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Electric vehicles are crucial for sustainable transport and energy solutions, particularly in developing countries like Bangladesh where their popularity is rising. This study primarily focuses on the techno-economic design of a 300 kWp solar photovoltaic-powered electric vehicle charging station along the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway in Bangladesh, capable of charging 20 electric vehicles simultaneously. The design utilizes the commercially available software package PVsyst 7.2 to ensure the feasibility and efficiency of the charging infrastructure. The use of solar photovoltaics for electric vehicle charging, compared to traditional grid-based methods, offers substantial environmental benefits, including significant reductions in carbon emissions. This shift is driven by decreasing costs, improved module efficiencies, and increased environmental awareness. The estimated levelized cost of energy is calculated at 7.1556 BDT/kWh (BDT is Bangladeshi Taka), with an annual energy generation cost of 1436285.32 BDT. Over a projected lifespan of 25 years, the system is expected to replace 8065 tons of CO2 emissions with its own emissions totaling 537.56 tons, resulting in a net decrease of 6460.2 tons of CO2. This approach not only aligns with Bangladesh’s emission reduction goals but also exemplifies the potential for solar photovoltaic systems to enhance sustainability in transportation. It also emphasizes the importance of integrating renewable energy sources into the electric vehicle-based infrastructure to achieve true sustainability and supports the country’s commitment to combating climate change through technological innovation.

BackgroundDuring the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the Ministry of Ayush conducted a community study to provide therapeutic care to patients with asymptomatic, mild, and moderate COVID-19 in home isolation based on the empirical evidence generated on the efficacy of AYUSH-64 in COVID-19.ObjectiveTo document disease characteristics, care-seeking behavior, and outcomes in patients with asymptomatic, mild, or moderate COVID-19 in home isolation who used AYUSH-64 for COVID-19.MethodsCross-sectional analysis of the data generated through a community study conducted in India from 08 May to 31 August 2021 was performed to study the disease characteristics, care-seeking behavior during home isolation, clinical outcomes, adverse events, and the association between various risk factors and clinical recovery during the study period. The data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires, available in electronic data collection format at the baseline, 7, 14, and 21 days. A logistic regression was performed to explore the relationship between relevant variables and clinical recovery.ResultsData from 64,642 participants were analyzed for baseline assessment, and final analysis was done for 49,770 participants. The mean age of the enrolled participants was 38.8 ± 11.7 years, and 8.4% had co-morbidities. AYUSH-64 was utilized as an add-on to the standard care by 58.3% of participants. Comparable clinical outcomes were observed in participants utilizing AYUSH-64 either as a standalone or as an add-on to standard care, in terms of clinical recovery, disease progression, the requirement for oxygen supplementation, hospitalization, ICU admission, and need for ventilator support. Younger age, having no co-morbidities or substance abuse, and having been vaccinated were associated with early clinical recovery than those who were older and not vaccinated.ConclusionsThe study findings suggest that AYUSH-64 use, either standalone or as an adjunct to standard care, in asymptomatic, mild, or moderate COVID-19 is associated with good clinical outcomes. Ayush services and interventions can be effectively integrated into the mainstream public health architecture to serve public health goals.

The relationship between an aging workforce, higher retirement age, and youth unemployment has already been established in the available literature. However, the empirical research on the impact of an aging workforce, and higher retirement age on youth unemployment is limited, has conflicting results, has occurred mostly overseas, and has not considered the perceptions of young people who are about to enter the workforce. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the perceptions of the youth on the relationship between the aging workforce, higher retirement age, immigration policies, and youth unemployment. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the responses of 183 business students. The findings establish that five relationships were supported out of seven hypothesized relationships. The key research finding reveal that immigration policies and higher retirement age are significantly related to youth unemployment. Lastly, the theoretical and managerial implications of the study were discussed, along with the limitations and recommendations for future research.

Today, women-related questions are considered to be one of the most controversial questions regarding Islam in Europe. The resurgent interest in Women, as well as the gender questions emanating, and spreading from the West is due to an increasing, more assertive and visible Muslim population, and the ensuing issues focusing on women such as the hijaab and niqaab (veil). As a corollary to this, gender issues are central in the discussions of conversion to Islam, whereby female conversion to Islam has become a focal point of Western efforts to understand Islam. This paper aims to provide an overall analysis of the phenomenon of the appeal, and embracing of Islam by Western women in the context of how they view the status given to them by Western society, the pull and push factors; their attempt to create a niche of identity, dignity and equity for Muslim women both within the discourse among Muslims on the role of women in Islam, as well as a space within the overall narrative of ‘Islam in the West;’ all of this being despite the polemics centering on the rights of women where the portrayal of Islam is that of a patriarchal, sexist religion that subjugates and demeans women.

[Though voices in Europe have begun to resonate with the narrative of a European/Western Islam or Euro-Islam, for many people Islam is still a foreign religion and a religion of immigrants. It is this dilemma that Europe will need to address by acknowledging its Muslim population as European citizens as well. Embarking upon a path where citizenship is increasingly seen to be viewed from a cultural perspective inevitably leads to a debate about shared values and identities. This, rather than creating a mediating space instead engenders the overall dichotomous and myopic paradigm of opposites and incompatibilities, an 'Us versus Them mentality'. The cultural aspect of citizenship manifested in recently emerging policy shifts and legislation, though propagated as efforts to "integrate" Muslim minorities into European secular orders is in danger of being counter-productive, creating further alienation and resentment. Thus what is desired is a distinction between political and cultural approaches to citizenship whereby citizenship is addressed in terms of political and civil rights. The premise being that a sincere desire to engender peaceful coexistence, with European identity being envisioned as a shared identity requires a democratic citizenship which in essence is a shared citizenship, characterized by diversity and pluralism, and not one insisting on cultural or civilizational homogeneity. This naturally entails formulation of policy guidelines that foster mutual trust and respect as well as addressing the socioeconomic, political and civic dimensions of citizenship.]

Objective: To assess the safety of replacing the postoperative week 1 (POW1) clinic visit with a nurse-conducted telephone call., Design: Retrospective observational study that included cases from January 2019 to June 2021., Participants: Patients who had undergone uncomplicated phacoemulsification surgery with an unremarkable postoperative day 1 (POD1) examination., Methods: All patients were seen in clinic on POD1 by an ophthalmologist. They then had a telephone conversation with a nurse at POW1 and subsequently an in-person postoperative month 1 (POM1) clinic consultation with an ophthalmologist. Main outcome measure was the incidence of unexpected management changes related to cataract surgery within POM1. Data also were collected on the reasons for unscheduled patient-initiated visits, additional procedures or medications, and postoperative visual acuity worse than 6/12 at POM1., Results: Of the 20,475 patients, 541 patients (2.64%) had an unexpected management change within POM1. There were 565 patients (2.76%) who had self-initiated unscheduled visits between POD1 to POM1. There were 23 patients (0.11%) who required additional surgery within POM1 and 1 patient (0.005%) with endophthalmitis. The most common indication for additional surgical procedures was retained lens material (7 patients, 30.43%). Visual acuity was worse than 6/12 in 1,199 patients (6.22%), with the most common causes attributed to preexisting ocular conditions., Conclusions: These results suggest that replacing the POW1 visit with a nurse-conducted telephone consult for patients who have undergone uncomplicated phacoemulsification surgery and had a normal POD1 consultation is safe., Competing Interests: Footnotes and Disclosure The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article., (Copyright © 2024 Canadian Ophthalmological Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Rationale: Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) has been shown to result in benefits in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease (f-ILD) receiving supplemental oxygen in two independent trials. Objective: This phase III randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study sought to validate the benefit of ambulatory iNO in patients with f-ILD requiring supplemental oxygen. Methods: Patients with f-ILD receiving supplemental long-term oxygen were randomized in a 1:1 fashion to iNO at 45 μg/kg ideal body weight per hour or placebo for 16 weeks. The primary outcome was the change from baseline to Week 16 in MVPA assessed by accelerometry. Secondary outcomes included overall activity, 6-minute-walk distance and patient-reported outcomes. Results: 145 patients were enrolled; 75 were assigned to receive iNO and 70 placebo. The changes from baseline in MVPA at 16 weeks were -9.2 min/d (standard error, 3.51) in the iNO45 group and -3.7 min/d (3.76) in the placebo group (difference, 5.5; P  = 0.265). No statistically significant differences between the two treatment arms were found for any of the secondary outcomes. A subgroup analysis of patients with an intermediate or high probability of pulmonary hypertension on echocardiography did not demonstrate any benefit. The most common adverse events reported were respiratory tract infections, but the therapy was generally very well tolerated. Conclusions: There was no demonstrable benefit to iNO in patients with f-ILD receiving supplemental oxygen in daily physical activity assessed by actigraphy, a potential novel clinical trial endpoint. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03267108).

