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Abstract Background Obesity poses a significant global health challenge, necessitating effective prevention and treatment strategies. Exercise and diet are recognized as pivotal interventions in combating obesity. This study reviews the literature concerning the impact of exercise‐induced cytokines, dietary factors, and inflammation on adipose tissue metabolism, shedding light on potential pathways for therapeutic intervention. Methodology A comprehensive review of relevant literature was conducted to elucidate the role of exercise‐induced cytokines, including interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), interleukin‐15 (IL‐15), brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), irisin, myostatin, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), follistatin (FST), and angiopoietin‐like 4 (ANGPTL4), in adipose tissue metabolism. Various databases were systematically searched using predefined search terms to identify relevant studies. Articles selected for inclusion underwent thorough analysis to extract pertinent data on the mechanisms underlying the influence of these cytokines on adipose tissue metabolism. Results and Discussion Exercise‐induced cytokines exert profound effects on adipose tissue metabolism, influencing energy expenditure (EE), thermogenesis, fat loss, and adipogenesis. For instance, IL‐6 activates AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK), promoting fatty acid oxidation and reducing lipogenesis. IL‐15 upregulates peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor delta (PPARδ), stimulating fatty acid catabolism and suppressing lipogenesis. BDNF enhances AMPK‐dependent fat oxidation, while irisin induces the browning of white adipose tissue (WAT), augmenting thermogenesis. Moreover, myostatin, FGF21, FST, and ANGPTL4 each play distinct roles in modulating adipose tissue metabolism, impacting factors such as fatty acid oxidation, adipogenesis, and lipid uptake. The elucidation of these pathways offers valuable insights into the complex interplay between exercise, cytokines, and adipose tissue metabolism, thereby informing the development of targeted obesity management strategies. Conclusion Understanding the mechanisms by which exercise‐induced cytokines regulate adipose tissue metabolism is critical for devising effective obesity prevention and treatment modalities. Harnessing the therapeutic potential of exercise‐induced cytokines, in conjunction with dietary interventions, holds promise for mitigating the global burden of obesity. Further research is warranted to delineate the precise mechanisms underlying the interactions between exercise, cytokines, and adipose tissue metabolism.

Abstract It is crucial to study how L2 learners use technology when examining the lifespan technology in L2 pedagogy. Therefore, we adopted Gartner’s hype cycles to investigate the lifespan of CALL from the perspectives of EFL learners. To this end, we utilized an explanatory narrative design and gathered and analysed the perspectives of 87 EFL learners regarding the CALL lifespan using autobiographical narratives and semi-structured interviews. The results of the deductive thematic analysis presented motivating and demotivating factors that were asserted to affect EFL learners’ uptake of CALL technologies. Moreover, the findings revealed that EFL learners had fallacies about CALL in the first stages of using technology for L2 learning and tended to reduce those fallacies later on. Therefore, it can be concluded that EFL learners start their use of CALL with some misconceptions stemming from the motivating factors of CALL, continue their use of CALL by facing some demotivating factors originating from fallacies about CALL that they have already committed, and finalise their use of CALL by exploring about CALL features that help them avoid their fallacies. The study has implications to shorten the time of reaching the awareness zone by the L2 learners.

Salt stress is one of the most serious factors that influence the plant growth and yield. The extensive use of chemical fertilizers caused an increase in land contamination and hence effects on human health. The use of biofertilizers can solve these problems. In the present work, different concentrations of Spirulina platensis liquid extracts (SLEs; 1%, 2%, and 4%) were used to enhance seeds germination, seedling growth, length of radical, number of leaves, and plant height of T. aestivum L. S. platensis liquid extract (SLE) 2% was chosen to test against salt stress with 10% and 25% seawater in T. aestivum L. watered. The growth parameters such as shoot, root, length, fresh, dry weight, leaf width, number, and area were used to estimate the effects of 2% SLE against salt stress caused by seawater. Also the carbohydrate, protein, phenol, and total antioxidant contents were measured in T. aestivum L. treated with 2% SLE in combination with seawater and watered with different concentrations with seawater alone. The results denote that the best concentration of SLEs was 2%, which promoted the germination growth of T. aestivum L. in comparison to control and other concentrations. SLE (2%) enhanced the carbohydrates, protein, total phenol contents, and antioxidant contents of T. aestivum L., treated with seawaters (SW10% and SW25%) and SLEs in comparison to T. aestivum L. SW 10% and 25% alone. S. platensis liquid extract (SLE) can be used as biofertilizer to enhance the growth and phytochemical contents of T. aestivum L. and to make tolerance of T. aestivum L. against salinity.

