Free vascularized fibula reconstruction is the gold standard for oromandibular defect reconstruction following tumor ablative surgery. However, in patients with poor prognosis, compromised general health, or inadequate vascular status in the lower extremities or chest, less invasive alternatives may be preferable. This study evaluated outcomes and complication rates of mandibular defect reconstruction using a reconstruction plate covered with a pedicled pectoralis major muscle flap (PMMF), performed after tumor ablation or for osteoradionecrosis. A retrospective review was conducted of twenty-one patients who underwent PMMF coverage of a mandibular reconstruction plate following oral cavity cancer resection or for osteoradionecrosis at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) between April 2011 and August 2023. Primary outcomes included plate exposure, wound dehiscence, and flap vitality. Twenty-one patients (eleven men, ten women) were included, with a median follow-up of 20.5 months (range 1.6 months to 2.4 years). Plate exposure occurred in eleven patients (52.4%) after a median of 2.7 weeks; six required plate removal. Two patients underwent successful re-coverage without removal, and three were managed expectantly. Wound dehiscence occurred in eighteen patients (85.7%), and partial flap necrosis in eight (38.1%). Mandibular reconstruction using a plate covered with a PMMF is associated with high complication rates, particularly plate exposure, frequently necessitating reoperation and adversely affecting quality of life. These findings question the suitability of this approach in patients who are not candidates for free fibula reconstruction. Although high complication rates of soft tissue coverage over reconstruction plates are well documented, our results underscore the need to refine patient selection, optimize plate characteristics, improve surgical technique, and consider alternative strategies, including PMMF reconstruction without plate placement.
Rapid land-cover changes across managed landscapes threaten biodiversity by reducing habitat quality, fragmenting connectivity, and weakening ecological resilience, which can limit effective conservation. This study applies multi-temporal remote sensing, advanced classification algorithms, and Cellular Automata-Artificial Neural Network modeling to quantify and project land-cover transitions across each wildlife management area (WMA) and its surrounding 3-kilometer buffer in Mississippi, USA: Black Prairie WMA and Charles Ray Nix WMA. Land-cover dynamics were assessed over a decade (2014-2024) using one Landsat 8 image per WMA for each of the start and end years, chosen to capture consistent seasonal conditions and ensure unobstructed land-surface visibility. Predicted changes through 2034 reveal contrasting patterns. Black Prairie WMA shows notable shrubland decline and grassland expansion, reflecting structural homogenization, while Charles Ray Nix WMA maintains greater compositional stability despite some shrubland contraction and forest growth. These findings underscore the value of assessing land-cover dynamics within a broader landscape context that extends beyond core WMA boundaries. Incorporating the surrounding 3-kilometer matrix into a holistic assessment improves predictive capacity for conservation planning and identifies vulnerabilities that static analyses may miss. We recommend adaptive, landscape-scale management that uses spatially explicit projections to prevent habitat degradation, maintain functional connectivity, and support disturbance-dependent species such as the Northern Bobwhite. This approach advances conservation beyond reactive responses and toward proactive strategies that sustain biodiversity in human-dominated ecosystems.
Plastic film mulching can transform upland arable soils from sinks for methane (CH4) into sources by limiting gaseous exchange and creating hypoxic microsites. We explored whether incorporating cover crops can help reduce CH4 emissions by maintaining methanotroph functional potential in the presence of mulching. We conducted a field experiment in an upland maize field to compare NPK fertilization and cover crop incorporation, both with and without mulching. We combined CH4 flux measurements with methane oxidation potential (MOP) assays and shotgun metagenomics to analyze CH4-cycling communities and functional gene profiles. Cover crop incorporation under mulching (M-CC) reduced cumulative CH4 emissions by 55% compared with NPK fertilization under mulching (M-NPK) and maintained 17% higher MOP. By contrast, particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) genes did not show a uniform enrichment under M-CC. However, M-CC demonstrated higher abundances of genes associated with hydrogenase activity, single-carbon (C1) metabolism, electron transport, and antioxidant biosynthesis. Specifically, there was a 21% to 67% increase in hydrogenase genes, a 14% to 55% rise in C1 metabolism genes, a 28% to 54% increase in electron transport genes, and a remarkable 280% elevation in the antioxidant biosynthesis gene egtD. Using plastic film mulching with incorporated cover crops maintained MOP and promoted greater microbial biomass and metabolic flexibility. These effects were linked to lower CH4 emissions and reduced yield-scale CH4 emissions, all without compromising maize yield.