Background: Plasmids play a major role in the transfer of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes among bacteria via horizontal gene transfer. The identification of plasmids in short-read assemblies is a challenging problem and a very active research area. Plasmid binning aims at detecting, in a draft genome assembly, groups (bins) of contigs likely to originate from the same plasmid. Several methods for plasmid binning have been developed recently, such as PlasBin-flow, HyAsP, gplas, MOB-suite, and plasmidSPAdes. This motivates the problem of evaluating the performances of plasmid binning methods, either against a given ground truth or between them., Results: We describe PlasEval, a novel method aimed at comparing the results of plasmid binning tools. PlasEval computes a dissimilarity measure between two sets of plasmid bins, that can originate either from two plasmid binning tools, or from a plasmid binning tool and a ground truth set of plasmid bins. The PlasEval dissimilarity accounts for the contig content of plasmid bins, the length of contigs and is repeat-aware. Moreover, the dissimilarity score computed by PlasEval is broken down into several parts, that allows to understand qualitative differences between the compared sets of plasmid bins. We illustrate the use of PlasEval by benchmarking four recently developed plasmid binning tools-PlasBin-flow, HyAsP, gplas, and MOB-recon-on a data set of 53 E. coli bacterial genomes., Conclusion: Analysis of the results of plasmid binning methods using PlasEval shows that their behaviour varies significantly. PlasEval can be used to decide which specific plasmid binning method should be used for a specific dataset. The disagreement between different methods also suggests that the problem of plasmid binning on short-read contigs requires further research. We believe that PlasEval can prove to be an effective tool in this regard. PlasEval is publicly available at https://github.com/acme92/PlasEval., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background/aims: To investigate whether compensating retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness measurements for demographic and anatomical ocular factors can strengthen the structure-function relationship in patients with glaucoma., Methods: 600 eyes from 412 patients with glaucoma (mean deviation of the visual field (MD VF) -6.53±5.55 dB) were included in this cross-sectional study. Participants underwent standard automated perimetry and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography imaging (Cirrus; Carl Zeiss Meditec). Compensated RNFL thickness was computed considering age, refractive error, optic disc parameters and retinal vessel density. The relationship between MD VF and RNFL thickness measurements, with or without demographic and anatomical compensation, was evaluated sectorally and focally., Results: The superior arcuate sector exhibited the highest correlation between measured RNFL and MD VF, with a correlation of 0.49 (95% CI 0.37 to 0.59). Applying the compensated RNFL data increased the correlation substantially to 0.62 (95% CI 0.52 to 0.70; p<0.001). Only 61% of the VF locations showed a significant relationship (Spearman's correlation of at least 0.30) between structural and functional aspects using measured RNFL data, and this increased to 78% with compensated RNFL measurements. In the 10°-20° VF region, the slope below the breakpoint for compensated RNFL thickness demonstrated a more robust correlation (slope=1.66±0.18 µm/dB; p<0.001) than measured RNFL (slope=0.27±0.67 µm/dB; p=0.688)., Conclusion: Compensated RNFL data improve the correlation between RNFL measurements and VF parameters. This indicates that creating structure-to-function maps that consider anatomical variances may aid in identifying localised structural and functional loss in glaucoma., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)

High-capacity communication networks are built to provide high throughput and low latency to accommodate the growing demand for bandwidth. However, the provision of these features is subject to a robust underlying network, which can provide high capacity with maximum reliability in terms of the system's connection availability. This work optimizes an existing 2D spectral-spatial optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) passive optical network (PON) to maximize connection availability while maintaining desirable communication capacity and capital expenditure. Optimization is performed by employing ring topology at the feeder level, which is used to provide a redundant path in case of connection failures. Furthermore, high transmission capacity is ensured by utilizing a pseudo-3D double-weight zero cross-correlation (DW-ZCC) code. The analysis is performed with Optisystem simulations to observe the performance of the system in terms of bit error rate (BER), received power, and eye openings. It is observed that the introduction of ring topology at the feeder level of the PON does not impact the overall transmission capacity of the system. The system can still support maximum transmission capacity at receiver sensitivities of up to -19 dB. Reliability analysis also shows that the optimized ring-based architecture can provide desirable connection availability compared to the existing system.

This study aims to present a simplified bit-class probabilistic shaping (PS) strategy based on power domain multiplexing (PDM) systems. In this scheme, we employ bit-weighted distribution matching (BWDM) to achieve PS. By ingeniously applying the process of signal superposition, the low-complexity bit-class PS scheme requires encoding of only a small number of bits in the low-power two quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signal, enhancing the quality of the transmitted signal with simple operations. At the receiver, to ensure the transmission performance of the system while minimizing computational complexity and enhancing system operational efficiency, we implemented the region decision method for demodulation. The proposed scheme was experimentally validated on a 2 km 7-core fiber, achieving accurate transmission of signals at a net rate of 103.6 Gb/s. The experimental results indicate that, when compared to the uniform 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) signal and the PDM-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal without PS, the receiving sensitivity of the PS-16QAM signal in our scheme can gain 0.4 dB and 0.33 dB at a bit error rate (BER) of 3.8 × 10 -3 under the same net rate.

Competing Interests: Disclosure Carolyn Nessim has received honoraria from the following companies, but they are not relevant to this paper: Merck, Sanofi, Novartis, EMD Sorono, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim Medical.

O 6 -methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is a DNA damage repair enzyme. The roles of this enzyme in immune cells remain unclear. In this study, we explored the roles of MGMT in bone marrow-derived murine macrophages (BMMs) via the use of MGMT knockout (KO) mice. Loss of MGMT altered the response to TLR3 agonists (poly (I:C)), such as dampening the production of TNFα and IL-6. Increased DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) were observed in MGMT-KO macrophages but did not result in increased cell death. MGMT localized to both nuclei and mitochondria at increasing levels during poly (I:C) stimulation. MGMT deficiency increased the production of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS), which was correlated with increased mitophagy. The underlying mechanism involves mediation through activation of the AMPKα pathway. Taken together, our findings reveal the roles of MGMT in macrophages in regulating the response to TLR3, which links DSBs to mtROS and mitophagy via the AMPKα pathway. These roles may have consequences for the inflammatory response and chronic inflammation., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

High-grain diets promote polymicrobial liver infections in cattle, commonly involving the bacterium Trueperella pyogenes . We have isolated T. pyogenes from the purulent material of abscesses and sequenced their genomes. These data enhance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying liver abscess development in cattle.