Introduction: Fibred-based optical spectroscopy is advantageous over imaging due to its sensitivity, practicality and precision, providing point of care diagnosis. The unique advantage is that the sampled volume is well defined by the source-detector geometry and that the functionality of multiple optical techniques can be incorporated into one probe so that more information is gained without extra bulkiness or cost, while also mitigating the limitations of each.Methods: This advantage is utilized here to address the limited accuracy in delineating brain tumors, in situ, by simultaneously characterizing tissue based on the spectral and lifetime properties of five endogenous fluorophores commonly present in brain tissue. A 5-meters multi fibre-optic probe custom-built for neurosurgery guidance with a sterilizable distal end is presented in this paper. It describes its technical features such as architecture, collection efficiency, sensitivity.Results and discussion: The developed probe have a temporal resolution of 34.6 ps and a temporal impulse response function of 29 ps. The spatial resolution was around 153 μm while the spectral resolution is 1 nm. All of these specifications are ensured under 1 second as acquisition time. The probe is validated using fluorescent dyes and tissue phantoms. Additionally, the fluorescence spectra from fresh and frozen animal tissue and from an epileptic patient are compared to that obtained from confocal fluorescence microscopy, while the lifetime values are compared to that reported in literature. Finally, the effect of pressure applied to the probe in contact with tissue is discussed.

Nowadays, the ability to diagnose brain tumors intraoperatively and delineate their margins, as accurately as possible, is of primordial importance during surgery. However, the exact tumor boundaries and targets are difficult to find due to the similar visual appearances especially at the margins, leading in many cases to poor surgical outcomes and a high risk of recurrences. To solve this dogma, our group tried to determine different tissue optical signatures such as optical parameters and endogenous fluorescence. For that, we conducted a comparative study to differentiate between healthy and tumorous tissues under one- and two-photon excitations on optical properties to explore several optical parameters. In addition, the study of endogenous fluorescence can successfully help with the discrimination between tissue types using one- and two-photon excitations. This works suggests that the multimodal analysis of optical signatures of tissues could be a reliable technique that can be used to differentiate between healthy and tumorous tissues. This can help in the future with the implementation of such techniques in vivo during surgery to help the surgeon with the decision that needs to be taken as for tissue resection.

Nowadays, surgical removal remains the standard method to treat brain tumors. During surgery, the neurosurgeon may encounter difficulties to delimitate tumor boundaries and the infiltrating areas as they have a similar visual appearance to adjacent healthy zones. These infiltrating residuals increase the tumor recurrence risk, which decreases the patient’s post-operation survival time. To help neurosurgeons improve the surgical act by accurately delimitating healthy from cancerous areas, our team is developing an intraoperative multimodal imaging tool. It consists of a two-photon fluorescence fibered endomicroscope that is intended to provide a fast, real-time, and reliable diagnosis information. In parallel to the instrumental development, a large optical database is currently under construction in order to characterize healthy and tumor brain tissues with their specific optical signature using multimodal analysis of the endogenous fluorescence. Our previous works show that this multimodal analysis could provide a reliable discrimination response between different tissue types based on several optical indicators. Here, our goal is to show that the two-photon fibered endomicroscope is able to provide, based on the same approved indicators in the tissue database, the same reliable response that could be used intraoperatively. We compared the spectrally resolved and time-resolved fluorescence signal, generated by our two-photon bimodal endoscope from 46 fresh brain tissue samples, with a similar signal provided by a standard reference benchtop multiphoton microscope that has been validated for tissue diagnosis. The higher excitation efficiency and collection ability of an endogenous fluorescence signal were shown for the endoscope setup. Similar molecular ratios and fluorescence lifetime distributions were extracted from the two compared setups. Spectral discrimination ability of the bimodal endoscope was validated. As a preliminary step before tackling multimodality, the ability of the developed bimodal fibered endoscope to excite and to collect efficiently as well as to provide a fast exploitable high-quality signal that is reliable to discriminate different types of human brain tissues was validated.