Food hygiene is a critical but underemphasized link in fecal-oral disease transmission in dense informal settlements. A mesh-walled meatsafe, designed to exclude insects, animals, and young children while allowing ventilation, was distributed in a randomized controlled trial in Korail, Dhaka. Despite near-universal use (87.7-99.2% of intervention households storing cooked food across five spot-check rounds), the trial detected no reductions in food contamination or child diarrhoea. This qualitative substudy investigated what technological, psychosocial, and contextual factors limited the meatsafe's protective potential despite high observed use. Guided by the Integrated Behavioral Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (IBM-WASH), we conducted 16 in-depth interviews with primary caregivers, purposively sampled to capture variation in meatsafe condition, maintenance, and food contamination profiles, and triangulated findings against spot-check records. Transcripts were thematically coded across IBM-WASH domains. Barriers preventing correct device use (fidelity barriers) included a steam-spoilage belief leading caregivers to cool food uncovered before meatsafe placement, rexine liner warping reinforcing cooling delays, and cumulative hardware friction from frame instability, latch weakness, and size constraints. Barriers that operated outside the scope of the intervention (beyond-fidelity barriers) included energy scarcity enforcing batch cooking with extended storage, monsoon flooding contaminating cooking spaces, seasonal displacement disrupting routines, and contested childcare authority limiting maternal protective behavior. The uncovered cooling period was invisible to spot-check monitoring yet represented the highest-risk contamination window. Near-universal meatsafe use without contamination reductions is explained by a behavioral gap invisible to spot-check monitoring: households stored food only after an uncovered cooling period. The meatsafe addressed only one F-diagram pathway; other fecal-oral routes remained uncontrolled. Sustainable reduction of foodborne enteric disease requires co-designed hardware addressing the full causal pathway, behavior change communication directly confronting the steam-spoilage belief, and concurrent structural investment in energy access, drainage, and pest control.
Purines are essential bioactive molecules that interact with a large fraction of the human proteome. Despite their importance, the scope of actionable purine-binding pockets for ligand discovery remains limited. Here, we develop a quantitative chemoproteomics platform using sulfonyl-purine (SuPUR) chemistry to produce a massive and functional map of the human purine interactome. The SuPUR platform captures 31,000+ targetable tyrosine and lysine sites, representing the most comprehensive beyond cysteine chemoproteomics database for enabling protein ligand discovery. SuPUR ligands that bind through a regioselective fashion serve as enabling starting points for developing potent (nanomolar) and proteome-wide-selective modulators of enzymatic and protein-protein interaction function. Phenotypic screening identifies a site-specific (Y237) and regioselective SuPUR ligand of ACAT2 to reveal an unexpected metabolic dependency in cancer cells. A crystal structure of SuPUR ligand-bound ACAT2 reveals the purine group binds deep in the CoA pocket forming key interactions with catalytic residues via a water bridge to guide future structure-based ligand design.