Hodgkin lymphoma with vanishing bile duct syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome and has never been studied in the pediatric population. The objectives of this study were to determine the clinical characteristics of this rare condition in children through a literature review, and a descriptive analysis of all published cases with the index case report. All reported cases fulfilling the inclusion criteria were found through a literature search, and analyzed in descriptive statistics. A total of 10 cases were included in the study with a median age of 9.5 years and a male-to-female ratio of 9:1. The median duration of symptoms was 5.5 weeks with 3 cases having jaundice before the symptoms of lymphoma. The median bilirubin level was 8.4 mg/dL. Seven cases received modified chemotherapy, and 5 used ursodeoxycholic acid. The survival rate was 50%. Normalization of liver functions after the lymphoma treatment was observed in 4 cases and was the only statistically significant factor (P=0.01) associated with the outcome. This is a rare entity in the pediatric population with a guarded prognosis comparable to the adult counterparts but a marked male predominance., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

In order to investigate the distributions and possible dispersion mechanism(s) of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs: 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K) from coal-based brick kilns, a systematic set (n = 60) of coal, ash, surface-soil, and subsurface soil samples were analyzed. High-quality analytical data of U, Th and K obtained from HPGe detector and TRIGA Mark-II research reactor-based neutron activation analysis were converted to the corresponding radioactivities. Average (n = 10) radioactivities of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40  K in coal samples were 15.6, 16.7, and 145.5 Bq.kg -1 , respectively, where only 40  K surpassed the corresponding global mean value. Average (n = 10) radioactivities of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40  K in ash samples were 62.7, 88.5, and 521 Bq.kg -1 , respectively, where only 226 Ra was within the established limit. In soil samples, average (n = 40) activities of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40  K were 62.7, 95.1, and 641 Bq.kg -1 , respectively, which have surpassed the corresponding worldwide mean values. The observed differences in activity levels between soil samples collected near and far from the kilns, as well as between topsoil and subsoil samples, suggest the presence of distinct transport mechanisms for NORMs within the pedosphere. Dispersions of NORMs from the brick kilns to the ambient pedosphere are largely governed by aerodynamic convection and hydrodynamic leaching. These mechanisms are also influenced by geochemical mobility and relative solubility of NORMs, as well as factors such as rainfall patterns and wind-flow direction. Radiological indices invoke long-term carcinogenic-risks, whereas aerodynamic convection of finer particles (coal fly ash) from chimneys can cause significant health hazards to the nearby dwellers. Scientific processes as well as public awareness are essential to mitigate the risks., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Ethics approval: Not applicable. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

AT-hook motif nuclear localized (AHL) genes are crucial in various biological processes, yet the AHL gene family in apples has remained largely unexplored. In this study, we isolated 36 MdAHL genes from the apple genome and grouped them into two distinct clades. We characterized the gene structure, conserved motifs, protein biochemical properties, and promoter regions of the MdAHL genes. Transcriptional analysis revealed that MdAHL genes are preferentially and predominantly expressed in flowers and leaves. Notably, during the floral induction phase, the MdAHL6 gene exhibited remarkably high transcriptional activity. Overexpression of MdAHL6 resulted in shortened hypocotyls and delayed flowering by regulating hypocotyl- and floral-related genes. Y1H, EMSA, GUS activity, and molecular docking assays revealed that MdAHL6 directly binds to AT-rich regions, inhibiting the expression of FLOWERING LOCUS T (MdFT). Furthermore, Y2H, pull-down, and BiFC assays demonstrated a physical interaction between MdAHL6 and the class II knotted-like transcription factor MdKNOX19, which significantly enhances the inhibitory effect of MdAHL6 on MdFT expression. This comprehensive initial analysis unveils the critical role of the MdKNOX19-MdAHL6-MdFT module in flowering induction and lays a theoretical foundation for future functional exploration., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Capsaicin (CAP), a crucial compound found in chili peppers, not only contributes to their spicy flavor but also possesses several industrial applications. CAP biosynthetic pathway is well known, while its transport mechanism remains elusive. Herein, we performed a comparative transcriptome analysis conducted on pepper fruit tissues at three different stages of development. Four important CAP transporter genes, including one MATE and three ABCs, were identified by differential expression and WGCNA analysis. Specifically, the expression patterns of three ABC genes were assessed in the septum of fruits from nine distinct genotypes of peppers with high capsaicin levels. Interestingly, CaABCG14 was associated with variations in CAP concentration and co-expressed with genes involved in CAP biosynthesis. Transient expression assay revealed that CaABCG14 is localized to the membrane and nucleus. Silencing of CaABCG14 resulted in a notable reduction in the levels of CAP contents and the expression of its biosynthetic genes in the septum of pepper. The overexpression of CaABCG14 greatly intensified the cytotoxic effects of CAP on the yeast cells. Taken together, we for the first time identified a new transporter gene CaABCG14, regulating the CAP accumulation in pepper septum. These findings offer a fresh molecular theoretical framework for CAP transport and accumulation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Diabetes mellitus is a prevalent chronic disease necessitating timely identification for effective management. This paper introduces a reliable, straightforward, and efficient method for the minimally invasive identification of diabetes mellitus through nanosecond pulsed laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) by integrating a state-of-the-art machine learning approach. LIBS spectra were collected from urine samples of diabetic and healthy individuals. Principal component analysis and an ensemble learning classification model were used to identify significant changes in LIBS peak intensity between the diseased and normal urine samples. The model, integrating six distinct classifiers and cross-validation techniques, exhibited high accuracy (96.5%) in predicting diabetes mellitus. Our findings emphasize the potential of LIBS for diabetes mellitus identification in urine samples. This technique may hold potential for future applications in diagnosing other health conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Cholesterol reduction by intracellular protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani (L. donovani), causative agent of leishmaniasis, impairs antigen presentation, pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion and host-protective membrane-receptor signaling in macrophages. Here, we studied the miRNA mediated regulation of cholesterol biosynthetic genes to understand the possible mechanism of L. donovani-induced cholesterol reduction and therapeutic importance of miRNAs in leishmaniasis. System-scale genome-wide microtranscriptome screening was performed to identify the miRNAs involved in the regulation of expression of key cholesterol biosynthesis regulatory genes through miRanda3.0. 11 miRNAs out of 2823, showing complementarity with cholesterol biosynthetic genes were finally selected for expression analysis. These selected miRNAs were differentially regulated in THP-1 derived macrophages and in primary human macrophages by L. donovani. Correlation of expression and target validation through luciferase assay suggested two key miRNAs, hsa-miR-1303 and hsa-miR-874-3p regulating the key genes hmgcr and hmgcs1 respectively. Inhibition of hsa-mir-1303 and hsa-miR-874-3p augmented the expression of targets and reduced the parasitemia in macrophages. This study will also provide the platform for the development of miRNA-based therapy against leishmaniasis., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to report regarding the present study., (Copyright © 2024 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Fruit color is an important qualitative trait that greatly influences the marketability of peppers. Fruit color can be divided into two categories. Green fruit color denotes commercial maturity, whereas ripe fruit indicates physiological maturity. Herein, segregation populations were created using the 'D24' with pale green in the green fruit stage, orange in the mature fruit stage, and 'D47' with green in the green fruit stage and red in the mature fruit stage. BSA-seq and genetic linkage map analysis revealed green fruit color was linked to ( gyqtl1.1 ) on Chr1 and ( gyqtl10.1 ) on Chr10, while mature fruit color was linked to Chr6. Using functional annotation, sequence, and expression analysis, we speculate that an SNP mutation in the CapGLK2 gene at the gyqtl10.1 interval could initiate premature termination of translation, thus yielding green to pale green fruits in D47. Conversely, the orange color in mature D24 fruits is due to the Indel-mediated premature termination of translation of the CapCCS gene. Our research offers a theoretical foundation for choosing different varieties of pepper fruit based on their color., Competing Interests: Author KC was employed by Guangdong Helinong Biological Seed Industry Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Feng, Zhou, Sharif, Diao, Liu, Liu, Chen, Chen, Cao, Zhu, Liao, Lei and Chen.)

