Research works

Remote sensing and deep learning for standing dead-tree detection and mapping: a review of advances, challenges, and future directions

Standing dead trees are visible indicators of tree mortality and an important transitional component linking forest disturbance to future lying deadwood, habitat availability, and carbon storage. As drought, insect outbreaks, pathogens, and climate extremes intensify tree mortali...

Monitoring and control of antimicrobial resistance across the water continuum, from natural sources to engineered water systems

Chemical disinfection is heavily relied upon to arrest microbial regrowth in water systems, but its future must be reimagined. Growing evidence indicates that disinfectants themselves, along with persistent disinfectant residues and the formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs)...

Artificial Intelligence in the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Management of Rare Diseases: Opportunities and Challenges from a Latin American Perspective

Rare diseases collectively affect between 3.5 and 5.9% of the global population. Yet, patients still endure an average diagnostic interval of five to seven years before receiving an accurate explanation of their condition. Approximately 80% of these disorders have a genetic origi...

From automatic detection to segmentation: A label-efficient SAM pipeline with feature-guided star-shape priors for breast ultrasound

Accurate segmentation of breast lesions in ultrasound images is important for quantitative lesion assessment, but remains difficult because of low contrast, noise, and artifacts. The Segment Anything Model (SAM) provides a flexible prompt-based segmentation framework, yet its per...

Development of a double-nest droplet digital PCR technology for detection of BVDV and BTV

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and bluetongue virus (BTV) are important pathogens that affect ruminants, they have an overlapping host range, and mixed infections are easily caused in animals under mixed breeding or grazing together. It has always been a hot issue of concern...

Synthesis of 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan and furan-2,5-diylbis(methylene) diacetate from apple pomace waste via chemobiological catalysis

The direct valorization of real agricultural waste into high-value furan derivatives remains challenging because biomass deconstruction and selective downstream upgrading generally require chemically distinct catalytic environments. Here, a sequential chemobiological platform int...

Consensus-informed design of digital case-based learning for clinical and public health reasoning in undergraduate Community Medicine: a modified Delphi study

Community Medicine requires undergraduate medical students to integrate clinical reasoning with epidemiological interpretation, the social determinants of health, national health-programme linkage and preventive decision-making. Digital case-based learning (DCBL) may support this...

Real-world performance of the breast GPA in breast cancer brain metastases in a resource limited setting

The Breast Graded Prognostic Assessment (B-GPA) is a validated prognostic score used to estimate survival in patients with breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM). However, real-world evidence assessing its prognostic accuracy, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC...

Differential associations between treatment delay and survival across head and neck cancer subsites: a national hospital-based framework for risk-stratified prioritization

Purpose Delays in time to treatment initiation (TTI) have been associated with inferior outcomes in head and neck cancer, yet prior studies have typically evaluated tumors collectively, assuming uniform time sensitivity across diseases. This study quantified subsite- and stage-sp...

Dynamics around non-spherical symmetric bodies – III. The case of a spherical body with a crater

Abstract Motivated by the peculiar features of the trans-Neptunian object (TNO) Máni and the discovery of ring systems around Centaurs and trans-Neptunian bodies, we investigate the stability of particles around a small irregular body hosting a deep equatorial crater. This study...

Engineering division of labor in microbial consortia for bioprocessing

As engineering goals in microbial bioprocessing become increasingly complex, functional programmability in single strains is often limited due to finite cellular resources and space, as well as incompatibilities among individual pathway components. Microbial division of labor (DO...

Application of microenvironment regulation in seawater electrolysis

Water scarcity remains a major constraint for sustainable hydrogen production via water electrolysis, making direct seawater electrolysis (DSE) an attractive route toward large-scale hydrogen production. However, complex interferents in real seawater, particularly Cl − , Mg 2+ an...

Chelsea critical care physical assessment tool (CPAx) for adult patients hospitalized in the ward: measurement properties

Objective To evaluate the measurement properties of the Brazilian version of the Chelsea Critical Care Physical Assessment Tool (CPAx-Br) and evaluate the evidence of validity in adult general ward patients, extending its application beyond the critical care setting for which it...

Long-term legacy effects of Eucalyptus plantation on soil properties, ant diversity, and ecosystem functioning in tropical montane ecosystems

Eucalyptus plantations are rapidly expanding across tropical mountains, where silvicultural practices modify soil properties and biodiversity. However, the long-term consequences of abandoned plantations remain poorly understood, particularly in biodiversity hotspots such as the...

European joint programme HBM4EU - Bridging science and policy: experiences and lessons learned from the key partners in the scientific steering of the initiative

The European Joint Programme HBM4EU was established to address politically relevant questions on chemical risks to public health through a targeted human biomonitoring research programme. Running from 2017 to 2022, it was co-financed by the EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovati...

Modulation of precession-forced Asian–African monsoon and arid climate variability by obliquity

Precession and obliquity play vital roles in orbital-scale climate change. However, their combined effects remain poorly understood. In this study, we examine how obliquity modulates precession-driven climate responses across Asian–African monsoon and arid regions (AAMAR). Result...

A novel unified loading path design method for rock dynamic and static triaxial loading: An analytical investigation

True triaxial testing technique is one of the research focuses in rock mechanics, where appropriate loading paths are critical for triaxial experiments. However, dynamic true triaxial testing remains at an early stage of development, and conventional loading procedures developed...

Hydrogen rich producer gas generation from coal Co-gasification with dual biomass feedstock in a downdraft fixed bed gasifier: Experimental study and RSM optimization

The increasing global demand for energy, driven by population growth, highlights the need for sustainable and efficient energy conversion technologies. Gasification has emerged as a promising approach for converting low-grade coal into valuable gaseous products. In this study, th...

Combining network toxicology with machine learning and experiment validation to analyze the molecular mechanism and core target screening of aristolochic acid nephropathy

Aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN), a rapidly progressive kidney disease caused by aristolochic acid (AA), frequently progresses to end-stage renal disease and lacks effective therapy. The molecular targets that couple AA exposure to renal injury remain further defined. This stu...

Listen to my play: Decoding the narratives and emotions of sexually abused children through a mixed-methods approach

Background Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a prevalent yet underreported problem, and reliable tools for assessing its psychological impact in children remain limited. Objective This study aimed to develop narrative story stems, identify core themes in children's narratives, develop...