HIV/AIDS remains a significant global health challenge, particularly in economically disadvantaged and underserved regions. Inequities in access to timely HIV diagnosis, treatment, and prevention services hinder progress in controlling the epidemic. Border counties of southwestern China face additional structural barriers including cross-border population movement, fragmented service delivery across mountainous terrain, and limited specialised workforce. This study evaluates the contribution of a regional healthcare consortium model, established in May 2020 in M City, Yunnan Province, to improving therapy monitoring and effectiveness for people living with HIV. We conducted a retrospective single-site study using monthly aggregate programme data from January 2019 to July 2024. Indicators followed the WHO Consolidated Strategic Information Guidelines and the UNAIDS 95-95-95 framework, and included viral load (VL) testing rates, antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SMZ) prophylaxis. Pre-intervention covered January 2019 to May 2020 and post-intervention covered June 2020 to July 2024. Descriptive statistics were complemented by an Interrupted Time Series (ITS) segmented regression analysis with Newey-West standard errors. Normality was tested with the Shapiro-Wilk statistic and non-parametric tests were used where appropriate. Multiple testing was controlled with the Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate procedure. Sensitivity analyses excluded peak COVID-19 disruption months and adjusted for the 2022 national HIV treatment guideline update. The study followed STROBE reporting standards. Following implementation of the consortium, the monthly number of newly enrolled ART patients increased by 69.8%, the VL test completion rate by 20.6% points (from 74.3% to 93.6%), the ART coverage rate by 7.2% points (from 85.9% to 92.6%), and the SMZ usage rate by 7.6% points (from 91.4% to 98.9%). ITS analysis showed sustained post-reform improvements in ART coverage rate (β1 + β3 = 0.162% points per month, P < 0.001 after FDR adjustment), in newly enrolled patients (β1 + β3 = 1.169 patients per month, P < 0.001), and a small but significant gain in the overall VL testing rate (β1 + β3 = 0.015% points per month, P < 0.05). Findings were robust to the exclusion of COVID-19 lockdown months and to adjustment for the 2022 guideline update. In this single border city, the regional consortium was associated with substantial improvements in HIV care continuum indicators. The findings should be interpreted as evidence of the consortium's contribution rather than sole attribution, given the absence of a contemporaneous control. The model offers a candidate framework for HIV care integration in resource-constrained border counties of southwestern China and other comparable settings, although external validation through multi-site or controlled designs is required before broader generalisation.
Developmental and/or epileptic encephalopathy with spike-wave activation in sleep (D/EE-SWAS) is a rare paediatric epileptic encephalopathy characterized by marked activation of epileptiform discharges during non-REM sleep, leading to seizures and neurocognitive regression. Although corticosteroids are frequently used, prospective data on structured pulse steroid regimens and long-term neurocognitive outcomes from resource-limited settings are scarce. To characterize the clinical, electroencephalographic, and neuropsychological profile of children with D/EE-SWAS and to evaluate the electroclinical and cognitive impact of a six-month pulse intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) regimen. In this prospective cohort study, 29 children with D/EE-SWAS were enrolled from two tertiary centers in India and followed for two years. Monthly IVMP (25 mg/kg/day for 3 days) was administered for six months, with stable anti-seizure medications. Serial overnight EEGs assessed spike-wave index (SWI) and spike dipole stability quotient (SQ), a qualitative marker of cortical source coherence. Neuropsychological evaluations covering attention, memory, executive, visuospatial, and adaptive functioning were conducted at baseline and at two years. Repeated-measures ANOVA, paired t-tests and correlation statistics were used for statistical analysis. Pulse IVMP therapy resulted in a significant and sustained reduction in seizure frequency and SWI over 24 months (p < 0.001), with a progressive increase in SQ. Improvement in SWI and seizure control occurred early, while SQ improved significantly only after 12 months. Idiopathic D/EE-SWAS showed durable electroclinical improvement, whereas symptomatic cases demonstrated transient gains with partial relapse at two years. Early EEG response was prognostic- higher SWI and lower SQ at six months predicted higher seizure frequency at 24 months. Neuropsychological outcomes revealed significant improvements in attention and verbal learning overall, with meaningful domain-specific cognitive recovery predominantly confined to the idiopathic group. A structured six-month pulse IVMP regimen was associated with early spike suppression and delayed network stabilisation. Etiology significantly influenced long-term EEG stability and cognitive recovery. Early dipole stabilization may serve as a prognostic biomarker for long-term seizure control beyond spike burden alone.