The tremendous demand for low-cost, low-consumption and high-capacity optical transmitters in data centers challenges the current InP-photonics platform. The use of silicon (Si) photonics platform to fabricate photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is a promising approach for low-cost large-scale fabrication considering the CMOS-technology maturity and scalability. However, Si itself cannot provide an efficient emitting light source due to its indirect bandgap. Therefore, the integration of III-V semiconductors on Si wafers allows us to benefit from the III-V emitting properties combined with benefits offered by the Si photonics platform. Direct epitaxy of InP-based materials on 300 mm Si wafers is the most promising approach to reduce the costs. However, the differences between InP and Si in terms of lattice mismatch, thermal coefficients and polarity inducing defects are challenging issues to overcome. III-V/Si hetero-integration platform by wafer-bonding is the most mature integration scheme. However, no additional epitaxial regrowth steps are implemented after the bonding step. Considering the much larger epitaxial toolkit available in the conventional monolithic InP platform, where several epitaxial steps are often implemented, this represents a significant limitation. In this paper, we review an advanced integration scheme of AlGaInAs-based laser sources on Si wafers by bonding a thin InP seed on which further regrowth steps are implemented. A 3 µm-thick AlGaInAs-based MutiQuantum Wells (MQW) laser structure was grown onto on InP-SiO2/Si (InPoSi) wafer and compared to the same structure grown on InP wafer as a reference. The 400 ppm thermal strain on the structure grown on InPoSi, induced by the difference of coefficient of thermal expansion between InP and Si, was assessed at growth temperature. We also showed that this structure demonstrates laser performance similar to the ones obtained for the same structure grown on InP. Therefore, no material degradation was observed in spite of the thermal strain. Then, we developed the Selective Area Growth (SAG) technique to grow multi-wavelength laser sources from a single growth step on InPoSi. A 155 nm-wide spectral range from 1515 nm to 1670 nm was achieved. Furthermore, an AlGaInAs MQW-based laser source was successfully grown on InP-SOI wafers and efficiently coupled to Si-photonic DBR cavities. Altogether, the regrowth on InP-SOI wafers holds great promises to combine the best from the III-V monolithic platform combined with the possibilities offered by the Si photonics circuitry via efficient light-coupling.

Late presentation to medical care of individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is linked to poor outcomes and increased morbidity and mortality. Missed opportunities for a prompt diagnosis are frequently reported among late presenters. We aimed to estimate the proportion of late presenters and missed opportunities in diagnosis among newly diagnosed HIV-positive subjects presenting to a specialty clinic in Lebanon. This is a retrospective chart review of all newly diagnosed adult HIV-positive subjects presenting to clinic from 2012 to 2022. Demographic, laboratory, and clinical data were collected at initial HIV diagnosis or presentation to medical care. We defined late presentation as having a CD4 count < 350 or AIDS-defining event regardless of CD4 count. Advanced disease is defined as having a CD4 count below 200 cells/μL or the presence of an AIDS-defining illness, regardless of the CD4 count. A missed opportunity was defined as the presence of an indicator condition (IC) that suggests infection with HIV/AIDS during 3 years preceding the actual HIV diagnosis and not followed by a recommendation for HIV testing. The proportions for demographic, epidemiological, and clinical characteristics are calculated by excluding cases with missing information from the denominator. Our cohort included 150 subjects (92.7% males; 63.6% men who have sex with men (MSM); 33.3% heterosexuals; median age 30.5 years at diagnosis). 77 (51.3%) were late presenters and 53 (35.3% of all subjects, 68.8% of late presenters) had advanced HIV on presentation. Up to 76.5% of late presenters had a presentation with an HIV-related condition at a healthcare provider without getting HIV test within the previous 3 years. The most frequent ICs were weight loss, generalized lymphadenopathy, constitutional symptoms, and chronic idiopathic diarrhea. Overall mortality rate was 4% (6/150 individuals). All-cause mortality among those who presented with AIDS was 15.4% (6/39 subjects). In our setting, late presentations and missed opportunities for HIV diagnosis are common. In the Middle East, AIDS mortality remains high with a large gap in HIV testing. To effectively influence policies, comprehensive analyses should focus on estimating the preventable health and financial burdens of late HIV presentations. Another concern pertains to healthcare providers' attitudes and competencies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Alzheimer's disease remains a global health challenge and an unmet need requiring innovative approaches to discover new drugs. The current study aimed to investigate the inhibitory activity of Albizia lucidior and Albizia procera leaves against acetylcholinesterase enzyme in vitro and explore their chemical compositions. Metabolic profiling of the bioactive plant, A. lucidior , via UHPLC/MS/MS-based Molecular Networking highlighted the richness of its ethanolic extract with budmunchiamine alkaloids, fourteen budmunchiamine alkaloids as well as four new putative ones were tentatively identified for the first time in A. lucidior . Pursuing these alkaloids in the fractions of A. lucidior extract via molecular networking revealed that alkaloids were mainly concentrated in the ethyl acetate fraction. In agreement, the alkaloid-rich fraction showed the most promising anticholinesterase activity (IC 50 5.26 µg/mL) versus the ethanolic extract and ethyl acetate fraction of A. lucidior (IC 50 24.89 and 6.90 µg/mL, respectively), compared to donepezil (IC 50 3.90 µg/mL). Furthermore, deep in silico studies of tentatively identified alkaloids of A. lucidior were performed. Notably, normethyl budmunchiamine K revealed superior stability and receptor binding affinity compared to the two used references: donepezil and the co-crystallized inhibitor (MF2 700). This was concluded based on molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations and molecular mechanics generalized born/solvent accessibility (MM-GBSA) calculations.

