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Simple Summary: Cancer is a global health problem caused by uncontrolled cell growth and changes in how cells get and use energy. This review compares cancer's hidden metabolic changes to dark matter and dark energy in the universe, which are mysterious and often ignored. It looks at how cancer cells alter their energy use, such as through the Warburg effect and changes in fat and protein production, driven by genetic mutations. These changes help cancer grow and survive. The review suggests that targeting these metabolic pathways could be a new way to treat cancer. It calls for more research to better understand these changes and develop new therapies by focusing on the "dark energy" that fuels cancer cells. Background: Cancer remains a global health challenge, characterized not just by uncontrolled cell proliferation but also by the complex metabolic reprogramming that underlies its development and progression. Objectives: This review delves into the intricate relationship between cancer and its metabolic alterations, drawing an innovative comparison with the cosmological concepts of dark matter and dark energy to highlight the pivotal yet often overlooked role of metabolic reprogramming in tumor evolution. Methods: It scrutinizes the Warburg effect and other metabolic adaptations, such as shifts in lipid synthesis, amino acid turnover, and mitochondrial function, driven by mutations in key regulatory genes. Results: This review emphasizes the significance of targeting these metabolic pathways for therapeutic intervention, outlining the potential to disrupt cancer's energy supply and signaling mechanisms. It calls for an interdisciplinary research approach to fully understand and exploit the intricacies of cancer metabolism, pointing toward metabolic reprogramming as a promising frontier for developing more effective cancer treatments. Conclusion: By equating cancer's metabolic complexity with the enigmatic nature of dark matter and energy, this review underscores the critical need for innovative strategies in oncology, highlighting the importance of unveiling and targeting the "dark energy" within cancer cells to revolutionize future therapy and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corrosion deterioration of materials is a major problem affecting economic, safety, and logistical issues, especially in the aeronautical sector. Detecting the correct corrosion type in metal alloys is very important to know how to mitigate the corrosion problem. Electrochemical noise (EN) is a corrosion technique used to characterize the behavior of different alloys and determine the type of corrosion in a system. The objective of this research is to characterize by EN technique different aeronautical alloys (Al, Ti, steels, and superalloys) using different analysis methods such as time domain (visual analysis, statistical), frequency domain (power spectral density (PSD)), and frequency-time domain (wavelet decomposition, Hilbert Huang analysis, and recurrence plots (RP)) related to the corrosion process. Optical microscopy (OM) is used to observe the surface of the tested samples. The alloys were exposed to 3.5 wt.% NaCl and H 2 SO 4 solutions at room temperature. The results indicate that HHT and recurrence plots are the best options for determining the corrosion type compared with the other methods due to their ability to analyze dynamic and chaotic systems, such as corrosion. Corrosion processes such as passivation and localized corrosion can be differentiated when analyzed using HHT and RP methods when a passive system presents values of determinism between 0.5 and 0.8. Also, to differentiate the passive system from the localized system, it is necessary to see the recurrence plot due to the similarity of the determinism value. Noise impedance (Z n ) is one of the best options for determining the corrosion kinetics of one system, showing that Ti CP2 and Ti-6Al-4V presented 742,824 and 939,575 Ω·cm 2 , while R n presented 271,851 and 325,751 Ω·cm 2 , being the highest when exposed to H 2 SO 4 .

Evidence suggests that immune system dysfunction and macrophages are involved in the disease establishment and progression of endometriosis. Among the factors involved in this alteration in macrophage activity, Small Extracellular Vesicles (sEVs) have been described to play a role favoring the switch to a specific phenotype with controversial results. This study aims to investigate the potential effect of circulating sEVs in the plasma of well-characterized patients with endometriosis on the polarization of macrophages. sEVs were isolated from the plasma of patients diagnosed with endometriosis confirmed by histopathological analysis. Two groups of patients were recruited: the endometriosis group consisted of patients diagnosed with endometriosis by imaging testing (gynecological ultrasonography and/or magnetic resonance imaging), confirmed by histopathologic study (n = 12), and the control group included patients who underwent laparoscopy for tubal sterilization without presurgical suspicion of endometriosis and without endometriosis or signs of any inflammatory pelvic condition during surgery (n = 12). Human THP1 monocytic cells were differentiated into macrophages, and the effect of sEVs on cell uptake and macrophage polarization was evaluated by fluorescent labeling and measurement of the IL1B , TNF , ARG1 , and MRC1 expression, respectively. Although no changes in cell uptake were detected, sEVs from endometriosis induced a polarization of macrophages toward an M2 phenotype, characterized by lower IL1B and TNF expression and a tendency to increase MRC1 and ARG1 levels. When macrophages were stimulated with lipopolysaccharides, less activation was also detected after treatment with endometriosis sEVs. Finally, endometriosis sEVs also induced the expression of the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARG); however, treatment with rosiglitazone, a PPARG agonist, had no effect on the change in macrophage phenotype. We conclude that circulating sEVs in women with endometriosis have a certain capacity to shift the activation state of macrophages toward an M2 phenotype, but this does not modify the uptake level or the response to PPARG ligands., Competing Interests: The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

