Associations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein with neuropsychological outcomes and cerebral white matter hyperintensities in older adults at risk of dementia by Rachael Yu, Shawn D. Kong, Catriona Ireland, Genevieve Z. Steiner-Lim, Kimberley Bassett, Hannes Almgren, Dongang Wang, Chenyu Wang, Johannes C. Michaelian, Sharon L. Naismith

“…Fasting serum hs-CRP concentrations were grouped into low (<1.0 mg/L), moderate (1.0–3.0 mg/L), and high (>3.0–10.0 mg/L). Structural MRI scans were used to estimate WMH lesion volumes in the whole brain, as well as periventricular, deep white matter, and frontal regions. …”
Get full text

Transitioning to a virtual post-intensive care rehabilitation service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: results of multidisciplinary focus-groups by Fiona Howroyd, Fiona Howroyd, Natacha Earle, Jonathan Weblin, David McWilliams, Mark Raven, Niharika A. Duggal, Zubair Ahmed, Zubair Ahmed, Tonny Veenith

“…Focus groups were held after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with key stakeholders from the physiotherapy and critical care departments of a large tertiary hospital in the United Kingdom. Semi-structured questions were used to guide discussions, led by a facilitator and scribe. …”
Get full text

Earthworm inspired lubricant self-pumping hydrogel with sustained lubricity at high loading by Shuanhong Ma, Lunkun Liu, Weiyi Zhao, Renjie Li, Xiaoduo Zhao, Yunlei Zhang, Bo Yu, Ying Liu, Feng Zhou

“…In this work, inspired by the durable lubricity feature of the earthworm epidermis, a multilevel structural super-lubrication hydrogel (MS-SLH) system, the so-called lubricant self-pumping hydrogel, is developed. …”
Get full text

Pre-Season Precipitation and Temperature Have a Larger Influence on Vegetation Productivity than That of the Growing Season in the Agro-Pastoral Ecotone in Northern China by Yuanyuan Zhang, Qingtao Wang, Xueyuan Zhang, Zecheng Guo, Xiaonan Guo, Changhui Ma, Baocheng Wei, Lei He

“…Climate change and human activities are reshaping the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems, particularly in vulnerable regions such as agro-pastoral ecotones. …”
Get full text

Relationship between Myopia Progression and School Entrance Age: A 2.5-Year Longitudinal Study by Linjie Liu, Dandan Jiang, Chunchun Li, Yaoyao Lin, Wenzhe Zhou, Haishao Xiao, Yanyan Chen

“…Significant statistical differences were observed in ocular biological structure parameters, except for corneal radius of curvature (CRC) or anterior chamber depth (ACD), among children with the same age in different grades during this study. …”
Get full text

A Preliminary Study to Evaluate Recovery in Environmental Microplastic Analysis by İrem Öztürk, Dilara Cinci, Fatma Nur Eraslan, Mansoor Ahmad Bhat, Eftade O. Gaga, Kadir Gedik

“…Microplastics (MPs) have attracted attention as a global concern due to their physicochemical properties, structural components, role as vectors for pollutants and potential health impacts. …”
Get full text

LiDAR point cloud denoising for individual tree extraction based on the Noise4Denoise by Xiangfei Lu, Zongyu Ye, Liyong Fu, Huaiyi Wang, Kaiyu Wang, Yaquan Dou, Dongbo Xie, Xiaodi Zhao

“…The processing of LiDAR point cloud data is of critical importance in the context of forest resource surveys, as well as representing a pivotal element in the realm of forest physiological and ecological studies.Nonetheless, conventional denoising algorithms frequently exhibit deficiencies with regard to adaptability and denoising efficacy, particularly when employed in relation to disparate datasets.To address these issues, this study introduces DEN4, an unsupervised, deep learning-based point cloud denoising algorithm designed to improve the accuracy of single tree segmentation in LiDAR point clouds.DEN4 introduces a multilevel noise separation module that effectively distinguishes between signal and noise, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and reducing the error.The experimental results demonstrate that DEN4 significantly outperforms traditional denoising methods in several key metrics, including mean square error (MSE), SNR, Hausdorff distance, and structural similarity index (SSIM).In the 60 sample dataset, DEN4 achieved the best mean and standard deviation on all metrics: Specifically, the MSE mean was found to be 0.0094, with a standard deviation of 0.0008, the SNR mean was 149.1570, with a standard deviation of 0.5628, the Hausdorff mean was 0.8503, with a standard deviation of 0.0947, and the SSIM mean was 0.8399, with a standard deviation of 0.0054. …”
Get full text