Fluorescence spectroscopy coupled with a random forest machine learning algorithm offers a promising non-invasive approach for diagnosing glycosuria, a condition characterized by excess sugar in the urine of diabetic patients. This study investigated the ability of this method to differentiate between diabetic and healthy control urine samples. Fluorescent spectra were captured from urine samples using a Xenon arc lamp emitting light within the 200 to 950 nm wavelength range, with consistent fluorescence emission observed at 450 nm under an excitation wavelength of 370 nm. Healthy control samples were also analyzed within the same spectral range for comparison. To distinguish spectral differences between healthy and infected samples, the random forest (RF) and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) machine learning algorithms have been employed. These algorithms automatically recognize spectral patterns associated with diabetes, enabling the prediction of unknown classifications based on established samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) was utilized for dimensionality reduction before feeding the data to RF and KNN for classification. The model's classification performance was evaluated using 10-fold cross-validation, resulting in the proposed RF-based model achieving accuracy of 96 %, specificity of 100 %, sensitivity of 93 %, and precision of 100 %. These results suggest that the proposed method holds promise for a more convenient and potentially more accurate method for diagnosing glycosuria in diabetic patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study proposes a novel model employing nonlinear ordinary differential equations to dissect HCV dynamics. Six distinct population groups are delineated: Susceptible, Treatment, Responder, Non-Responder, Cured, and Fibrosis. A detailed numerical analysis of this model was conducted, tracking the predicted trends over a span of 20 years. The primary objective of this analysis is to assess and confirm the model's predictive accuracy and its potential to supplant invasive diagnostic methods in monitoring the progression of liver fibrosis. By incorporating various control parameters, namely u 1 ( t ) , u 2 ( t ) , and u 3 ( t ) , the model offers a nuanced perspective on disease progression and treatment outcomes. Parameter u 1 ( t ) modulates treatment-induced fibrosis progression, providing a crucial lever for mitigating treatment-related side effects. u 2 ( t ) reflects treatment effectiveness, capturing the proportion of responders within the treatment cohort. Meanwhile, u 3 ( t ) governs fibrosis progression in non-responders, shedding light on the disease's natural trajectory without effective treatment.

The present study was aimed to ameliorate the issue of solubility and thereby, bioavailability of ketoprofen, a BCS Class II drug. The sustained release matrix tablets (MT) were prepared using surfactant-assisted wet granulation (SAWG) with 1-5% of different surfactants. The tablet characteristics were within the compendial limits. The selected sustained release-compliant matrix tablet formulation containing granules prepared using 3% Soluplus® (MT2) released the drug by swelling-erosion. In human volunteers, MT2 attained the maximum plasma concentration (C max ) of 5.72µg /ml ± 0.30 h, time to C max (T max ) of 5.56 ± 0.30 h and maintained the plasma concentration above its minimum effective concentration (MEC), 0.7 µg.ml -1 till 24h. A control formulation, prepared from granules without surfactant (MT16), promptly attained C max of 9.62 ± 0.76 µg/ml within 1h but rapidly declined to below MEC in 8h. Area under the curve from initial point to infinity (AUC 0-∞ ) of MT2 (78.65 ± 7.64 µg.h.ml -1 ) was 2.29 folds higher than 34.39 ± 3.06 µg.h.ml -1 of MT16. With decreased C max , increased AUC 0-∞ , delayed T max and retained ketoprofen concentration above MEC for longer time, MT2 corresponded with the in-vitro sustained drug release characteristic. There is a likelihood of administration of once-a-day single dose of MT2 without plasma fluctuations, expected from two doses of MT16. SAWG helped developing a swellable-erodible sustained release matrix tablet formulation of ketoprofen with the desired biopharmaceutical and pharmacokinetics properties, merely by addition of Soluplus® in granules and without incorporation of any special ingredients or the major manipulation of the formulative ingredients in the formulation., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.)

Background: Presence of positive biopsy margins in melanoma can provoke anxiety over potential disease progression from delays to surgical excision, but their impact on outcomes is unknown. We aimed to compare the presence of residual melanoma in the surgical excision specimen and survival between patients with negative, microscopically positive, and macroscopically positive biopsy margins., Methods: Patients with cutaneous melanoma who underwent surgical excision over a 13-year period were included. Biopsy characteristics, residual disease in the surgical specimen, and overall and recurrence-free survival were compared between patients with negative, microscopically positive (only scar visible), and macroscopically positive (visible remaining melanoma) biopsy margins., Results: Of 901 patients, 42.4%, 33.3%, and 24.3% had negative, microscopically positive, and macroscopically positive margins, respectively. The incidence of residual invasive melanoma in the surgical specimen varied (P < 0.001), occurring in 5.5%, 17.0%, and 74.9% of patients, respectively. Both microscopically and macroscopically positive margins were associated with residual disease (P < 0.001) but only the latter predicted worse overall (P = 0.013) and recurrence-free survival (P = 0.009). Kaplan-Meier estimated survival was comparable between those with negative and microscopically positive margins, but overall (P = 0.006) and recurrence-free survival (P = 0.004) were significantly worse in the macroscopically positive margin group. These patients had worse prognosis melanoma, with 33.8% being stage III disease, and 23.2% having positive sentinel lymph nodes., Conclusions: Patients and physicians may be reassured in the presence of microscopically positive biopsy margins which are not associated with worse survival, However, patients with macroscopically positive margins have poorer prognosis and should be treated within an acceptable time frame., (© 2024. Society of Surgical Oncology.)

Background: To enhance the quality of care available for children with central nervous system (CNS) tumors across the world, a systematic evaluation of capacity is needed to identify gaps and prioritize interventions. To that end, we created the pediatric neuro-oncology (PNO) resource assessment aid (PANORAMA) tool., Methods: The development of PANORAMA encompassed 3 phases: operationalization, consensus building, and piloting. PANORAMA aimed to capture the elements of the PNO care continuum through domains with weighted assessments reflecting their importance. Responses were ordinally scored to reflect the level of satisfaction. PANORAMA was revised based on feedback at various phases to improve its relevance, usability, and clarity., Results: The operationalization phase identified 14 domains by using 252 questions. The consensus phase involved 15 experts (6 pediatric oncologists, 3 radiation oncologists, 2 neurosurgeons, 2 radiologists, and 2 pathologists). The consensus phase validated the identified domains, questions, and scoring methodology. The PANORAMA domains included national context, hospital infrastructure, organization and service integration, human resources, financing, laboratory, neurosurgery, diagnostic imaging, pathology, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, supportive care, and patient outcomes. PANORAMA was piloted at 13 institutions in 12 countries, representing diverse patient care contexts. Face validity was assessed by examining the correlation between the estimated score by respondents and calculated PANORAMA scores for each domain ( r  = 0.67, P  < .0001)., Conclusions: PANORAMA was developed through a systematic, collaborative approach, ensuring its relevance to evaluate core elements of PNO service capacity. Distribution of PANORAMA will enable quantitative service evaluations across institutions, facilitating benchmarking and the prioritization of interventions., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press, the Society for Neuro-Oncology and the European Association of Neuro-Oncology.)

