7 mm deflection, 1376.9 kN·mm toughness). CNT-modified concrete demonstrated pseudo-ductile behavior with distributed micro-cracking and 666.3 kN·mm total toughness.

Mn(II) ¹⁹ F Electron–Nuclear Double Resonance Spectroscopy as a Structural Tool: Resolution of the Structural Diversity of a Mn(II) Dual ¹⁹ F/ ¹ H MRI Probe

Outcomes of keraring implantation for high regular astigmatism in non-ectatic corneas: A prospective pilot case series

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of intracorneal ring segments (Keraring) implantation for the management of high regular astigmatism (&gt; 3.00 D) in eyes with non-ectatic corneas. Twenty eyes of twenty patients with high regular astigmatism and topographically normal corneas. All eyes underwent femtosecond laser–assisted implantation of SI-5 Keraring segments. Comprehensive preoperative and postoperative assessments included uncorrected and best-corrected distant visual acuity, manifest refraction, keratometric measurements, and anterior corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs). Follow-up examinations were performed at 1 week, 1 month, and 6 months. Statistical analysis incorporated repeated-measures ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficients. Significant improvement in UDVA was observed at all postoperative visits ( p  &lt; 0.001). CDVA improved significantly during the early postoperative period but not at 6 months. Mean refractive astigmatism decreased markedly from − 8.19 ± 2.50 D preoperatively to − 3.14 ± 1.55 D at 6 months postoperatively, corresponding to a mean reduction of 61.3% ( p  &lt; 0.000). Significant reductions were also observed in spherical equivalent, Keratometric indices, total HOAs and coma aberrations. Corneal thickness and spherical aberrations showed no significant changes throughout the follow-up period. No intraoperative or postoperative complications were observed. Keraring implantation may provide meaningful improvements in visual acuity, refractive outcomes, corneal regularity, and selected higher-order aberrations in eyes with high regular astigmatism and non-ectatic corneas. Larger studies with longer follow-up are warranted to confirm these preliminary findings.

KNG-1, HSPG and Robo4 reflect hypertension-driven subclinical renal alterations and provide incremental diagnostic value in type 2 diabetic nephropathy

Abstract Diabetic nephropathy (DN), indicated by persistent urinary albumin excretion or albuminuria, is the major cause of end stage renal disease worldwide. Currently albuminuria is considered the best predictor of subsequent development of DN in type 2 diabetic patients, but it is often induced by arterial hypertension or heart failure in older patients as well. Therefore, additional biomarkers are needed to identify diabetic patients at a high risk of developing DN. The aim of the study was to investigate the expression profiles of some serum proteome biomarkers and to demonstrate their association with early renal alterations among type 2 diabetic patients. This study included 300 type 2 diabetic patients with- (200, UACR &gt; 30 mg/gm) and without- (100, UACR &lt; 30 mg/gm) persistent albuminuria in addition to 100 healthy control subjects. Serum expression patterns of KNG-1, HSPG, Robo4 and other biochemical parameters were evaluated in all participants. We also assessed the combined influence of hypertension and albuminuria on these markers, to explore their potential as non-invasive indicators of early renal risk in T2DM. Results suggest that elevated serum KNG-1, HSPG and Robo4 levels in type 2 diabetic patients might reflect a DN progressive pathology due to various mechanisms. The interaction between hypertension and albuminuria significantly alters biomarker levels in a synergistic manner, emphasizing the need for comprehensive management of both conditions in clinical practice. Additionally, findings highlight that serum proteome signature of these biomarkers provide an incremental predictive value when integrated with conventional clinical parameters, as evidenced by the marked improvement in multivariable regression model performance and discriminative accuracy analyses.

Messenger RNA-encoded reporters for monitoring cellular stress and bioenergetics

Abstract The ability to monitor cellular processes in real-time is essential for understanding cell function, disease progression, and therapeutic responses. Engineered reporter proteins have been developed for monitoring cellular metabolism, stress responses, and bioenergetics. However, their use in primary cells is limited by inefficient plasmid transfection and the impracticality of generating and validating stable cell lines for each application. Here, we use in vitro transcription to generate mRNA-encoded metabolic trackers and achieve high transfection efficiencies in primary fibroblasts, cancer cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells. This approach provides a flexible platform for real-time monitoring of cellular processes in diverse cell types and overcomes the technical barriers of establishing stable cell lines by genetic modification. We confirm the activity of three ratiometric reporters that monitor pH, H 2 O 2 , and ATP levels in subcellular compartments. Our mRNA-based approach provides a versatile, efficient tool for real-time metabolic studies across basic and applied research, reducing reliance on commercially available reporters and broadening the applicability of metabolic reporters in patient-derived cell models.

Mg ²⁺ Catalyzes Nonenzymatic RNA Primer Extension through a Concerted Outer-Sphere Mechanism

The impact of drought stress on the physiological biochemical indexes and metabolites in Panax notoginseng

Confidence-aware semi-supervised siamese graph networks for semantic text similarity in low-resource Urdu

Angle-Selective Optical Resonance and Circular Radial Lasing from a Chiral Polymeric Microsphere