Microstructural transformation of GO to rGO by ascorbate acid green-agent enhanced using sonication method by Masruroh, Freygieon Ogiek Rizal Sukma, Kormil Saputra, Nandang Mufti, Kusumandari, Anton Prasetyo, Rachmat T Tjahjanto, Dionysius J D H Santjojo

“…The increase in the intensity of the D band in the Raman spectrum indicated an increase in structural defects due to the reduction of oxygen groups. …”
Get full text

Neuroprotective Potential of <i>Origanum majorana</i> L. Essential Oil Against Scopolamine-Induced Memory Deficits and Oxidative Stress in a Zebrafish Model by Ion Brinza, Razvan Stefan Boiangiu, Iasmina Honceriu, Ahmed M. Abd-Alkhalek, Samir M. Osman, Omayma A. Eldahshan, Elena Todirascu-Ciornea, Gabriela Dumitru, Lucian Hritcu

“…In this research, we focused on the effects of <i>O. majorana</i> essential oil (OmEO, at concentrations of 25, 150, and 300 μL/L), evaluating chemical structure as well as its impact on cognitive performance and oxidative stress, in both naive zebrafish (<i>Danio rerio</i>), as well as in a scopolamine-induced amnesic model (SCOP, 100 μM). …”
Get full text

Disentangling the effects of eutrophication and natural variability on macrobenthic communities across French coastal lagoons by Jones, Auriane G., Schaal, Gauthier, Boyé, Aurélien, Creemers, Marie, Derolez, Valérie, Desroy, Nicolas, Fiandrino, Annie, Mouton, Théophile L., Simier, Monique, Smith, Niamh, Ouisse, Vincent

“…Here, we analyze a dataset composed of macrobenthic invertebrate abundances and environmental variables (hydro-morphology, water, sediment and macrophytes) gathered across 29 Mediterranean coastal lagoons located in France, to characterize the main drivers of community composition and structure. Using correlograms, linear models and variance partitioning, we found that lagoon hydro-morphology (connection to the sea and lagoon surface), which affects the level of environmental variability (salinity and temperature), as well as lagoon-scale benthic habitat diversity (using macrophyte morphotypes) seemed to regulate macrofauna distribution, while eutrophication and associated stressors like low dissolved oxygen, acted upon the existing communities, mainly by reducing species richness and diversity. …”
Get full text

Perceptions, practices, and experiences of asthma patients and community pharmacists on short-acting beta-2 agonists inhaler use: A qualitative study by Rabia Hussain, Zhe Chi Loh, Bayan Faisal Ababneh, Jaya Muneswarao, Siew Chin Ong, Bandana Saini, Anees ur-Rehman, Vibhu Paudyal

“…This study aimed to explore the perceptions, practices, and experiences of asthma patients and community pharmacists toward using SABA inhalers in Malaysia.Methods A qualitative study was conducted among eleven asthma patients and twelve community pharmacists using semi-structured individual interviews. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim and then analyzed by thematic analysis. …”
Get full text

Antifungal Activity of Genistein Against Phytopathogenic Fungi <i>Valsa mali</i> Through ROS-Mediated Lipid Peroxidation by Fangjie Li, Chen Yang, Maoye Li, Su Liu, Kuo Xu, Xianjun Fu

“…Scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that genistein caused significant changes in the structure of <i>V. mali</i>, including mycelial contraction, distortion, deformity, collapse, and irregular protrusions. …”
Get full text

A psychometric appraisal of a revised preparedness for medication administration questionnaire in final-year undergraduate nursing students: a secondary analysis by Susan Irvine, Sharon Andrew, Christina Aggar, Nicola Whiteing, Anecita Gigi Lim, Brett Williams