Introduction: 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is a chemotherapeutic agent used to treat various types of cancers. Although widely used, it has consistently been attributed to cardiotoxicities after administration. The purpose of this study was to assess the parameters and predictors of cardiotoxicities associated with various 5-FU-based chemotherapeutic protocols in patients with GI/colorectal cancer, as well as the correlation of these cardiotoxic events with age, sex, cumulative dose, and risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, and family history of cardiac diseases., Methods: A prospective study consisting of 396 patients of both sexes was conducted in the oncology ward of Nishtar Hospital in Multan, Pakistan. Patients were grouped according to the therapeutic protocol they received (5-FU monotherapy or in combination, with different dosing regimens). Electrocardiography and serum troponin levels were used to assess 5-FU-induced cardiotoxicity. In cases where cardiotoxicity was detected, 5-FU treatment was interrupted; nitroglycerin, nitrates, and calcium channel blockers were administered; and cardiac monitoring was initiated. 5-FU was discontinued in all cases of acute myocardial infarction., Results: Of the 396 patients, 28.5% reported different cardiotoxic symptoms after receiving various 5-FU-containing protocols. 35% had anginal pain, 13% suffered a myocardial infarction, 11% developed hypertension, and 10% presented heart failure. Patients receiving 5-FU combination therapy showed cardiotoxic events that were significantly different from those on 5-FU monotherapy. Based on the ECG results, only the QTc-d interval increased significantly (p < 0.001) after therapy. 68% of the patients had troponin levels > 2 ng/mL at the end of treatment., Conclusions: Pre-existing cardiac diseases, treatment duration, smoking, and obesity were found to be influential components in the development of cardiotoxicity, and patients with cancer should be closely monitored during 5-FU chemotherapy., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Hemicellulose is key in determining the fate of plant cell wall in almost all growth and developmental stages. Nevertheless, there is limited knowledge regarding its involvement in the development and ripening of banana fruit. This study investigated changes in the temporal-spatial distribution of various hemicellulose components, hemicellulose content, activities of the main hydrolysis enzymes, and transcription level of the main hemicellulose-related gene families in banana peels. Both hemicellulose and xylan contents were positively correlated to the fruit firmness observed in our previous study. On the contrary, the xylanase activity was negatively correlated to xylan content and the fruit firmness. The vascular bundle cells, phloem, and cortex of bananas are abundant in xyloglucan, xylan, and mannan contents. Interestingly, the changes in the signal intensity of the CCRC-M104 antibody recognizing non-XXXG type xyloglucan are positively correlated to hemicellulose content. According to RNA-Seq analysis, xyloglucan and xylan-related genes were highly active in the early stages of growth, and the expression of MaMANs and MaXYNs increased as the fruit ripened. The abundance of plant hormonal and growth-responsive cis-acting elements was detected in the 2 kb upstream region of hemicellulose-related gene families. Interaction between hemicellulose and cell wall-specific proteins and MaKCBP1/2, MaCKG1, and MaHKL1 was found. The findings shed light on cell wall hemicellulose's role in banana fruit development and ripening, which could improve nutrition, flavor, and reduce postharvest fruit losses., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

With antimicrobial resistance (AMR) rapidly evolving in pathogens, quick and accurate identification of genetic determinants of phenotypic resistance is essential for improving surveillance, stewardship, and clinical mitigation. Machine learning (ML) models show promise for AMR prediction in diagnostics but require a deep understanding of internal processes to use effectively. Our study utilised AMR gene, pangenomic, and predicted plasmid features from 647 Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis genomes across the One Health continuum, along with corresponding resistance phenotypes, to develop interpretive ML classifiers. Vancomycin resistance could be predicted with 99% accuracy with AMR gene features, 98% with pangenome features, and 96% with plasmid clusters. Top pangenome features overlapped with the resistance genes of the vanA operon, which are often laterally transmitted via plasmids. Doxycycline resistance prediction achieved approximately 92% accuracy with pangenome features, with the top feature being elements of Tn 916 conjugative transposon, a tet (M) carrier. Erythromycin resistance prediction models achieved about 90% accuracy, but top features were negatively correlated with resistance due to the confounding effect of population structure. This work demonstrates the importance of reviewing ML models' features to discern biological relevance even when achieving high-performance metrics. Our workflow offers the potential to propose hypotheses for experimental testing, enhancing the understanding of AMR mechanisms, which are crucial for combating the AMR crisis., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

The study aimed to evaluate the impact of compensating retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness for demographic and anatomical factors on glaucoma detection in Chinese and Indian adults. A population-based study included 1995 healthy participants (1076 Chinese and 919 Indians) to construct a multivariable linear regression compensation model. This model was applied to 357 Chinese glaucoma patients, 357 healthy Chinese, and 357 healthy Indians using Cirrus spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). The compensated RNFL thickness considered age, refractive error, optic disc parameters, and retinal vessel density. Results showed that although the average RNFL thickness was significantly higher in Chinese participants compared to Indians, the compensation model reduced this difference to nonsignificance. Moreover, the compensation model significantly improved the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.90 vs. 0.78; p<0.001), sensitivity (75% vs. 51%), and specificity (67% vs. 32%) in distinguishing Chinese glaucoma patients from healthy Indian individuals. The compensation model significantly enhanced the diagnostic accuracy of RNFL thickness in distinguishing glaucoma in the Chinese ethnic group compared to the OCT instrument's default values. These results suggest that modifying RNFL measurements based on individual characteristics can yield substantial benefits for glaucoma detection across ethnicities., (© 2024 The Author(s). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The New York Academy of Sciences.)