Leaf senescence is regulated by several genetic mechanisms and environmental factors. During senescence, cellular organelles are degraded and chlorophylls are lost. Concomitantly, macromolecules are broken down into smaller molecules that are transported into tissues like seeds, a process called nutrient remobilization. By reducing photosynthesis and increasing nutrient remobilization, senescence affects seed yield and seed protein. Moreover, its understanding is relevant for agro-ecology, because it could increase nitrogen use efficiency. Sunflower, the fourth oilseed worldwide, is characterized by low water and nitrogen requirements. It shows rapid onset of senescence after anthesis, which hinders its productivity. In this crop, the interaction among senescence, water stress and cover crops for green manure has already been explored from an agronomic perspective. Here, we studied this interaction at the molecular level by comparing morpho-physiological traits and biochemical responses, transcriptome and metabolome of two sunflower near-isogenic lines with contrasting haplotypes for the senescence related LES10.179 QTL. We characterized our plants under water stress and in presence of residues of two cover crops, namely vetch and rye. The overall response to drought in our findings revealed several novel insights, such as the global decrease of secondary metabolites and the involvement of potentially antioxidant minor compounds. The characterization of the LES10.179 QTL, instead, suggested that senescence was likely controlled by a homolog to NYC1, a gene involved in chlorophyll degradation. The LES10.179 QTL also affected seed protein content: the haplotype associated with early senescence lowered it, the other one acting the opposite way. Cover crops had a minor impact on molecular profiles, and no interactive effects were observed between drought and the LES10.179 QTL. This is the first characterization of a QTL associated with leaf senescence in sunflower. This QTL has also an impact on seed protein content and it is not affected by drought. Therefore, it could prove especially useful for breeding applications. Anyway, further evidence is needed to precisely state whether the observed stay-green phenotype is functional or cosmetic.
Predicting drug-target interactions computationally is a practical strategy for prioritizing candidate compounds in early drug discovery, but the reliability of published models is often limited by small resampled datasets, warm-only evaluation protocols, and architectures that prevent joint optimization of all model components. This study presents the Multimodal Attention Fusion Network (MAFN), an end-to-end PyTorch model that integrates 2,058-dimensional drug features, comprising ECFP4 Morgan fingerprints and ten physicochemical descriptors, with 567-dimensional protein sequence features, comprising amino acid composition, dipeptide composition, and CTD descriptors, through a jointly optimized attention-based fusion layer. The model is trained and evaluated on the Davis kinase-inhibitor benchmark: 25,772 unique drug-target pairs across 68 inhibitors and 379 kinase targets with zero pair duplication. Three evaluation protocols were applied: a stratified random 80/20 hold-out, Cold-Drug Leave-One-Out validation across 88 folds covering three random seeds, and Cold-Target Leave-One-Out across 86 folds. Two feature-matched Random Forest baselines, RF-ECFP4 and RF-CTD + FP, were evaluated on identical splits. Performance was additionally assessed at pKd thresholds of 6.5, 7.0, and 7.5 to confirm threshold independence. On the warm hold-out, MAFN achieved AUC-ROC 0.920, AUPR 0.595, F1-score 0.569, and MCC 0.535. Cold-Drug LOO yielded a median AUC of 0.762 (IQR 0.674 to 0.922, Cohen's d = 1.31) and Cold-Target LOO yielded 0.937 (IQR 0.861 to 0.985, d = 4.56). Notably, RF-ECFP4 outperformed MAFN under Cold-Drug LOO (median 0.924 vs 0.762), a finding reported and interpreted transparently. Permutation importance at the fused 512-dimensional embedding layer gave Spearman rho = -0.126 (p = 0.385). Source code and model checkpoints are provided as supplementary materials.