In post-tensioned systems, grouts act as a last line of defense to prevent the penetration of harmful compounds such as chlorides, moisture and other substances that cause corrosion in the prestressing steel. For this reason, improving grouts results in the enhancement of the overall durability of the structure. In this study, the physical properties of grouts with basalt microfiber additions in the amounts of 0.03, 0.07 and 0.10% with respect to the mix volume were evaluated. The fresh properties included flowability and unit mass. Specimens were fabricated to evaluate drying shrinkage, compressive strength, air permeability and rapid permeability to chloride ions. The incorporation of basalt microfibers showed a beneficial effect on the physical properties of the grout by increasing the drying shrinkage resistance and decreasing the permeability compared to the reference mix and two commercial dry prepackaged grouts. The optimal grout mix was the one with a percentage of basalt microfibers of 0.10%, which decreased drying shrinkage by 15.98% at 14 days compared to the reference mix, and permeability to chloride ions decreased by 10.82% compared to the control mix.

Novel green concrete (GC) admixtures containing 50% and 100% recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) were manufactured according to the ACI 211.1 standard. The GC samples were reinforced with AISI 1080 carbon steel and AISI 304 stainless steel. Concrete samples were exposed to 3.5 wt.% Na 2 SO 4 and control (DI-water) solutions. Electrochemical testing was assessed by corrosion potential ( E corr ) according to the ASTM C-876-15 standard and a linear polarization resistance (LPR) technique following ASTM G59-14. The compressive strength of the fully substituted GC decreased 51.5% compared to the control sample. Improved corrosion behavior was found for the specimens reinforced with AISI 304 SS; the corrosion current density ( i corr ) values of the fully substituted GC were found to be 0.01894 µA/cm 2 after Day 364, a value associated with negligible corrosion. The 50% RCA specimen shows good corrosion behavior as well as a reduction in environmental impact. Although having lower mechanical properties, a less dense concrete matrix and high permeability, RCA green concrete presents an improved corrosion behavior thus being a promising approach to the higher pollutant conventional aggregates.

In this study, ternary ecological concrete (TEC) mixtures were produced with partial substitution of the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) by 10%, 20%, and 30% of sugar cane bagasse ash (SCBA) and silica fume (SF); a control mixture (100% OPC) was prepared according to ACI 211.1 standard. The studied TEC specimens were reinforced with AISI 304 stainless steel and AISI 1018 carbon steel rebars. TEC reinforced specimens were immersed in two different electrolytes, a control (DI-water) and 3.5 wt.% MgSO 4 solution, for 180 days. The electrochemical corrosion was monitored by corrosion potential ( E corr ) according to ASTM C-876-15 standard, and the linear polarization resistance (LPR) technique using ASTM G59 standard. The E corr and current density i corr results show that AISI 304 stainless steel rebars have a high corrosion resistance, with i corr values below 0.1 µA/cm 2 , which is interpreted as a level of negligible corrosion. The best corrosion performance was found for the TEC mixture made with a 20% addition of blend of sugar cane bagasse ash-silica fume (SCBA-SF) to the OPC.

The use of supplementary cementitious materials such as fly ash, slag, and silica fume improve reinforced concrete corrosion performance, while decreasing cost and reducing environmental impact compared to ordinary Portland cement. In this study, the corrosion behavior of AISI 1018 carbon steel (CS) and AISI 304 stainless steel (SS) reinforcements was studied for 365 days. Three different concrete mixtures were tested: 100% CPC (composite Portland cement), 80% CPC and 20% silica fume (SF), and 80% CPC and 20% fly ash (FA). The concrete mixtures were designed according to the ACI 211.1 standard. The reinforced concrete specimens were immersed in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl test solution to simulate a marine environment. Corrosion monitoring was evaluated using the corrosion potential ( E corr ) according to ASTM C876 and the linear polarization resistance (LPR) according to ASTM G59. The results show that AISI 304 SS reinforcements yielded the best corrosion behavior, with E corr values mainly pertaining to the region of 10% probability of corrosion, and corrosion current density ( i corr ) values indicating passivity after 105 days of experimentation and low probability of corrosion for the remainder of the test period.

Nowadays, buildings are increasingly expected to meet higher and more complex performance requirements. Among these requirements, energy efficiency is recognized as an international goal to promote energy sustainability of the planet. Different approaches have been adopted to address this goal, the most recent relating consumption patterns with human occupancy. In this work, we analyze what are the main parameters that should be considered to be included in any building energy management. The goal of this analysis is to help designers to select the most relevant parameters to control the energy consumption of buildings according to their context, selecting them as input data of the management system. Following this approach, we select three reference smart buildings with different contexts, and where our automation platform for energy monitoring is deployed. We carry out some experiments in these buildings to demonstrate the influence of the parameters identified as relevant in the energy consumption of the buildings. Then, in two of these buildings are applied different control strategies to save electrical energy. We describe the experiments performed and analyze the results. The first stages of this evaluation have already resulted in energy savings of about 23% in a real scenario.