Background: Children often suffer from congenital or acquired diseases. Ambulatory cases represent the vast majority of pediatric surgical cases. COVID-19 pandemic-associated regulatory precautions had made the process of seeking medical advice at a suitable appointment such a big problem. We utilized telemedicine (online encounter) to deliver the required healthcare service for sorting and guiding pediatric ambulatory surgical patients. In this article, we aimed to: (1) present our experience, (2) evaluate the effectiveness, and (3) document the results of this technology to solve the problem of difficult healthcare accessibility., Materials and Methods: In this study, we compared the utilization of telemedicine (virtual clinic via video consultation) prospectively in the current era of the COVID-19 pandemic in the period from June 2020 to July 2021 to the in-person clinic encounter at the outpatient department (OPD) retrospectively in the previous year (from June 2019 until the end of May 2020) for perioperative management of pediatric ambulatory surgical patients. The study was conducted at 3 tertiary care pediatric surgery centers. The information recorded for analysis included: demographic data, surgical condition distribution, time interval from the appointment request till the actual encounter with the surgeon, conversation duration, distance traveled, and ultimate fate of the consultations. For both groups, service was evaluated after the first follow-up visit by a patient survey questionnaire (Patient Experience Assessment form) including questions relevant to each encounter., Results: A total of 1124 pediatric patients with various ambulatory surgical conditions had been scheduled for virtual clinic video encounters. Of them, 1056 cases were evaluated by video consultation, supervised by their parents or caregivers, thus, achieving an attendance rate of 94%. Of the remaining cases, 2% (n = 23) were canceled and 4% (n = 45) did not attend the virtual clinic. Two-thirds of the cases live in rural /remote areas. Patients' overall satisfaction was 92%. This was in comparison to 872 pediatric ambulatory surgical patients scheduled for in-person clinic visits before the implementation of the virtual clinic. Of them, only 340 cases had attended the clinic, thus, achieving an attendance rate of 39%. Of the remaining cases, 450 cases (51.6%) were canceled and 82 cases (9.4%) did not attend the clinic (no show). About 48% of the cases live in rural areas. For this group, patients' overall satisfaction was 63%. The mean encounter duration was similar for both groups (∼ 5 min). Surgical condition distribution was also similar (p-value: 0.694). For new cases, the time interval from appointment request till the actual encounter was very short for the virtual clinic group (range: 6-15 days) as compared to the in-person clinic group (range: 30-180 days). Patients were followed up for a median period of 14 ± 3.25 months (range: 6-22 months) with no patient loss to follow-up., Conclusion: Telemedicine can effectively bridge the patient-physician communication gap caused by the regulatory precautions mandated by the current COVID-19 pandemic. It achieved an attendance rate of 94% and parents' / patients' overall satisfaction of 92%., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors state that they have no conflicts of interest or competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The rapid spread of bacterial infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus has become a problem to public health despite the presence of past trials devoted to controlling the infection. Thus, the current study aimed to explore the chemical composition of the extract of endophytic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus , isolated from Albizia lucidior leaves, and investigate the antimicrobial activity of isolated metabolites and their probable mode of actions. The chemical investigation of the fungal extract via UPLC/MS/MS led to the identification of at least forty-two metabolites, as well as the isolation and complete characterization of eight reported metabolites. The antibacterial activities of isolated metabolites were assessed against S. aureus using agar disc diffusion and microplate dilution methods. Compounds ergosterol, helvolic acid and monomethyl sulochrin-4-sulphate showed minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 15.63, 1.95 and 3.90 µg/mL, respectively, compared to ciprofloxacin. We also report the inhibitory activity of the fungal extract on DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV, which led us to perform molecular docking using the three most active compounds isolated from the extract against both enzymes. These active compounds had the required structural features for S. aureus DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV inhibition, evidenced via molecular docking.