Above-ground vertical structure is a critical variable for ecosystem monitoring, carbon accounting, and land management. However, the high cost and limited coverage of airborne lidar hinder its widespread application. To address this, we developed NAIP-CHM, a 0.6-meter resolution canopy height and structure model (CHM) covering the contiguous United States, derived from National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) aerial imagery. Unlike forestry-specific models that exclude human-made features, NAIP-CHM characterizes the full vertical structure of the landscape including vegetation, buildings, and infrastructure. We utilized a U-Net convolutional neural network with attention mechanisms and environmental conditioning, training and validating the model with a peer-reviewed, publicly available dataset of 22.8 million co-registered NAIP imagery and lidar-derived CHM pairs, with stratified sampling to ensure robustness in open-canopy ecosystems. The model achieved a pixel-wise root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.28 meters and an r² of 0.87. Forested sites alone produced an r² of 0.82 and RMSE of 3.82 meters. We provide the dataset, source code, and cloud-based tools to enable broad application without requiring specialized computational resources.
Phlebotomine sand flies are the sole vector of leishmaniasis and other sand fly-borne diseases, and their populations are shaped by climate and human-driven environmental change. While warming is expected to expand sand fly ranges, the joint effects of long-term climatic variability and land-use change on population dynamics remain poorly understood, largely owing to limited long-term monitoring. We analyzed an 18-year dataset (2005-2021) from a site in semi-arid Ma'ale Adumim, Israel, using CO2-baited traps. Land-cover change was quantified using remote sensing, focusing on the establishment of a managed urban park near the site. Climatic variables from the Israel Meteorological Service and ERA5 were related to interannual variation in abundance and seasonal phenology characters (median seasonal timing and peak timing). A marked land-cover transformation associated with an irrigated park was identified, increasing dry-season vegetation. Sand fly species showed contrasting long-term trends and phase-dependent responses: Phlebotomus sergenti and P. papatasi were most abundant immediately after landscape modification and declined later, whereas P. tobbi and P. syriacus increased after park establishment. Seasonal activity was strongly species-specific with limited interspecific synchrony. Climatic variability explained little interannual variation overall; only P. tobbi maximum abundance and timing of within-season population increase were associated with the timing of thermal onset. Anthropogenic land-use change dominated long-term sand fly population dynamics, often exceeding climatic effects, and altered habitat suitability in species-specific, phase-dependent ways. Integrating land management and spatial planning into prevention strategies is critical for reducing leishmaniasis risk in human-modified landscapes.
As global energy demand grows, our oceans are becoming increasingly industrialised. In the North Sea, one of the world's most developed marine regions, offshore infrastructure is shifting from isolated hydrocarbon platforms to large multi-turbine offshore wind farms (OWFs). These structures support diverse epibiotic assemblages which can influence structural integrity, alter ecological processes, and affect ecosystem service provisioning (e.g. water filtration). While epibiotic assemblage composition and zonation is well characterised on solitary structures, little is known about this varies at the intra-OWF scale. Our study explores this variation using ROV footage from a UK OWF; the foundations of two jacketed turbines situated at both the edge and centre of the OWF footprint were surveyed across all legs and depths, and the cover of five dominant epibenthic taxa quantified using a combination of structure-from-motion photogrammetry and machine-learning-based taxonomic segmentation. Epibiotic assemblages were dominated by anemones (Metridium senile) at intermediate depths, with increasing abundance of other target taxa at greater depths. While depth was the primary structuring factor, assemblage composition also appeared to vary with cardinal orientation and turbine position, with higher coverage of most target taxa at the OWF centre (notably soft corals (Alcyonium digitatum)). These patterns may be influenced by turbine-induced changes in downstream turbulence, stratification, and resource availability. While a limited sample size, our results suggest intra-OWF epibiotic heterogeneity, implying assemblage structure varies beyond depth zonation. As offshore wind development accelerates, research is needed to determine this variability's extent and drivers, helping to manage the consequences of an industrialised seascape.