The current study focuses on the idea of "Energy from Waste" that intends to address energy crises and manage waste. Fruit waste is one of the most common forms of organic waste due to its inedible portion and perishable nature. In Pakistani regions, an extensive amount of mango pulp (MP)/juice waste is produced due to excessive consumption during summers, which poses huge environmental challenges. The study aims at effective valorization of perishable waste and elimination of deteriorating waste that causes a polluting environment. Experimental work has been conducted to evaluate the sucrolytic potential of Bacillus cereus FA3 for the bioconversion of sucrose from mango waste into reducing sugars for ethanologenesis. The Plackett-Burman model was designed to analyze enzymatic hydrolytic parameters for sugar conversion. The model was significant for reducing sugars with F and p values of 43.99 and 0.0013 correspondingly. 11.43 ± 0.068 g/L maximum reducing sugars were analyzed in MP after hydrolysis with 12.58 IU of crude enzyme dosage of B. cereus FA3 at 30 °C within 5 days with a 22% enzyme conversion rate. Additionally, the ethanologenic potentials of experimental Metschnikowia cibodasensis Y34 and standard Saccharomyces cerevisiae K7 yeasts were investigated from mango hydrolyzate when subjected to central composite design as a statistical optimization tool. These findings exhibited significantly higher response outcomes and good development for waste management., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Purpose: To describe the long-term outcomes of phacotrabeculectomy from a tertiary glaucoma service in Singapore., Design: Retrospective case series., Methods: Seven hundred ninety-six eyes of 698 patients who underwent phacotrabeculectomy surgery at the Singapore National Eye Centre between 2005 and 2007 with a minimum follow-up of three years were included. The primary outcome measure was intraocular pressure (IOP). Secondary outcomes included best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), number of glaucoma medications, and surgical complications., Results: The mean age was 69.5 years, 51 % were male, and 86 % were Chinese. Most eyes had primary glaucoma (90.6 %). The mean follow-up duration was 9.4 years. The overall success rate at three years was 97 % if surgical success was defined as IOP ≤ 21 mm Hg, 92 % if IOP ≤ 18 mm Hg, 66 % if IOP ≤ 15 mm Hg. By Kaplan-Meier survival analysis over 13 years, the cumulative success rate fell from 98.1 % to 89.1 % if IOP ≤ 21 mm Hg, 98.1-76.9 % if IOP ≤ 18 mm Hg, 98-50.3 % if IOP ≤ 15 mm Hg. The postoperative IOP improved significantly at all time points (P < 0.05) and 72 % had at least 20 % IOP reduction. There was a slight improvement in postoperative BCVA (P < 0.05). The mean number of glaucoma medications was reduced postoperatively (P < 0.001). There were no significant risk factors for surgical failure., Conclusions: Phacotrabeculectomy was found to be safe, resulting in clinically significant IOP lowering for 13 years with reduced dependency on glaucoma medications and improved BCVA., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

This study explored the alteration of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs: 226 Ra (≈ 238 U), 232 Th, 40 K) in an anthropogenically disrupted urban river-basin (Turag, Bangladesh) in terms of constitutional substances (Sc, Ti, V, Fe, La, Ce, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, Yb, Lu, Hf, Ta, W, Th, U) of heavy-minerals. Average activity concentrations of 226 Ra (≈ 238 U), 232 Th, and 40 K were 41.5 ± 12.9, 72.1 ± 27.1, and 639 ± 100 Bqkg -1 , respectively which were relatively higher compared to crustal origin. ∑REEs, Ta, W, Th, and U were ~2 times higher compared to crustal values with Ce and Eu-anomalies. APCS-MLR and PMF receptor models were used to determine the various anthropogenic and/or geogenic sources of NORMs and elements. Layer-wise variations of NORMs and elements were observed to trace the response of sedimentary processes towards the incoming pollution load. Presence of REEs indicates moderate degree of ecological risk to aquatic biota. However, carcinogenic risk (3.84 × 10 -4  Sv -1 ) were significantly higher than threshold limit., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To evaluate reproducibility and agreement of angle closure assessment by a novel hyperparallel optical coherence tomography (OCT) system (HP-OCT, Cylite Optics, Melbourne, Australia), in comparison with swept-source OCT (SS-OCT, CASIA SS-1000, Tomey Corporation, Nagoya, Japan) and gonioscopy., Methods: Cross-sectional study. Phakic subjects >40 years, with no relevant ophthalmic history were consecutively recruited from the glaucoma clinic. Subjects underwent same-day evaluation with HP-OCT, SS-OCT and gonioscopy. The primary outcome was the presence of angle closure, defined as iridotrabecular contact in HP-OCT and SS-OCT images at 0°-180° meridional and as non-visibility of the posterior trabecular meshwork (TM) by gonioscopy. Visibility of TM was also assessed (secondary outcome). Intra and interdevice agreement analysis (Gwet AC1) and logistic regression analysis were performed for primary and secondary outcomes, respectively., Results: 154 sectors from horizontal scans of 77 subjects were analysed. The reproducibility of angle closure assessment by HP-OCT was excellent (AC1 of 0.95 for temporal angle and 1.00 for nasal). Agreement for angle closure detection was very good between HP-OCT and SS-OCT (AC1 of 0.88 for temporal and 0.81 for nasal angle) and good between HP-OCT and gonioscopy (AC1 of 0.71 for temporal and 0.78 for nasal angle). TM was identifiable in 64.4% (94/146) of unprocessed HP-OCT images (both open and closed angles), however not visible in any of the SS-OCT unprocessed images., Conclusions: HP-OCT showed excellent reproducibility for angle closure assessment and good agreement with SS-OCT and gonioscopy. HP-OCT technology also provides a unique capability to visualise regions around TM and Schlemm's canal, opening new avenues for clinical research of distal outflow pathways., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Gemcitabine is the first-line treatment option for patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the frequent adoption of resistance to gemcitabine by cancer cells poses a significant challenge in treating this aggressive disease. In this study, we focused on analyzing the role of trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) in gemcitabine resistance in PDAC. Analysis of PDAC TCGA and cell line datasets indicated an enrichment of TFF1 in the gemcitabine-resistant classical subtype and suggested an inverse correlation between TFF1 expression and sensitivity to gemcitabine treatment. The genetic ablation of TFF1 in PDAC cells enhanced their sensitivity to gemcitabine treatment in both in vitro and in vivo tumor xenografts. The biochemical studies revealed that TFF1 contributes to gemcitabine resistance through enhanced stemness, increasing migration ability of cancer cells, and induction of anti-apoptotic genes. We further pursued studies to predict possible receptors exerting TFF1-mediated gemcitabine resistance. Protein-protein docking investigations with BioLuminate software revealed that TFF1 binds to the chemokine receptor CXCR4, which was supported by real-time binding analysis of TFF1 and CXCR4 using SPR studies. The exogenous addition of TFF1 increased the proliferation and migration of PDAC cells through the pAkt/pERK axis, which was abrogated by treatment with a CXCR4-specific antagonist AMD3100. Overall, the present study demonstrates the contribution of the TFF1-CXCR4 axis in imparting gemcitabine resistance properties to PDAC cells., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: SKB is one of the co-founders of Sanguine Diagnostics and Therapeutics, Inc. The other authors declare no potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Contamination of agricultural soils with heavy metals (HMs) poses a significant environmental threat, especially because industrial discharges often irrigate agricultural lands. A prominent source of HM(s) pollution occurs from tannery effluents containing high concentrations of chromium (Cr) in both Cr 3+ and Cr 6+ forms along with other toxic materials. Cr is known for its carcinogenic and mutagenic properties in biological systems. Microbe-assisted phytoremediation has emerged as a promising and environmentally friendly approach for detoxifying Cr-contaminated environments. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of citric acid (CA) and a Cr-reducing bacterial strain ( Staphylococcus aureus) on the phytoextraction potential of Lemna minor within a Constructed Wetland System treated with tannery wastewater. Various combinations of tannery wastewater (0, 50, and 100 %), CA (0, 5 and 10 mM), and microbial inoculants were applied to the test plants. The mitigative effects of Staphylococcus aureus strain K1 were examined in combination with different concentrations of CA (0, 5, 10 mM). Data on growth and yield attributes highlighted the beneficial effects of bacterial inoculation and CA in ameliorating Cr toxicity in L. minor , as evidenced by increased foliar chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, POD, APX, CAT), and improved nutrient uptake. Specifically, CA application resulted in an enhancement of Cr ranging from 12% to 15% and 23%-31% in concentration, and 134%-141% and 322%-337% in Cr accumulation, respectively. When combined with the S. aureus inoculation treatment, CA application (5 and 10 mM) further increased the concentration and accumulation of Cr in L. minor . The enhancement in Cr ranged from 12% to 23% and 27%-41% in concentration, 68%-75%, and 179%-185% in accumulation, respectively. These results demonstrated that L. minor is an effective choice for environmentally friendly Cr remediation due to its continued ability to grow in polluted wastewater. This study suggested that microbial-assisted phytoextraction combined with chelating agents such as CA could be a practical and effective approach for remediating tannery effluents., Competing Interests: The authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