“…The questionnaire has been revised to align with updated medication competencies. The factor structure or dimensionality of the questionnaires has not been examined. …”
Get full text

A novel and efficient digital image steganography technique using least significant bit substitution by Shahid Rahman, Jamal uddin, Hameed Hussain, Sabir Shah, Abdu Salam, Farhan Amin, Isabel de la Torre Díez, Debora Libertad Ramírez Vargas, Julio César Martínez Espinosa

“…We tested a total of 165 different RGB images of various dimensions and sizes of hidden information, using various Quality Assessment Metrics (QAMs); A name of few are; Normalized Cross Correlation (NCC), Image Fidelity (IF), Peak Signal Noise Ratio (PSNR), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Quality Index (QI), Correlation Coefficient (CC), Structural Similarity Index (SSIM), Mean Square Error (MSE), Entropy, Contrast, and Homogeneity, Image Histogram (IH). …”
Get full text

Table for two: Diet composition differences of allopatric and sympatric populations of island geckos by Catarina J. Pinho, Bárbara Santos, Vanessa A. Mata, Ricardo J. Lopes, Maria M. Romeiras, Evandro P. Lopes, Paulo C. Alves, Brent C. Emerson, Raquel Vasconcelos

“…These results suggest that competition has played an important role in structuring the stable coexistence of these species in sympatry, promoting extreme morphological discrepancies that allowed resource partitioning. …”
Get full text

Metagenomic analysis of gut microbiota diversity in poultry before and after antibiotic administration by O. V. Prasolova, N. I. Malik, I. A. Timofeeva, N. A. Kirsanova, E. V. Krylova, E. V. Malik, I. A. Rusanov, N. A. Chupakhina

“…Taxonomic shifts in the chick microbial community structure at the class level both during the antibiotic treatment and after its withdrawal were observed. …”
Get full text

Uncovering potential causal genes for undiagnosed congenital anomalies using an in-house pipeline for trio-based whole-genome sequencing by Jeong-Min Kim, Hye-Won Cho, Dong Mun Shin, Oc-Hee Kim, Jihyun Kim, Hyeji Lee, Gang-Hee Lee, Joon-Yong An, Misun Yang, Heui Seung Jo, Ja-Hyun Jang, Yun Sil Chang, Hyun-Young Park, Mi-Hyun Park

“…Abstract Background Congenital anomalies (CAs) encompass a wide spectrum of structural and functional abnormalities during fetal development, commonly presenting at birth. …”
Get full text

The Addition of Pumpkin Flour Impacts the Functional and Bioactive Properties of Soft Wheat Composite Flour Blends by Durim Alija, Remigiusz Olędzki, Daniela Nikolovska Nedelkoska, Agata Wojciechowicz-Budzisz, Gafur Xhabiri, Ewa Pejcz, Eljesa Alija, Joanna Harasym

“…Pasting behaviour showed reduced peak viscosity (2444.0 mPa·s to 1859.5 mPa·s) but enhanced gel structure stability, evidenced by increased storage modulus (112.7 Pa to 1151.0 Pa) and reduced frequency dependence. …”
Get full text

Bridging brain and blood: a prospective view on neuroimaging-exosome correlations in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders by Haixia Luo, Junzhuo Chen, Jiaojiao Liu, Wei Wang, Chuanke Hou, Xingyuan Jiang, Juming Ma, Fan Xu, Xire Aili, Zhongkai Zhou, Hongjun Li, Hongjun Li, Hongjun Li

“…Neuroimaging, particularly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), offers a non-invasive and repeatable method to monitor subtle changes in brain structure and function, potentially detecting early signs of HAND. …”
Get full text

Safety and Risk Factors of Needle Thoracentesis Decompression in Tension Pneumothorax in Patients over 75 Years Old by Yanhu Wang, Lei Wang, Cheng Chen, Yifan Que, Yinyi Li, Jiang Luo, Ming Yin, Miao Lv, Guogang Xu

“…The CWT and closest depth to vital structure of the second intercostal space at the midclavicular line (second ICS-MCL) and the fifth intercostal space at the midaxillary line (fifth ICS-MAL) were compared as well as the expected failure rates and the incidence of severe complications of different needles. …”
Get full text