EV-A71 has been responsible for recent severe HFMD outbreaks. We report structures for 12 potently neutralizing human anti-EV-A71 monoclonal antibody Fabs, alone and complexed with virus. Most recognize the native antigenic state with epitopes that span interfaces, together covering 85% of the capsid surface. The majority (8 of 12) bind the canyon, while the others cluster around the icosahedral two- and threefold axes. Blocking SCARB2 receptor binding likely contributes to neutralization for all, and a subset induces empty particles. A predominant gene family (IGHV4-39) does not dictate a common binding pose. Long CDR-H3 loops are frequently key to binding, especially at the canyon, suggesting that antigenicity data based on antibodies with shorter CDR3s (e.g., murine) may be misleading. This dataset reveals neutralization mechanisms for recently circulating EV-A71 genotypes, which will inform immunotherapies. We demonstrate synergy in vitro between canyon binding and both two- and threefold binding antibodies to increase neutralization potency.
Resistance training (RT) is recommended for type 2 diabetes (T2D), but secondary evidence is voluminous and heterogeneous. We conducted an umbrella review to map, appraise, and grade the certainty of RT effects on glycaemic and cardiometabolic outcomes in adults with T2D. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for systematic reviews/meta-analyses of RT in adults with T2D. The studies were screened, extracted, mapped primary-study overlap (corrected covered area, CCA), and appraised review quality (AMSTAR-2). Certainty was judged at the overview level using a GRADE-style framework integrating review methods (AMSTAR-2). Forty-three reviews met inclusion. Overlap was moderate to very high across outcomes (e.g. HbA1c 9.8%, fasting glucose 21.3%, blood pressure 33.4%, strength 35.3%, HRQoL 56.5%). RT versus non-exercise was associated with small-to-moderate improvements in HbA1c (~-0.3 to -0.6%-points), fasting glucose (~-0.5-1.4 mmol/L), and systolic blood pressure (~-4-7 mmHg); small reductions in triglycerides and LDL/total cholesterol; mixed HDL findings; and large gains in muscle strength, although the relevant evidence base showed substantial overlap across reviews. Effects on body weight/BMI were small or null; fat% and waist circumference tended to decrease modestly; physical HRQoL showed small benefits. Heterogeneity was substantial for several outcomes. AMSTAR-2 flagged frequent critical issues (e.g., use of quality scales instead of domain-based risk-of-bias; infrequent small-study bias assessment). GRADE certainty was moderate for HbA1c, LDL-C, triglycerides, and systolic BP; low-moderate for fasting glucose, diastolic blood pressure; and low for fasting insulin, HDLC, and mental/overall HRQoL. RT likely confers small-to-moderate metabolic and vascular benefits and large strength improvements in adults with T2D, but certainty is tempered by heterogeneity, trial overlap, and recurrent methodological shortcomings. Well-reported, prospectively registered syntheses and trials with standardized RT dose and domain-based bias assessment are needed.
A surface-filling curve is a non-self-intersecting single curve uniformly covering a 3D object's surface. These curves are actively studied for their broad applicability. State-of-the-art generation algorithms rely on geometric flows. However, curve initialization for geometric flows has received little attention despite its significant impact on performance. Moreover, straightforward alternative initializations suffer from low robustness, slow speed, and inflexibility. To address this, we propose two complementary initialization algorithms: the ultra-fast Steiner Traversal Initialization (STI) and the highly robust Poisson Traversal Initialization (PTI). STI traverses around an approximate minimum Steiner tree on the dual graph, while PTI uses geodesic Poisson disk sampling to construct and traverse a tree structure. Extensive experiments show that while STI's performance degrades on meshes with sliver triangles, it accelerates curve generation by up to 37.14× on high-quality meshes. Meanwhile, PTI achieves up to a 32.63× speedup, operating robustly even on poorly tessellated meshes containing severe sliver triangles.