We report square planar mononuclear Pt(II)-complexes of terpyridines in the form of [PtCl( L1 / L2 )]PF 6 as phosphorescent emitters (where L1 = 4-(3-pyridine)2,2':6',2''-terpyridine and L2 = 4'-(3-pyridinyl)-4,4''-di( tert -butyl)-2,2':6'2''-terpyridine). Complex 2 showed emission at 534 nm in the DCM solution with photoluminescence quantum efficiency (Φ PL ) = 14%, while in the mCBP host (5-wt % doped), the emission shifted to 584 nm with Φ PL = 37.8% and a phosphorescence lifetime (τ phos ) of 37.8 μs. Complex 2 in mCBP was used to fabricate a solution-processed phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode (PhOLED) which showed maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE max ) = 7.4% with yellow emission at λ EL = 570 nm and exhibited a low efficiency roll-off with an EQE drop to 7.0% at 1000 cd/m 2 .

The rapid increase of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in humans and livestock is concerning. Antimicrobials are essential for the treatment of disease in modern day medicine, and their misuse in humans and food animals has contributed to an increase in the prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Globally, antimicrobial resistance is recognized as a One Health problem affecting humans, animals, and environment. Enterococcal species are Gram-positive bacteria that are widely distributed in nature. Their occurrence, prevalence, and persistence across the One Health continuum make them an ideal candidate to study antimicrobial resistance from a One Health perspective. The objective of this review was to summarize the role of enterococci as an indicator of antimicrobial resistance across One Health sectors. We also briefly address the prevalence of enterococci in human, animal, and environmental settings. In addition, a 16S RNA gene-based phylogenetic tree was constructed to visualize the evolutionary relationship among enterococcal species and whether they segregate based on host environment. We also review the genomic basis of antimicrobial resistance in enterococcal species across the One Health continuum., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

A joint constellation shaping (JCS) three-dimensional (3D) 16-ary modulation scheme constructed with a pair of common-bottomed trigonal cones (CBTC) as primitives is proposed. Compared to the 3D traditional constellation (TC) and the 3D geometric constellation shaping (GS) structure previously proposed by our group (GGS), the constellation figure of merit (CFM) is improved by 0.3906 and 0.0097, respectively. Meanwhile, probabilistic shaping (PS) is employed to optimize the 3D-CBTC-16CAP constellation structure for the second time to enhance the CFM of the constellation further. Compared to the 3D-CBTC-16CAP, after PS the 3D-JCS-16CAP has a CFM improvement of 0.5014. Experiments are carried out to transmit the signals across a 2 km seven-core fiber. At the bit error rate (BER) threshold ∼3.8 × 10 -3 , the 3D-CBTC-16CAP scheme demonstrates an improvement in the receiver sensitivity by 0.76 and 0.39 dB compared with 3D-TC-16CAP and 3D-GGS-16CAP. In addition, the transmission effect of the signals after joint PS is verified. Experiments show that the proposed 3D-JCS-16CAP scheme has the most significant enhancement effect when used in conjunction with PS, and the receiver sensitivity is improved by about 0.97 and 0.34 dB compared with the 3D-JTC-16CAP (3D-TC-16CAP signal after joint PS) and 3D-JGGS-16CAP (3D-GGS-16CAP signal after the joint PS).

A low-complexity two-stage carrier phase recovery (CPR) scheme based on principal component reconstruction analysis and optimal decision maximum likelihood (PCRA-OML) is proposed for probabilistic shaping (PS)-M quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) coherent optical communication systems. In the first stage, symbols on the QPSK-shaped ring are selected, their amplitude noise is eliminated, and their amplitudes are increased, thus completing the reconstruction of the principal component. Lastly, the carrier phase is recovered using principal component phase estimation (PCPE). In the second stage, a maximum likelihood phase estimation algorithm based on optimal decision-making is employed to further enhance the stability and robustness of the scheme. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is validated through 28 GBaud polarization division multiplexing PS-64QAM simulations and 28 GBaud PS-16QAM experiments. The experimental results indicate that in the PS-16QAM entropy of 3 bit/symbol system, when the threshold for normalized generalized mutual information is 0.9, the proposed scheme provides a 1.7 dB optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) gain compared to blind phase search (BPS), and an additional 0.9 dB OSNR gain compared to the PCPE scheme. The proposed PCRA-OML scheme exhibits versatility across various shaping strengths and is less susceptible to probabilistic influences than the BPS and PCPE schemes. Additionally, under the premise of comparable performance in the PS-64QAM system, the proposed scheme reduces over 90% of the computational complexity associated with multiplication compared to BPS. In the PS-16QAM system, the proposed scheme's real multiplication complexity is only 17.8% of BPS, achieving an overall O(N) complexity.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is characterized by the abnormal proliferation and differentiation arrest of myeloid progenitor cells. The clinical treatment of AML remains challenging. Promoting AML cell differentiation is a valid strategy, but effective differentiation drugs are lacking for most types of AML. In this study, we generated Tg( drl:hoxa9 ) zebrafish, in which hoxa9 overexpression was driven in hematopoietic cells and myeloid differentiation arrest was exhibited. Using Tg( drl:hoxa9 ) embryos, we performed chemical screening and identified four FDA-approved drugs, ethacrynic acid, khellin, oxcarbazepine, and alendronate, that efficiently restored myeloid differentiation. The four drugs also induced AML cell differentiation, with ethacrynic acid being the most effective. By an RNA-seq analysis, we found that during differentiation, ethacrynic acid activated the IL-17 and MAPK signaling pathways, which are known to promote granulopoiesis. Furthermore, we found that ethacrynic acid enhanced all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced differentiation, and both types of signaling converged on the IL-17/MAPK pathways. Inhibiting the IL-17/MAPK pathways impaired ethacrynic acid and ATRA-induced differentiation. In addition, we showed that ethacrynic acid is less toxic to embryogenesis and less disruptive to normal hematopoiesis than ATRA. Thus, the combination of ethacrynic acid and ATRA may have broader clinical applications. In conclusion, through zebrafish-aided screening, our study identified four drugs that can be repurposed to induce AML differentiation, thus providing new agents for AML therapy.

The present work introduces a four-dimensional probability constellation mapping OFDM optical transmission system based on a two-dimensional inverse fast Fourier transform (2D-IFFT). A four-dimensional constellation structure employing color coding is designed, amalgamating geometric shaping with probability shaping to enhance the constellation figure of merit (CFM). Successful transmission of OFDM signals at 51.49 Gb/s is achieved over a 2 km seven-core optical fiber, validating the performance of the proposed constellation diagram. Under the conditions of multicore multiplexing and a bit error rate of 3.8 × 10 -3 , the receiver sensitivity of the OFDM signals mapped with the proposed color-coded four-dimensional constellation exhibits gains of 0.8 dB, 1.33 dB, and 1.83 dB compared to traditional four-dimensional constellations, 3D-OFDM, and 2D-OFDM modulation, respectively. Furthermore, under an entropy value of 4.4 bits/symbol, a receiver sensitivity gain of 1.36 dB is attained compared to a uniform distribution constellation, indicating the favorable error performance of this scheme with promising prospects for short-distance communication in the future.