This study evaluated the effectiveness of a brief, Theory of Planned Behavior-based educational program on weight management and related health outcomes among university employees. In this quasi-experimental study conducted at two major universities in Erbil, Iraq, 200 employees with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m² self-selected into an intervention (n = 100) or control (n = 100) group. The intervention consisted of five individual 35-40-minute sessions delivered over 12 weeks and covered obesity awareness, culturally adapted nutrition education, physical activity, and behavior-change strategies. The control group received only standard written materials. Primary outcomes were changes in body weight, BMI, and waist circumference. Secondary outcomes included lipid profile, fasting glucose, quality of life (Impact of Weight on Quality of Life-Lite [IWQOL-Lite]), dietary quality, and physical activity. All assessments were performed at baseline and 12 weeks. The intervention was associated with a mean weight loss of 7.46 kg (95% CI 6.44-8.48) compared with a gain of 0.58 kg in the control group (adjusted difference - 8.04 kg; p < 0.001; Cohen's d = 2.40). 79% of intervention participants lost ≥ 5% of their initial body weight (versus 0% in controls), and 41% lost ≥ 10%. Significant improvements were also observed in BMI, waist circumference, lipid profile, quality of life, and dietary quality (all p < 0.001; d > 1.8). Mediation analysis indicated that improvement in dietary quality accounted for 82% of the observed association between group assignment and change in BMI. A brief, low-cost, culturally adapted educational intervention delivered in the workplace was associated with exceptionally large weight loss, cardiometabolic benefits, and psychosocial gains, with perfect retention. These findings suggest that this model may offer a promising approach for obesity management in Middle Eastern settings. However, confirmation in randomized controlled trials with longer follow-up is required before firm conclusions regarding scalability and effectiveness can be drawn. The study was not prospectively registered in a clinical trial registry because it employed a quasi-experimental design with participant self-selection rather than random allocation. However, the full study protocol including all primary and secondary outcomes, eligibility criteria, intervention details, and the statistical analysis plan was finalized, approved by the Hawler Medical University Ethics Committee (reference HMU-REC-2024-18, 15 September 2024), and locked prior to the start of participant recruitment and data collection. No outcomes were added, removed, or modified after data inspection, and no post-hoc analyses were conducted beyond those pre-specified in the protocol. The manuscript adheres fully to the TREND reporting standards for non-randomized evaluations.
Large quantities of dust particles are emitted from the arid and semi-arid regions of China, influencing atmospheric processes and climate from regional to global scales. The morphology and composition of dust particles govern their optical properties, reactivity, and transport behavior; thus, accurate single-particle information is essential for improving model representations and understanding their environmental effects. Here, we present the Dust Morphology and Composition from China's Source Regions (DMC-China) dataset. The dataset includes 541,074 individual dust particles generated via saltation-sandblasting processes from 55 surface soils collected from major dust source regions. The samples represent surface cover types, including gobi (gravel/desert pavement), sand dune, saline, desertified grassland and alluvial sediment surfaces. The particles were analyzed using computer-controlled scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (CCSEM-EDX), and strict quality control procedures ensured consistency and reliability across samples. Provided in accessible XLSX format with detailed metadata, DMC-China delivers comprehensive source-region profiles of nascent dust particle size, shape, and composition, offering a valuable foundation for studies of dust emission, long-range transport, and dust-related effects on climate and the environment.
Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), a long-lived product of water radiolysis implicated in oxidative stress, has been proposed as a potential mediator of the FLASH effect. This work investigates how Mean and Instantaneous FLASH dose rates, alongside varying pH and initial oxygen levels, influence H₂O₂ yields using Monte Carlo Track-Structure (MCTS) simulations coupled with homogeneous chemistry modeling.
Approach: MCTS simulations (TOPAS-nBio v2.0) were used to model the physical and heterogeneous chemical stages up to 1 µs under both an independent-track approach (low dose-rate limit, ⁶⁰Co reference) and pulsed irradiation to account for intertrack effects. Escape yields were propagated into a deterministic reaction module (GillesPy2/ODE) incorporating the (HO_2^•/O_2^(•-)) acid-base equilibrium and extending simulations up to 10³ s. Simulations covered doses from 0.2 to 60 Gy, Instantaneous dose rates up to ~10⁸ Gy s⁻¹ (10 ns FWHM pulse), and Mean dose rates from 0.28 to 10⁵ Gy s⁻¹ were investigated, across initial oxygen of 1%, 4%, and 21% pO₂ and pH (0.4 -7).
Main results: The simulations reproduced experimental H₂O₂ yields, including variations in initial oxygen, single-pulse irradiation, and pH dependence (0.4 -7), within 1 ± 0.5%. An instantaneous dose rate of 10⁸ Gy s⁻¹ suppressed early O_2^(•-) formation and reduced steady-state H₂O₂ by ~12% compared to independent tracks approach, due to intertrack effects between radicals (OH^•,e_aq^-,H₃O⁺), an effect diminished at 21% pO₂. In contrast, mean dose rate (500 Gy s⁻¹) enhanced H₂O₂ production (~0.17 µM Gy⁻¹), representing a ~30% increase compared with 0.28 Gy s⁻¹ (~0.12 µM Gy⁻¹), consistently across oxygen levels at neutral pH.
Significance: Dose-rate effects on H₂O₂ are jointly influenced by pH and initial oxygen. The model predicts an increase in H₂O₂ with mean dose rate around 10^3 Gy s^(-1), a behavior linked to OH^• lifetime effects in the homogeneous stage. The combined framework supports extension to biologically relevant media to advance our understanding of the FLASH effect mechanism.
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Predicting the soil adsorption behavior of industry-related aromatic contaminants (ACs) is crucial for assessing their environmental fate and risks. However, existing models that rely on limited parameters, such as hydrophobicity, are often insufficient, particularly for emerging ACs, as their structural diversity introduces complex adsorption mechanisms (e.g., electrostatic interactions and polar effects) that cannot be adequately captured by static hydrophobicity descriptors. In this study, a global dataset of 3044 data points from 483 adsorption isotherms, covering 114 ACs in 311 soils, was compiled. Machine learning (ML) models were developed using soil properties and four types of molecular representations to predict the soil adsorption coefficient (Kd). Among them, the Support Vector Machine model using RDKit descriptors achieved the best performance in cross-validation (R2 = 0.84, MAE = 0.37, RMSE = 0.50) and testing set (R2 = 0.89, MAE = 0.33, RMSE = 0.44). SHapley Additive exPlanations analysis identified, in addition to the equilibrium concentration and soil properties, molecular descriptors related to polarity, surface charge distribution, and drug-likeness strongly influencing Kd. Applicability domain analysis showed that 71% of 552 environmentally detected ACs fell within the reliable prediction space. Furthermore, global distribution of soil adsorption capacities for representative ACs was predicted. Emerging ACs (pentachlorobenzene and tetrabromobisphenol A) exhibited generally higher soil adsorption capacities than traditional ACs (naphthalene and phenanthrene). These global distributions of Kd values and key molecular drivers provide valuable insights into the environmental behaviors and risk management of ACs.
Juvenile diversion reduces recidivism on average. However, how many and what combination of services yield the best outcomes remains empirically unaddressed, with contemporary practice operating under an implicit "more is better" logic. Data were drawn from administrative records of the conditional non-prosecution system in Zhejiang Province, China, covering the period from 2014 to 2022. The retrospective cohort comprised 1,612 youth (M age = 15.87, SD = 0.92; 17.6% female; 32.1% non-local household registration) spanning low-, moderate-, and high-risk groups as classified by a standardized risk-need assessment. Using this administrative dataset, the study conducted triangulated causal analyses with risk-stratified moderation. Service diversity exhibited a U-shaped relationship with recidivism, optimal near 4.8 service types. Per-service engagement significantly mediated the relationship between service diversity and recidivism, with engagement declining as service breadth increased. The curvature of the U-shaped relationship was attenuated for higher-risk youth, with inflection point estimates ranging from approximately four service types for low-risk youth to over five for high-risk youth. These findings challenge the prevailing "more is better" logic in diversion programming and point toward a principle of calibrated parsimony: effective diversion requires not the most services, but the right number matched to each youth's capacity to benefit.