Two homoleptic terpyridyl complexes of Ru(II), 1 and Fe(II), 2 were synthesized using a ligand L1 that contained a phenyl spacer between an anthracenyl (An) and a terpyridyl (tpy) moiety. An equilibrated-bichromophoric strategy was adopted to induce photoluminescence in 1 and 2. A glimpse into the excited state photophysical properties of 1 and 2 revealed that 1 exhibited NIR emission at ~700 nm with an excited state lifetime components of 1.33 and 6.52 ns. On the other hand, 2 was found to be non-luminescent. The origin of emission in case of 1 was attributed to the effect of phenyl spacer which rendered the 3 An state to be nearly isoenergetic to the emissive 3 MLCT state of 1 facilitating 3 MLCT- 3 An equilibrium. This fact was supported by experimental (photocurrent generation) and theoretical (potential energy diagram) evidences., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Purpose/objective: Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is the third most common gynecological malignancy in India. Recent PORTEC-3 analysis emphasized the role of central histopathological review. We aimed to retrospectively analyze the demographic and histopathological characteristics of EC patients treated at our institute and assess the impact of the central histopathological review on management and also analyze clinical outcomes in this cohort of patients., Materials and Methods: Data of 75 EC patients treated at our center between 2013 and 2022 were retrieved from our departmental archives. Patients were analyzed for demographic details, histopathological findings, details of surgery and histopathology (HPE), results of a review of HPE, adjuvant treatment details, and clinical outcomes. All patients with HPE outside of our institute were reviewed at our center prior to initiation of treatment. In cases of discordance, patients were discussed in the multidisciplinary tumor board for the final treatment decisions. Patients were staged as per International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics 2018., Result: The median age was 57 years (range: 37-74 years). Twenty-seven patients with HPE reported from the outside center were reviewed at our institute and changes were observed in 26 patients (96.3%). HPE review changes were observed in terms of histological grade, histological type, myometrial invasion, and lymph node involvement in five (18.5%), three (11.1%), seven (25.9%), and three (42.8%), respectively. HPE review leads to changes in the management of 19/26 patients. Stage distribution was I: II: III in 48 (64%): 9 (13.3%): 18 (24%) patients, respectively. The median external beam radiotherapy dose was 50 Gray (range: 45-50.4 Gray at 1.8-2 Gray per fraction). The median brachytherapy dose for patients treated with brachytherapy alone was 7 Gray each for three sessions and in combination with EBRT was 6 Gray each in two sessions. At a median follow-up of 51 months (range: 6-116 months), seven (9.3%) patients developed distant metastasis, two (2.7%) patients had local plus distant metastasis, and two (2.7%) patients had local recurrence. The overall survival and disease-free survival rates at 3 years were 93.5% and 86.7%, respectively., Conclusion: EC patients treated at our center have excellent local control rates with a combination of external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy. The central histopathological review may result in changes impacting patient management and should be routinely done prior to initiation of treatment in EC., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics.)

Background: This study reports the psychometric properties of OUTPASAT-35RT questionnaire from a large Indian cancer cohort treated with ambulatory radiotherapy (RT) at a tertiary-care comprehensive cancer center., Materials and Methods: Adults with a pathologically proven diagnosis of cancer undergoing fractionated RT (≥10 fractions) with the ability to read and understand English, Hindi, or Marathi were accrued after written informed consent. Patients were administered a language-appropriate version of OUTPATSAT-35RT along with European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) generic quality-of-life questionnaire (QLQ-C30) at conclusion of RT (±3 days). Psychometric properties of OUTPATSAT-35RT were analyzed., Results: A total of 314 patients were accrued between 2018 and 2020. A negligible floor effect (<2%) but a high ceiling effect (>15%) was observed for OUTPATSAT-35RT. Multi-trait analysis revealed satisfactory validity and reliability of the questionnaire. Pearson's correlation coefficient (PCC) of individual item score with own scale was >0.4 suggesting good convergent validity. Discriminant validity was satisfactory as the PCC with its own scale/own domain was greater than with other scales of the same domain and other domains of OUTPATSAT-35RT, respectively. Correlation of scales of OUTPATSAT-35RT with scales of QLQ-C30 demonstrated acceptable divergent validity (all values of PCC <0.3). Cronbach's alpha was >0.7 suggesting good internal consistency. Test-retest reliability was good with intra-class coefficient being >0.7. Economic status was the only socio-demographic factor correlating significantly with OUTPATSAT-35RT scores; satisfaction of patients with the delivery of care increased with increasing family income., Conclusion: The psychometric properties of OUTPATSAT-35RT were found to be acceptable and satisfactory during validation testing in a large Indian cohort., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics.)

Parthenocarpy is one of the most important agronomic traits for fruit yield in cucumbers. However, the precise gene regulation and the posttranscriptional mechanism are elusive. In the presented study, one parthenocarpic line DDX and non-parthenocarpic line ZK were applied to identify the microRNAs (miRNAs) involved in parthenocarpic fruit formation. The differential expressed miRNAs among parthenocarpic fruit of forchlorfenuron (CPPU) treated ZK (ZK-CPPU), pollinated ZK (ZK-P), non-pollinated DDX (DDX-NP) were compared with the non-parthenocarpic fruits of non-pollinated ZK (ZK-NP). It indicated 98 miRNAs exhibited differential expression were identified. Notably, a significant proportion of these miRNAs were enriched in the signal transduction pathway of plant hormones, as identified by the KEGG pathway analysis. qRT-PCR validation indicated that CsmiR156 family was upregulated in the ZK-NP while downregulated in ZK-CPPU, ZK-P, and DDX-NP at 1 day after anthesis. Meanwhile, the opposite trend was observed for CsmiR164a. In ZK-CPPU, ZK-P, and DDX-NP, CsmiRNA156 genes (CsSPL16 and CsARR9-like) were upregulated while CsmiRNA164a genes (CsNAC6, CsCUC1, and CsNAC100) were downregulated. The GUS and dual luciferase assay validated that CsmiR156a inhibited while CsmiR164a induced their target genes' transcription. This study presents novel insights into the involvement of CsmiR156a and CsmiR164a in the CK-mediated posttranscriptional regulation of cucumber parthenocarpy, which will aid future breeding programs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) is a widely cultivated fruit crop worldwide but often suffers from abiotic stresses such as salt and cold. Gibberellic acid (GA) plays a pivotal in controlling plant development, environmental adaptability, and secondary metabolism. The GA2-oxidase (GA2ox) is responsible for the deactivation of bioactive GA. In this study, seventeen GA2-oxidase genes were identified in the apple genome, and these members could be clustered into four clades based on phylogenetic relationships and conserved domain structures. MdGA2ox7 exhibited robust expression across various tissues, responded to cold and salt treatments, and was triggered in apple fruit peels via light-induced anthocyanin accumulation. Subcellular localization prediction and experiments confirmed that MdGA2ox7 was located in the cytoplasm. Overexpression of MdGA2ox7 in Arabidopsis caused a lower level of active GA and led to GA-deficient phenotypes, such as dwarfism and delayed flowering. MdGA2ox7 alleviated cold and salt stress damage in both Arabidopsis and apple in concert with melatonin (MT). Additionally, MdGA2ox7 enhanced anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple calli and activated genes involved in anthocyanin synthesis. These findings provide new insights into the functions of apple GA2ox in regulating development, stress tolerance, and secondary metabolism., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.)